Is Philadelphia cream cheese worth it?

[JollyPearlShaker]

Be honest, mums - is Philadelphia cream cheese actually worth the extra money? I keep going back and forth! Trying to decide if it's a worthwhile treat or just clever marketing

I eat Aldi cream cheese constantly with pretzels. It's 69p or something so no brainer. The low fat one is ok too they do a garlic and herb roule which is good for spreading on crackers but very strong! I've not tried baking with the Aldi cream cheese but it should be fine.

Thanks for this. Never knew a dairy free alternative existed!

Yes yes and yes

I tried the cheaper stuff cos you know, money
And the difference was big...
Well worth the extra money

No. It's ultraprocessed with stabilisers. Better to just get plain soft cheese with no added crap.

You won't get better than Longley farm cream cheese. same goes for their cottage cheese

Philadelphia is rubbish. You want Paysan Breton if you like a slightly saltier one, or duchy organic for your regular cream cheese.

Asking the REAL questions here...

A "worthwhile treat"? It's Philadelphia, not caviar

Philadelphia: Full Fat Soft Cheese, Salt, Stabiliser (Guar Gum), Acid (Citric Acid)

Aldi: Full Fat Soft Cheese (𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐤), Salt, Stabilisers: Guar Gum, Carrageenan; Citrus Fibre.

1. some people find cold, brackish little balls of fish oil unpleasant

2. snobbery is unattractive. Branded soft cheese is a realistic treat for far, far more people than caviar. But you know that.

@sprigatito not remotely snobby, I'll eat cream cheese as much as the next person. The point I was making is that branded or otherwise, it's not exactly what I'd class as a treat food. And as others have pointed out, from an ingredients perspective, Philadelphia is hardly the best either.

Love it on my bagels

I prefer to buy Philadelphia over Aldi and Tesco own brand soft cheese. It tastes nicer, and the texture is lovely. It's usually on offer in Tesco :-)

Thinking of Boursin now.

For eating on crackers or bagels, yes! But for baking/sauces/etc - just get the supermarket's own.

I think it’s Asda that’s the cheap decent one.

For some people, buying the more expensive version of a basic item because they prefer it to the cheaper version is a treat. Surely you know that?

We have actually just stopped using Philadelphia cheese after looking at what was in it. It’s not just creamed cheese it’s got other stuff in it too so we’ve swapped to other brands which are 100% cream cheese only and nobody has noticed the difference so far

Paysan Breton is the bee's knees.

The own brand stuff tends to have limited ingredients so that is one where I think own brand is better.

No. I don’t understand why people bother paying the price when every supermarket does their own.

I’ve tried most of the cream cheeses and have settled on M&S.

It's ultra-processed whereas many own brands are not, so no.

This agree LIDL is far superior at half the cost

Nope. Supermarket own brand cream cheese for us. We also make homemade Dairylea dunkers by dolloping the cream cheese on a plate and adding some supermarket own brand mini breadsticks. The kids prefer it.

Tesco and M&S own brand cream cheese ingredients: milk, probably other store's own brands will be the same.