Nobody can complain about festive products being on the supermarket shelves now as the countdown to Christmas ramps up in December. Boxes of the fruity, festive treats were front and centre in the shops this week and people were no longer met with disapproving "it's not even December yet" looks when buying a pack.
I decided to try and find the best box and scoured every supermarket. The only shop where pies were impossible to get my hands on was Lidl, with the shelves already picked clean when I went on December 1!
Enjoying a festive treat this December shouldn't have to break the bank so I opted to avoid the more premium range products with 'finest' and 'luxury' labels and see just how well the basic pies fared. Now, armed with more mince pies than Santa probably eats on one street, I got to testing...
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Asda, Tesco, Co-op and M&S:
All were six packs: £1.09 at Asda // £1.09 at Tesco // £1.25 at Co-op// £2.50 at M&S
![Mince pies from Asda, Tesco, Co-op and M&S](https://i2-prod.dailypost.co.uk/incoming/article28210028.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/0_MINCEPIE-1.jpg)
Scoring low on my mince pie mission were the treats from Co-op and Tesco I'm reluctant to call a treat. Co-op's pies were a little bit underfilled and the Tesco pies were just too sweet for my liking.
M&S pies were the most expensive but - as a one off treat - I wouldn't complain massively about them. They didn't blow me away or really justify spending more than a leading brand when more people than ever are trying to keep their Christmas on a budget.
The Asda pies had a much better level of filling and were a little bit bigger than most of the boxes I now have piled up in the kitchen which I'm sure will see me through to the New Year! Being priced matched to Aldi as a cheaper option also scored some bonus points to Asda.
- Co-op Ranking: 9th
- Tesco Ranking: 8th
- M&S Ranking: 7th
Asda Ranking: 6th
Aldi, Sainsbury's, Morrisons and Mr Kipling:
All were six packs: £1.09 at Aldi // £1.60 at Sainsbury's // £1.45 at Morrisons // £2 [at Iceland] for Mr Kipling
![Mince pies from Aldi, Sainsbury's, Morrisons and Mr Kipling](https://i2-prod.dailypost.co.uk/incoming/article28210031.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/0_MINCEPIE-2.jpg)
Sainsbury's and Morrisons were both fairly similar and it only really came down to price and pie size with this one. Both tasted very good and had a near identical balance of flavours but Morrisons edged it slightly with their pretty decoration that would look the part when served to guests, having a slightly deeper pie for more filling and being 15p cheaper.
Mr Kipling was very delicious, with a nice blend of buttery outside and tangy insides. Being no cheaper than £2 a box though, this really is a once a year kind of treat so, if you prefer more than one mince pie at Christmas or are feeding a crowd, then one of the supermarket ranges might help your budget stretch a little further.
Amongst the cheapest, Aldi proved to be both tasty and bank balance friendly. The pies were a reasonable size and left me feeing both festive and satisfied.
- Sainsburys Ranking: 5th
- Morrisons Ranking: 4th
- Mr Kipling Ranking: 3rd
- Aldi Ranking: 2nd
Iceland:
Six pack: £1.25 at Iceland
![Mince pies from Iceland](https://i2-prod.dailypost.co.uk/incoming/article28210033.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/0_MINCEPIE-3.jpg)
I didn't know Iceland had their own range of mince pies. I only called into my local shop to grab a branded Mr Kipling box but took these to the tills as well - and I'm really glad I did.
The pies were, dare I say, perfect and offered the best blend of pastry to filling ratio.
On the back of the box, there are instructions for warming up the pies before serving which gave these a real 'fresh out of the oven feeling'. For anyone about to complain this didn't make the test fair, I did this with all the pies having tried Iceland's first.
- Iceland Ranking: 1st
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