While Easter can be a stressful experience which takes a toll on your finances, there are some budget supermarkets offering cheerfully cheap chocolates compared to premium brands.
And amid a cost of living crisis, there's no doubt that many households across the UK will be looking to make their money stretch further over the holidays, without compromising on Easter treats completely for their little ones. With some master chocolatiers charging up to £30 for the privilege of a present this year, leading supermarket Aldi have saved the day with their own-brand chocolate treats at a very affordable price mark.
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But it begs the question...can the retailer keep up with the named brands in taste while undercutting their price marks?
We sent out our very own Aaron Morris to trial and test Aldi's Easter range, giving an honest verdict on what he made of their offers this year in terms of quality.
Here's what he found out...
Dairyfine Mini Filled Charachters - 55p
The cheapest Easter item I could find on the shelves of Aldi was a cute hand-sized netted bag of filled chocolates. Although it's not much to look at, good things often come in small packages as they say, and these mouthfuls were no different in that respect.
On a first glance, the sweets reminded me of old-school chocolate coins - bringing back fond memories of my childhood. Individually wrapped in different coloured foils, sporting bunnies and birds, the small pieces of milk chocolate could certainly be classed as both cheap and cheerful.
Taste wise, they could easily be compared to that of Kinder chocolate - milk chocolate on the outside with an almost creamy white chocolate filling. Much better than the cheap and nasty stuff you'd usually expect to be faced with when paying less than a pound for a decent amount of chocolates.
My only qualm is that Aldi have skimped on the design of the chocolates themselves when you unwrap them, with no patterns in sight. If it was unwrapped completely, you wouldn't even know it's an Easter treat.
Score: 3 stars out of 5
Dairyfine hollow milk chocolate bunny and bird - 89p
For 89p this one is a real winner in my eyes. A hollow milk chocolate figure decorated with white and dark chocolate to give it extra colouring, the general look of the product outside the wrapper could easily be mistaken for a Lindt or Hotel Chocolat product.
You can tell that a lot of craftsmanship has went into these small decorative edibles, with tiny details bestowed upon each of them. Upon opening the packets themselves, you get an instant whiff of rich Belgian chocolate, which is matched in the of the sweet taste itself.
And when you get to the dark chocolate itself, it's far from overpowering, complementing the palate alongside the white chocolate portions of the product itself.
Score: 4 stars out of 5
Choceur marzipan egg - 89p
If you're looking for something a little different this Easter for those who love traditional confectionary, look no further than that of Choceur's marzipan egg. Bright and eye catching on the shelves in its royal purple and piercing green wrapper, the 100g rock certainly packs a punch taste-wise too.
Upon unwrapping the delicacy, you'll be hit with an overpowering stench of rum, but don't let the initial smell put you off. Incredibly flavoursome, the marzipan is omnipresent from start to finish, and is really well complimented by the rum and raisin which slices through without being too powerful as to ruin the other flavours.
The light coating also gives it almost an old fashioned chocolate raisin appeal too, but it can get a little sickly if you consume too much of it in one go. Best to quarter the egg itself, rather than trying to defeat it entirely, or you might be left feeling a little sickly.
Score: 3 stars out of 5
Dairyfine milk chocolate Easter bunny - 99p
Although it looks like the real McCoy, engulfed in its shiny blue wrapping - don't be fooled by the 99p version of the humble Easter bunny. The execution of this product is diabolical, with a complete lack of flavour from the onset and throughout.
Alarmingly, the one I tried out didn't even smell like chocolate upon further investigation and as for the taste - it was completely bland and lacking the rich punch you expect. The bunny itself is also very, very thin in texture, and practically crumbles to the touch.
As someone who prefers a thicker Easter Egg smothered with flavour, I'll definitely be giving this one a miss in the future.
I will say however, that the bunny itself is visually appealing - with patterns and etching carefully market out across the board to give the Easter bunny some features - yet it's still not as good as the smaller and cheaper alternative, previously mentioned above.
Score: 2 stars out of 5
Dairyfine hot chocolate melts - £1.49
A brilliant idea from Aldi and their Easter arsenal is the hot chocolate melts you can bag for £1.49. All you need to do is bring milk to the boil, put it in a mug, plop the melt in, and watch the magic happen before your very eyes.
Before long, you'll have your very own premium hot chocolate from the comfort of your own home, complete with all of the lashings like chocolate drops and marshmallows. For its price mark, you really can't grumble - with the taste and appearance equally as stellar as one another.
Aldi have a range of flavours from the classic milk chocolate dinosaur melt to the bright white chocolate unicorn, and both of them are bang on the money upon melting. Definitely a fantastic idea and executed very well by the budget retailers.
Score: 4 stars out of 5
Dairyfine Cookies & Cream white chocolate Easter Egg - £2.79
While it's description of a 'hollow white chocolate egg with dark chocolate stars and decoration', is bound to get the mouth watering, Aldi's budget twist on Easter with this egg simply doesn't match. Although the treat itself looks fabulous in decoration, covered in chocolate drizzle and alluring decoration alike, it simply falls flat on its face in terms of taste - which is after all the defining factor here.
The cheap dark chocolate completely overpowers any variety of taste you would hope to sample from this product, with no hint of milk or white chocolate left on the tongue at all. On the whole, it's also too thick of an egg for my liking.
Considering most supermarkets are offering branded products in the range of £1-£3, I will definitely be choosing a safe-bet Cadbury or Mars product in future when buying for relatives, so not to completely ruin their bank holiday altogether.
Score: 1 star out of 5
Dairyfine salty popcorn Easter Egg - £3.99
Some people simply struggle to get their head around salty and sweet foods when combined. However, as a self-confessed lover of Flipz' chocolate covered pretzels, I'm a bit of a fiend for the mixture myself.
So my eyes lit up when I spotted this creation on the shelves of Aldi upon my visit, staring eagerly at the product through the hollowed out screen of the box. All in all, half of a mega-thick chocolate Easter Egg, stuffed with salty popcorn, pretzels and mini eggs, and drizzled with lashings of Belgian blonde sauce.
Aesthetically, it's a spectacle to behold and it definitely gets the old mouth watering on first sight. And although I was a little concerned when nibbling some of the popcorn topping which had fell into the box due to the sheer saltiness of it, the creators Aldi have hit the nail on the head all round with this one when all ingredients are sampled at once.
Taste-wise it completely steals the show, with the rich Belgian chocolate core acting as a vessel for the saltier toppings alike. It's certainly a moreish product too, which will see you eat the whole thing and feel sick with shame afterwards.
Score: 5 out of 5
Where will you be shopping for your Easter Eggs this year? Let us know in the comments below.
