Iceland beats rival supermarkets in Christmas taste test… and its mince pies cost just £1.50

SHOPPERS hoping to celebrate Christmas on a budget are in for a treat after Iceland thrashed pricey rivals in a prestigious annual taste test.

The frozen specialist’s £1.50 Luxury Mince Pies beat 24 other brands including luxury offerings from Harrods and Selfridges despite being a fraction of the price.

Iceland also won the top gongs for both turkey and stuffing in Good Housekeeping’s annual festive food tests - a key indicator that its poaching of former Waitrose and Pizza Express head chef Neil Nugent is paying off.

It also shows Iceland - which has grown customers by seven per cent in year, it also emerged yesterday - has joined Aldi and Lidl as a serious contender to the Big Four supermarkets

In fact, Iceland trounced the German discounters which failed to get the top spot in any of the 12 categories.

Normally at least one of the two German discounters grab one gong.

But Lidl did get runner up in the fizz category with its bargain £5.29 Prosecco.

Instead it was Morrisons that grabbed pole position with its £8.25 Prosecco Spumante - just in time for thirsty shoppers stocking up on their favourite tipple.

Everyone loves a bargain and so it’s good to see Iceland mince pies and Lidl Prosecco beating more expensive upmarket brands.

Caroline BloorGood Housekeeping

Morrisons also came close to winning with its smoked salmon, Stilton and Christmas pudding.

Iceland's impressive results are a far cry from last year when the budget frozen brand missed out on a mention in the highly-respected review.

In fact it was all change at the top this year as all of the 2015 winners became this year's losers.

Taking the Christmas pudding crown this year is Marks & Spencer ’s Belgian Chocolate & Orange Star Christmas Pudding for £12.

It just pipped Iceland’s £6 pud to the top slot, leaving behind last year's winner Sainsbury’s Taste The Difference at £8.

Marks & Spencer appears most frequently in Good Housekeeping’s top five - in 10 of the twelve categories.

But this year it lost out to Iceland when it came to the top spot for mince pies.

Good Housekeeping’s Caroline Bloor: “Our expert team and panel of consumer testers blind test an incredibly wide range of Christmas products, so we can be very confident that these results shine a light on the food and drink that tastes the best.

“Everyone loves a bargain and so it’s good to see Iceland mince pies and Lidl Prosecco beating more expensive upmarket brands.”

The Good Housekeeping taste test team ate and drank their way through 211 different festive foods from more than 30 stockists across 12 categories: Champagne, fizz for under £10, smoked salmon, turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, Christmas pudding, brandy butter, Christmas cake, mince pies, mulled wine and stilton.

Read the full Good Housekeeping Christmas Foods Tried & Tested results in the December issue of Good Housekeeping, on sale 27 October.

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