I talk a lot about ice cream… so I thought I should provide a guide to the best ice cream to get when you’re next shopping…
Sticks or Tubs?
So let’s get down to business. You’re in the ice cream aisle and you’re there for a good time. To maximise the pleasure:guilt ratio, you’ll either be going home with a 1 litre tub or a box of 4x ice creams on sticks. If you’re going home with a 2 litre tub you’re just asking for trouble (watch for my future blog post on “Willpower is overrated”).
4x sticks are about half a litre. If you can stop at one you are a superhero. If you have two you’re treating yourself. But if you have three the shame creeps in. And if you have four you feel dirty with yourself…
Your choice is really going to come down to what’s on special. Usually there will be one range of 1L tubs and one range of 4x sticks on special for half price at the same time (and it’s rare that the same brand of icecream will have specials on both packages).
What brand is best?
Connoisseur. Hands down. This brand has crushed the market since it entered. Connoisseur is the perfect balance of great flavour with premium quality. It’s a higher price point, but definitely affordable. You can’t go wrong with Connoisseur.
A new range called Hinterland has popped up which is copying Connoisseur. It’s not really cheaper, but you may find it on special more often (if you’re able to find it… the name is quite hard to read). Overall it’s not bad and will give you a few more flavour choices.
What about Magnum? This brand is trying to sit in the same category of Connoisseur, but it is a distant second. When you think of a Magnum, what do you think of? Lips crunching into a hard chocolate coating. While this may work on a stick, it doesn’t work in a tub. The only reason to try a Magnum is if they come out with a new flavour. Otherwise hard pass.
What about the premium premium range? These are your Ben & Jerry’s and Haagen-Dazs lines. I may get into trouble here, because these brands have avid fan bases. For me, any ice cream is amazing ice cream. But there are some people that obsess over these brands – the Haagen-Daz fan base forced the company to admit that they had changed their vanilla recipe without telling anyone. So I’m treading cautiously here. For me, these lines are just too expensive. The tubs are smaller and the prices are higher. You can have so much more fun with a Connoisseur, but that shouldn’t discredit the passion these brands put into the service of ice cream.
How about Drumsticks or Weis bars? I’d bundle these together. Let’s be real. You’re probably only looking for a Drumstick or Weis bar in the freezer of a convenience store on a hot day to go with your fish & chips and Portello (or that could just be me….)
Chocolate Bar ice cream. These are the ice creams that really should be sitting in the confectionary section – Mars, Snickers, m&ms etc. Overall they’re ok, particularly if you’re a big fan of a certain chocolate, but they’re really more of a gimmick.
Homebrand icecream. These are your supermarket-branded ice creams, no frills. On a personal level, I quite like these ones as I like quantity over quality (as mentioned above, any ice cream is really amazing ice cream, so even the cheapest of the cheap is a delight). Even so, I won’t be buying homebrand ice cream when Connoisseur is available.
Honourable mention. I don’t go to Coles much these days, but they used to have an incredible homebrand range of tubs. They were about half a litre, very affordable and had the best pleasure:guilt ratio. I’m not sure they do them anymore…
Bulla / Blue Ribbon / Sara Lee. These are really just a little above the generic supermarket brand. Fine I guess, but not worth your time.
Sorbets and Frozen Yogurt. Even though these are in the ice cream aisle, they’re not ice cream. Don’t bother.