Do you have a cheap vs steep idea for us next? Let us know below.... Here's more cheap vs steep videos ua-cam.com/play/PLfItiEY3o1mum1ngUXhQ5b3rmTZu_ZHXC.html
Got an idea, given we're in the festive period (and because I got a shop-made version of something like this recently) - What about Cheap vs Steep "Vegetarian Wellington" edition? I've made one years ago which was basically a nut roast in pastry, and just saw in Asda a Mushroom Wellington for two. Lot of options for premium vs cheap veggies.
Taste in chocolate is subjective. Its kinda like coffee- some people like the added milk and sugar better then the stand alone. To me 80% probably would have been perfect-of course I also regularly chomp on Unsweetened Bakers Chocolate bars(100%) as I dont like how sweet the 56% bars are for munching. My dad at one point yelled at me thats gross but then I gave him a piece and he's now team 100%😂😂😂.
@thornback5641 When I was young, I took a bite of the bakers chocolate thinking I found a treat in the pantry 😂. Yuck 🫢. I can go 80% that's about all! Merry Christmas JO JO
@@thornback5641 Since childhood I have preferred dark chocolate over milk chocolate, which I find to be too sickly sweet. But I have learnt that anything over 75% is too bitter for my taste.
@@mrbarrylewis actually thats a fantastic idea! also you know how there's a bunch of different pan "technologies" or even just glass/metal/aluminum etc would love to see how that would affect a recipe
I first discovered you with your first Ashens collabs (and Barshens, bless 🙏) and binged all the Cheap vs. Steep. The growth in quality from MVK is huge!
For the best, fluffiest sponge you want cake flour, not just your plain or self-raising flour. If there's no cake flour in your supermarket, check the World Foods aisle for "mąka tortowa" in the Polish section. I think the 80% dark chocolate was too rich for you, Barry - but I would have loved it.
Just goes to show you can have nice things using cheap. Cheap doesn’t mean bad quality clearly. Love your videos Barry you’ve helped me through some bad times.
I'm willing to bet the flour in the steep played a big part of how that sponge was different. Also the cocoa powder not having all those additives. Would be cool to see you go back and substitute the few ingredients to come to possibly a middle ground, aka goldilocks list of ingredients.
Golden icing sugar is the best! It's all I could get last year for icing for my gingerbread house. It had the subtle golden colour and tasted slightly caramel-y. Stonkin'!
I would be fun to have some eps trying to find out which ingredients are worth the splurge or getting the middle range option. Like I think buying the expensive canned tomato is a HUGE difference when making soups or sauces. The expensive baking soda on the other hand... The extra ingredients you're left will might also be more expensive for some as they won't finish 24 eggs before they go bad. Sometimes the smaller, but more expensive packets are a better option.
i was looking for a recipe of a chocolate log and ever since i saw your instagram post about it that i started wishing for monday to come. Thank you Barry!
No worries, I really don't think the expensive ingredients were better at all, maybe the eggs helped with a better sponge slightly, but honestly, it's all good! Good luck!
With higher price single-source chocolates like that they usually conch the chocolate for less time so you don't lose the aromatics and stuff like that from the mixture like you do when you need to compensate for mixed quality of beans, and the alcohol taste would be from the fermentation of the beans
It was a Winter Solstice tradition to bring in a tree, and to burn a fire all night long, "Mother's Night", and await for the Sun to return. It is a Pagan tradition that was adopted by Christians for Christmas. Loved this, I am making a Yule Log to Yuletide!
Nice job on the yule logs! I love dark chocolate but don't like expensive ones. They always seem grainy to me. Trivia: Yule logs were large, long logs. One end is placed in the (large) fireplace with smaller pieces of wood to start. As it burns you push the log further into the fireplace. Think it was so you would have a continuous fire burning through Christmas eve and day. Without having to chop wood (and work on Christmas)
The cheap one looked nicer in appearance too I think. I love these steep vs cheap video’s though, those and the 4,3,2,1 videos are my absolute favourites!
I think that Billingtons icing sugar is basically representing the yellow snow parents warn kids not to eat, and is the log on which a dog did a wee... :P
I'm not. That's the point to prove just because it is more exspensive, does not mean it makes better product. Don't waste money on overpriced ingredients that do nothing to enhance the end result. You will find just making stuff from scratch at home is always better. I have found that some things are better quality that comes with that price tag but most of the time it's the same exact stuff put in a different package and sold for higher prices just for more profit
Nice - wish you'd do a simple roast chicken comparison between the cheapest chicken (which are really cheap) and a free-range organic chicken (which are really pricey) - I'd love to know how different they are roasted.
