Ah, butter.
It is without doubt a staple in almost every weekly shop.
Like with most things, people stick to the brands they know, and it's not surprising that as far as real butter goes, Danish butter brand Lurpak is a fan favourite.
In 2018, Lurpak was even dubbed, 'best butter in the world' at the World Championship Cheese Contest, beating competition from over 30 other leading butters to take the title.
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But at £3.65 per tub (that's what it cost me in Morrisons) it certainly is a bank breaker when compared to alternatives.
Thinking about this had me wondering if I really needed to keep forking out that extra bit of cash when it came down to those weekly essentials.
As we know, most supermarkets have their own versions of famous brands, often at a discount compared to the brand itself, but are they worth the savings?
My family have used Lurpak for as long as I can remember- "there's nothing better" as my mother says.
Aldi and Lidl have both produced fantastic versions, Nordpak (Aldi) and Danpak (Lidl), and for comparison I've bought Morrison's own Spreadable, which took me ages to find on the shelf. The branding, as you can see, are all similar to Lurpak's.
Got your own firm favourites? Tell us the comments below.
Lurpak
Starting with the favourite, Lurpak has been a consistent staple in my fridge.
In order to properly test each of these brands I cut a quarter piece of toast, applied a healthy spread of butter and got tasting.
Of course, Lurpak didn't disappoint. Easy to spread, melted to perfection on the warm toast, and tasted as it has for years, satisfyingly savoury, tasting just as butter should.
The price did not taste as good however, as at £3.65 at the time of writing it is the most expensive of our spreads, but it is to be expected from a household brand. It's got even more pricey since then too, which you can read about here.
The quality of the butter does match the price in my opinion, but what are the others like?
Nordpak - Aldi
Aldi has got itself in trouble in recent years for its imitations of brands, most notably of M&S's Colin the Caterpillar.
And Nordpak also looks incredibly similar to its competitor, especially in terms of colour scheme.
Taste-wise, it tastes like butter, not quite as strong as Lurpak tastes, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. The savoury spread complimented the toast, rather than overpowering it, something I wouldn't have noticed about Lurpak if I hadn't tasted it first.
It was, however, the hardest to spread out of all the butters, with the knife dragging on the bread. This did leave me with quite a thick glob of butter, but as it melted, this issue was easily rectified.
The price was much more reasonable, costing £1.99 for a 500g tub. When compared to the brand, it seems a sensible swap to make, with a saving of over £1.50.
Danpak - Lidl
I have vary rarely shopped in Lidl - as a student we had an Aldi or a Morrisons to shop at - so I had no clue what to expect from Aldi's main competitor.
This butter was the cheapest of the lot, coming in at £1.89. Like Aldi's Nordpak, Danpak looks very similar to the brand.
Sadly for me, the taste was unremarkable, you could tell it was butter, but it didn't have the same stand-out savoury flavour that the two previous butters did.
Whilst it did spread and melt with ease, I would rather pay the extra 10p for Aldi's Nordpak.
Spreadable - Morrisons
I mentioned earlier that I struggled to spot spreadable, as like our other butters, it looks very similar
Of the three, this one was the sweetest. The rest specified that they were slightly salted, so that explains why it tasted as sweet as it did in comparison.
It still tasted like butter however, and it spread and melted like a dream.
At £2.20 for 500g, it is the second most expensive, but still over £1 cheaper than Lurpak.
The verdict.
This is easy for me, I would swap to Nordpak in a heartbeat. Nordpak almost exactly matches the quality provided by the leading brand with a smaller price tag too.
An exact saving of £1.66 is not to be sniffed at.
Whilst Lidl's Danpak was the cheapest, the flavour of Nordpak was superior, and whilst Morrison's Spreadable was nice, at 21p more, it makes sense to buy from Aldi.
Nordpak will definitely be going in my basket from now on.
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