WE’RE all trying to cut back this Christmas – so is it possible to enjoy your festive favourites without spending more than you need?
We’ve tested supermarket mince pies to find out whether own-brand goods beat the brands on quality and price.
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For this test, we compared versions from Tesco, Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Aldi and Lidl with Mr Kipling’s deep filled mince pies.
We gave each product a score out of ten for taste and a score out of ten for value, based on the price you pay per pie.
The value score also took into account the mincemeat content – brands which skimped on the filling got a lower score.
Here’s how all the mince pies scored out of 20:
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Mr Kipling Deep Filled Mince Pies
- £1.35 for six
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Mr Kipling’s were by far the most expensive mince pies we tried, at 39p each.
So we were disappointed to see they had to least mincemeat filling – making up just 45% of the total pie.
The filling had a lovely Christmas spiced flavour, but the pastry was a bit dry and powdery.
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And they had the highest sugar content of all the products we tested.
This is a mince pie you’d need to wash down with a drink. Overall, we didn’t feel they were worth the extra money.
- Taste: 8/10
- Value: 4/10
- Total: 12/20
Tesco Mince Pies
- £1.25 for six
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Tesco’s mince pies had a festive, spiced citrus peel taste but were just a little bit too sickly sweet.
At 21p per pie, these were nearly half the price of the Mr Kipling variety – and almost as good.
They also contained 49% mincemeat, more than the branded version.
- Taste: 6/10
- Value: 8/10
- Total: 14/20
Asda Mince Pies
- £1.25 for six
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We didn’t enjoy the Asda mince pies, which had a gluey, stodgy pastry.
Although they contained 49% mincemeat, there didn’t seem to be much fruit in the filling. It was gloopy and sticky.
Although as cheap as the Tesco and Lidl versions at 21p per pie, we didn’t think they compared.
- Taste: 5/10
- Value: 7/10
- Total: 12/20
WINNER – Morrisons Mince Pies
- £1.45 for six
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These Morrisons mince pies had a really Christmassy spiced taste, with plenty of fruit and citrus peel in the filling.
The pasty was just right – not too dry or stodgy.
Cheekily, Morrisons was the only supermarket not to declare the mincemeat content on the packaging.
But at 24p per pie, they were still nearly 40% cheaper than the Mr Kipling version.
- Taste: 8/10
- Value: 7/10
- Total: 15/20
Sainsbury’s Mince Pies
- £1.60 for six
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The Sainsbury’s mince pies also had a great tasting filling, with lots of citrus and fruit.
It was a shame there wasn’t more of it, as the 46% mincemeat content was the lowest declared by the supermarket brands.
And although they were just as good as the Morrisons pies, they cost more at 27p each.
- Taste: 8/10
- Value: 5/10
- Total: 13/20
Aldi Holly Lane Mince Pies
- £1.25 for six
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Aldi’s mince pies were really disappointing, with a gloopy, thin filling that had a burnt aftertaste.
It was a shame as they contained the most mincemeat – making up 50% of the pie – but it was lacking fruit.
They didn’t live up to Tesco or Lidl’s mince pies although they were the cheapest we tried, at 18p each.
- Taste: 4/10
- Value: 7/10
- Total: 11/20
Lidl Favorina Mince Pies
- £1.25 for 6
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Like Tesco and Asda, the Lidl mince pies contained 49% mincemeat.
The filling tasted strongly of raisins and was nicely spiced but we couldn’t taste any citrus. The pastry was also a bit chewy.
But they were decent mince pies for the price, costing just 21p each.
- Taste: 6/10
- Value: 8/10
- Total: 14/20
