WITH the cost of condiments creeping up, we are all considering ways to save on our food shop. But if cutting out your favourite chocolatey treat is not an option, here’s how you can sweeten the pill.
While Nutella is the best-selling chocolate and hazelnut spread, there are many own-brand jars that offer a similar taste for a lot less cash.
Laura Stott tries the market leader and six cheaper options to compare flavour and fat content, rating each out of five.
350g, Tesco (fat: 30.9g per 100g)
AN instantly recognisable taste. The smooth, thick, gooey hazelnut and cocoa spread tastes just like a whole jar of the soft centre of a Ferrero chocolate.
Great consistency, too. This is very easy to slather over a piece of toast or dollop with a spoon straight into your mouth, with a lovely nutty flavour thanks to its 13 per cent hazelnut content and a hint of vanilla.
It is very sweet, though, and it’s a shame the product contains palm oil but the fat content is the lowest of all I tried. Extremely expensive, but it does taste good.
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400g, Lidl (fat: 36.5g)
LIDL’S own-brand chocolate and hazelnut spread looks uncannily like the market leader in a jar, and contains exactly the same amount of nuts (13 per cent).
But you will pay almost a third of the price of Nutella and get 50g more in the jar.
Taste-wise, there’s not too much difference. The consistency, colour and scent of Lidl’s spread is very similar although perhaps slightly smoother. It also contains palm oil, but mixed with rapeseed and sunflower oils.
The fat content is marginally higher than Nutella at 36.5g (per 100g). But for such a price difference, this hits the sweet spot.
400g, Sainsbury’s (fat: 34.5g)
THE ingredients here are almost identical to the brand leader, with the same amount of hazelnuts and cocoa powder.
It also contains palm oil, but from sustainable sources and in a much smaller quantity. The fat content is slighty higher.
For taste, this was excellent – really moreish and yummy, with a delicious choccy hit and the creamy nuttiness you want, all perfectly balanced for sweetness.
A good texture and aroma and very easy to spread on toast.
Just as tasty as the big-name brand, but with a whopping cost-saving.
400g, Aldi (fat: 34.6g)
ALDI’S “tribute” chocolate spread could
easily be mistaken for the real deal with its similar packaging – except that with this own-brand condiment the jar is 50g bigger and much cheaper.
Another spread with very similar ingredients to the market leader and not much difference in taste either.
The spread is perhaps a smidge paler in colour and seems thicker, but it is unlikely many would notice. The flavour was also nuttier, which I liked.
Taking into account the cash I would save, I’d be happy to stick with it.
400g, Asda (fat: 36g)
ASDA’S choccy spread is another tasty price saving, perfect for when the family want to tuck in regularly but you are watching the pennies.
Slightly thicker in consistency, but still easy to gloop out of the jar, this had a similar rich cocoa colour and smell to the market leader.
On eating, it’s nutty, delicious, not too sweet and, if anything, even more chocolately in flavour.
It is a teeny bit higher in fat than Nutella and also contains palm oil, but it is just as full of flavour for less than half the price.
400g, Co-op (fat: 39g)
A FAIRLY basic spread from the Co-op, it has no nuts included and a standard milk chocolate flavour when spooned or spread from the jar.
It has a rather firm texture so not the easiest to distribute evenly and the taste was on the sweet side and a little uninspiring. Co-op’s offering would be a perfectly adequate spread if it is just a chocolate hit you need or for keeping in the cupboard on stand-by for drizzling on to cakes or puds.
Inoffensive, but not especially exciting.
400g, Tesco (fat: 34g)
A RICH, luxurious chocolate and nut condiment from Tesco that looks dense and dark, and smells delicious in the jar.
The taste of this is slightly different to Nutella, but none the worse for it, as the chocolate is a little richer and more intense, and there is a good nutty flavour.
The spread itself is slightly thicker, but I had no issues slathering it on toast.
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This is, perhaps, more akin to eating a posh truffle than an everyday choccy bar, but it is priced well below Nutella.
As with many of the other spreads, it contains palm oil.
