Why ARE we shelling out so much for Easter eggs? Thanks to soaring production costs they’re selling for up to £25 this year – but which one is best value for money?
Ah, Easter: time to eat hot cross buns, roast a leg of lamb and – if you plan on picking up chocolate eggs from any supermarket – take out a second mortgage.
Egg bloating is extreme; some seasonal treats are almost 50 percent more expensive than last year.
Not only that, but the eggs inside the brightly colored boxes also shrink in size, so you pay more per gram of chocolate.
The average cost of an Easter egg is now £3.27, up 9 per cent on last year, with some priced as high as £14 per 100g.
A combination of high cocoa prices, escalating electricity costs and a hefty shipping bill to cover the bulk packaging of eggs led to the sudden rise, as producers had planned to stockpile nine months ago.
So which Easter eggs contain more cardboard than chocolate? SARAH RAINEY counts down the worst offenders to avoid putting your car in this weekend…
Picture: Sarah Rainey tries out a series of adult Easter eggs
LUXURY ADULT EGG
Angry Toblerone
Egg Extra Large Milk Chocolate Easter Egg
Price: £15.50 for 286 grams.
Includes: One hollow milk chocolate egg with honey and almond nougat pieces and four miniature wrapped Toblerone chocolate bars.
This egg, with its eye-catching triangular box, has been on the market since 2023 (it cost just £12 back then). It has also shrunk in size since last year, when it weighed 298 grams.
Cost per 100g: £5.42
Lindt XL Milk Chocolate Eggs and Lindor Milk Truffles
Price: £22 for 348g chocolate.
Includes: One extra-large, hollow Swiss chocolate egg, plus 15 melty truffles in the center.
Lindt & Sprungli, which makes quality chocolate affordable, increased prices by 19 percent last year, passing on higher cocoa costs to customers. Milk chocolate egg contains only 30 percent cocoa solids, as well as cocoa butter, sugar, milk powder, emulsifier and flavoring.
Cost per 100g: £6.32
M&S Collection Single
Origin Dark Chocolate Egg
Price: £12 for 200g chocolate.
INCLUDES: A lonely, hollow dark chocolate egg.
This is dense chocolate made from 85 percent cocoa using cocoa mass from responsible sources. One of the cheaper options at M&S, where own-brand treats cost up to £20 for a 485g egg.
Cost per 100g: £6
Ferrero Rocher Golden Milk Chocolate and Hazelnut Egg
Price: £24.99 for 175g.
Includes: A hollow milk chocolate egg decorated with crunchy hazelnut pieces and six Ferrero Rocher chocolates.
This egg sold at Selfridges seems exorbitant (you’ll see it discounted at Waitrose and Sainsbury’s). Italian chocolate consists of 42 percent cocoa solids, but Ferrero Rochers themselves contain palm oil, making them a controversial choice. You can also buy a box of 16 for just £7.
Cost per 100g: £14.28
INNOVATIVE KIDS’ EGGS
Smarties Dinosaur Milk Chocolate Easter Egg
PRICE: £7 for 226g.
INCLUDES: A chocolate egg and two tubes of Smarties.
Adding the dinosaur theme seems like a smart marketing move to increase the price. Even better value is a regular Smarties egg, which weighs 188g and contains a tube of sugar, and costs just £3.50 at Waitrose.
Pictured: Smarties Dinosaur Milk Chocolate Easter Egg
Cost per 100g: £3.10
M&Ms Milk Chocolate and Peanut
Extra Large Egg
PRICE: £7 for 210g.
INCLUDES: One hollow milk chocolate egg, plus two 12-ounce bags of M&Ms
chocolates – one peanut and one plain.
Prices of M&M’s, part of the Mars Wrigley group, have been rising since last Easter and there’s no point in this ‘extra large’ egg: the wrapped chocolate egg inside is much smaller than the brightly colored box suggests.
Cost per 100g: £3.33
Image: M&Ms Milk Chocolate and Peanuts
Rowntree’s Randoms Incredible Easter Egg
PRICE: £14 for 380g
INCLUDES: Hollow milk chocolate egg decorated with fruit flavored jellies and
sweets as well as a sharing bag of Rowntree’s Randoms jelly beans.
Eggs are so full of sugar that the packaging warns that only one-fifteenth of a serving consists of chocolate. this one
Expensive option: A single 150g packet of sweets from Morrisons costs £1.10.
