Easter eggs Cracking tips to help you avoid shelling out

There are still good deals to be had despite soaring cocoa costs ramping up the price of popular treats. Rupert Jones and Hilary Osborne report

- Rupert Jones and Hilary Osborne report

Are you going to be handing over more cash for less Easter egg this year? You will need to have your wits about you to bag a bargain - or at least not get ripped off- as the surging cost of cocoa has pushed up the price of popular Easter eggs from many big brands, and some have shrunk, too.

But experts at the consumer group Which? say there are still ways for savvy shoppers to get a good deal on their Easter chocolate.

Check the weight

Easter eggs typically come in boxes, and it can be hard to see what you are getting for your money. To get the best value, look at the unit price - those little figures that show the cost per 100g. Also check the small print telling you what is inside.

This is especially important if you are putting them into an online shopping basket, as some retailers are marking eggs as "medium" that others describe as "small".

Among the fanciest eggs, there are some eye-popping per gram prices. One of the priciest by weight is Pump Street's 180g Madagascar Milk 58% Chocolate Easter Egg. It costs £44, which works out at £24 per 100g. Fortnum & Mason's 227g Handmade Milk & Dark Chocolate Easter Egg costs £50, or £22 per 100g. The research on this was done by the digital PR agency JBH.

Shop around

That may sound obvious, but with some popular eggs, the price differentials are a lot bigger than you may think.

Take the Milkybar white chocolate small Easter egg (72g), for example. Up until a few days ago, Asda was selling this and a number of other smaller eggs for 98p each as part of its Rollback price cuts campaign. At the time of writing, the retailer was offering it for £1.48, while Poundland was asking for £1.25. At Tesco and Morrisons it was £1.50, but at Ocado it was £2.