If you’d like to add a little speculaas treat to a school lunch, choose a biscuit with a chocolate coating and decide on the portion in advance. Check the ingredients and allergens on the packaging you choose, too. A speculaas chocolate bar is a different product, and you’ll need to keep an eye on the portion size there as well. For the lunch itself, the Netherlands Nutrition Centre recommends choosing mainly foods from its Wheel of Five, such as wholemeal bread, fruit and vegetables.
If you’d like to take a biscuit along with your usual lunch, look specifically for speculaas with a chocolate coating rather than a chocolate bar containing pieces of speculaas. Decide at home how many biscuits to pack, even if the packet contains more.
Wheat, milk and soya are among the relevant ingredients in the chocolate-coated speculaas products described here. Some bars also carry warnings about the possible presence of nuts or peanuts. So check the label on the exact variety you’re packing for school.
If you want to make sure a sweet snack doesn’t replace lunch, the Netherlands Nutrition Centre’s advice offers a good starting point: choose mainly foods from its Wheel of Five for school lunch, and treat chocolate-coated speculaas as an optional extra.
First decide what you’re packing for lunch and what product you’re looking for as an extra: a speculaas biscuit with chocolate or a chocolate bar containing speculaas. Then check the portion size and the label on the variety you’ve chosen.
| What to consider | What to check when buying | Who is this most important for? |
|---|---|---|
| A defined portion | Check how many biscuits are in the packet and decide how many to pack. | If I’m taking a biscuit alongside my lunch, I want to decide in advance how many to pack. For around 40% of consumers, portion size comes first. |
| Allergens and ingredients | Read the ingredients list and any warnings about possible cross-contamination on the packaging you’ve chosen. | If a pupil needs to avoid certain ingredients, I want to know what’s in the product before buying it. Checking allergens is the main concern for around 30% of consumers. |
| Biscuit or bar | Check the product description to see whether it’s a biscuit with a chocolate coating or chocolate containing speculaas or biscuit pieces. | If you’re expecting a speculaas biscuit, you don’t want to choose a chocolate bar with pieces of speculaas by mistake. For around 20% of consumers, the type of product is the deciding factor. |
| The lunch as a whole | Put the lunch together and, if you’re adding a treat, compare its portion size and nutritional value. | I want to make sure the treat doesn’t replace my usual lunch. Around 10% of consumers see the lunch itself as their first priority. |
Lotus Biscoff describes its product as speculoos with 22% chocolate. By contrast, Albert Heijn’s product information describes white chocolate with 8% speculaas, while Jumbo describes the Verkade bar as milk chocolate with 10% biscuit crumbs. So seeing the word ‘speculaas’ on the front doesn’t tell you which product is the main ingredient.
Read the product description before comparing portions or nutritional values. If the pupil wants to take a biscuit with a chocolate coating, look specifically for that.
The biscuits and bars mentioned don’t all have the same ingredients or allergen information. The Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority says that allergens which must be declared need to be clearly distinguishable on the label.
Check the ingredients list and any warnings on the packaging you actually choose every time you buy a product, especially if an allergen needs to be avoided.
According to Lotus Biscoff’s product information, its chocolate speculoos contains 39,6 g of sugars and 13,3 g of saturated fat per 100 g. The Albert Heijn and Verkade bars described list 58 g and 55 g of sugars per 100 g, respectively. These figures are for 100 g of product, not a portion you’ve chosen in advance.
Put the lunch together first. The Netherlands Nutrition Centre suggests options such as wholemeal bread, fruit, vegetables and water for school lunch. Only then decide whether to add a little treat.
ALDI features speculaas and chocolate in its Sinterklaas range, among other products. Lidl says its Mister CHOC Speculoos creamy is available in store only. Product pages like these don’t tell you what will be available in a particular shop when you visit later.
Check the latest store information if you’re looking for a particular product. If you choose an alternative, read the label again: a product with a speculoos flavour isn’t automatically a chocolate-coated speculaas biscuit.
The products below show why the format matters: a biscuit with a chocolate coating, a bar containing speculaas and plain speculaas aren’t interchangeable.
Lotus Biscoff describes Speculoos met Chocolade as a speculaas biscuit with 22% chocolate.
According to Albert Heijn, AH Speculaas witte chocolade crunchy is white chocolate with 8% speculaas, in a 100 g bar.
Jumbo describes Verkade Speculaas Melkchocolade 135 g as milk chocolate with 10% biscuit crumbs and 0,25% speculaas spices.
Lidl lists Mister CHOC Speculoos creamy as a 400 g product available in store only.
ALDI lists Biscotto Bakkersspeculaas as a 600 g pack containing 48 biscuits.
No. Don’t use chocolate-coated speculaas as a replacement for lunch. For school lunch, the Netherlands Nutrition Centre recommends choosing mainly foods from its Wheel of Five, including wholemeal bread, fruit and vegetables. You could add a biscuit as an extra treat.
Check which product the description says is the main ingredient. Lotus Biscoff describes speculoos with 22% chocolate; Albert Heijn describes white chocolate with 8% speculaas, while Jumbo lists the Verkade bar as milk chocolate with 10% biscuit crumbs.
Check the ingredients list and any warnings on the packaging you’re buying. The Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority says that allergens which must be declared need to be clearly distinguishable on the label. Don’t rely on the label for a different flavour or variety.
Don’t assume they’ll be available every time you shop. Lidl lists Mister CHOC Speculoos creamy as available in store only, while ALDI also features speculaas and chocolate in its Sinterklaas range. Check the latest store information and make sure the product you find is actually the type of biscuit you want.
