The Jaffa Cake Challenge!

Aldi have yet again given me a fabulous challenge!  This time it involves the most contentious of snacks...the Jaffa Cake....Is it a biscuit?  Is it a cake?  The debate continues. However, the question that I will be asking is does a more expensive brand mean a better product?!

I was sent a box of McVities Jaffa Cakes, the brand leader with an RRP of £2.19 for 300g and a box of Belmont Jaffa Cakes that cost just 85p for 300g.   That is a significant difference in price.  Aldi's own research shows that from 188 people who liked McVities Jaffa Cakes, 96% of them also liked Belmont Jaffa Cakes.  Impressive!  But what did we think!

To look at, the McVities Jaffa Cake was slightly bigger but both had the same dark chocolate top and spongy base.  I am not a huge fan of Jaffa Cakes so I had no preconceptions about the brand leader, so I tucked in to each without any bias.

The brand leader, in my opinion tasted a bit stale.*  The base was neither crunchy or spongy...it was rather bland and a bit rubbery.  The orange filling was pleasant enough. The Belmont Jaffa Cake had a thinner, lighter base and more orange filling, and I have to say that it had a far more intense and tangy orange flavour which I thought was much nicer.  That was the main difference between the two and I definitely preferred the Aldi product regardless of the price.  (*I actually checked the sell-by dates to be sure that they were of a similar freshness and the McVities actually had the longer date on the packet.)

As my taste test was carried out with me knowing which Jaffa Cake was which, I did a blind taste test on Ian who is a massive Jaffa Cake fan.  He was more than willing to take on the task! I asked him to rate each out of 10 and write down the scores for each.

Here was the result.  He said he liked both but one had the higher score because of the tangier, orange filling!

Surprise, surprise!  He scored Aldi's Belmont Jaffa Cakes above his usual brand.  He was quite shocked...and even more shocked when I told him how much the winning brand costs!

The Aldi brand costs significantly less than half the price of the brand leader and we both preferred them.  The brand leader is slightly bigger but that was the only thing it had over the competition.  I know what I'd buy!

For more Swap and Save ideas visit aldi.co.uk

Aldi vs Kellogg's

In our last Aldi Swap and Save Taste Test, we are comparing Kellogg's Frosties with Aldi's Harvest Morn Frosted Flakes.  Sugar coated breakfast cereals are not something I generally buy, but Kizzy was willing to be my taste tester!  With Kellogg's the brand leader costing £1.95 compared to Aldi's version at 99p, there is a big price difference between the two.

As you can see, Kizzy did prefer Kellogg's Frosties but not by much.  She liked both brands, which is what the Swap and Save Challenge is all about.  Like brands...only cheaper!

Aldi vs Napolina

I'm continuing with my swap and save challenge for Aldi.  Today we put peeled plum tomatoes to the test, comparing brand leader Napolina against Aldi's Sweet Harvest.  Both tins came with a ring pull lid to open them, the ingredients list only had a 1% difference in the proportion of tomatoes to juice and both were a product of Italy.

The tomatoes inside were all whole.  The Napolina had seven smaller tomatoes whereas Aldi's had five bigger ones.  The only other discernible difference was that the Napolina tomatoes were a slightly redder colour. There was also one piece of skin in the Aldi one, but that is quite a common occurrence in tinned tomatoes and I just took it out...no big deal.  I mushed the tomatoes up to use in my dinner and both looked the same.  I tasted a spoonful of each and there was no difference (I'm not keen on tomatoes unless they are cooked into a meal, but they both tasted OK.)

Identical Tins

Aldi

Napolina

Aldi

Napolina

I used both tins in tonight's dinner (Quorn fillets in tomato and mushroom sauce served with pasta).  The difference in the two products is negligible and once cooked...they're the same.  So again, the cheaper alternative has measured up well against the more expensive brand leader!!

Aldi vs Heinz Baked Beans

Baked Beans are an everyday essential that most people have in their store cupboards.  Once, they were a very cheap product but recently the price has risen to 64p a can for the brand leader Heinz.  Aldi's alternative Corale, are just 29p a can.  We taste tested the two types against each other with surprising results in our Swap And Save challenge!

Both girls failed to tell the difference between the two bowls of beans.  Aldi's beans are less than half the price of Heinz beans.  That equates to a considerable saving over the course of the week!

I'm really beginning to see that sticking slavishly to brand leaders is a surefire way of wasting our hard earned cash!  'Swap and Save' is definitely something that can save you money without compromising on quality or taste.  Check out our final taste tests on Frosted Flakes and Tea Bags!

Aldi vs Heinz Ketchup

We eat a lot of tomato sauce in this house.  Daddy has a real thing for condiments and the little ones seem to have inherited his love of sauces.  We do buy Heinz Ketchup as a rule, we've never considered buying another brand.  It seems ingrained in our psyche to pop a bottle of Heinz in the shopping basket.  However, it is very expensive.  It now costs £1.95 in the squeezy bottle that we favour.  Even when it's on BOGOF it is still fast becoming  luxury item price wise.  Aldi's Bramwell Tomato Sauce came in a virtually identical bottle which I was impressed with, and priced at just 69p is a fraction of the price.

So, the taste test was again very close.  Kizzy preferred the Heinz ketchup because it was "less tomatoey" which I thought was quite ironic.  On reading the ingredients list the Bramwells did contain more tomatoes per 100g of product, stating that each bottle contained 24 ripe tomatoes.  That to me, sounds like a better quality product!  I was surprised at how synthetic and starchy the Heinz tasted by comparison.  For a more natural tasting sauce and a big cash saving, I'd definitely switch brands.

Aldi vs McVities

Chocolate biscuits are a bit of a luxury in our house...so we were interested in trying Aldi's choccie biccies in our Swap and Save test to see if a cheaper brand could make them more affordable.

The Aldi brand was definitely a favourable alternative.  If they were not being directly compared, I don't think anyone would have questioned their quality.  Definitely a good alternative!  My teenager Ella really liked the Aldi Chocolate Biscuits and has requested that I start buying them...a thumbs up indeed!