Blind Tasting BUDGET vs PREMIUM Ingredients | Is it worth paying extra? | Sorted Food 

Hear me out... A seasonal or so series where Ebbers shows us around his allotment, talks about what he's growing for the season, maybe even show us how to harvest said items. Then discuss the benefits of growing your own produce when possible, what you can grow if you don't have much space to work with. And maybe ideas on how to use the produce. Also... Pick the Premium but Ebbers finds ways to sneak his homegrown produce in with premium products. I should probably clarify and say that they would be picking the premium between Premium store bought and Premium Ebbers Homegrown.

The best part about this series is that they’re not just trying A vs B and trying to isolate a premium quality. Actually incorporating it into a dish to see if the extra money is worth spending to see if a premium ingredient is actually noticeable in something you’d cook is genius.

I love the bonus "gag reel" scenes because they show the friendship between the guys. Only long term friends can make fun of each other or say such outlandish things and everyone laughs. Reminds me of me and my friends.

I'd love a version of this where both versions are just two variations of cheap products and still have them blindfolded

Jamie is literally like the undefeated premium champion. He seems to have a great palette

Ahh Jamie, that was hilarious. I almost choked at the milkshake remark and milking Barry was something else. 🤣🤣🤣

Have we had a budget vs premium for butter yet? Such a staple ingredient where even spending an extra £1 can be a whole different experience and again, hugely depends on it's application.

There should be three dishes (sorry chefs): premium, mid-point, and budget. Give us more juicy data distribution! No more 50/50 shot!

The beef one was basically dooming them to failure, because their logic was absolutely correct, but what ended up being the premium mince had had most of the fat trimmed off pre-grind.

I love that it's not just a competition, they are actually having meaningful conversations about food consumption.

I'm just always impressed by ebbers' little tips. Would have never thought of the pastry one. Cheap ingredients/filling = premium pastry to make it shine, (more) Expensive ingredients/filling = cheap pastry to make those shine.

I was a little disappointed in the fact the puff pastry were not both butter versions, and the mince wasnt the same/similar fat percentage. I like the mention that different dishes should use the appropriate fat content beef, as I tend to go higher fat for burgers, but lower fat for a bolognaise. I just felt like it wasn't a fair apples to apples comparison to see if buying a more premium mince was worth it, but was more a which was the more appropriate fat content mince for this dish.

As a uni student I always get happy when there are those "well the "premium" wasn't really worth it" moments as weekly budgets are not massive.

“Milkshake” and “if I was to milk you now” both had me in stitches thanks Jamie🤣🤣

This is a really fascinating ongoing discussion at sorted about cost of product vs use vs taste. It's also really interesting as an american to see the food transparency y'all get in england because here it's almost impossible to understand where your food is coming from. Also you guys are one of the only channels that I watch all the videos of so cheers for the great content.

“It’s so fishy.” My thoughts exactly when I opened my trash can and realised that throwing in packaging of fish when I had just put new liner in the bin, wasn’t the best idea I’ve had this week.

hoping for a korean food challenge with the koreanenglishmen, either y’all doing a food battle and they’re the judges or them introducing you to new things/maybe a poker face spice challenge?

I’ve become a huge Barry fan. I’m not sure whether it’s due to those long luscious tresses or his constant look of confusion during Ben’s lectures that totally cracks me up. Either way, go Baz!

I'm not sure a vegan puff pastry (I realise it's their standard one) and a buttery puff pastry are equal. They already start off different, will have a different flavour and will perform slightly differently.

This seems like a great take on a charcuterie board.... If I were serving a board, I'd absolutely use the premium parmesan, and olives. If I'm making tapenade and risotto, no need to spend the extra because the differences and subtleties are going to get masked or cooked out.

We really need to put chef vs chef in these from time to time, I wonder how much better they'll actually do compared to the normals

Jamie, Jamie, Jamie! You are THE KING when it comes to having a quick wit! That milking Barry comment was on the money. Oh, and that from-the-toes laugh…hilarious!

Cows milk also tastes different from cow to cow, different nuances. The "milk" taste from your avg supermarket milk is very much like an average taste of milk, it's milk from dozens if not hundreds of cows homogenized to get the desired generic reliable taste people expect from a carton of milk. There's a dairy farm here in the Netherlands, they are packaging their milk on a per cow basis, so the milk in 1 bottle is from 1 cow and 1 milking. You can look up the individual cows via a QR code on the bottles. There's quite a lot of flavour variation between bottles from specific cows.

You know what i'd like to see? Not budget vs premium, but cheap vs. absolute cheapest.

Jamie is on such a roll, first beating Barry by a landslide and now Mike. I want to see him vs Ben, that'd be hilarious.

Mike deserves a badge for being able to pick out the fat differences between the 2 koftas! That was amazing!!!