This is ace! I love these cheap v steep but I’m just about to make our Yule log and am so pleased I can get away with using trusty Aldi! Merry Christmas to you all xxxx
@@mrbarrylewis hope you and the family have a happy holidays. Thank you again for all the entertainment in 2023. Also I'm hyped for the return of Barshens too. I hope 2024 brings plenty of success.
I was so happy when I saw a new video with you two, they’re my favorite 💜 and I just lost my dog so I need something nice to distract me for a little while 🥲
Looks yummy! In a previous video, i heard you wonder why you don't mix all the flour in with the butter and sugar. The butter will coat your flour and your cake will not rise as high. By combining the butter with the sugar first, that stops it from blocking your cake from rising to great heights and thus a fluffy crumb!
Well in the case of this cake yes…because it’s similar to a Genoese sponge . But for ordinary sponge cakes I make an all in one variation which rises perfectly and is light as a feather. 🙂👍
Barry I went into my local Sainsbury’s to get a tin of Celebrations that cost £5.50 and then when I was in Waitrose I saw the exact same chocolates at £10 a tin. Ridiculous isn’t it.
Barry we are onto you. You saw the regular icing sugar at the expensive store and were dying to make yellow snow jokes. That’s the only reason to buy golden icing sugar…😂
Ooh! I get the Clarence Court eggs (but from Abel & Cole) and Billington's golden caster sugar. They're both lovely. I can really recommend that Billington's glacé cherries too, because they taste really lovely.
having had home raised eggs for years as a child, i know there's a BIG difference, however, it's much like guitars, the individual differences get lost in a mix, so, it takes a bit more difference to be noticeable. as to the alcohol flavour of the fancy chocolate, cocoa beans are fermented for several days, the good chocolate is fermented a bit longer.
UA-camrs Rhett & Link of Good Mythical Morning recently did one of these with cheap ingredients vs expensive and I made sure to leave a comment letting them know Barry Lewis already been doing these forever and has the perfect name Cheap vs Steep 😜
This will help you. 1) Get high-quality cake flour. 2) Get your favorite chocolate no matter if it's expensive or not. 3) Get duck eggs if you can. It's a baker's secret weapon. 4) Get a quality butter. It doesn't have to be the most expensive. Just higher quality. These are the key ingredients that will make this recipe great.
$3.80 in US dollars!! For all those ingredients? Ok, can someone in the UK mail me my groceries from now on? We can barely even get a bag of flour for less than 3 dollars.
Something that would be nice is if you took the parts from each that you like the most to make the ultimate one - like the sponge from the steep and the frosting from the cheap.
My mum’s just asked me to find her a recipe for a baileys chocolate log. Guess I could add some baileys to the cream and maybe the batter in place of some of the liquids? Maybe I’ll treat her to the steep ingredients too, seeing as it’s Christmas and all!
@@mrbarrylewisthe ones I found said just the cream, but I’m sure a glug or two in the batter wouldn’t hurt! Will let you know how it goes. A cheap vs steep recipe with alcohol would be interesting to see as the prices and quality of alcohol vary so so much. Interesting to see if it would affect the taste in cooking.
It would be cool to know how many times you could make the recipe with the purchased ingredients, like how many cheap logs could you make with the cheap ingredients? Make the most of that valuuuuue!
Great video. Did you know that even rspca free range chickens only have a shoe box size of cage or land to stand on. 😢 Most are just in sheds and never see the light of day.
I would probably use the same ingredients as the cheap version if I wss making that recipe, the only thing I might do is buy some of the more expensive dark chocolate from the cheap supermarket and mix it with the basic one for a best of both worlds approach. Oh, and I would use salted butter because salt makes things taste good. I think the fancy eggs and butter might be wasted on a cake, but nice for scrambled/poached eggs and the butter for eating with posh bread.
barry make a gingerbread on steep vs cheap and also buy one from a shop like tesco and see if the difference from say a cheap made or shop is same as what you would make it???
Barry check out the Hoof GP he operates out of Scotland. He works on cows for beef mainly but the care requires are going to be similar for dairy. Even if they aren't outside they are well treated. Farmers do care about the life of their stock. They don't want their livestock sick or injuried. There is the Iowa Dairy Farm who keeps dairy cows indoors and the cows are well cared for and in good condition. They aren't covered in manure and spend a lot of time laying down chewing cud which is a sign of a happy cow. I think chickens honestly have it harder in a factory egg farm. Eggs i try to get free range or local farm.
