We compared supermarket colas to Diet Coke and the…

We compared supermarket colas to Diet Coke and the cheapest 25p can was closest to the real thing

It probably comes as no surprise that Coca Cola is the most popular soft drink in the world. While there are now more flavours than ever before, Diet Coke is right up there as one of the biggest sellers.

But like everything else at the moment, prices have increased dramatically, forcing shoppers to either ditch the drinks altogether, or look for cheaper alternatives to the big brand.

A 2-litre bottle of the stuff costs around £2, with boxes of 10 cans costing £4.69 in Tesco and Aldi, which works out at 47p a can.

Not all stores sell their own brand in cans, so we tried a mixture of both (Manchester Family/MEN)

With that in mind, we decided to give the supermarket own brand diet colas a try, to see which one is closest to the real deal.

Not all stores sell their own brand in cans - Morrisons and Asda only have bottles and Lidl's were out of stock - so we were trying a mixture of both.

First up was Tesco and while I was impressed with the price tag, 12 cans for £3.10, or a bottle for 45p, none of us liked the taste. Too much flavouring and not enough fizz was the general consensus. It tasted a bit like those Cola Cup drinks you get with a little straw to pierce through the plastic lid.

Others were fizzier - both Asda and Morrisons - but lacking in flavour, and none of us were particularly keen on the taste of Lidl's Freeway.

We were most impressed by Aldi, left, and Sainsbury's, but Aldi won with its price (Manchester Family/MEN)

It was two others that impressed us in equal measure though. The kids preferred the Sainsbury's one, while us adults preferred the Aldi version.

I'd say I'm the biggest Diet Coke fan out of us all and while it's not exactly identical, Aldi's Vive is not far off - and for the cost, it has to be our overall winner.

At 45p a bottle it's a quarter of the price of the real thing, while the cans, which work out at 25p, are almost half the price.

I'll no doubt still buy the real thing when I see them on offer, but in general, it'd be stupid to pay such a big difference in price, when there's such little difference in the product itself.

Have you found an alternative to a branded drink or food item? Readers have already shared some swaps that have saved them a fortune, so if you have one to add to the list, let us know in the comments.

Aldi

2L bottle 45p

6 cans £1.49 / 25p per can

Sainsbury's

2L bottle 65p

6 cans £2 / 33p per can

Lidl

2L bottle 47p

6 cans £1.49 / 25p per can