Aldi crowned cheapest supermarket

Food prices soared over the last year and more of us switched supermarkets to save money with Aldi taking the crown for the cheapest supermarket of the year.

Every month consumer group Which? (opens in new tab) check hundreds of thousands of prices on grocery items across eight big supermarkets to find the cheapest place to shop.  

The supermarkets it checks are Aldi, Asda, Lidl, Morrisons, Ocado, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose.

Lidl kicked off last year as the cheapest supermarket holding the title from January to May, but from June to December Aldi was consistently the cheapest supermarket.

The Which? supermarket test checks out the price of a basket of 48 basic grocery items including bread, eggs, tea bags, coffee and milk along with a larger trolley load with 149 items.   

Special offers are included in its number crunching – but not multi-buys.

Cheapest basket of goods in December

In December Aldi was the cheapest supermarket with a basket of goods costing an average of £81.63.  

Next cheapest was Lidl at £83.24 while Waitrose was over £30 more expensive at £112.61.

Reena Sewraz Which? Retail Editor said: “With food and drink prices putting huge pressure on household budgets, it’s no surprise to see many people turning to discounters like Aldi and Lidl when our research shows they could save up to £31 on a typical shop”.

Based on a saving of £31 a week - this could mean an annual saving of over £1,600 for households who switch from the most expensive supermarkets to the discounters.

Cheapest trolley load in December

Which? also number crunch prices of a wider range of 149 food and household products. 

This includes the original basket of 48 items along with over a hundred other items including branded products like Colgate toothpaste, Andrex toilet paper and Cathedral City cheddar.   

Aldi and Lidl are excluded from this price comparison because these branded items aren’t stocked on their shelves.

Asda came out tops in this price check with its overall trolley cost at £355.62.     

Here’s how the rest of the supermarkets stacked up.

How to cut the cost of your supermarket shopping

As well as making sure you shop at the cheapest supermarket - there are lots of other ways to save on the cost of your food bill.  

You can find lots more tips on ways to save in our article on how to cut the cost of your weekly food shop.