When it comes to a simple and satisfying breakfast, is there anything more universally loved than the humble crumpet?
And many of us may associate the iconic comfort food with one iconic British food brand in particular - and that would be Warburtons.
But, as the cost of living crisis continues to set prices on food soaring, many families will be looking to pick up groceries that will keep costs low, whilst also setting them up for the day.
After finding out from Facebook that one packet can "cost less than a loaf of bread", one writer from The Manchester Evening News and The Mirror headed out to find which supermarket was offering the best value crumpets.
Bethan Shufflebotham visited Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Aldi, Asda, Morrisons, Lidl and M&S, where she picked up own-branded crumpets and found that one "blew the rest out of the water."
In the stores, they tried to pick the best date on each pack and found that they were all good for three to four days.
Kept in the right conditions, the verdict was that they would likely last at least an extra day.
The only store that wasn’t included in the round up was Lidl, where they’d all sold out by 6pm.
Here are the results from a review of crumpets from every supermarket:
Price and pack size
There was a huge price difference between the cheapest and most expensive crumpets in this list, the lowest price being 25p for Tesco, Aldi, Asda and Morrisons, but £1.10 for M&S’s ‘ultimate’ crumpets - a difference of 85p.
Most of the crumpet packets cost 25p, but Sainsbury’s were 33p, however, they also had the largest pack size of eight crumpets. All bar M&S still worked out at around 4p per crumpet.
All of the other crumpets came in packs of six, but larger pack sizes were available in store.
Sainsbury’s and Aldi offered noticeably thicker baked goods, but the rest were all fairly uniformed.
Tesco’s option looked darker on the top, having been baked well, while Asda, Morrison’s and M&S looked on the paler side. To touch, Aldi’s was the most firm but had a good colour on the base, with Asda and Morrisons providing a softer texture.
Taste and verdict
The reviewer toasted each crumpet for around two minutes before adding a little bit of butter. Crumpets are said to be a relatively healthy, low fat breakfast - it’s what you top them with that makes the difference.
On taste testing, Asda’s crumpet had a nice flavour, but quite a spongy texture, while Aldi’s consistency was much more pleasant. Sainsbury’s thickness made their crumpet more chewy, and while some people might enjoy this, I found them a bit of a chore to eat. Tesco’s thinner, well-baked crumpets were easier to chew, and on par with M&S’s flavoursome sourdough crumpets.
But it was Morrisons who absolutely knocked the rest of the supermarkets out of the park with their Stephenson’s Bakery crumpets.
On toasting, it looked as though they were struggling to get any colour, but when they were removed from the toaster and added butter, they were perfectly toasted.
They had a satisfying crunch on the base, and their airy texture retained heat well. Morrison’s cheap range really surprised me with their fluffy crumpets with decent flavour, enhanced with a small amount of salted butter.
For adults, a crumpet breakfast works out at 8p a head without any toppings, and children may only eat one with some fruit or peanut butter, so I’d consider it a healthy, low cost option that seems to satisfy hunger until lunch time - ideal for half term when kids are eating parents out of house and home.
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