I tested supermarket Popchips dupes – a discounter’s cost half the price and you get more

POPCHIPS have fast become a staple in many people's cupboards, perfect for lunches or a quick snack.

With fewer calories than crisps, they can be a great alternative for adults and kids.

Classic crisps are fried, where these new style potato snacks are "popped" instead.

This essentially is done using high temperature and pressure to pop the potato into chips rather than frying them up.

A sharing bag of BBQ Popchips sets you back £2.25 at most supermarkets, with some occasionally offering deals for £1.50.

Luckily for those of us with a crisp craving, several supermarkets do their own bargain version of the popular treat, with some less than half the price.

A few of the supermarkets actually sell even bigger bags than the original 85g, so you're getting more for your money too.

But do they taste as good?

I gave them a go to find out, awarding each a score out of 10 for taste and price - here are there results.

BBQ Popchips

• £2.25, 85g
• £2.65 per 100g

Any Popchips connoisseur knows that you can't really go wrong with a bag of the originals.

The BBQ flavour is my personal favourite, and they didn't disappoint.

Each crisp was coated in the classic sweet and spicy seasoning and packed a load of crunch too.

My only complaint with the original brand is that each disk is pretty small, especially compared to the others I tried, and you can always do with a bigger bag when they are this more-ish.

At £2.25 a bag, they're definitely not the cheapest snack on the market.

• TASTE: 9/10
• PRICE: 3/10
• TOTAL SCORE: 12/20

Aldi BBQ Pop Outs

• £1.19, 100g
• £1.19 per 100g

I was keen to try Aldi's offering as the discount supermarket is known for its excellent dupes of big name brands.

Initially the smell of the crisps put me off slightly, they have a much smokier scent than the original.

But after one bite I was hooked, the addition of the smoky seasoning was tasty and I could definitely finish a whole bag.

The individual discs were much larger in size compared to the name brand and you also get more for your money too.

At 100g a bag they're great for sharing or just tucking into every now and then for a snack, plus for that price they're a bargain.

• TASTE: 9/10
• PRICE: 9/10
• TOTAL SCORE: 18/20

Lidl BBQ Pop’d

• £1.19 a bag
• 100g bag
• £1.19 per 100g

The initial smell of Lidl's when opening up the bag was much sweeter than the original and Aldi.

Plus the crisps are pretty big so you can fill up on less.

My only complaint about the taste was that there seems to be less seasoning on each crisp, which meant they fell flat when compared to the other two.

Ultimately, they are a decent dupe for the real thing but could have done with being a bit more flavourful.

• TASTE: 7/10
• PRICE: 9/10
• TOTAL SCORE: 16/20

Asda BBQ Popped

• 80p a bag
• 85g
• 94.1p per 100g

When I first saw the price for Asda's Popped crisps I thought these could be a great alternative to the pricey original.

Unfortunately though they couldn't quite measure up to the real thing.

The flavour is much more smokey and sweet in comparison to Popchips and the seasoning to crisp ratio isn't quite right.

Overall the taste was disappointing, although the price of a bag is a pretty decent reduction of £1.45 to the real thing so they're a cheap snack if you like the flavour.

TASTE: 5/10
PRICE: 9/10
TOTAL SCORE: 14/20

M&S Smokey BBQ Popped Potato Chips

• £1.60 a bag
• 80g bag
• £2 per 100g

Out of all the Popchips I tried, M&S' fared the worst when compared to the real deal and other dupes.

The taste was pretty bland and definitely not on par with the likes of Aldi or Lidl.

They were quite artificial in both flavour and smell, and I put the packet down after just two crisps.

Plus, I was particularly disappointed to find the price of the bag: £1.60 on Ocado.

With other dupes costing half that price and tasting better too, they sadly came last on both price and taste.

TASTE: 3/10
PRICE: 4/10
TOTAL SCORE: 7/20

Sainsbury’s Sea Salt Popped Potato Chips

• £1.65 a bag
• 80g
• £2.06 per 100g

Sainbury's doesn't do a BBQ flavour of its popped potato chips, so instead I tried the supermarket's sea salt flavour.

I found that while the crisps were pleasant enough in taste, they weren't quite as flavoursome as I'd have liked.

The crisps were a bit mild in taste, and chewy in texture as opposed to crunchy.

Plus at £1.65 a bag they're the priciest of the dupes that I tried.

They would definitely be a decent and healthier substitute to a bag of ready salted crisps though.

TASTE: 5/10
PRICE: 3/10
TOTAL SCORE: 8/20

Meanwhile, we also tested supermarket Wotsits dupes and the winners are less than half price compared to Walkers and even better.

And, we tried own-brand teabags and compared them to Tetley.

Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing money-sm@news.co.uk.