CHRISTMAS is coming – but so is a cost of living crisis. So how can you enjoy a festive feast this year without breaking the bank?
We’ve tested some traditional Christmas treats to find out which supermarket own-brand goods are the best quality for the price.
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We bought packs of pigs in blankets from Tesco, Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Aldi and Lidl.
For each one, we gave it a score out of 10 for taste and a score out of 10 for value, based on the price per 100g.
This score also took into account the meat, salt and saturated fat content.
Here’s how the pigs in blankets scored out of 20 overall:
WINNER: Asda Pigs in Blankets
- £2.40 for 12, 222g
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The pigs in blankets from Asda didn’t look appetising when cooking as a pool of white liquid oozed out of them – but they tasted great.
The 72% meat sausage was subtly flavoured with herbs and pepper, and the bacon was crispy.
They were middle-of-the-range price-wise, at 20p per pig.
- Taste: 9/10
- Value: 7/10
- Total: 16/20
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Tesco Pigs in Blankets
- £3.50 for 12, 180g
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Tesco’s pigs in blankets were pre-cooked, so only needed 10 minutes to finish off in the oven.
They had a meaty taste but there was no obvious flavour difference between the bacon and sausage – and Tesco was the only one not to declare the meat content on the packaging.
They also tasted very salty and had the highest salt content of all the products we tried.
At 29p per pig, these were the most expensive we tested.
- Taste: 7/10
- Value: 5/10
- Total: 12/20
Morrisons Pigs in Blankets
- £2.25 for 12, 210g
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These pigs in blankets from Morrisons were pretty rubbery and tasted largely of cheap sausage – although they actually had the highest meat content of all the products we tested, with a 72% meat sausage and 89 per cent meat bacon.
At 19p per pig, they were among the cheapest.
- Taste: 6/10
- Value: 7/10
- Total: 13/20
Sainsbury’s Pigs in Blankets
- £3.25 for 12, 260g
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The Sainsbury’s pigs in blankets tasted like regular cheap sausage, but looked unappealingly pale and the bacon wrapping was very thin.
At 27p per pig, they were the second most expensive.
- Taste: 5/10
- Value: 5/10
- Total: 10/20
Aldi Let’s Party Frozen Pigs in Blankets
- £1.99 for 12, 240g
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Aldi’s pigs in blankets were joint cheapest, at just 17p per pig.
They were wrapped in a delicious crispy bacon but were really let down by a tasteless, mushy sausage containing just 56% meat.
They also had the highest saturated fat content of all the products we tried.
- Taste: 5/10
- Value: 8/10
- Total: 13/20
Lidl Party Time! Frozen Pigs in Blankets
- £1.99 for 12, 240g
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Like Aldi, these pigs cost just 17p each. But sadly they were by far the worst ones we tested.
The pigs looked small and shrivelled. They burnt on top but stayed pale and flabby underneath in cooking.
The 56% meat sausage was squishy and tasteless, while the bacon was chewy and stringy. A disappointment.
- Taste: 2/10
- Value: 8/10
- Total: 10/20
