Tesco Instant Hot Chocolate

 

This is a fairly standard and fairly modest instant hot chocolate. There is a modest chocolate flavour - quite milky. It's a pleasant, easy drinking hot chocolate. It won't be entirely satisfying and not entirely yummy, but it'll do the job in an average low expectations way. It is, after all, a budget instant hot chocolate, and that's what it tastes like. 

Ingredients

It's £1.60 for 400g. The suggestion is four or five teaspoons per serving, so there are approximately 14 servings. That's around 12p per serving.  The main ingredients are milk, sugar and glucose syrup - cocoa powder amounts to 13% of the contents, which is why it doesn't taste much of chocolate.  It's more of a lightly chocolate flavoured instant milk drink. Not too far from the instant frothy coffee drinks. 


Date: Oct 2020   Score: 5 

Tesco Stockwell Instant Hot Chocolate

 

Stockwell is Tesco's really cheap and basic brand line to compete with Lidl and Aldi. The quality of Stockwell branded goods tends to be very low, and that is the case here. The recommendation is five spoons (compared with two spoons for the Galaxy Light), and even with five spoons it tastes thin and watery with little chocolate flavour. There's no character here. This is about as basic as you can get.
  

Sugar is fairly high in the ingredient list (the higher the ingredient in the list, the greater the amount - so the first ingredient will have the most amount, while the last listed ingredient will have the least amount). There is more sugar than cocoa powder. The top ingredient is maltodextrin. Maltodextrin is similar to the glucose syrup  used in Galaxy Light, and some glucose syrup is used here as well, but much further down in the ingredients list. Given the better taste and cost of Galaxy Light my assumption is that maltodextrin does the same thing as glucose syrup but not as well and for much cheaper. 

The jar is 375g and costs 89p. The claim is 13 servings, so that's just under 7p per serving. Very cheap. But not good value for money. 

Date: Oct 2020    Score: 2 

Galaxy Light Instant Hot Chocolate

 

As I can no longer drink tea or coffee - not even the instant frothy coffees or decaffeinated teas - because of my body's now total intolerance of caffeine, I have been drinking herb teas like peppermint, and camomile, and also the occasional hot chocolate. I like hot chocolate - it's the nearest thing to coffee. But as it is generally made with milk and sugar, it is an indulgence that I need to moderate if I am to keep my weight under control. This Galaxy Light seems a good compromise. 

The ingredients

I generally dislike "light" or "low fat" products because they often lack the very qualities I am looking for in that product. In a chocolate I want the rich creamy indulgence, but low fat versions tend to be thin, dry, and lacking in the creamy sweetness I am looking for.  But this does taste rich, creamy, sweet, and indulgent. There's a decent chocolate flavour - milky smooth the way Galaxy is, rather than the full on chocolate of other products, so not top class, but certainty in keeping with what you'd expect from a hot chocolate trade marked "Galaxy". And, along with full on and exciting proper chocolate, I do like a Galaxy now and again - smooth, easy eating, very commercial. 

This doesn't contain much actual sugar, but it does contain a lot of glucose syrup  which is apparently a cheap product made out of starch, commonly corn, that gives body, sweetness and richness to food products. 

Jar is 180g (10 servings). Cost is £2.99 which is 29p per mug. Good value. 

Date: Oct 2020   Score: 6