Easter Egg Challenge

When Jane from MumsClub asked if we would like to take part in an Easter Egg taste challenge it wasn't a difficult decision to make!

We are ALL huge fans of chocolate and Easter Eggs so were looking forward to getting stuck in.

Eggs being tested –

·         Thornton’s      

·         Bojangles

·         Aldi (Dairy Fine)

·         Tesco 

·         Skandikitchen

·         Sainsburys

Reviewers –

·         Ruth (36)

·         Tony (45)

·         Jacob (17)

·         Olivia (16)

Packaging

We all marked the packaging of the eggs out of 5.

Results - Average marks out of 5 for packaging

·         Thornton’s                   4/5

·         Bojangles                    4.5/5

·         Aldi (Dairy Fine)            2/5

·         Tesco                        2/5

·         Skadikitchen                 3/5

·         Sainsburys                   2.5/5

We were all familiar with the Thornton’s branding and were drawn to this one however both adults preferred the packaging of the Bojangles egg. Tony and myself both felt the Bojangles packaging would be more attractive to adults rather than children, it looked classy and expensive. We all agreed that we wouldn’t be drawn to the Aldi (Dairy Fine) egg as it lacked inspiration and felt the packaging was bland and boring, whereas the others used brighter colours. None of us were particularly draw to the Sainsburys one either, Jacob and Olivia described the packaging as boring and both said they would be disappointed to receive the Sainsburys or Aldi eggs. We all liked the look of the Skandikitchen egg, me and Olivia both said it was cute and would be drawn to it in a shop.

Taste Test

We now moved on to the best part of the task – the taste test!

I broke all the eggs up and placed them in bowls and numbered them so no one knew which was which egg.

We then rated the eggs on flavour and texture, ranking them from our favourite to least favourite, giving reasons why.

I asked each member of the team to guess which brand they thought each egg was (easier said than done it would seem!)

Bojangles was a favourite for both Tony and myself; we both enjoyed the texture of the egg and both said it tasted of quality chocolate. We were really impressed with the truffles that came with the Bojangles egg; they were possibly the best truffles we’ve ever tasted (and we’ve eaten a lot of chocolate)

None of us liked the Tesco’s eggs, and even the teens said the chocolate tasted ‘cheap’.

We were all fooled by the Sainsburys egg and all 4 of us were convinced that it was the Thornton’s egg!

The Sainsburys egg was really creamy, had a thicker consistency and was eaten a lot quicker than the rest with none left over!

Everyone marked the Aldi and Thorntons egg with the same mark and said we couldn’t tell the difference in taste between the two; which I personally found surprising as I expected the Thornton’s egg to taste a lot more expensive.

We all had a few of the sweets out of the SkandiKitchen egg but were a little disappointed; they looked similar to Haribo which we are all fans of, however they all tasted the same – of liquorice, which maybe because all the sweets were in the same little plastic bag.

Marks out of 5 for taste as follows

·         Thornton’s                   2/5

·         Bojangles                    4/5

·         Aldi (Dairy Fine)            2/5

·         Tesco                        1/5

·         Skadikitchen                 3/5

·         Sainsburys                   5/5

So the overall winner in terms of taste was Sainsburys despite the lack of appeal of the packaging. This really surprised us all as we were not expecting much of this one!

Although Thorntons did not meet our taste expectations to me Thorntons is about so much more than just chocolate! It's the packaging and personalisation that appeals to me.

To see what the other reviewers thought click here 

Do you have a favourite Easter Egg?

Ruthie x

Family Friendly Fish Mid Week Meal - With The Orchard at Tesco

We do love food in our house but rarely eat fish, albeit knowing it's benefits so when I was invited to take part in the Orchard at Tesco programme and participate in cooking with fresh fish I was excited to see whether I could introduce more fish dishes into our families mid-week menu.

The vouchers arrived quickly and I did a bit of research to find a recipe that I hoped everyone would like (something not too fishy was my intention!)

I found quite a lot of salmon with broccoli and pasta recipes so decided to adapt one slightly and attempt what sounded to be an easy enough recipe to follow.

Tesco shopping list - 

Linguine £0.59

Tenderstem broccoli £1.70

Single cream 300ml £0.80

Salmon fillets £3.00* 

Other ingredients

150ml dry white wine or stock (I ALWAYS have wine in so used a glass of sauvignon blanc)

25g of butter

4 spring onions (optional)

Salt & pepper 

Chopped dill to garnish (optional)

Method (I loosely followed a recipe I found online and adapted slightly)

The recipe didn't say how much of the wine I was to consume myself whilst preparing dinner?

Season salmon and cook gently in the white wine (took approx 10 mins)

Cook linguine according to instructions on packet

Transfer salmon to a plate and break into large flake with a fork

Add butter, spring onions and broccoli to the reduced wine and saute for about 5 mins

Take off heat and add single cream

Add linguine and salmon to sauce, mix well and serve

Results - it was a winner in our house and everyone has asked for it again (always a good sign) so I will be introducing it into our mid-week meals menu

It was so yummy we forgot to take a photograph before we all devoured it! 

What are your favourite family friendly fish meals?

Ruth x

*vouchers from The Orchard at Tesco programme covered the cost of the fish only