Cornflakes
Whole Earth Organic Cornflakes
€2.54 for 375g €6.77 per kg
Highs:These cornflakes are all about the feel-good factor. While they have a nice crispiness to them and have a fairly corny flavour, they really stand out from the competition because of the company's eco-awareness. Not only are the cornflakes organic, Whole Earth is a carbon-neutral company and invests in environmental projects to balance the global warming gases it produces. While in the past these may have been confined to a handful of health food stores and hard to source, they can now be found on Tesco shelves.
Lows:All this goodness comes at a cost. These are quite expensive - well over double the price of the cheapest brand - and despite being organic they don't really taste a whole lot different to the rest.
Verdict:Good with extra feel good
Star rating: ****
Little Man Cornflakes from Lidl
€1.78 for 750g €2.37 per kg
Highs:These cornflakes come in an outsized box containing two 375g plastic sachets which will keep half the flakes fresher for longer. They are very cheap and try as we might there was very little we could find to distinguish them from the most expensive brand. In fact when we resorted to a (somewhat unscientific) blind taste test, these finished second. There is lots of crunch to them and they didn't go completely soggy the moment they were introduced to the milk.
Lows:While they are undoubtedly good value they are hardly worth making a special trip to Lidl. The odd shape of the box might not suit every cupboard and some of the flakes were a little on the small side. And as for the name. Little Man? Who's that supposed to appeal to?
Verdict:Good and good value
Star rating: ***
Tesco Cornflakes 1.39 for 500g 2.78 per kg
Highs:PriceWatch was full sure there would be an enormous difference between the cornflakes on the market but, after diligently ploughing through all five packets in one sitting, was somewhat surprised to find they are almost identical. The only difference was the packaging and the price. Like the other four brands reviewed, the Tesco cornflakes taste fine and completely unremarkable. They are cheap and unlike some of the others make no promises on the box about bringing sunshine to your day.
Lows:In fact there was very little to read on the box, which meant the minutes spent munching were not at all informative. The plastic bag containing the flakes was on the flimsy side which hindered accurate pouring slightly.
Verdict:Absolutely fine
Star rating: ***
Dunnes Stores Cornflakes
€2.32 for 1kg €2.32 per kg
Highs:Dunnes Stores takes the prize for delivering the cheapest of the cornflakes we could find. They are very good value and have clearly borrowed heavily from Dr Kellogg - both the taste and the packaging are not dissimilar to the original flake. The box is good sized and should keep a family going for at least a week. They were the crunchiest of the cereals, although maybe we just got a particularly finely toasted batch.
Lows:At least they were the crunchiest before milk was added, after which they seemed to go soggy rather quickly. Dunnes Stores claims on the box that these cornflakes are "worth waking for!". PriceWatch takes exception to this - they may be many things but worth waking for they most certainly are not.
Verdict:Best value.
Star rating: ****
Kelloggs Cornflakes €2.11 for 250g 8.44 per kg
Highs:These are the original cornflakes and score very, very highly when it comes to brand recognition. They were definitely the ones to beat. They have a nice corny taste and a good crunch to them even long after the milk has been added. They are very reliable and very easy to source and you know exactly what you're getting when you invest in a box.
Lows:And you'll have to invest comparatively handsomely as these were the most expensive of the brands tried. It is hard to escape the notion that we are paying for the brand name as it was very difficult to tell these apart from the rest in taste or texture terms.
Verdict:The original but perhaps not the best
Star rating: ***