The thing is, when you're raised in certain brands, you'll prefer those over anything else. So it's really just based on where you've come from on a financial scale. 🎉
The problem with your cheap vs steep is that 1) you're conflating price with quality, and 2) some of the more expensive items may not taste better but may be better for the environment, the animals, and/or your health. So for something like baking powder, absolutely by the cheapest. But maybe it's worth it to buy organic if it's something that is normally grown with lots of pesticides. I think most of your steep items are just more expensive, not better, e.g., sugar. But I'm surprised at the chocolate because I've found significant differences in chocolate between the high quality and the cheap stuff. I don't know if you matched the percentage of chocolate -- if you didn't, then 80% (rather than the 60-70% in most dark chocolate) chocolate might be a little too bitter for what you wanted and that might explain why you didn't like it as much.
It's not that the eggs are cheaper when you buy them directly from the supplier, it's that the supplier gets to keep ALL the money in the sale, whereas a supermarket selling at RRP skims a hefty percentage due to buying at a cheaper price in bulk from the supplier. In the end you will pay the same price, but the supplier will make a lot more money from the same sale.
Do you have a cheap vs steep idea for us next? Let us know below.... Here's more cheap vs steep videos ua-cam.com/play/PLfItiEY3o1mum1ngUXhQ5b3rmTZu_ZHXC.html
Try eclairs!❤❤❤❤❤
Cool! Quite similar to this in some ways but could be interesting the effect of the eggs on the choux@@danielsantiagourtado3430
@@mrbarrylewisMy thoughts Exactly
Got an idea, given we're in the festive period (and because I got a shop-made version of something like this recently) - What about Cheap vs Steep "Vegetarian Wellington" edition?
I've made one years ago which was basically a nut roast in pastry, and just saw in Asda a Mushroom Wellington for two. Lot of options for premium vs cheap veggies.
Maybe a pie? I am thinking the meat should make a difference?
Steak pie
Chicken and leek /mushrooms
Maybe cheap Puff Pastry vs. Expensive 😊
I think 80% dark chocolate is too strong. That’s probably why your steep chocolate tasted bitter. My favourite pastry chefs recommend using 70%.
Taste in chocolate is subjective. Its kinda like coffee- some people like the added milk and sugar better then the stand alone. To me 80% probably would have been perfect-of course I also regularly chomp on Unsweetened Bakers Chocolate bars(100%) as I dont like how sweet the 56% bars are for munching. My dad at one point yelled at me thats gross but then I gave him a piece and he's now team 100%😂😂😂.
@thornback5641
When I was young, I took a bite of the bakers chocolate thinking I found a treat in the pantry 😂.
Yuck 🫢.
I can go 80% that's about all!
Merry Christmas
JO JO
@@thornback5641 Since childhood I have preferred dark chocolate over milk chocolate, which I find to be too sickly sweet. But I have learnt that anything over 75% is too bitter for my taste.
@@joanneganon7157 I did that too!
I love dark chocolate. Agree over 70% is bitter and grainy.
I love this series. An idea could be to do “cheap v steep” with appliances. Will a more expensive baking pan make any difference in a recipe?
That's a great idea
@@mrbarrylewis actually thats a fantastic idea! also you know how there's a bunch of different pan "technologies" or even just glass/metal/aluminum etc
would love to see how that would affect a recipe
So, what we've concluded for a choccy log is; Steep for the sponge, cheap for everything else. Banger.
It's a Christmas miracle Mrs B agreed with Barry 😂
Could you do a 'cheap vs steep' cheesecake please?
I first discovered you with your first Ashens collabs (and Barshens, bless 🙏) and binged all the Cheap vs. Steep. The growth in quality from MVK is huge!
For the best, fluffiest sponge you want cake flour, not just your plain or self-raising flour. If there's no cake flour in your supermarket, check the World Foods aisle for "mąka tortowa" in the Polish section.
I think the 80% dark chocolate was too rich for you, Barry - but I would have loved it.
Just goes to show you can have nice things using cheap. Cheap doesn’t mean bad quality clearly. Love your videos Barry you’ve helped me through some bad times.
