Can supermarket brands cut it when it comes to electrical products?

A little while ago now I was contacted by Debt Free Direct who write a thrifty blog on money saving tips –Making Money Go Further. They told me that they wanted to know if supermarket brands can cut it when it comes to electrical products compared to the more famous brands.

To test this, they allowed me to pick a few kitchen supermarket branded electricals with the view that I would use them over a period of time and see how they compared to my own branded kitchen electricals. Here's how I got on..

Asda 4 slice toaster

The first product I tested was this 4 slice toaster from Asda, priced at £17.96. Looks wise, I thought it was really modern and since we are big fans of the modern look it fits in really well with our kitchen decor and our other products.

My previous toaster did not have any of the fancier buttons that this toaster has - there's a button for cancel, defrost and reheat which I find to be really useful, so this is a great feature in my opinion.

Another great feature is the fact that the toaster is kind of split in that there's the two handles for both of the sides. This means that if someone wants toast and someone else wants hot cross buns (which cook ridiculously fast!) that it's possible for them to be cooked at the same time. This is another feature that my last toaster didn't have and one that I have found to be really impressive.

If I'm honest I didn't expect that a supermarket toaster would have impressed me like this one has, especially for such a low price. A supermarket toaster wouldn't have been my first choice as a toaster as I just wouldn't have expected much from it, but this just proves that I completely wrong with that view. I can't recommend this enough for quality and price! Find the product >here<.

Asda hand mixer

The second product we tested was this hand mixer from Asda, priced at £7.96 (so cheap!). This hand mixer worked so well for us, I just cannot fault it. It has 6 speeds and I found that it easily mixed even the heaviest of ingredients. The speed control was really easy to use. Included with the mixer was the whisks and dough hooks. It does exactly what it says it does and is incredibly simple to use. Another great supermarket branded product that is beyond great for the price. Find the product here.

If you have a non hand food mixers which has stopped working and you're desperate for a home baked cake- before you rush to your nearest store to buy a new one, find out how much it is to have it repaired. Food mixer repairs are no where near as expensive as you might think!

Asda hand blender

The third product we tested is this Asda hand blender, priced at £15.96. We often use a hand blender to mix up Ethans dinner when he has what we're having and it's on the chunkier side. I found this hand blender to be very similar to our previous one, but perhaps a little more modern looks wise. Though, I'm not sure if that particularly matters on a product like this? It works in exactly the same way - it's very simple to use and is more than powerful enough to do the job we need it for. We've had absolutely no problems at all with it and I think that again this just proves that supermarket branded products are more than up to the job! Find the product >here<.

So my conclusion is that actually, I, in particular have been rather silly in overlooking supermarket branded electricals. The opportunity to have taken part in this challenge has proved to me that the supermarkets have really upped their game and that their products are now strong contenders when it comes to competing or even beating the more famous names in electricals. The only difference is that the supermarkets are charging a fraction of the price compared to the bigger names! 

Thank you to Debt Free Direct for the opportunity and the for the products which were kindly sent to me for free for the purpose of this experiment on money saving.