JELLY beans are a classic treat for sweets-loving Brits, an oldie but a goody.
The soft sugary shells and thick gel interiors will no doubt spark childhood nostalgia for most.
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Among the popular brands that make the bean-shaped sweets are Haribo, Jelly Belly and The Jelly Bean Factory.
Each sports a vast range of different flavours from fruits to fizzy drinks to other foodstuffs.
Along with the likes of gummy worms, jelly babies and cola bottles, jelly beans are also a popular sweet for supermarkets to make their own versions of.
Many of which seem to be far cheaper than the big brand favourites.
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A 140g bag of Haribo Jelly Beans costs as much as £1.45 on Ocado‘s website.
But do the dupes taste as good? We tested a range of jelly beans from major supermarkets again Haribo’s treats.
I gave them a go to find out, awarding each a score out of 10 for taste and price.
The chains each sell different size bags so we compared the price per 100g as opposed to per pack to get an accurate comparison.
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Haribo Jelly Beans – 140g
- £1.45 at Ocado
- £1.04/100g
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Haribo’s jelly beans very much reminded me of the traditional sweets you’d find in the sweet shop, the same size and colours.
Unfortunately, though the comparison ended there.
I found the beans to taste pretty artificial and overly sweet to the point of being quite sickly.
The texture wasn’t quite right for me either, they were almost mushy when you bit into them.
Plus you only get six flavours per pack so there wasn’t a lot to choose from.
They’re also really quite expensive for what they are at over £1 per 100g.
- Taste: 4/10
- Price: 4/10
- Total: 8/20
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Tesco Mini Jelly Beans – 85g
- 75p at Tesco
- 88p/100g
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Tesco offers two different types of own-brand jelly beans, one is full-size while the others are much smaller.
I could only get my hands on the mini version, which really lives up to the name.
The sweets are tiny and much more spherical than a traditional bean, which means there are dozens in each pack.
Each has a pretty hard outer shell and is very chewy inside, which I much preferred to Haribo.
It’s pretty good value for money too, at 88p per 100g and a fairly decent portion size too.
- Taste: 7/10
- Price: 7/10
- Total: 14/20
Asda – Jelly Beans 40g
- 35p at Asda
- 87.5p/100g
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Asda‘s jelly beans are perfect for a child who you’re trying to limit their portion size.
At just 40g it’s the smallest pack we tested, but a pretty similar price per 100g to Tesco which is double the size.
The beans are full-size so there are very few in a packet.
I found the beans tasted less artificial than Haribo but some of the flavours weren’t too great, tasting slightly of soap in some cases.
They had a better texture than Haribo too, chewier.
The Asda offering has a low upfront cost but in terms of value for money, it’s not quite as cheap.
- Taste: 6/10
- Price: 7/10
- Total: 13/20
Aldi – Dominion Original Jelly Beans 200g
- £1.49 at Aldi
- 75p/100g
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Aldi‘s jelly beans come in a much bigger pack than Haribo’s, plus with 20 flavours per bag, there’s plenty to choose from too.
They’re smaller than traditional jelly beans, more the size of Jelly Belly sweets, which means there’s a large amount in each bag.
Along with Lidl, it’s the largest pack we tried – 60g more than Haribo but for just 4p more.
Some of the flavours were more pleasant than others, the berry ones were pretty good, while the banana left a bad taste in my mouth and tasted quite chemically.
The price per 100g is the cheapest, along with Lidl.
- Taste: 8/10
- Price: 10/10
- Total: 18/20
Lidl Sweet Corner Jelly Beans – 200g
- £1.49
- 75p/100g
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Similarly to Aldi, Lidl’s jelly beans come in a 200g bag and also consist of 20 different flavours.
These are pretty similar to Aldi, although, unlike its rival, I found the majority of them to be tasty.
Both the size and the consistency of the two are again very similar, although Lidl’s seemed to have a slightly tougher shell which was pleasant.
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The price is the same as Aldi’s at £1.49 a bag.
- Taste: 9/10
- Price: 10/10
- Total: 19/20
How to save on your supermarket shop
THERE are plenty of ways to save on your grocery shop.
You can look out for yellow or red stickers on products, which show when they’ve been reduced.
If the food is fresh, you’ll have to eat it quickly or freeze it for another time.
Making a list should also save you money, as you’ll be less likely to make any rash purchases when you get to the supermarket.
Going own brand can be one easy way to save hundreds of pounds a year on your food bills too.
This means ditching “finest” or “luxury” products and instead going for “own” or value” type of lines.
Plenty of supermarkets run wonky veg and fruit schemes where you can get cheap prices if they’re misshapen or imperfect.
For example, Lidl runs its Waste Not scheme, offering boxes of 5kg of fruit and vegetables for just £1.50.
If you’re on a low income and a parent, you may be able to get up to £442 a year in Healthy Start vouchers to use at the supermarket too.
Plus, many councils offer supermarket vouchers as part of the Household Support Fund.
Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing [email protected].
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