The temptation to stick to food and drink brands you know at the supermarket usually results in a heftier total at the till points.
But what would you say if we told you we might be able to save you some money without really compromising the flavour of your favourite branded products?
The Food and Drink team are on a mission to see if we can help readers bag a bargain, and we’re doing that by putting a range of the nation’s favourite branded products to the test against supermarket own brands.
With the cost of living crisis affecting everyone across the country making savings here and there will ensure you’re looking after your purse strings a little more and may even result in you completely swapping out a branded product for a cheaper one.
The first product we are putting to the taste test in our new weekly Battle of the Brands series is Scotland’s national soft drink, Irn-Bru.
The carbonated drink has cured many a hangover in its time and was launched in 1901 in Scotland. It contains 32 flavours and its recipe still remains a secret.
The items and supermarkets we tried against AG Barr’s Irn-Bru include:
- Asda’s diet Iron Brew
- Aldi’s diet Iron Brew
- Lidl’s Iron Brew
Irn-Bru
Price: £1.50 for two litres
Everyone loves a classic and Irn-Bru is one that is hard to mimic. With its special secret recipe that dates back more than a century, it was quite obvious which one it was.
That being said, myself and Karla have always preferred the diet version whereas Andy and Mariam can’t see past the original recipe. It was superior in taste to the others and for that was voted our initial taste test winner.
For every 250ml customers can expect to consume 49 calories, but it is the sugar at 12g which is a big difference between the Asda diet version.
Overall team scores:
- Value for money: 3/5
- Nutritional value: 2/5
- Taste: 5/5
- Mouthfeel: 4/5
Asda’s diet Iron Brew
Price: 60p for two litres
Asda only offers a diet version of the popular soft drink so while it was harder to directly compare, in fact it was highly regarded in the taste test.
Initially some of the team weren’t sure about it, but as they compared other alternative products to the original, it seemed clear Asda’s diet version was a close second.
It contained just three calories per 250ml, so in a whole bottle you can expect 24 calories. In comparison to the original Irn-Bru, that is a lot less.
Sugar was also much lower at less than 0.5g per 250ml.
Overall team scores:
- Value for money: 5/5
- Nutritional value: 4/5
- Taste: 4/5
- Mouthfeel: 4/5
To hear our thoughts on the supermarket alternatives from Aldi and Lidl, please watch our Battle of the Brands video above.
Public’s verdict
So what did the public make of the brand vs the supermarket budget product?
Most of them could tell which was the original Irn-Bru and which was the supermarket brand, however, some did say they enjoyed both and others also added they would pick the Asda version over the original as it wasn’t as sweet.
The price tag was also attractive for Asda’s version with it being £1.40 cheaper.
Tune in next week where we’ll be putting Cathedral cheddar cheese up against supermarket brands to find out if their versions are better.
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