Chocolate, the ultimate comfort food, perfect for relaxing away from work or as a quick snack throughout the day, and the safe and reliable gift for anyone’s partner. It is a glorious food.
But what is the best eatable milk chocolate bar that you can easily buy at your local supermarket? Does Cadbury Dairy Milk really measure up to the test?
It’s a question that can create considerable debate at the local pub, so I’ve been recruited to provide my own expert opinion – I am, after all, a bit of a chocolate connoisseur.
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Either that or my editor took pity on me after asking me last time to try different varieties of baked beans.
In total I bought five different brands of milk chocolate bars, all from different supermarkets.
And then I just ate every bar – no drinks or food accompaniments to cloud my judgement.
I have to state publicly that I really love chocolate and my current favorite brand is Cadbury Dairy Milk Fruit and Nut.
To keep things simple for this, I bought pure milk chocolate brands.
Below are my uncensored thoughts on each, in the order I tried them and supplemented with pricing information.
Tesco
(Photo: Ivan Morris Poxton)
Tesco’s own brand milk chocolate bar costs £0.95 for 200g.
The packaging describes the chocolate as “silky and smooth” and in fact, it lives up to that billing.
There was a pleasant warmth to the chocolate, without it being too rich in flavor.
It also wasn’t too big to start chewing right away, once I put a piece in my mouth.
It was a solid milk chocolate bar and the brand sources some of its cocoa from sustainable suppliers through the Rainforest Alliance.
The only issue I had with this bar was its packaging.
A little dull to the eye and encouraged sharing the chocolate with others with the text “perfect for sharing” on the cover.
For me, sharing a chocolate bar is a crazy idea.
7/10.
Cadbury dairy milk
(Photo: Ivan Morris Poxton)
It is the number one chocolate in the UK and reportedly sold over 71 million packs in 2020.
This particular 110g bar can be bought at Sainsbury’s for £1.50
In case you aren’t aware of Cadbury’s origins, it started in 1824 when John Cadbury opened a shop in Birmingham selling tea, coffee and drinking chocolate.
The latter was so popular that he opened a dedicated chocolate shop on the outskirts of Birmingham.
The first box of chocolates was also produced by Cadbury’s in 1868, although these were other candies coated in cocoa powder.
Anyway, back to the chocolate bar itself, it has earned its place at the top of the chocolate tree.
It has a wonderfully lush creamy taste and texture. This is milk chocolate at its finest and you had to see some of the competition.
10/10.
Galaxy creamy milk
(Photo: Ivan Morris Poxton)
The second most popular chocolate brand in the UK in 2021 – could it compete with its illustrious rival? Unfortunately, not quite.
Don’t get me wrong this is still a great chocolate bar and at 100g for £1 it gives you more chocolate for your money.
But he’s trying too hard.
It’s just a little too rich and the shape of each piece of chocolate shows that – this bar I’m sure has the biggest rise from bottom to top, as it’s filled with filling.
I think partly because of the bigger increase – and in all honesty being crushed under a notebook for a few days in my backpack – it was also the candy bar that I kind of struggled to separate cleanly into allocated pieces.
If you’re on a budget and want lush chocolate, this makes a good replacement for Cadbury.
8/10.
Budgens Euroshopper Milk Chocolate
(Photo: Ivan Morris Poxton)
Well, it was the cheapest chocolate bought, at £0.50 for 90g.
Thank goodness I didn’t go for the bigger version, because that was also kind of the worst.
It didn’t melt much in my mouth, required a bit of chewing, and frankly, tasted lousy.
I had to double check the label due to the bitter taste to make sure I hadn’t bought dark chocolate by mistake.
This is a brand of chocolate I will never go back to.
Being generous, I’ll give it 3/10.
Asda
(Photo: Ivan Morris Poxton)
A late addition to the chocolate taste testing team and luckily helped me finish the challenge on an uplifting note.
This one tasted quite similar to Tesco, but had nicer packaging.
No wishy-washy feelings suggesting sharing the chocolate too.
Instead, this chocolate bar’s communications team clearly seems to see eating chocolate on equal footing with drinking illicit beverages, with the label text saying, “Come on, nobody’s watching. “
I don’t care if anyone sees me scoffing at a chocolate bar and would like to think I represent the majority opinion with that view.
Asda milk chocolate also carries a clear Rainforest Alliance cocoa label.
It sells for £0.95 for 200g – so it’s actually better value for money than Euroshopper.
8/10.
General verdict:
Cadbury Dairy Milk: 10/10
Asda milk chocolate: 8/10
Galaxy creamy milk: 8/10
Tesco milk chocolate: 7/10
Budgens Euroshopper Milk Chocolate: 3/10.
Cadbury Dairy Milk came out on top in this taste test, despite facing (some) stiff competition.
The less we talk about Euroshopper, the better.
Yet there are many other brands of milk chocolate waiting to be consumed.
So maybe there’s a worthy Cadbury Dairy Milk challenger that I haven’t tried myself yet.
Obviously, more research is needed.
Let us know in the comments your thoughts on the best chocolate bar readily available at your local supermarket.
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