The 8 best supermarket own brand copycat products revealed by Good Housekeeping – and they could save you HUNDREDS of pounds
OWN-BRAND supermarket products that are rated BETTER than top-selling branded items have been named by Good Housekeeping.
They're all a lot cheaper than the big brands too - and they could slash a lot off your grocery bill every year if you swap famous names for the copycats.
tested types of common household items, from hazelnut chocolate spread to washing up liquid, to compare own-label products to famous brands.
Testers found that in at least eight cases, cheaper own-brand products from supermarkets including Aldi, Lidl and Tesco are actually better than brands they copy.
Lidl's £1.09 400g Choco Nusse spread was rated higher by the judges than best-selling Nutella, which costs £2.50 for the same size jar at Iceland.
If you made all the swaps below, you could save £196 a year.
It is well-known amongst bargain hunters that factories which make branded products also produce own-brand items for supermarkets in the same place - so you could really save by switching and not miss out on quality.
Caroline Bloor, consumer affairs director for Good Housekeeping, said: "As money is tight in January, now is the perfect time for consumers to look at their supermarket spending habits to make sure they get the best value possible.
"These seven products have been taste tested by the GHI and either scored higher than similar branded products or carry the 'GHI Approved' logo – so now’s the time to switch for savings and not miss out on the taste."
Weetabix v Tesco own-brand wheat biscuit cereal
Weetabix is the best-known wheat cereal - but there's an own-brand version that is rated even better than the much-loved product.
Tesco's 24-pack cost £1.30 - £1.20 more than a £2.50 24-pack of Weetabix from the same supermarket.
Good Housekeeping gave Tesco's version a 76/100 score compared to Weetabix's 74/100 rating when it did .
Even better, if you make the swap you could save £4.80 month if you buy four of them in that time - or £57 a year.
Fairy Liquid v Aldi own-brand washing up liquid
Fairy Liquid is the best-known washing up liquid brand but it costs customers £1.50 for a 500ml bottle at both Tesco and Sainsbury's.
You could save £2 a month, or £24 a year, if you swap it for Aldi's 49p instead.
The product has been approved by the Good Housekeeping Institute, which described it as having "great cleaning results, especially for cutting through grease and dried on food soils".
Nutella v Lidl's own brand hazelnut chocolate spread
Nutella is the best-selling hazelnut chocolate spread on the market and its brand name is recognised across much of the world.
But it costs £2.50 for a 400g jar at Iceland, and up to £2.90 at other supermarkets.
Lidl's own-brand version, , costs only £1.09 for the same size jar.
And blind taste testers at the GHI said they preferred it to the famous brand.
Swapping Nutella for Lidl's copycat product could save you £2.82 a month if you buy two jars or £33.84 a year.
Sun-Pat v M&S's own-brand peanut butter
Sun-Pat is the market leader for smooth peanut butter, but GHI says there's an own-brand version that's even better - and it's cheaper too.
Blind taste testers recommend M&S's Smooth Peanut Butter, which costs £1.30 for a 340g jar.
Meanwhile Sun-Pat Smooth Peanut Butter costs £3 at most supermarkets for a 400g jar, so you could save £1.70 a month or £20.40 a year if you make the swap.
Persil Bio Liquid v Lidl's own-brand biological detergent
Persil may be the biggest name in laundry detergent, but it performed worse than Lidl's copycat own-brand version in the GHI's blind test.
Lidl's £2.99 40-wash scored 90/100 compared to Persil's Bio Liquid, which was given a rating of 89/100.
Lidl's version is much cheaper than Persil's Bio Liquid too, which costs £8 for a 38-wash bottle at Tesco.
Swapping Persil for Lidl's cut-price version will save you 14p per wash.
And if you do five washes a week, that will add up to a saving of at least £2.50 a month, or £30 a year.
Tropicana v Tesco own-brand orange juice
Tropicana and other branded juices may catch your eye on the shelves, but GHI says opt for a luxury version from Tesco instead, and it will still save you money.
It said Tesco's £2 one-litre had better "zesty flavour" than other branded juices.
A 950ml carton of Tropicana will cost you £2.48, so you'll save 96p a month if you buy two of them in that time, or nearly £11.52 a year.
Covent Garden v Co-op's own brand carrot and coriander soup
The GHI found that Co-op's 600g Carrot & Coriander Soup was better than Covent Garden's same-size branded version in its blind taste test.
Co-op's £1.80 soup scored 82/100 compared to the 72/100 rating Covent Garden's soup received, which normally sells for about £2.
If you buy six a month, you could save £1.20, or £14.40 a year.
Covent Garden's soup is on offer for £1 at the moment at and though, so it could be worth sticking with the brand for now.
Mr Muscle v Aldi's own-brand bathroom cleaner
Mr Muscle is a very popular cleaning brand, but GHI says that you can save money without losing quality by swapping to an own-brand version.
It rates Aldi's 75p 750ml highly, and has given the product an official GHI Approved sticker.
Mr Muscle's five-in-one Bathroom Cleaner costs £1.50 at most supermarkets, so you'll save 75p, or £4.50 a year if you get through a bottle every other month.
More on Money
If you want to stop your grocery bills from soaring, then we've put together some handy tips to keep costs low.
We've also rounded up the best deals at supermarkets this week to save you even more cash.
Last week, Tesco slashed prices in a new supermarket price war for the start of the year.
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