How much of a premium do we pay for kids’ gimmicky food?

Piper Terrett investigates how much it would set you back to choose merchandised food instead of own-brand products.

“Mummy, Mummy! Look – Iron Man yoghurts! I need them!” my toddler announces in the supermarket, grabbing them off the shelves and putting them in our trolley before I can disagree.

When shopping with kids, sometimes you find yourself buying these items simply to avoid the inevitable meltdown that saying no brings, even when you know you should resist.

All parents know how strong “pester power” can be.

And so do supermarkets, which have all capitalised on this idea.

But just how much more is this gimmicky food costing us? I decided to find out.

Our sample basket

We picked eight gimmicky and/or kids’ TV-branded food items available in the supermarkets and compared the prices with store own-brand versions.

These were:

• Peppa Pig ice lollies;
• Paw Patrol Kellogg’s cereal;
• Cheesestrings;
• Thomas the Tank Engine pasta shapes in tomato sauce;
• Minions’ dried pasta shapes;
• Asda’s unicorn crumpets;
• Sponge Bob Cathedral City cheddar;
• Suckies yoghurts.  

While we expected these goods to be more expensive, the results still surprised us.

On average, we are at paying at least twice as much for merchandised or quirky kids’ food as we would for own-brand versions.

In some cases, we are paying far more.

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Double the cost

For example, the Sponge Bob-branded Cathedral City Cheddar minis cost £1.82 per 100g (£1.75 for eight) in Morrisons, whereas the own-brand cheddar and mozzarella sticks will set you back £1 (£1.17 per 100g).

In Sainsbury’s, Peppa Pig ice lollies were £2 for six or 33p each, compared with just 17p each (£1 for six) for the store’s own-brand dairy fruit ice lollies.

Often the devil is in the detail – shoppers need to compare the weight of the products, not just the price, to ensure they are getting the best deal.

If you're unsure about what you should pay a premium for, we may be able to guide you in the right direction. 

The price of a unicorn

Other items were marked up even further.

Asda’s unicorn crumpets cost £1 for a packet of four or 25p each – not too expensive (you might think.)

But the store also sells a packet of nine ordinary crumpets for 58p – so just 6p each, meaning to have unicorns on your crumpets costs you four times as much.

In Sainsbury’s, Minions dried pasta shapes sells for 33p per 100g (£1.20 a pack) – five and a half times as much as the supermarket’s Basics range of dried pasta at just 6p per 100g.

At 60p per 205g, you pay nearly ten times as much for Thomas the Tank Engine pasta shapes in tomato sauce than Tesco’s own-brand Stockwell spaghetti hoops (13p for 410g, so 6.5p for 205g).

What’s more, Cheesestrings, which are very popular with my son, are around £1.70 per 100g or eight for £2.75 in Asda, while Applewood Smoke flavour cheddar cheese snack pack (75g) costs £1.

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Suckies are a high-end yoghurt for children with ‘no pips or nasties’ and which kids can suck out of the bottle neck.

Admittedly, they are gluten-free, vegetarian-friendly and the Collective Dairy sometimes donates money to charity from product sales.

The price varies from store to store – the standard price at Asda is 75p per 100g.

Unfortunately, at the standard price, the yoghurts cost six times more than Asda’s own-brand low-fat strawberry yoghurts (13.3p per 100g) and nine times their Smartprice budget brand (at 8p per 100g).

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Breakfast with the Paw Patrol will set you back

For me, breakfast is a familiar battleground with small children, especially in the nursery or school run rush.

A comparison on mySupermarket revealed that Paw Patrol Kellogg’s multi-grain toffee cereal was one of the most expensive cereals available per 100g in Sainsbury’s, even compared to some luxury adult cereals, such as Jordan’s Crunch.

Breakfast with Chase and Rubble costs 82.9p per 100g, when Sainsbury’s own-brand multi-grain flakes and fruit is just 36p per 100g.

Is it worth paying extra?

It’s true that sometimes gimmicky or kids’ TV-merchandised food can be useful in helping us tired parents persuade our uncooperative darlings to eat their food.

I admit to using the lure of a Peppa Pig lolly to get my three-year-old to polish off his dinner, but this small sample of product prices reveals it’s worth doing in moderation.

My toddler is just as happy eating ordinary pasta as he is scoffing pig or Thomas-shaped versions of the stuff and, in fact, scoffing any kind of ice lolly.

It’s not always possible, but if you don’t want to pay over the odds, try shopping alone or online to avoid “pester power”.

Instead of buying expensive gimmicky items, think up other ways of making food more exciting for less.

A friend bought us a Batman egg cup which keeps our three-year-old endlessly amused, although he does tend to play with his ‘Bat eggs’ instead of eating them.

My dad has also become adept at making ‘Bat toast’ in the shape of the Batman logo which, thanks to his artistic carving skills, just costs the same amount as an ordinary slice of toast.

If you're considering shopping at Waitrose, find out how you could save up £100 on your groceries.

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