Barry's primary role today is laughing at Mike and Jamie.

I'd love a jar vs can episode. I recently noticed that chickpeas from a jar seem to be way better than canned. Maybe it's because of the canning process?

Would love to see this series combined with homemade: cheap vs premium vs homemade. Mostly because I'm an evil person and want to make the kitchen team make puff pastry from scratch.

I know you touch on this a little bit in your videos, but considering how much of the premium mark up in these products is based on production practices, rather than taste, I would be interested in knowing what the actual benefits of the premium production practices are. Obviously it is very difficult to quantify these things, but is there a significant difference in the carbon footprint or the water footprint? What percentage of the price of the product goes to the farmers? There are so many different certifications out there for food products that it is very difficult to tell which ones actually have an impact, and which ones are just labels thrown on to make consumers feel good about paying extra.

I love that Ben does that with bringing up "we should recognize how fortunate we are" instead of taking it for granted, really gives the channel more caring & charm to be self-aware.

Since Jamie’s been killing it at these lately, let’s see him go up against Ebber’s!

That blooper. 😂

It’s so incredible to see how many “artisanal” products are waaaaaay way way more expensive in the UK than here. I’m from Brazil, live in a small town and my grocery store has like 2 name brands for each product and the rest is artisanal It’s interesting to see though that many name brands perform the same if I were to make this test at home

This is the most useful episode to me right now, I have a puff pastry roll in my fridge that has 2 days left but I've not got round to using it yet, and I don't have anything in to make what I want sooo in to the freezer it will go. I was about to. Bin it

Would love to see Sorted go back to their routes where they could invite a student on with the help of the food team go up again Barry, Jamie and Mike combined or Ben to prove the simplicity of cooking and the quality anyone can produce. Think it would be a really cool concept

Another interesting curve is to consider how difficult it would be if Pick the Premium was not side by side but done on totally different days a week apart. Without immediate and direct contrasting, I don't think most people could identify premium ingredients. This would be terrible content, but as a thought experiment it kind of shows that many of these taste experiences are even harder to quantify and judge in the real world where what is bought is not being directly lab tested by consumers against its competition.

I am WHEEZING at the thought of an EBBERS Date includes Blindfolds and Risotto. Mike’s did himself in 😂

I always love watching the non-eating normal in these episodes, who had to stand next to Ebbers and put on their "thoughtful face". Jamie's "I'm thinking" face is my favourite.

Having worked in Milk Harvesting Research in Australia almost 30 years ago, the difference in milk quality is somewhat simple. Between morning and evening milking there is a shorter time for milk secretion cf evening to morning. milking by machine causes cellular damage which manifests itself in the milk, also the amount of cream in the milk gets diluted with milk fluid accumulation which impacts taste. For this reason fat, protein, lactose, and cell count are common sampling and testing regimes in the dairy, and at the milk factory. Cell count is used as a indicator for mastitis (udder infection) and fat, protein, lactose are used as quality measures that impact farmer payment. See, simple.

Love this videos but I feel like this has left behind the sense of being helpful in deciding when it is worth buying the more expensive option. A lot of the premiums are fun to see/interesting to here about but miles above the budget of any normal person. Would be much more interested if there was a third tier of something that's a bit more expensive but not super premium to sit in the middle (to help inform us better about our shopping decisions)

I’m upset at not seeing The Spaff wearing his glasses over the blindfold lmao

I think it’s just great that these videos promote such a fantastic discussion over food production, taste and pricing. Go, Ebbers, I’m always interested in the food stories, as it’s always informative.

That outtake was absolute gold! Ongoing thanks for all your content. The thoughtfulness and intentionality in your approach is always evident and appreciated!

I’m ngl I love the videos but I always look forward to the bits at the end the most 😭 Jamie absolutely killed me today 😭😂😂😂 I know you guys have to keep it clean but I just want to be your guys’ friend and hear all of the naughty unedited British humor 😂♥️ it’s my favorite

Ahhh, disappointed in this one, I'm afraid... comparing premium pastry made with butter, and the other isn't (even when it is available in the more basic range) and same for the beef at 5% premium and the fatty 20% standard beef when you can get 5% basic beef in any shop. I get mine from Aldi. Fat content in meat makes a massive change in taste as does butter. Shame. I have enjoyed your other premium taste challenges -> when they are like for like. Why not have a comparison with same price / brand / manufacturer with these types of products? As obviously some buy the non butter or lower fat versions for health reasons, etc. As this was all ocado... I am wondering if ocado sent the wrong mince and there was no time to switch/rebuy the correct 5%...

I have genuinely missed Jamie’s dad jokes! Happy to see when you come back. Please bring back dad joke of the week 🙏

I'm ready. Bring it on.

