'I compared all the butters in supermarkets - one stole Lurpak's crown'

Proper butter tastes so much better than margarine. Lashings on toast and crusty bread, butter is just one of life's simple but necessary pleasures as far as I'm concerned.

Amid the cost of living crisis, the cost has soared to over £7 in some .

So might be time to try some more affordable brands that won't break the bank. But can we opt for cheaper versions without losing out on flavour?

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Here, I blind-taste-test some of the more purse-friendly alternatives on the shelves to find out how they compare to the original - with a dupe 'tasting like the real thing' to one that scored a miserable 0/5.

1) I Can't Believe It's Not Butter, 450g,

I can't believe anyone thinks this tastes anything like butter. An artificial tasting margarine. I needed plenty of gulps of tea to get rid of the taste it left in my mouth.

Rating: 1/5

2) Daisy, 500g, £1.75, Lidl

New from . Daisy has a rich taste which I quite enjoyed, but I couldn't quite manage more than a couple of bites – a surprise at this early stage of the taste test.

Rating: 3/5

3) Danpak spreadable, 500g, £2.18, Lidl

It was creamy and spread very easily. And the buttery smell was fantastic. Dead cert as Lurpak original, I initially thought.

Rating: 4/5

4) Nordpak, 500g,

's Lurpak version tastes light and creamy, with an instant salt hit coming straight through. I was convinced this was the real thing. Aldi edged Lidl's version and even the real thing in my book.

Rating: 5/5

5) Beautifully Buttery, 500g,

Spread beautifully on my toast, but the taste was incredibly unpleasant - flavourless and fatty. I could feel my arteries clogging up with one bite. This had me reaching for my mug of tea to wash out the taste.

Rating: 0/5

6) Lurpak spreadable, 400g £4.75

Very smooth, glided easily on toast, a good amount of buttery flavour yet tasted relatively light - a definite savoury quality, but I enjoyed the more strong salty Aldi version.

Rating: 4/5

7) Valley, 500g,

Nicely creamy, but I would have preferred a bit more saltiness coming through. However still much much preferable to Aldi’s Beautifully Buttery — and worth the extra cost.

Rating: 3/5

8) Tesco Salted spreadable, 500g,

Very good spreadability. It is blended with butter but tasted too margariney for my liking.

Rating: 2/5

9) Tesco Butterpak, 500g,

Although more expensive than the Lidl and Aldi versions, it tasted the worst to me. It lacked the savoury flavour of the others. It is preferable to margarine — despite costing the same.

Rating: 3/5

10. Clover, 500g, £1.69

This had more margarine rather than butter taste but was nice and did not have the obviously artificial flavour. Well priced.

Rating: 3/5

The verdict

If you're looking for the closest to Lurpak, then Aldi's version wins hands down. However, if you are considering switching to affordable margarine, then Valley from Aldi and Clover is good value in these tough times.