Value for Money: wheat biscuits

This week, Value for Money samples four varieties of wheat cereal

Doves Farm Wholewheat Cereal Biscuits

€2.95 for 24, 12 cent each

If you’re looking for an organic, vegan, soya and hydrogenated fat-free wheat biscuit – and let’s face it, who isn’t? – then these may be for you. They’re all about wholesomeness, or at least that is the impression that’s created, although you’d have to wonder why they mention the absence of hydrogenated fats when none of the other products contain them either. The biscuits are dense and retain their texture for longer once introduced to milk. The absence of sugar, while probably healthy, makes them heavy going unless you smother them in sugar and maple syrup with a banana sliced on top.

Verdict: Too healthy, maybe

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Dunnes Stores Wheat Biscuits

€2.89 for 48, 6 cent each

We approached these with a heavy heart as, in our experience, supermarket own-brand breakfast cereals tend to be on the woeful side.

We were pleasantly surprised to discover these are actually grand. They are a little on the sweet side, maybe, and the wheat is very loosely packed so your breakfast will turn to mush incredibly quickly but that’s not necessarily a deal breaker. They cost 40 per cent less than the market leader and there is no way in the world they are 40 per cent less nice.

Verdict: Good value

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Weetabix

€2.39 for 24, 10 cent each

The market leader is always going to have advantages in terms of familiarity and availability. With this brand there is never any surprises, you know exactly what you are going to get and you get it every single time. We did struggle to find much difference between this and the Dunnes wheat biscuits, something which makes the hefty price discrepancy very hard to explain. They taste perfectly nice and there any many worse ways to start your day.

Verdict: A little overpriced maybe?

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Aldi’s Harvest Morn Wheat Biscuits

€1.99 for 36, 5.5 cent each

By the time we got around to eating these, we’d started to wonder if every single wheat biscuit – or wheat bisk as Aldi irritatingly calls them – is made in the same factory, with the exception, that is, of the Doves Farm brand. The Aldi version tastes virtually indistinguishable from Weetabix or the Dunnes version but is marginally cheaper, so it will have to finish on top of the pile – despite the fact that they taste pretty ordinary.

Verdict: Winner by a nose

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Is there something you would like us to test? E-mail suggestions to pricewatch@irishtimes.com