Looks like someones got a party on the mind when picking these ingredients. You've got tapas, meatballs and puff pastry all good one handed snacks! 😃

Jamie's comedy timing came to the fore with the end clip. waiting 'till Barry had a mouthful of water to tell the joke so it came out of his nose. Brilliant Took me years to find olives I actually liked. I wanted to like tem, they played such an important part in history, but many tasted awful to me.

Since watching the Pick the Premium series, I have had a few dinners where I have prepped loads of ingredients both cheap and premium and had friends round to blind taste test. The tips and information from these videos have been really helpful in crafting the menus and looking at what makes an ingredient quality or not.

That blooper at the end made my LAUGH laugh.... lol Love seeing how you guys have such a close connection in all the years I've been watching SORTED :)

You guys have done so many of these that I dont know if I'll toss out items you have already done, but.... I'm also from the US so your brands will be different. I'd love to see you guys do: hot tea Oils Tomatoes Anchovies Salad dressing Vinegars Coffee/creamer Onions Also just to note if you ever get to planting new herbs your process of starting them and or trimming and caring for them would be a good even side series of gardening and the outdoors life.

With the beef being mistaken for lamb, I think this is a good opportunity to suggest a topic. Cheaper alternatives to replace ingredients with, that are not the same ingredient. Here in Norway I can get Lamb Mince for half the price of pork mince, and less again than beef mince. I don't know how it is in England but could a pork mince replace a beef mince, or perhaps a chicken mince would be cheaper still? As they all provide that minced meat, but at different prices and with different ingredients, what would be the impact on a dish. I am sure there are other similar situations where you can replace an ingredient with a different kind of ingredient and get a similar end result and save yourself some money.

Thank you for all the videos you do. I get bad anxiety at times and you've helped me through some rough patches,

Barry's laughter is a thing of joy 😀

I wonder if we can up this series and discuss budget, premium, homemade, for things such as sauerkraut, pesto, etc. Where are the benefits, what is the cost? I think you've done it in the past with things like strawberry jam and mulled wine, so it would be interesting to see where you might be saving, like with the pastry you're saving time, and where you could be actually upping it by making it yourself, should you be in a position to choose to do so.

I love hearing about how the products are made or processed. Never knew about Parm. I love olives but not sure I would pay more for the expensive ones (maybe once to taste them)

Jamie's Laugh in the Blooper is so intoxicating HAHAHAHA. He got Barry good with that one. Awesome video

I can't say enough how fun it is to watch you all have fun while doing your videos. I agree with the choices Jamie and Mike chose. Expensive ingredients does not always mean it is better🥰

so why are you comparing oil pastry to butter pastry?

If I might ask, in regards to the beef mince, what is the price difference between the price per kilo dependent on the fat content from the premium company? I'm rather curious how the third option (that I assume would be in-between the other two price-wise, but closer to the premium side) would stack up against both of the options tried.

Great video, I am impressed at how well Mike explains and describes his analysis of each item.

Excited to see more content from you guys. Haven't been this early ever 😂

We absolutely love you guys and tried multiple of your recipes and loved them however due to a certain pandemic and other factors quite a few people are unemployed and As food prices are rocketing and more and more people are unfortunately relying on budget shopping and food parcels due to numerous reasons, could you to do some recipes for people who are struggling to find a balance between eating more healthily and are on a budget. 😊❤

Jamie can make something as mundane as milk funny!! Damn, I laughed hard. At milk jokes. Of course Mike, that doesn't particularly like cheese, picks the wrong one! The beef one really was a trick question. I knew it was A because grass fed is always less fatty than the cheap stuff and fat is flavor. I'd like to volunteer to do any and ALL olive taste tests for your normals in the future!

OMG that bonus clip at the end! 🤣😂

I will never get over this series! love you guys and these videos

I'd be interested in a supermarket standard range (not basics) vs premium range video, for example aldi standard parmesan vs aldi specially selected parmesan. I feel like although these videos are good to watch, the 'premium' versions arent in a lot of peoples budgets, and some people can literally only afford to shop at our standard supermarkets.

Maaaan I wish I could get those $1 puff pastry rolls. The only ONE we have here costs $5 USD and it's not even premium - it's just regular oil, corn syrup, and ingredients around the world.

Thank you for all this amazing content!

Jamie has been doing so well lately! Well done 🙌🏻

Context for ingredients is so important, the Parmesan for example would be amazing on a cheese board but not necessarily in a Pasta dish where the complex flavors of the sauce hide the cheese. Perhaps the Parmesan might also do really well in a Ciaco de Pepe for instance where the cheese sauce is the highlight. I think the sames goes for the Olives but not the pastry or the beef. I think for beef as long as it is raised well and was taken care off you don't have to necessarily buy the premium unless you are trying to recreate perhaps a regional dish.