Cost per 100g: £3.68
Kinder Surprise Giant Easter Egg
PRICE: £17.85 for 220g.
INCLUDES: A large milk chocolate Kinder egg containing a plastic egg
Includes parts for a toy Harry Potter figurine that you can make yourself.
The Italian manufacturer specializes in thin-shell, milk chocolate.
This egg contains only 32 percent cocoa solids and high concentrations of milk powder, butter and vanilla flavoring. The price is hugely inflated, as a three-pack of 20g surprise eggs costs just £1.30 on Ocado.
Cost per 100g: £8.11
SEASONAL SHAPES
Kinder Milk Chocolate Easter Mini Figures
PRICE: £3.45 for 90g.
CONTENTS: Six 15g hollow shapes made of Kinder milk chocolate, foil wrapped to resemble spring farm animals.
Described as ‘the perfect basket filler for your little ones’, this Easter selection is still heavy on the packaging but light on the chocolate.
Cost per 100g: £3.83
M&S Charlie chick
PRICE: £2 for 30g.
INCLUDES: An innovative Easter chick made from Belgian milk chocolate.
This hollow chicken has been part of M&S’ Easter offers for a decade. The chocolate contains 31 percent cocoa solids and is made from sugar, milk, cocoa butter, vanilla flavoring and red pepper extract (to give the beak a bright orange color).
Pictured: M&S Chick Charlie
Cost per 100 grams: 6.67
Hotel Chocolat Milk Chocolate Big City Easter Bunny
PRICE: £11.95 for 150g.
INCLUDES: A large, hollow, rabbit-shaped chocolate bar; Does not contain bars or cheats.
Made from Hotel Chocolat’s responsibly sourced cocoa beans, this bunny contains 40 percent cocoa solids.
It comes in a transparent tube so you can see what you are getting. But this is not a bargain; The retailer is among those accused of increasing prices while downsizing chocolate.
Pictured: Hotel Chocolat Milk Chocolate Big City Easter Bunny
Cost per 100g: £7.97
Miniature Lindt Golden Rabbit
PRICE: 85p for 10g.
INCLUDES: A wrapped rabbit made of Swiss milk chocolate.
The iconic treat has been around since 1952, turning out a staggering 150 million every year. But prices have skyrocketed.
A 100g rabbit now costs £5, a 200g rabbit costs £8.50 and the massive 1kg version will set you back £75. But this smaller version, weighing just 10 grams, is by far the most expensive per bite.
Pictured: Miniature Lindt Golden Rabbit
Cost per 100 grams: £8.50
TREATMENT BAGS AND BOXES
Cadbury Creme Egg Multipack
PRICE: £4.25 for 200g
INCLUDES: Five chocolate eggs wrapped in foil, filled with a gooey fondant.
An Easter tradition since 1963, the size and price of eggs are hotly debated. In 2015, Cadbury caused chaos by reducing the number of eggs in a multipack from six to five, with little reduction in price.
Pictured: Cadbury Crème Eggs Multipack
Cost per 100g: £2.13
maltesers Milk chocolate Mini Rabbits
PRICE: £2.30 for 59g.
INCLUDES: Five Maltesers rabbits.
Rabbits are also available in larger sizes; these are sold individually (80p for a 29g rabbit) or in packs of five (£3.50). However, the bag for these miniatures is disappointing: most of the contents are plastic wrap.
Cost per 100g: £3.90
Image: Maltesers Milk Chocolate Mini Rabbits
Cadbury Mini Eggs
PRICE: £2 for 74g.
INCLUDES: Approximately 23 milk chocolate eggs with a crispy shell coating.
The treats are so popular that shoppers have been clamoring for them to be sold all year long. However, this year they were affected by both contraction (package sizes dropped from 80 grams to just 74 grams in 2025) and price increases, resulting in a 105 percent increase compared to pre-Covid prices.
You can now buy a family-sized bag (£6.20 for 256g) and an extra-large sharing bag (£22 for 1kg). For comparison, a Cadbury Mini Eggs bar weighs 110g and costs £2.
Cost per 100g: £2.70
Pictured: Cadbury Mini Eggs
Moo Free Caramel Mini Eggs
PRICE: £3.75 for 88g.
INCLUDES: Eight caramel-filled vegan chocolate eggs.
A dairy-free option, these are susceptible to the same price increases as regular chocolate because they contain cocoa mass and cocoa butter. A Moo Free chocolate bar will set you back £2.78 for 80g.
Cost per 100g: £4.26
