Value for money: chocolate digestives

This week, Value for Money compares four varieties of chocolate digestive biscuits

McVities

€2.15 for 250g, €8.60 per kg

These biscuits are more than four times more expensive than the cheapest ones we tried. Yes, the “grab and go resealable pack” is quite handy and will probably keep the biscuits fresher for longer and yes, the dark-coloured wholemeal biscuits are very nice indeed, but are they four times nicer than the biscuits from Aldi? Hardly. To their credit, these biscuits have a little bit more chocolate than the others and they kept it together for longer after being dunked in a cup of tea.

Verdict: Nice but pricey

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Jacobs

€2.99 for 267g, €10.79 per kg

Hang on a second, were we just complaining about the price of the McVities biscuits? Scratch that, they started to seem quite reasonably priced when we happened upon these which are over six times dearer than the cheapest ones reviewed. This seems to be, um, how shall we put this, an absolutely ridiculous price differential. They do come in new “stay fresh” packets and the eight pairs of biscuits are individually wrapped. While this may keep the biscuits fresh and make them handy for lunch boxes, it certainly doesn’t help to cut back on the waste we’d produce. And did we mention the price?

Verdict: Way too dear

*

Tesco value

65 cent for 300g, €2.16 per kg

In our experience, some Tesco Value products offer excellent value for money, while others are cheap and nasty. These biscuits are somewhere in the middle. They are by no means the worst chocolate biscuits we have ever tried, but they are not the kind of treat you'd be racing to get to during a break in the Late Lateeither. The chocolate is dull and tastes as cheap as it is, while the biscuity base is pale and slightly soft. On the plus side, the ingredient list is surprisingly wholesome and there wasn't a trace of an E-number in the packet.

Verdict: Cheap

* *

Belmont Biscuit Co from Aldi

69 cent for 400g, €1.72 per kg

These are great. They are good and crunchy and not too sweet. The chocolate is surprisingly good. But never mind the taste, what really makes these biscuits tower above the competition is their price. They are nearly half the price of the recognised brands and equally good, if not better, than the lot of them. While it might be stretching things to recommend you visit Aldi specially for these, if you were there anyway, and fancied a chocolate biscuit, you’d not go far wrong with these.

Verdict: Top notch

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[ pricewatch@irishtimes.com ]