Brooklea Fat Free Greek Style Yogurts (ALDI)

Following my disappointment at Danone's new 'Light and Free' yogurt range, I thought I'd branch out and give ALDI's fat free Greek style yogurts a go. I'd seen various Instagrammers comment on how good they were so what was there to lose? Priced at between 89p and 99p per four-pack they were much cheaper than their branded counterparts. Please accept my apologies for the lack of photos, I deleted a load off my camera without meaning to, oops! 

Toffee

The first ALDI yogurt I tried was this toffee flavoured variety. The pack was labelled as new, but given how little I've shopped at ALDI -until recently- I'm not sure as to how new they truly are!

Thicker than Muller's greek style yogurts, my spoon sliced through it. It was as sweet as expected with a pretty generic toffee flavour. I preferred it to Muller -so much so that I made the trip back to to my local ALDI in order to try the fruity layered ones...

8/10

Greek Style Layered Yogurts

Available in cherry, strawberry and peach & passionfruit flavours, these look very different to Muller's pots as they come in an opaque pot. I'm not sure why I found that offputting, but I did! 

The top part was the yogurt layer; well balanced between sour and sweet. A pleasant change from Muller, who I often find is heavy-handed with the artificial sweeteners. It was as thick as my favourite Liberte Greek style yogurts, which I'd certainly buy more of if they weren't so expensive! 

Underneath was a generous layer of compote, which was very sweet, but not unexpectedly so. Paired with the slightly acidic yogurt the fruit worked well, and I enjoyed all of the flavours equally! 

9/10

If you're a flavoured Greek Yogurt sort of person, I highly recommend that you give ALDI's own brand versions a go. They're cheaper than Muller, and yummier to boot. I wouldn't go as far as saying that I'd choose them over Liberte if they were the same price, but whilst I'm a student the pennies rule out (most of the time).

Despicable Me Minions Baked Corn Snacks

On one of my recent Poundworld visits I discovered this 12 pack of Minions baked corn snacks. I've not seen them in the supermarkets before so I'm not sure how new they are, but £1 for such a large multi-pack I couldn't leave them behind. The pack contains 4x cheese toastie, 4x salt & vinegar & 4x pickled onion flavoured bags. 

The 'corn snacks' are shaped like Wotsits, but they're not as crunchy nor as flavoursome. I'm not sure if it's because they're in plastic and not foil lined bags, but given the softness, they tasted borderline stale. 

The cheese variety has a much milder flavour than its branded counterparts but is still quite tasty. The salt & vinegar and pickled onion are much more pungent, which pleased me as I like my flavours to pack a punch.

If the snacks were crunchier I'd describe them as tasty alternatives to Monster Munch, Quavers and Wotsits; but for me they taste just like the poor man's version that they truly are.

6/10

NEW! Strawberry & White Chocolate Ice Cream Trees from Iceland

After the success of the caramel ice cream trees I went back and bought the other variety: 'Strawberry flavour ice cream with a Belgian white chocolate flavoured coating.'

Once again, they were slightly smaller than a magnum, and the lollies had a nice thick, even coating of white chocolate flavoured coating. The casing snapped nicely but half of my tree fell away (which I didn't mind because it meant I could save some white chocolate until last!).

The coating was wonderfully sweet, silky, and remarkably similar to milkybar buttons. The strawberry ice cream was a mild flavour which tasted like milkshake- McDonalds strawberry milkshake to be precise. For the more discerning pallete these references might not be a good thing, but to me it meant that the dessert was wonderful! 

Another 9/10 Iceland! 

NEW! Caramel Ice Cream Trees from Iceland

OK so Iceland hasn't got the best reputation when it comes to quality food, but I've got to admit that I regularly shop there when buying ready meals for my other half; he works odd shift patterns and its the only way he can have a hot evening meal. We've tried all of the other leading supermarkets, but in his opinion Iceland make the best- and their price is unbeatable!

So, I dashed into store on the way home from uni to pick up his favourites (the cheese, sausage and bean meal is apparently the tastiest) and couldn't help notice the huge new range of Christmas products. In amongst the festive desserts were these cute caramel ice cream trees, which were a bargain at £1 for 3.

I think that Iceland's ice cream range is generally superb (especially their peanut & banana cones they stocked throughout the summer!) and so I didn't hesitate to pick up a pack. Each tree is 90ml, so comparably slightly smaller than a Magnum at 110ml, and is 'Caramel flavour ice cream with a milk chocolate flavoured coating'. It's that phrase chocolate flavour that concerns me, but given how inexpensive they were I wasn't too worried that they mightn't be of the highest quality.

The milk chocolate coating was in fact delicious. It was milky and creamy, similar to Galaxy. It cracked pleasingly to reveal the ice cream encased within. The centre was soft and velvety, with a rich caramel flavour which I thought might become too sickly but didn't. If I'd have been blind taste-tested, I'm sure I would've easily mistook them for an upmarket brand instead of the discount retailer with a slightly dodgy reputation. 

Iceland, I applaud you for your low prices and good quality. I'm coming back to hunt for the white chocolate & strawberry ice creams, and I might even pop some of the deliciously tempting ice cream chocolates and/or 'Enrobed Profiteroles' in my basket whilst I'm there!

9/10 

Honey Monster Puffs Banana Cereal Bars

I can't say that I'm a regular consumer of Sugar Puffs... or rather Honey Monster Puffs as they're now known. I do buy them occasionally, and I quite liked the banana variety when it first came out, but then I got bored and haven't bought them since. I spotted this pack of 5 banana cereal bars at the 99p store and couldn't resist the sweet little minion faces (yes I'm that much of a sucker). 
  

Each bar is individually wrapped with a little minion on! 

Texturally, its rather like Rice Krispie Squares: it holds its shape but crumbles away once nibbled, revealing it in all its sticky glory. The banana flavouring is very strong, in a foam-sweet artificial kind of way- there's no pretending it's a healthy treat that's for sure! I'm a big fan of foam shrimps & bananas, and they're a regular in our sweetie jar, so I guiltily enjoyed the sickly sugar rush. 

I appreciate that these are aimed at children, but I really enjoyed them! Taste-wise they certainly beat Alpen Light's Banoffee bars*, and if you're somebody whose interested in calories they're pretty much identical. 

7/10

* The Alpen Light Jaffa Cake bars outshine the Honey Puff banana bars though!