Are any own brands as good as the real thing?
Our quality test reveals all
thing - if you shop at Waitrose, you’d be mad not to swap for these. And the Lidl Crownfield corn Flakes Honey & Peanuts (500g, £1.15) were practically identical, too.
DON'T BOTHER: aldi’s harvest Morn Crunchy honey nut cornflakes (500g, 99p) tasted a little burnt.
ANDREX TOILET ROLL
(Four rolls, £1.95, Sainsbury’s) WE ALL know it’s ‘soft, strong and very long’, but we also know it’s not chead. andrex is a sign of luxury, which in these times of austerity is a noticeable cost on your till receipt. Surely this is one area you could cut back on without it hurting too much?
BUY IT: essential Waitrose Pure White Toilet rolls (four rolls, £1.75) were good quality: soft and strong. and the Tesco Luxury soft toilet tissue (four £1.75) wasn’t far off. if you’re outting back, you wouldn’t notice swapping to one of these.
DON'T BOTHER: aldi’s saxon softest toilet tissue (four rolls, £1.49) was thin, flimsy and felt cheap.
DETTOL WIPES
36, £1.75 or 84, £3.50, Sainsbury’s) THE staple of many a harassed parent, these throw-away wipes will leave your kitchen table or work surfaces clean in a trice. But they’re not cheap and you do get through an awful lot of i thought these would be them. difficult to test — how different could such wipes really be? and it turned out i was right. BUY IT: essential Waitrose antiBacterial Multi surface Wipes (80, £2) were not only good value, but very effective against grease on my worktop after i’d been frying bacon, as were the tesco anti+Bac Lemon Multi-surface Wipes (40, £1.25).
i also thought the sainsbury’s antiBacterial Multi- surface Wipes (80, £1.50, until June 9) were strong and good at clearing marks and grease, as were the aldi Power Force Multiaction surface Wipes (40, 75p). DON’T BOTHER: Of all the wipes i tried, there wasn’t one i could find serious fault with, other than that most of them smelled a little too strongly of lemony bleach. Definitely a category in which the brand name ought to look to its laurels.
HEINZ BAKED BEANS
(415g, 75p, Tesco) DiD you know their proper name is ‘ heinz Beanz’? neither did i, but apparently that’s been their official name since 2008. Whatever the name, i’ve been eating them since before i could read the writing on the tin. can anything else compare? BUY IT: aldi’s corale Premium Quality Baked Beans in rich tomato sauce (425g, 32p) had a delicious, slightly spiced tomato flavour — i’d really recommend them. asda’s chosen By you Baked Beans in tomato sauce (410g, 32p) were also very good – and, like aldi’s, half the price of heinz. and the simply M& s Baked Beans in a rich tomato sauce (410g, 39p) were delicious, too. i’d buy all of these happily. DON’T BOTHER: While the beans in the sainsbury’s Baked Beans in tomato sauce (420g, 40p) were of decent quality, the sauce had a slightly metallic taste.
COCA-COLA
(1.75 litres, £1.85, Tesco) cOKe — it’s the real thing. But does it matter if it isn’t?
Of all the colas i tried, tesco cola (two litres, 55p) was the one that tasted like the real thing — i think most people would be hard pressed to distinguish it from coke. Just the right sweetness and an authentic coke- style taste, it was delicious — and just look at the price difference.
Lidl Freeway cola (two litres, 39p) was also good, though with fewer bubbles than tesco’s. i really liked the simply M&s cola (two litres, 90p). DON’T BOTHER: essential Waitrose cola (two litres, 90p) tasted like those homemade fizzy drinks in the eighties, while aldi’s Vive Original cola (two litres, 39p) barely tasted of a thing other than sugar.
PERSIL NON-BIOLOGICAL WASHING CAPSULES
(20, £7, Tesco) these little pouches filled with gel are becoming increasingly popular because they are easier to use and make less mess than powder. But you pay for the convenience. BUY IT: i tried washing capsules from aldi, Waitrose, tesco, Lidl, sainsbury’s and M&s, and in each case they left my washing pristine and smelling gorgeous.
if i had to pick a favourite i’d go for the Lidl Formil non-Bio capsules (24, £3.45), even though the lid was hard to open, because their scent was so good — the whole house smelled as if i’d done a spring clean! DON’T BOTHER: after trying all of these on various stained articles — including my white dressing gown, which had a cup of tea knocked over it, my son’s grass- stained football shorts and the white socks my daughter had run around the garden in — i can’t see an argument for sticking to the brand name in the laundry aisle.
i tried hard to find a fault with one, but everything i tried them on came out sparkling.
TWININGS EARL GREY TEA
(50, £2.79, Tesco) My First cup of earl Grey in the morning is one of my favourite parts of the day. and the tea has to be just right. it has always been twinings for me, apart from in those dark days of 2011 when they tinkered with the recipe, causing an outcry on social media and my brief (but too expensive) affair with Fortnum & Mason’s smoky earl Grey (try it — it’s divine).
anyway, it has been years since i tried an alternative, so i was interested to see how the supermarkets’ own labels compared. BUY IT: aldi’s Diplomat earl Grey tea Bags (50, 99p) were an excellent substitute — not identical, as it tasted a little more strongly of black tea than twinings, but a particularly good flavour all the same and a substantial price difference.
Lidl’s Knightsbridge (50, 99p) were also very good.
M&s earl Grey teabags (50, £1.50) — i had high hopes for these as they smelled delicious when i opened the foil pack. But the taste was very disappointing — too much black tea and not enough bergamot/citrus flavour for a twinings fan like me. the tesco Finest* earl Grey tea Bags (50, £1.49) were also a little bland for my taste.