Always interesting to see these comparisons ! And I think a homemade Bûche 🪵 de Noël is amazing cheap or steep !❤🎄
Oh that is a great idea!
This is a great series, so simple but Important. Nice one mate.
I'm willing to bet the flour in the steep played a big part of how that sponge was different. Also the cocoa powder not having all those additives. Would be cool to see you go back and substitute the few ingredients to come to possibly a middle ground, aka goldilocks list of ingredients.
Golden icing sugar is the best! It's all I could get last year for icing for my gingerbread house. It had the subtle golden colour and tasted slightly caramel-y. Stonkin'!
I would be fun to have some eps trying to find out which ingredients are worth the splurge or getting the middle range option. Like I think buying the expensive canned tomato is a HUGE difference when making soups or sauces. The expensive baking soda on the other hand... The extra ingredients you're left will might also be more expensive for some as they won't finish 24 eggs before they go bad. Sometimes the smaller, but more expensive packets are a better option.
I love seeing Mrs B cooking with you Barry another fantastic bake. Have a wonderful Christmas
Such great videos with you two. Thanks for the content and Happy Holidays to your fam.
You and mrs b make an amazing combo! Love this series and chocolate! Suggestion: make chocolate eclairs next time! 🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫
Thanks
@@mrbarrylewis np
i was looking for a recipe of a chocolate log and ever since i saw your instagram post about it that i started wishing for monday to come. Thank you Barry!
No worries, I really don't think the expensive ingredients were better at all, maybe the eggs helped with a better sponge slightly, but honestly, it's all good! Good luck!
Merry Christmas ro You and and the Fam in advance Barry, the colour of those expensive eggs was eggsellent
Golden syrup - now I have to go buy some for my crumpets 😂😂👏👏👏👏
Love Mrs Bs sweater love the matching antlers!❤
With higher price single-source chocolates like that they usually conch the chocolate for less time so you don't lose the aromatics and stuff like that from the mixture like you do when you need to compensate for mixed quality of beans, and the alcohol taste would be from the fermentation of the beans
Those look delicious! Love this series 🎉🎉🎉🎉❤❤❤❤
It was a Winter Solstice tradition to bring in a tree, and to burn a fire all night long, "Mother's Night", and await for the Sun to return. It is a Pagan tradition that was adopted by Christians for Christmas. Loved this, I am making a Yule Log to Yuletide!
Nice job on the yule logs! I love dark chocolate but don't like expensive ones. They always seem grainy to me. Trivia: Yule logs were large, long logs. One end is placed in the (large) fireplace with smaller pieces of wood to start. As it burns you push the log further into the fireplace. Think it was so you would have a continuous fire burning through Christmas eve and day. Without having to chop wood (and work on Christmas)
I really like these videos! Such a great idea, thank you!
You're welcome, think it was suggested by someone on here a while back, always good fun
The cheap one looked nicer in appearance too I think. I love these steep vs cheap video’s though, those and the 4,3,2,1 videos are my absolute favourites!
Love the cheap vs steep vids!
I think that Billingtons icing sugar is basically representing the yellow snow parents warn kids not to eat, and is the log on which a dog did a wee... :P
hah yes one of the most important rules!
They both look delicious. I'm again surprised the cheap won
I'm not. That's the point to prove just because it is more exspensive, does not mean it makes better product. Don't waste money on overpriced ingredients that do nothing to enhance the end result. You will find just making stuff from scratch at home is always better. I have found that some things are better quality that comes with that price tag but most of the time it's the same exact stuff put in a different package and sold for higher prices just for more profit
I was just looking at chocolate log cake recipes, is this a sign? 🤣🤣
haha maybe!
Luv Mrs B, videos, great one today, thank you for sharing.
I love 80% dark chocolate 😋🍫Both chocolate logs look delicious 😋🪵Thanks Barry n Mrs B 🤗🎅🎄
5:19 Boston looks like "yeah, I know, no need to rub it in".
Nice - wish you'd do a simple roast chicken comparison between the cheapest chicken (which are really cheap) and a free-range organic chicken (which are really pricey) - I'd love to know how different they are roasted.
This is ace! I love these cheap v steep but I’m just about to make our Yule log and am so pleased I can get away with using trusty Aldi! Merry Christmas to you all xxxx
Some of your best videos imo.
Noice!
@@mrbarrylewis hope you and the family have a happy holidays. Thank you again for all the entertainment in 2023.
Also I'm hyped for the return of Barshens too. I hope 2024 brings plenty of success.
