This week, Value for Money samples five varieties of wholemeal bread

Tesco Stay Fresh Wholemeal Bread

94 cent for 800g, €1.17 per kg

Highs: This is the cheapest of the brown sliced breads we came across and is nearly a quarter of the price of the most expensive brand we tried. It promises to stay fresh for a whole lot longer than the competition – seven days, in fact – although that might be a mixed blessing. It is light of colour and delicate of flavour.

Lows: One man's delicate is another man's bland. It is thinly sliced and gets dramatically thinner when pressed even slightly, suggesting it had been puffed up with a lot of air. While its stay-fresh quality may sound like a good thing, it's hardly the natural state of affairs for bread to stay fresh for so long without being teamed up with some fairly hefty preservatives.

Verdict: Cheap but flimsy

Star rating: **

Country Mill Wholemeal from Aldi

€1.19 for 800g, €1.48 per kg

Highs: This marries low price with pretty high quality. It is very good value and had us questioning the merit of spending over twice the amount on more recognisable brands. We were worried that this bread was going to be laden with dodgy preservatives and flown in from Germany so were mightily relieved to learn that it is made in Navan. The ingredient list is commendably simple and the individual slices are quite solid. They are tall and retain their shape well even.

Lows: Because of the slice length, quite a substantial chunk sticks out of our toaster – a fairly minor failing, admittedly. We were also concerned by the listing of "permitted additives" amongst the ingredients – hardly the most upfront description.

Verdict: Excellent value for money

Star rating: ****

Brennan’s Wholemeal Bread

€1.39 for 400g, €3.47 per kg

Highs: Ah Brennan's – today's bread today. This company's advertising must work because this is the brand that most often finds its way into the Pricewatch shopping trolley. It is high in fibre (finishing in joint first place with Johnston, Mooney and O'Brien), low in salt and low in sugar, making it arguably the most wholesome of the breads we tried. It also tastes nice and is pleasingly robust.

Lows: We were mildly shocked to see how expensive it was when compared with a similar product – at least in taste terms – from Aldi. It was the most expensive of the breads we tried and we really could find no justification for paying this price and found ourselves wondering if it would continue to be a staple on our shopping list.

Verdict: Too dear

Star rating: **

Butterkrust Hovis Brown,

€1.37 for 400g, €3.42 per kg

Highs: This is made with wheatgerm meal and there are some nice mealy flavours. The slices are good and sturdy and it toasts well. It also makes good, solid sandwiches which keep their shape for hours without going soggy.

Lows: We thought this might be a more wholesome option but were surprised that it was not as high in fibre as some of the cheaper competition. It also contains soya flour – used to make the dough more elastic – added emulsifiers and added gluten, elements which would upset "real bread" campaigners, of which there are a growing number (to be fair to Butterkrust, similar ingredients are also found in much of the competition).

Verdict: Mealy

Star rating: ***

Johnston Mooney and O’Brien

€1.27 for 400g, €3.17 per kg

Highs: This is another high fibre option, the individual slices are very square and quite small, making it handy for even the smallest of toasters. It has a slightly sweet taste with vaguely nutty undertones (can bread really have undertones?). Much easier to detect is its pale colour and when lined up alongside the other contenders it looks almost white.

Lows: "Live life, love bread" is the slogan on the packaging which is, by any definition, ridiculous. It contains some of the same preservatives found in the Tesco long-life bread. While the slices aren't thin, they are a bit on the floppy side and floppy bread makes floppy sandwiches.

Verdict: Limp

Star rating: ***