"To make bones grow stronger-er!" (Petit Filous Dessert Yoghurts)

Member Name: AmyAmy

Product:	Petit Filous Dessert Yoghurts
Date:	22/05/09 (32 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: taste, price, packaging

Disadvantages: not for all

Whilst on the forum site I use to gather addresses for autograph collecting, I stumbled across a thread about Julia Joyce. Joyce, who has played the young 'Billie Piper' in three different shows, is the face of Petits Filous, as seen in the TV adverts. It suddenly occurred to me then that, apart from Frubes, I'd never tried any of the Petits Filous products before. The little pots always intrigued me, though for some reason I never got round to buying them. So the next day I set out to see what I could find. It turned out the Petits Filous products were on offer so I bought two options in their range, keen to explore.

Petits Filous yoghurts are aimed at little kids, the range promoting strong bones with health benefits. There is a lot of competition out there when it comes to winning parents over to buy their range: Muller, Munch Bunch, even supermarket's own brands can be quite popular. So what puts Petits Filous above the rest? Well to start with there's the advert; a delightful short clip of children playing outside on an adventure of a lifetime, strong and healthy to do so because of their Petits Filous snacks. But the range offered from the brand is quite great too, with layered options, fromage frais and 'large pots'. One of the options I chose was the Petits Filous Little Desserts.

The last yoghurts I had eaten with 'dessert' in the title were the Weight Watchers dessert yoghurts. I found those to be incredibly sweet and quite a challenge so I was hoping that these would be more promising. The packaging itself was quite attractive. Six little plastic pots were joined together covered in what seemed to be a single shiny sheet. It was tinted with a pale lilac shade which faded into a luscious chocolate brown colour. In the centre there was a little vanilla splodge with a chocolate swirl to accompany it. It looked heavenly, I just couldn't wait to try them!

As expected, the two flavours available in the pack were chocolate and vanilla. I had expected three of each, but I was wrong. Turns out there were four chocolate options and only two vanilla options, which was a little disappointing; I've always preferred vanilla over chocolate. However I didn't knock it, still optimistic to try.

I snapped the pots apart and headed for the vanilla option first. On its own, the pots seemed a little bigger than they did at first which was promising. Peeling back the lid I was met with quite a thick looking deep yellow coloured yoghurt, resembling more of a banana flavour. When I drew it closer to me and took a deep sniff though it was clear that it was vanilla, with its delicious sweet smell -nothing too sickly or powerful, but nice and soft.

Taking my little teaspoon I shovelled some of the yoghurt into my mouth. Inspecting the texture, I wasn't surprised with what I found. It was pleasurably thick, yet not gloopy at all, which was delightful! As for the taste? Well it was quite sweet, but not in a sugary way. It reminded me a little of milky bar chocolate. Thankfully I love white chocolate so I was not in the slightest disappointed!

Needless to say, these little pots are not exactly as filling as a Muller or Activia, so I decided to give one of the chocolate options a try there and then too. This time when I peeled back the lid, before me was an incredibly deep brown yoghurt, which seemed a little thinner than the vanilla option, but not watery. Giving it a sniff, it seemed to have quite a sweet aroma too, but a little more rich, more like dark chocolate. I didn't have any idea what to expect from this one's taste!

When I spooned some of this into my mouth, I was a little taken aback by just how incredibly tangy this option was for being chocolate. It wasn't the sort of dark-chocolate-tangy but more like out-of-date-easter-egg tangy, as if the chocolate had been left out for a bit. Nonetheless it was quite cooling and a lot thicker than I had imagined!

Later on, I decided to give both the yoghurts a try together and scooped up a dollop from each, enough so that they didn't blend but were sat side by side. When I gave this a taste I was quite surprised at how overpowering the vanilla was - I was quite pleased that the chocolate flavour did not come through as much, since it wasn't overly nice, so this was definitely the way to eat them!

The yoghurts, being quite petite, were unlikely to have high nutrition factors for the average adult, but I wanted to give them a check anyway. Each 60g pot contains 90 calories and 12g sugars, as well as 3.18g fat. Considering they are quite sweet options, I wouldn't say that's too bad. They are suitable for vegetarians, and have no added colours or preservatives, which is quite reassuring. They are also a good source of calcium, as the advert says, to "help bones grown stronger-er".

As these are quite little, they can easily be popped into a lunch box alongside a little spoon and enjoyed at lunch time. My brother is in year two just now and at his school they are not supposed to have any 'junk food' in their packed lunches, ruling out chocolate, sweets and crisps galore. My brother can be a fussy eater at times but thankfully he likes his yoghurts so I am sure these would go down well with the school! They are a nice size and weight to be added to weetabix or other basic cereals such as cornflakes or bran flakes, to improve their flavour a little, but I would not recommend you eat it first thing in the morning,as it would be a tad too sweet! The corners are a little too sharp to be reused lots so I would suggest you simply dispose of it appropriately once finished with it. Other than that though they are quite useful little yoghurts!

This pack of six little delights are usually priced at around £1.60, which works out at just under 30p a yoghurt, not bad at all! I was lucky enough to find them on offer with two packs for £2.50 in Asda so I bought these alongside another, making each yoghurt just over 20p, which I feel is an amazing value for such a good quality product. They have a good shelf life too, lasting around three weeks after purchase.

These yoghurts are indeed quite unique. I can think of only one other product that they compare to, and that is the Dr Oetker Paula yoghurts, which are chocolate flavoured yoghurts with vanilla splodges through them. Although that cow design may be a little more appealing, these are certainly more practical, and if you have a preference with one flavour you can choose which here; with Paula you need to eat them together regardless. These are definitely the better option!

Petits Filous has impressed me greatly, and although the chocolate flavour was not for me, I imagine a lot of little kids will take a preference to it. They are good value and are quite healthy too! Aimed at children but great for adults, these tick all the right boxes and are well worth a try!

© Amy 2009

Summary: /