I tried supermarket vanilla ice creams – the £1.85 winner is perfect in the heat
WARMER weather is finally here – and it’s the perfect time to devour a delicious scoop of ice cream.
But with some big brands costing more than £3 a tub, you might want to find a cheaper alternative.
A recent poll by TK Maxx found that despite the huge variety of flavours on offer, vanilla is still the nation’s favourite.
A decent scoop should nail that all-important vanilla flavour and have a lovely creamy texture. But which is best?
We asked LYNSEY HOPE to find out. Here’s what happened:
Carte D’or Madagascan Vanilla (900ml)
- £2.75, ocado.com
- 30.6p per 100ml
A delicious and satisfying ice cream with a lovely flavour, texture and aroma.
It had a nice yellow colour too.
I could have easily scoffed the entire tub pretty quickly. However, it’s a small tub for £3, and it costs more than 29p extra per 100ml, so you might want to keep an eye out for deals before stocking up.
Taste: 8/10
Value: 6/10
Overall score: 7/10
Mackies of Scotland Indulgent Madagascan Vanilla Ice Cream (1L)
- £3.35, waitrose.com
- 33.5p per 100ml
The most expensive ice cream on test. I liked the vanilla flavour and it had a rich, creamy texture but it was bizarrely light in colour, which was a bit off putting.
A solid ice cream, but honestly, some of the cheaper brands were just as good if not better than this. It’s not worth paying over £3 for.
Taste: 7/10
Value: 5/10
Overall score: 6/10
Sainsbury’s Stamford Street Co Vanilla Ice Cream (2L)
- £1.35, sainsburys.co.uk
- 7p per 100ml
An amazing price, but this is cheap for a reason. It’s lovely and soft and easy to scoop but I found this watery, sickly sweet and it had a slightly grainy texture.
It might be just about edible if you drowned it in sauces and the kids didn’t seem to mind it.
But sadly I wouldn’t buy this again.
Taste: 3/10
Value: 3/10
Overall score: 3/10
Essential Waitrose Vanilla Soft Scoop Ice Cream (2L)
- £2.20, waitrose.com
- 11p per 100ml
A great value tub from Waitrose here, it’s cheaper than Tesco per 100ml. It was very creamy with a lovely texture and the vanilla flavour was spot on.
Incredibly moreish.
The tub really didn’t last long in my freezer. It felt like a much higher end product, at a fab price.
Taste: 9/10
Value: 9/10
Overall score: 9/10
Tesco Vanilla Flavour Ice Cream (2L)
- £2.40, tesco.com
- 12p per 100ml
Thick, creamy with a nice vanilla flavour. It had a lovely vanilla aroma as I opened the tub.
It was quite solid to scoop and not as soft as others. It’s not the cheapest supermarket own brand we tried but it’s a solid choice.
Not a bad option to keep in the freezer.
Taste: 7/10
Value: 7/10
Overall score: 7/10
Asda Soft Scoop Vanilla Flavour Ice Cream (2L)
- £1.85
- 9.2p per 100ml
Cheap and cheerful, this isn’t a bad option for the price. Lovely and soft to scoop, a nice yellow colour.
It had a slight hint of coconut to it, and when I checked the ingredients it is made with coconut oil.
The vanilla flavour needed to be stronger.
Taste: 6/10
Value: 7/10
Overall score: 6/10
Morrisons Soft Scoop Vanilla Ice Cream (2L)
- £2.39
- 11p per 100ml
Morrisons call this ‘soft scoop’ but it was much harder to get out of the tub than many others.
It was too rigid in texture and a little bland taste-wise, with not enough vanilla flavour.
It is a good price point though so if the kids are lathering it in toppings, they probably won’t object.
Taste: 5/10
Value: 6/10
Overall score: 5/10
Aldi Gianni’s Creamy Vanilla Ice Cream (900ml)
- £1.99, aldi.co.uk
- 22p per 100ml
A smaller tub and one of the pricier options at Aldi, but it’s all we could get our hands on.
They call it creamy and it certainly is and we loved the vanilla flavour.
This was made with ground vanilla pods where many others just had a bit of flavouring, and that flavour really came through.
Taste: 9/10
Value: 8/10
Overall score: 8/10
Lidl Bon Gelati Vanilla Ice Cream (2L)
- £1.85
- 9p per 100ml
Proof is in the pudding here, you really don’t need to spend a fortune for a decent scoop of ice cream.
This had a lovely creamy texture, the sweetness was spot on with just the right amount of vanilla.
It felt way more indulgent than its price tag.
Whilst not the cheapest of the supermarket own brands, it’s still great value and a brilliant alternative to pricey big brands.
A huge hit with all my tasting helpers.
Taste: 10/10
Value: 10/10
Overall score: 10/10