The most expensive supermarket for essentials since May is now the third cheapest supermarket behind Aldi and Lidl after cutting the cost of essentials by 15% since last week.
In our comparison of essential groceries, which looked at the cost of the same eight grocery stores since March 2022, Tesco was the most expensive for 18 consecutive weeks.
But that all changed this week after the retailer slashed the price of a 300g pack of chicken breast from £2.65 to £2.25, in line with Aldi Price Match.
Read more: Aldi customers ‘not surprised’ by findings over Tesco’s price matching
This means Tesco is now third cheapest for the essentials basket, which at £12.33 includes chicken as well as mincemeat, a two-litre bottle of milk, a loaf of bread, coffee, tea bags, butter and beans.
With a bill of £12.12, Aldi also took back the ‘cheapest’ supermarket crown from Morrisons, which held the award for three weeks in a row.
The More Card offer, which saw chicken reduced by 15%, has now ended, leaving the supermarket in fourth place at a cost of £12.45.
Lidl is just a penny away from Aldi, at £12.13, while Sainsbury’s this week changed the size of its chicken breast pack from 300g to 320g, making the comparative size slightly cheaper, and is now the second most expensive item at £12.54 happened.
Asda has unfortunately taken the title of most expensive, partly due to Tesco’s price drop but also because it increased the prices of two items this week.
The price of Just Essentials coffee has risen from 99p to £1 per jar, and butter has risen by 10p for the second consecutive week, meaning it is now the most expensive, with a block price of £1.89.
Asda says there are ‘a variety of reasons why prices of individual products fluctuate over time’ and emphasized that it was named the cheapest product at Grocer 33 again this week, despite rivals’ loyalty prices.
The retailer disagrees with our weekly comparison and says our small sample of products doesn’t represent the full picture of prices and doesn’t take their deals into account. The supermarket says its Just Essentials range is the largest and cheapest available next to Aldi.
An Asda spokesman said: “Asda is consistently recognized as the best value traditional supermarket in independent price comparison surveys, including the Grocer 33 basket comparison and the Which? monthly department store trolley comparison. This is despite these surveys now including loyalty pricing .
“As well as offering the lowest prices of any traditional supermarket, our customers can save even more by using the Asda Rewards app. The app gives them money back into their Cashpot every time they shop, which they can use to reduce the price they pay at the till. In less than two years since launch , Rewards are now redeemed by more than six million customers, saving more than £553 million in total.”
Aldi also disputes the results of our weekly comparison, saying it does not take into account similar products or the ‘higher quality’ of its products; This is something highlighted in this week’s Panorama survey.
For example, the supermarket says its beans are 20 grams heavier than Sainsbury’s and that Aldi tea bags are ‘of better quality than the comparative products used’.
An Aldi spokesperson said: “Our promise to our customers is that they’ll make significant savings every time they shop from Aldi, which is why we’re called Which? Cheapest Supermarket of the Year three years in a row. Which? It also named Aldi the UK’s Cheapest Supermarket every month this year, even in its latest analysis, including loyalty prices.”
The full list is as follows:
took
Loaf of white bread 800g – 47p
Milk 2 liters – £1.20
Coffee 200g – £1.99
Tea bags £160 – £1.85
Salted butter 250g – £1.79
Beans 420g tin – 28p
Chicken 300g – £2.25
Minced meat 500g 25% fat – £2.29
Total £12.12
Lidl
Loaf of white bread 800g – 47p
Milk 2 liters – £1.20
Coffee 200g – £1.99
Tea bags 240 – £2.79 / 160 equals £1.86
Salted butter 250g – £1.79
Beans 420g tin – 28p
Chicken 300g – £2.25
Minced meat 500g 25% fat – £2.29
Total £12.13
Tesco
Loaf of white bread 800g – 47p
Milk 2 liters – £1.20
Coffee 200g (2 x 100g) – £2
Tea bags 160 (2 x 80-pack) – £1.84
Salted butter 250g – £1.79
Beans 420g tin – 29p
Chicken 300g – £2.25 (less than £2.65)
Minced meat 500g 20% fat – £2.49
Total £12.33 (down from £12.73)
Morrisons
Loaf of white bread 800g – 47p
Milk 2 liters – £1.20
Coffee (2 x 100g) – £1.98
Tea bags 160 (2 x 80 pack Preservatives) – £1.60
Savers Salted butter 250g – £1.79
Beans 410g tin – 27p
Chicken 300g – £2.65 for 330g equals £2.41 for 300g (From £2.25 for 330g / £2.05 for 300g)
Minced meat 500g 25% fat – £2.29
Total £12.45 (from £12.05)
Sainsbury’s
Loaf of white bread 800g – 47p
Milk 2 liters – £1.20
Coffee 200g – £1.99
Tea bags £160 – £1.85
Salted butter 250g – £1.79
Beans 400g tin – 27p
Chicken 300g – equals £2.65 for 320g / £2.48 for 300g (less than £2.50 for a 300g pack)
Minced meat 500g 20% fat – £2.49
Total £12.54 (down from £12.56)
asda
Loaf of white bread 800g – 47p
Milk 2 liters – £1.20
Coffee 200g (2 x 100g) – £2 (from £1.98)
Tea bags 160 (4 x 40-pack) – £1.80
Salted butter 250g – £1.89 (From £1.79)
Beans 410g tin – 27p
Chicken 300g – £2.65
Minced meat 500g 20% fat – £2.49
Total £12.77 (from £12.65)