Does the brand even matter?? | ASDA’s Own vs. British Classics

I thought I recognised the Walkers salt-and-vinegar crisps. One sample had a slightly odd taste that reminded me of chips my grandma used to keep at her house, and I was sure that must be the supermarket version. I was wrong. Without seeing the packets, I actually preferred ASDA’s crisps.

That was how my blind comparison of ASDA products and familiar British brands began. By the end, I felt humbled, although the cheese helped restore some confidence. This was the taste test in my video published in May 2024, so the prices I mention belong to that shop, and the results are my preferences between those particular products.

The biscuits gave me nothing to go on

I expected the milk-chocolate digestives to be a useful comparison: ASDA’s own against McVitie’s. The ASDA ones looked normal before I closed my eyes, and both started melting in my hands when I held them. Then I tasted them and found no obvious difference in either the biscuit or the chocolate.

I picked which was which and got it right, but that wasn’t evidence of a brilliant palate. It was a guess. I couldn’t find a distinction worth using to make the choice. I’d bought both packets at ASDA, and the own-brand version had cost less while giving me a larger pack.

Beans were just as humbling. ASDA’s yellow Just Essentials tin went up against the recognisable Heinz one. With my eyes shut, one sample seemed slightly more familiar and the other slightly sweeter, although I wasn’t sure whether I was imagining that. There was no clear difference I could confidently identify.

There were differences outside the taste test. The ASDA tin didn’t have a pull tab, so I needed a can opener, and it had cost 27p. I couldn’t get a single Heinz tin with my ASDA order, so I used Tesco for that comparison. Offers and multipacks can change the calculation; I was comparing a single tin rather than pretending every way of buying beans costs the same. The own-brand result still surprised me.

Cheese was the exception I could taste

I wanted to try Red Leicester because I’d recently compared cheddar. I couldn’t find a familiar branded Red Leicester on my ASDA shop, and didn’t find what I wanted at Tesco either. I ended up comparing ASDA’s Just Essentials block with a smaller, fancier-looking Red Fox cheese from Tesco. That was a different sort of comparison from two ordinary packets of crisps.

Here, I did notice the difference. One sample felt plasticky when I squeezed it and didn’t have much flavour. The other actually tasted of something and was quite strong. I identified the ASDA cheese and the specialty cheese, which was a relief after some of the earlier rounds.

How I’d use them mattered. If I were cooking with Red Leicester or adding it to something where the cheese didn’t need to be special, I thought the basic block could be fine. Usually, though, I eat cheese as it is. For that, I want something nice because the flavour is right there, with nothing else hiding it.

The ASDA block was £2.49 for 400g. The Red Fox was £3 for 200g, half the weight for more money. I still thought the Red Fox was really tasty and would prefer it on a cheeseboard, perhaps with apple. That wasn’t a claim that every expensive cheese beats every cheap one. These two gave me a clear preference, unlike the digestives and beans.

ASDA’s Bakewell tarts finished strongly

I don’t share the enthusiasm some people have for Mr Kipling. I generally find it average, and think a bakery Bakewell tart is quite different. Sometimes you want a supermarket six-pack, though, so I compared Mr Kipling’s with ASDA’s version.

One tart tasted moist and strongly almondy. The other had harder icing and less flavour. I preferred the first and guessed it was ASDA because it tasted more like a bakery tart to me. This time I was right, and I was very pleased about it.

Both boxes held six. ASDA’s was £1.65 and Mr Kipling’s was £2.75 when I bought them. I thought the ASDA tarts were a lovely surprise and wanted to eat the rest. They were both processed products, of course; one simply tasted less processed to me. After the crisps, digestives and beans had been so difficult to distinguish, the cheese was the clearest case where I’d want to spend more. The cheaper tarts were a much happier finish.

Watch the full blind taste test, including Oreos and noodle pots.