Been wanting to make this forever! Maybe this is the year🎄
My fave series ❤
Cheers for all video,s this year, 👍
Suggestions on Cheap vs Steep:Beef Wellington, fish and chips, or tiramisu 🤓
Also, loving the new version of last christmas😂🎉
Merry Christmas to your family
Nice one Barry!
Nothing better than a tin of syrup....with a dead and festering lion on it. 😉
I was so happy when I saw a new video with you two, they’re my favorite 💜 and I just lost my dog so I need something nice to distract me for a little while 🥲
I miss this series
A chocolate log for christmas is a French tradition.
Looks yummy! In a previous video, i heard you wonder why you don't mix all the flour in with the butter and sugar. The butter will coat your flour and your cake will not rise as high. By combining the butter with the sugar first, that stops it from blocking your cake from rising to great heights and thus a fluffy crumb!
Well in the case of this cake yes…because it’s similar to a Genoese sponge . But for ordinary sponge cakes I make an all in one variation which rises perfectly and is light as a feather. 🙂👍
That's Chef Excellence on the steep flour
I love chocolate log!
Both looked yummy
5:50 i think you need to pick the same percentage of the dark chocolate
Hi Barry and Mrs. B I love the sweaters happy holidays to you and your family ⛇
They look delicious 🎉.
Great Job ❤.
Merry Christmas Barry and Mrs B🎄🌟🎅🧑🎄🤶.
JO JO IN VT 🇺🇲💞☃️
Oooh tiramisu!!!
Barry I went into my local Sainsbury’s to get a tin of Celebrations that cost £5.50 and then when I was in Waitrose I saw the exact same chocolates at £10 a tin.
Ridiculous isn’t it.
Barry we are onto you. You saw the regular icing sugar at the expensive store and were dying to make yellow snow jokes. That’s the only reason to buy golden icing sugar…😂
Ooh! I get the Clarence Court eggs (but from Abel & Cole) and Billington's golden caster sugar. They're both lovely. I can really recommend that Billington's glacé cherries too, because they taste really lovely.
having had home raised eggs for years as a child, i know there's a BIG difference, however, it's much like guitars, the individual differences get lost in a mix, so, it takes a bit more difference to be noticeable. as to the alcohol flavour of the fancy chocolate, cocoa beans are fermented for several days, the good chocolate is fermented a bit longer.
Can i eat both please??? 😂 Thanks for the video guys, merry Christmas!
UA-camrs Rhett & Link of Good Mythical Morning recently did one of these with cheap ingredients vs expensive and I made sure to leave a comment letting them know Barry Lewis already been doing these forever and has the perfect name Cheap vs Steep 😜
I want to see Barry do cheep vs steep but with own brands from Waitrose.
This will help you.
1) Get high-quality cake flour.
2) Get your favorite chocolate no matter if it's expensive or not.
3) Get duck eggs if you can. It's a baker's secret weapon.
4) Get a quality butter. It doesn't have to be the most expensive. Just higher quality.
These are the key ingredients that will make this recipe great.
Hey Barry. Bit late but have you and mrs B do e the cheap versus's steep catapillar cake i.e aldi vs waitross?. Xx
$3.80 in US dollars!! For all those ingredients? Ok, can someone in the UK mail me my groceries from now on? We can barely even get a bag of flour for less than 3 dollars.
I must say Tom Parker cream and especially their chocolate milk is much better than any other brand I have experienced
Sorry Barry golden icing sugar as now 🤣🤣 Does that mean it has yellow snow?
Something that would be nice is if you took the parts from each that you like the most to make the ultimate one - like the sponge from the steep and the frosting from the cheap.
My mum’s just asked me to find her a recipe for a baileys chocolate log. Guess I could add some baileys to the cream and maybe the batter in place of some of the liquids? Maybe I’ll treat her to the steep ingredients too, seeing as it’s Christmas and all!
That sounds awesome was gonna ask if the Baileys was in the cream or in other bits too!? Sounds great!
@@mrbarrylewisyep
@@mrbarrylewisthe ones I found said just the cream, but I’m sure a glug or two in the batter wouldn’t hurt! Will let you know how it goes. A cheap vs steep recipe with alcohol would be interesting to see as the prices and quality of alcohol vary so so much. Interesting to see if it would affect the taste in cooking.
@@alexdavis5766 You could do it like Black Forest cake, and soak the baked roll with a few tablespoons of Baileys before putting the cream on.
