Cheese: decent supermarket offerings vs specialist shop

[RockingMyFiftiesNot]

Prompted by cheese featuring in lots of chats on the Christmas board....

We always have cheese & biscuits Christmas Evening, remaining cheese to snack on Boxing Day.

I normally just buy cheese from the supermarket. One of our neighbouring towns has a specialist cheese shop, and so I thought I might 'buy local' this year Googled and their cheese starts at £4 for 150g cheddar , £5.50 and upwards for 100g brie.

I have no doubt that they will be amazing and you'll definitely be able to taste the difference. But £££ given how much cheese we eat. it got me thinking that there has to be an in between option.

I normally buy a range of the supermarket's own brand , but am aware they stock a range of brands at various price points.
We do the usual mix (hard, soft, in-between, blue, something a bit different)

What are the best tasting cheeses you have bought from supermarkets? (we have access to all major uk chains)

What specialist cheeses is it worth adding in from the independent cheese shop?

And while I'm on, same question about biscuits/crackers:. Best I ever had were a gift. They were from a garden centre, absolutely gorgeous but v expensive. Any recommendations for 'better than bog standard supermarket but cheaper than garden centre artisan' crackers ?

Thank you.

Morrisons own 'Wensleydale blue' is made at the hawes creamery and is lovely they also sell Yorkshire creamery cheddar which is good.

Lidl sells the same Stilton as Fortnums at Christmas, but for significantly less. A Vacherin will be excellent wherever you buy it if you let it ripen nicely, and they can be bought from supermarkets - I’ve even seen them reduced although not at Christmas.

@Rapidtango have you tried Crofton from Thornby Moor Dairy near Carlisle...unbelievably good. I also love Cotherstone (not far from where we live) and I'm going to treat myself to a Teesdale box at Christmas I think...just a small one, just for me 😋

Don't think you can beat Cambazola Blue from a supermarket, if you've never tried it.

Also, I do think the Wookey Hole cave aged Cheddar has a lovely, unique flavour.

I'll second PP's recommendation of Snowdonia Cheese's Black Bomber - definitely the best cheddar. I'm also a big fan of Perl Wen (brie type) and Perl Las (blue) from Caws Cenarth. Pant-Ys-Gawn is a very nice soft goat's cheese.

Not sure which supermarkets stock them as I generally buy them from the deli, but I think Waitrose might.

Miller's crackers are lovely. Tesco's had them last Christmas.

Also these crackers from Waitrose. Love them.

Waitrose have in previous years done regular good discounts on their Christmas range over November and December, which usually includes cheese biscuits. Definitely worth keeping an eye out. We got half price Millers and Fudges biscuits last year.

So many great suggestions, thanks so much

Manchego from M&S. I'm not a cheese aficionado but I tried Manchego from Sainsburys (didn't like it and never bought again) but I like the M&S one.

Miller's Harvest Three-Nut Crackers - they definitely tastes of nuts.
www.waitrose.com/ecom/products/millers-harvest-three-nut-crackers/543678-311181-311182

At the cheaper end of the scale, Jacobs High Fibre cream crackers have a more substantial texture/taste than standard cream crackers.
www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/lunchbox-snacking/jacobs-cream-crackers-high-fibre-200g

I also like the Scottish rough oatcakes from Aldi.

uncertainalice, weirdly, DSis lives about 5 miles from Crofton and keeps saying we need to go (she gets their cheese often). Will definitely visit next time I'm over.

Teesdale cheesemakers, I love 'Doris' and their goat cheese.

'Doris
A dales style cheese, crumbly in the middle with a soft edging.
Doris is named after Grandma on the farm, who's chicken money helped buy the first quality cows.'

Doris is definitely on the Christmas cheeseboard list then, sounds exactly the kind of thing I like. I've not been up to Thornby Moor, think I'd be like a kid in a sweet shop...but as they do mail order it doesn't matter; I discovered them during lockdown as they were really struggling - I think they mostly sold direct to the hospitality trade before then, and of course the business disappeared overnight, they were talking about having to sell the milking herd...but somehow they held on. We do really well for local cheese up here don't we, we're very lucky.

We get ours from our monthly farmers market, we get a good mature cheddar, a few flavoured cheddars, buffalo ,ewe's and goats cheese hard and soft . Then we get our blues which will include a stilton, a blue brie plus any that takes DH's fancy. It's not unknown for them to be still waiting to be eaten until march

'We do really well for local cheese up here don't we, we're very lucky.'

We sure do - possibly all the rain.......... We've just had a piece of Appleby dairy ewe's milk cheese with lunch - very nice.

I've had cheese from specialist shops and the farmers market ... to be honest there's not that much difference! What there is is a wider variety. Waitrose and sainsburys have good selections at our local branches. The key to good cheese is to serve at at least cellar temperature (10-12 degrees) rather than from the fridge and a good rounded red wine

Our go to cheddar is the slightly crunch extra mature one from Lidl (their posher range black trimmed package) great to bulk out posher cheeses

M&S have some delicious cheese. I really like their Douc de Montaigne

Peters Yard crackers are exceptional, I would go to the artisan cheese place and ask for advice and get some tasters, love love love a god cheese selection

There's cheese and there's cheese. If you want some advice and something a little out of the ordinary go to the cheese shop. Just get a couple to add to the usual stuff you get from the supermarket. They are pricey, but the shop will probably let you taste before you buy.

I like Peters Yard crackers too, and they're often on offer at Waitrose.

Snowdonia black bomber
East of england co op stock local East anglian cheeses
They are amazing

The Lidl manchego is lovely

Kaltbach creamy is available on the waitrose cheese counter and is delicious.