Best food and drink for Jubilee celebrations

With the Platinum Jubilee just around the corner, we've rounded up top supermarket picks to stock up on ahead of any parties, picnics or barbecues you might have planned.

From top-scoring burgers and sausages (meaty and vegan) to drinks, desserts and snacks - our independent consumer taste tests have uncovered the best-tasting and best value options in the shops to help you shop smarter this bank holiday weekend.

All our taste tests are conducted blind, so tasters don't know what brand they are trying, and in a rotated order, to avoid bias.

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Best beef burgers and pork sausages

• Finnebrogue Wagyu Burger, 77% - £4 for 2. Available from Ocado and Sainsbury’s.
• Aldi Specially Selected 6 British Pork Sausages, 76% - £1.99 for 6. Available from Aldi.
• The Black Farmer 6 Premium Pork Sausages, 76% - £3.05 for 6. Available from Ocado, Sainsbury's, Tesco and direct from The Black Farmer.

No bank holiday barbecue is complete without some top notch burgers and sausages, and our taste tests uncovered some superb supermarket bangers and burgers for a truly fabulous feast.

Finnebrogue's flavoursome wagyu burger was crowned the winner of our premium beef burger taste test, impressing tasters with its juicy texture and delicious flavour. At £4 per pack, it doesn't come cheap, but it's our top pick if you're going all out for the Jubilee celebrations.

There's no need to splash out when it comes to sausages though. Aldi's were rated some of the best by our panel of tasters, despite being the cheapest on test at just £2 per pack. 

They tied in joint first place alongside slightly pricier sausages from The Black Farmer, which earned a well-deserved Best Buy for their lovely porky flavour and succulent texture.

See the full results from our beef burger and pork sausage taste tests.

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Best vegan barbecue food

• Beyond Meat Beyond Burger, 73% - £3 for 2. Available to buy from Ocado, Sainsbury's, Tesco and Waitrose
• Garden Gourmet Sensational Burger, 71% - £2 for 2. Available to buy from Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury's and Tesco.
• Tesco Plant Chef 6 Cumberland Style Bangers, 71% - £1.75 for 6. Available from Tesco.
• This Isn't Pork Plant Based Sausages, 71% - £3 for 6. Available from Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsbury's and Tesco.
• Richmond 8 Meat-Free Sausages, 71% - £2 for 8. Available from Amazon, Asda, Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsbury's, Tesco, and Waitrose

Vegan alternatives have come a long way in recent years, so those on a plant-based diet needn't miss out on a great-tasting burger or hotdog.

Two brands came top in the battle of the plant-based patties. Beyond Burger took first place closely followed by Garden Gourmet. Both were rated a convincing meat substitute by the majority of tasters.

There's plenty of choice when it comes to great-tasting vegan sausages too, with three supermarket options sharing the top spot. Tesco shoppers are in luck, as its own-label Plant Chef offering not only got the thumbs up from tasters, but it's also great value at just £1.75 a pack. 

If you aren't near a Tesco, branded bangers from Richmond, and This Isn't Pork also scored highly, and are more widely available.

See the full results from our vegan burger and vegan sausage taste tests.

Head to our guide on plant-based meat alternatives to see how popular vegan alternatives such as tofu, tempeh and jackfruit compare

Best desserts and snacks

• Doritos Cool Original Tortilla Chips, 72% - £1.99 for 180g. Available to buy from Asda, Iceland, Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsbury's, Tesco and Waitrose.
• Sainsbury’s Tortilla Chips Cool, 71% - 95p for 200g. Available to buy from Sainsbury’s.
• Tesco Vanilla Ice Cream, 76% - £1.80 for 900ml. Available from Tesco.
• Asda Really Creamy Vanilla Ice Cream, 75% - £1.75 for 900ml. Available from Asda.

If you're grabbing some snacks for your Jubilee party, a bag of tortilla chips might be on your list to get the party started - but our taste test showed that some can be a letdown when it comes to that all-important crunchy texture and moreish flavour. 

Doritos are a safe bet, but if you want a cheaper alternative, Sainsbury's tortilla chips proved a hit with tasters  - and they cost half as much at just 95p a bag.

If you're finishing with ice cream and strawberries, rejoice - cheap supermarket own-labels triumphed on taste in our test. Tesco and Asda were the top-scoring tubs, with tasters rating them better on both flavour and texture compared to Carte D'or.

See the full results from our tortilla chip and vanilla ice cream taste tests.

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Best summer drinks  

• Sainsbury's Pitchers, 74% - £11.70 for 1 litre. Available from Sainsbury's.
• Asda The Great Summer Cup, 71% - £7.50 for 70cl. Available from Asda.
  
• Heineken 0.0 Alcohol Free Beer, 74% - 88p for 330ml. Available from Asda, Co-op, Iceland, Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsbury's, Tesco and Waitrose.
• Sainsbury's Gin & Tonic can, 77% - £1 for 250ml. Available from Sainsbury's.
• Tesco London Dry Gin & Tonic can, 75% - £1 for 250ml. Available from Tesco.

Pimm's may be the ultimate British summertime drink, but we've found that cheaper own-label versions can be just as tasty. We asked tasters to sample Sainsbury's Pitchers and Asda The Great Summer Cup alongside Pimm's in a blind taste test, and found little difference between them, with Sainsbury's just edging ahead overall. Both offer a sizable saving too, at around half the price of the original.

Own labels are also worth considering if you're stocking up on G&T tins too. £1 gin and tonic cans from Sainsbury's and Tesco outshone pricier options including Sipsmith and Bombay Sapphire in our taste test, proving that paying more doesn't always get you a tastier tipple.

If you're avoiding the booze, Heineken's alcohol-free beer makes a great substitute. It was the only beer judged worthy of a Best Buy, with the majority of tasters saying they'd be happy to drink it as an alternative to alcoholic beer.

See the full results from our alcohol-free beer, gin and tonic cans and Pimm's taste tests.

Looking for more summer drinks recommendations? Check out our best sparkling wine, best red wine, best rosé wine, and best gin guides to find out which bottles came top in our expert panel taste tests.

Note: Taste test scores are not comparable across categories. Prices correct as of 27 May 2022