You would think that Barry would be eating since he scored a perfect 0 on the last Taste the Premium video and Spaff would be the “guest” host… 🤣😂 Unless the punishment is not getting to eat!

What a lot of people in the comments seems to miss is that sometimes it's really hard to pick equal items in the budget to the premium version, because what makes the budget cheaper is by changing something or less steps, it might not be apples to oranges, it might be Granny Smith to Royal Gala, both are apples, but they're very different. In Sweden butter is expensive, so most cheap puff pastry use oil instead, which make them vegan as a byproduct but it wasn't the point, the point was to save money and make them 1/3 of the price to the premium(I personally would rather spend more to get butter puff pastry). When it comes to the beef, at least here in Sweden, it's well known that the more fat the cheaper it is, because generally people see fat as something bad still, so they sacrifice taste to be healtier, which make the equation less fat higher price, both because it requires more steps and because people are willing to pay more to be "healtier", but that doesn't really make it better. This is what the Sorted Team is trying to tell us with buy the best you can afford and in this video sometimes the best aren't necessary the premium ones.

OMG. Excites to find out about the beef. Interesting information. Thank you.

I absolutely loved when you guys were revisiting old recpies and vidoes. I also liked the mystery box vidoes. You should have a 2022 version where you're given the same boxes from 7 years ago. Interesting to see if normals can do better the a smoothie this time around.

Think the 1st one wasn't as fair of a test as it could be. You put a butter pastry against a non butter one, cmon guys 😂

The bonus ending is just gold 😂

Reminds me of the good ol’ sorted days way back when there were more such “gags” 😂 i cant find those old videos on here anymore. I loved those red shorts days, and the frozen parody mike and ben did. Those were sorted gold 💕

The cheaper parmigiano also seemed aged for less! The longer aging period literally can lead to double or triple the price of a 12 month aged wheel

5:28 Considering Mike detests cheese, I’m happy to hear he can be cool with it. Or maybe it’s just on camera lol

I recently read a great book called A Cheesemonger's Guide To The British Isles, which is a super good read to learn about cheesemaking like how Ebbers explained the parmesan! I highly recommend for any cheese loving sorted fans :D

The outtakes at the end keep getting better!

I’ve never clicked faster on a video

Love parmessan cheese, not going to buy a 50pounds of it... but maybe try it once? I think could change things a little but alone, like with the more premium ingridients if you cant buy it "regularly" maybe try it alone, experiment and share it

Man... I love the bloopers. 😂😂😂 I like how Jamie make Barry spat his water

That extra scene. XD I love all you guys but there's a reason Jamie is my favorite XD

Guga: "Fat is flavor!" So yeah, the minced beef having a different fat percentage doesn't make it a good comparison. Then again, if price point is the only difference and the ingredient is considered the same as long as it's marketed in the same way, I suppose that's the missing preface that we should have in mind before heading into these videos...

The beef feels like a bit of a cheat since 95% lean is a massively different ingredient from 80% lean. I think doing it again but with the same fat level would be good

Love watching you all!

I’d loved to see a video about supermarket meal deals maybe even challenge yourselves to chef them up maybe using your favourite meal deals and turning them into a cheffy dish using the items themselves. LOVE YOUR VIDEOS

Comparing a 5% fat mince with a 20% fat mince is pretty pointless. Unless you put Kobe on the 5% one, everybody will pick the 20% version, its just gonna be better in basically every way, as mike pointed out. It will be more flavourful (especially in a bad comparison like a Köfte, which has way too many spices) and jucier.

So clever to invest in something that will make the dish stand out and then use other, cheaper ingredients as a filler.

This has always been a really fascinating series to watch and I'm super happy you guys dive into all the other info beyond flavour like animal welfare and the environment. Its been so interesting watching these and learning how complex the issues are. As someone on a budget its also made me think a lot about my purchases not just from flavour, but in whether I'm happy with the ethics behind certain products and if its still worth buying cheaper. Thank you for using your platform not just to entertain us, but to make us better consumers

These are my favourite videos right now! And poker face 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻❤️❤️❤️❤️

Comparing pastry with butter and no butter does not rub me right, I would prefer to see normal non-vegan version, if you compare something vegan to non vegan I'm sure that in 9 out of 10 the non vegan will be more rich due to animal fats. Just like the guys pointed out "be is premium cos i fell butter". So I would love to see vegan to vegan comparision.

love the video but cant really compare a vegetarian puff pastry with an all butter one, surely?

Oh the Blooper today was GOLD 🥇🐮😂

Love Barry's hair, going for a Veronica Lake, "peek-a-boo" look? I love these comparison shows. We did a honey sampler taste test, from lightest to darkest and were surprised by the preferences we each had.