Lurpak VS Dunpak VS Butterpak

I recently started using Lurpak after researching into the healthiest spread/butter options. I found buying butter each week was expensive but I wanted to have butter rather than Margarine. We were using Flora Light margarine as I found that it was the healthiest option and had no Trans Fat. Me and Lewis both decided to switch to Lurpak because it was more like butter and cheaper to buy than blocks of butter. 

When Lurpak isn't on offer it is actually quite expensive and when making white sauce you're using quite a lot of an expensive product. So I wanted to find an alternative and saw Tesco offer their own version, Butterpak. We've been using Butterpak for about 2-3 months now and honestly didn't notice a difference besides price. Lurpak cost £3.75 for 500g, on offer usually £3. Tesco own version, Butterpak, cost £2.20 for 500g; they even offer a Light version. 

Lurpak Light ingredients consist of:

Blended Spread 57% (32% milk fat & 25% rapeseed oil). Water and Salt

Butterpak Light consist of: 

57% (32% milk fat and 25% vegetable oil). Water, Vegetable Oil, Salt (0.9%).

The ingredients are practically the same except for the type of oil used, Rapeseed oil contains the least amount of Saturated fat (the bad one). 

Comparing them nutritionally:

Nutrient	Butterpak Light per 100g		Lurpak Light per 100g
Energy kJ	2,124kJ		2121kJ/
Protein	0.3g		0.3g
Carbohydrate	0.3g		0.4g
of which sugars	0.1g		0.4g
Fat	57.0g		57g
of which saturates	22.0g		22g
Salt	0.9g		0.90g

This reveals Lurpak has 0.3g more sugar than Butterpak but otherwise they are exactly the same. If you can taste the difference between rapeseed oil and vegetable oil I'd be very impressed. 

Now just this week I discovered Lidls do their own version, Danpak. I thought I might as well give it go considering it cost £1.89 for 500g.

The colour difference is very slight, the Dunpak is slightly whiter but the texture was a big difference. I found the Danpak hard to spread, I had to work it to make it softer and when I applied it to my toast; it didn't melt.. I've even had margarines that melt on my toast but this didn't melt at all. Which concerned me how much of this was actually butter. Taste wise, I couldn't tell too much on toast but when I had it in a sandwich it had that margarine taste, it even smelt like marg.

I checked the ingredients and was surprised how many there were, I knew instantly I'd not buy it again. I'll compare it against the Butterpak:

Nutrient	Butterpak Light per 100g		Danpak Light per 100g
Energy kJ	2,124kJ		2102kJ
Protein	0.3g		0.6g
Carbohydrate	0.3g		0.9g
of which sugars	0.1g		0.9g
Fat	57.0g		56.0g
of which saturates	22.0g		24.0g
Fibre	0.6g		<0.5g
Salt	0.9g		0.9g

Danpak Light is 32% unsalted butter (milk) Water, Rapeseed Oil, Palm Oil, 1% Reconstituted Buttermilk, Sodium Alginate, Diglycerides of Fatty Acids, Potassium Sorbate and Vitamin A & D. 

Now whether or not Lurpak and Butterpak just don't list the additives or Danpak has more than it needs; it's clear to see Danpak is not a good alternative. For starters it contains Palm Oil which I try best to avoid. It has more Carbs and more Sugar than Lurpak and Butterpak COMBINED. Although it is the only spread that actually contains butter, which might explain why it was harder to spread. I thought the taste was slightly off, I could tell the difference and sadly for having Palm Oil alone is enough to put me off. 

In conclusion I'd rather have the Tesco Butterpak as a cheaper alternative saving myself £1.50 compared to Lurpak without noticeable taste difference. I'd rather pay an extra 31p than buy Danpak again.