@@rolfs2165 ooo I love that idea! Thank you!
Barry and gang merry Xmas and happy new year 2024
The whole thing with the cream reminds me of the "asbestos free cereal" it's like an advertising thing to make other brands look bad
I think you should make a supersize one Barry 😊
It would be cool to know how many times you could make the recipe with the purchased ingredients, like how many cheap logs could you make with the cheap ingredients? Make the most of that valuuuuue!
Next time u should make the mushrooms 🍄 to decorate with.
Tom Parker’s is 2.1 miles from my home. They are an excellent company and their cows are treated exceptionally well.
pavlova roll is what us summer kiwi,s do at xmas
*cries in American grocery prices*
I think I remember chocolate logs. Was born in the UK.
Id love to see fresh vs frozen or organic vs wonky
Lol in america a log is just the roll not cut like a branch. It's a log cause it looks like a log of wood!😂🎉❤
Great video. Did you know that even rspca free range chickens only have a shoe box size of cage or land to stand on. 😢 Most are just in sheds and never see the light of day.
I would buy that if it was in the shops compared to the naff stuff in stores.
Tee hee! "home made chocolate log"
I would probably use the same ingredients as the cheap version if I wss making that recipe, the only thing I might do is buy some of the more expensive dark chocolate from the cheap supermarket and mix it with the basic one for a best of both worlds approach.
Oh, and I would use salted butter because salt makes things taste good. I think the fancy eggs and butter might be wasted on a cake, but nice for scrambled/poached eggs and the butter for eating with posh bread.
barry make a gingerbread on steep vs cheap and also buy one from a shop like tesco and see if the difference from say a cheap made or shop is same as what you would make it???
Do the expensive sponge and cheap fillings
Did that last bit count as an "out" for Whamaggedon?
Barry, you didn't fold your flour in. Mrs B did. That's why your mixture had so many bubbles
Barry check out the Hoof GP he operates out of Scotland. He works on cows for beef mainly but the care requires are going to be similar for dairy. Even if they aren't outside they are well treated. Farmers do care about the life of their stock. They don't want their livestock sick or injuried. There is the Iowa Dairy Farm who keeps dairy cows indoors and the cows are well cared for and in good condition. They aren't covered in manure and spend a lot of time laying down chewing cud which is a sign of a happy cow. I think chickens honestly have it harder in a factory egg farm. Eggs i try to get free range or local farm.
The thing is, when you're raised in certain brands, you'll prefer those over anything else. So it's really just based on where you've come from on a financial scale. 🎉
The difference between granulated sugar. Caster sugar and icing sugar.
Is about 5 seconds in an electric blender 😉
Is your steep always organic?
Take the steep spong and the cheap icing and put it together and it will be perfect
We also pay extra for the expensive brand name
Only cocoa powder I use is Hershey’s. Here in America, we call those Yule log’s.
Is it me or is their posh posh flour cost around the same as our cheap flour in the states? I feel cheated 😂
The tinned syrup is the best. Even their bottled version doesn’t compare.
Nice singing Barry
😮 England is really more expensive than the Netherlands 😮
Yey! A new video!
Cheers hope you enjoy :) Spoiler, we ate a lot of chocolate log for the last few days lol
@@mrbarrylewisSounds amazing 😊😊😊😊
Golden syrup is nothing like corn syrup! Golden syrup is made from sugar, corn syrup from corn starch and they taste completely different
The problem with your cheap vs steep is that 1) you're conflating price with quality, and 2) some of the more expensive items may not taste better but may be better for the environment, the animals, and/or your health.
So for something like baking powder, absolutely by the cheapest. But maybe it's worth it to buy organic if it's something that is normally grown with lots of pesticides.
I think most of your steep items are just more expensive, not better, e.g., sugar. But I'm surprised at the chocolate because I've found significant differences in chocolate between the high quality and the cheap stuff. I don't know if you matched the percentage of chocolate -- if you didn't, then 80% (rather than the 60-70% in most dark chocolate) chocolate might be a little too bitter for what you wanted and that might explain why you didn't like it as much.
It's not that the eggs are cheaper when you buy them directly from the supplier, it's that the supplier gets to keep ALL the money in the sale, whereas a supermarket selling at RRP skims a hefty percentage due to buying at a cheaper price in bulk from the supplier. In the end you will pay the same price, but the supplier will make a lot more money from the same sale.