Sainsbury's Hot Cross Buns - Be Good to Yourself Review

You know Easter is around the corner when hot cross buns start featuring on the bakery shelves. I think they might even be lurking around most of the year, but they're especially noticeable now, in February. And who doesn't love a hot cross bun? 

My family sure do, so last week in Sainsbury's I hovered around the different varieties and contemplated whether to buy one from the Be Good to Yourself range or their regular offering. Not having time to check out the nutritional values, I grabbed a pack of the Be Good to Yourself hot cross buns hoping they were in some way 'healthier' than the regular. But are they? 

As Sainsbury's are signed up to the traffic light nutrition labels, you can quickly scan the front of the pack and see they have a green light for fat and saturated fat but yellow for sugar and salt. The Be Good to Yourself label is the most noticeable section on the front with 186 calories and 'less than 3% fat'  prominently displayed alongside. So it's all looking quite reasonable for a sweet bread snack.

Sainsbury's Be Good to Yourself hot cross buns

Sainsbury's Be Good to Yourself hot cross buns

Comparing the nutrition with the regular Sainsbury's hot cross buns, there is actually very little difference. Here's a summary of the differences below: 

Per Bun	Be Good to Yourself	Regular
Calories	186	200
Fat	2.0g	3.8g
Sugar	11.6g	12.0g
Protein	5.0g	4.7g
Fibre	1.9g	2.0g
Salt	0.3g	0.3g

 Looking at the nutrition comparison, it's hard to see what is 'good' about the Be Good to Yourself version. Sure, they have fewer calories, a whole 14 calories less per bun. The fat is almost half but the regular version is only just into the medium range. Sugar difference is negligible, with the Be Good to Yourself having just 0.4g less per bun. Protein and fibre difference is also negligible and salt is the same for both.

So when it comes to making a choice between the two, it really depends on taste. You're not being really 'Good to Yourself' by purchasing that version.  And as I only bought the Be Good to Yourself pack, I can't give any comparison on taste. I can say that no one complained when they ate them! 

The buns were nice and soft on the day of purchase but everyone decided to have theirs toasted. They smelled delicious too.

On a personal, note, I'm suffering with a long Covid symptom called parosmia where taste and smell becomes horribly distorted. There are many many foods I can no longer taste properly or tolerate, but strangely, toasted hot cross buns are something that smell exactly as I know they should. 

Sadly, I couldn't get much taste from them, but the family assured me they were nice, although they would have preferred a little more fruit. Incidentally, this is one of the reasons why the Be Good to Yourself version has less sugar than the regular hot cross buns, because they have less added dried fruit.

These two versions of Hot Cross Buns in Sainsbury's cost £1 for a pack of 6 at the time of writing.

Ingredients: (Be Good to Yourself)

Fortified British Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamine), Moistened Mixed Fruit (21%)(Sultanas, Raisins, Water) Water, Yeast, Orange and Lemon Peel (2%), Wheat Gluten, Sugar, Emulsifiers: Mono- and Diglycerides of Fatty Acids, Mono- and Diacetyl Tartaric Acid Esters of Mono- and Diglycerides of Fatty Acids; Maize Starch, Rapeseed Oil, Ground Mixed Spice (Cinnamon, Coriander, Clove, Nutmeg), Salt, Soya Flour, Flavouring, Palm Oil, Flour Treatment Agent: Ascorbic Acid.

Allergy Advice

Not suitable for customers with an allergy to milk, egg, barley, rye or spelt (wheat) due to manufacturing methods.

Nutrition per 100g:

Calories: 266 (186 per bun); Fat: 2.8g (2.0g per bun), Sat fat: 1.0g (0.7g per bun), Carbohydrate: 51.7g (36.2g per bun), Sugars: 16.5g (11.6g per bun), Protein: 7.1g (5.0g per bun)g, Fibre: 2.7g (1.9g per bun), Salt: 0.43g (0.3g per bun) 

Ingredients: (Regular)

Fortified British Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Moistened Mixed Fruit (25%) (Sultanas, Raisins, Water), Water, Yeast, Rapeseed Oil, Orange and Lemon Peel (2%), Sugar, Invert Sugar Syrup, Wheat Gluten, Maize Starch, Emulsifiers: Mono- and Diglycerides of Fatty Acids, Mono- and Diacetyl Tartaric Acid Esters of Mono- and Diglycerides of Fatty Acids; Palm Oil, Salt, Ground Mixed Spice (Cinnamon, Coriander, Clove, Nutmeg), Flavouring, Soya Flour, Flour Treatment Agent: Ascorbic Acid.

Allergy Advice

Not suitable for customers with an allergy to milk, egg, barley, rye or spelt (wheat) due to manufacturing methods.

Nutrition per 100g:

Calories: 285 (200 per bun); Fat: 5.4g (3.8g per bun), Sat fat: 2.1g (1.5g per bun), Carbohydrate: 51.0g (35.7g per bun), Sugars: 17.2g (12.0g per bun), Protein: 6.7g (4.7g per bun)g, Fibre: 2.9g (2.0g per bun), Salt: 0.43g (0.3g per bun) 

Supports Sustainable Palm Oil.