The cost of living crisis has sent prices spiralling, with many people cutting back on essentials to save money and pay skyrocketing energy and food bills.
In response, many supermarkets and other retailers have put special measures in place to help customers.
Here, Which? rounds up the types of offers you can find, and where you’ll find them, to help you save as much as you can this year.
Free and cheap meals
While ‘Kids eat free’ schemes weren't created as a direct response to the current crisis, some shops have expanded, tweaked or highlighted their children’s meal offers in light of it.
Currently, you can find meal discounts at the following supermarkets:
- Asda is running a 'kids eat for £1' offer that has no requirement to buy an adult meal at the same time. Over 60s can also get soup and a bread roll for £1. Both schemes have been extended and will now run until the end of March.
- Morrisons has a permanent 'kids eat free' offer for every adult meal purchased over £4.49.
- Sainsbury’s has ‘feed your family for a fiver’ advice, which provides customers with cheap meal ideas.
- Waitrose has reintroduced its hot drink offer in partnership with Caffè Nero for members of its myWaitrose loyalty scheme (which is free to join) – just remember to bring your own cup to avoid being charged for a reusable one. You need to make a purchase, but there is no minimum spend to get the free drink. myWaitrose members who download the Caffè Nero app can also get 25% off Caffè Nero's seasonal menus, a free Barista coffee at Caffè Nero branches when you link your myWaitrose card and make a purchase, and offers every month.
Find out more: which shop offers the cheapest meal deal
Listen: the Which? Money Podcast talks about how to save on food shopping.
Targeted discounts and vouchers
You might start to see targeted discounts from supermarkets, to provide help to certain groups of customers who need it more than others.
In Iceland, over-60s can get 10% off their shop on Tuesdays.
Since October, Sainsbury's has been topping up the government-funded NHS Healthy Start scheme by £2. The NHS scheme encourages a healthy diet for pregnant women, babies and young children under the age of four from low-income households.
Eligible customers in England who use a Healthy Start card when shopping at Sainsbury’s will automatically receive a printed coupon worth £2 to use towards fresh, frozen and tinned fruit and vegetables during their next shop. In November, Sainsbury's announced it will extend the Healthy Start coupon to Wales and Northern Ireland until 11 April 2023.
In addition, Sainsbury's has invested £550m in keeping its prices low over the next two years, £15m of which has been set aside specifically go towards fighting rising costs.
These are the only targeted discounts we know about so far, but we’ll update this story if we hear of any others.
- Find out more: which was the cheapest supermarket in 2022?
New or expanded value ranges
In the wake of food writer and activist Jack Monroe’s campaigning, many supermarkets announced they had expanded (or, in some cases, re-expanded) their value ranges to give low-income customers more options.
Pret A Manger introduced its first value range called Made Simple in January 2023, which is made up of eight freshly made sandwiches starting from just £2.99 each (depending on store location).
Iceland launched a Value Essentials budget range that includes everyday items such as bread, milk and fruit, as well as meal staples, while Waitrose told us its Waitrose Essentials range is the most extensive value range of any UK supermarket. It also introduced an initiative through which you could save up to 50% on grocery staples until 24 January.
However, Which? research in November found the price of supermarket own-brand and budget ranges have shot up on average by 18% year on year, compared to around 13% for premium own-brand ranges and 12% for branded foods.
That said, these budget lines still tend to be cheaper than branded and unbranded food and drink, so Which? believes supermarkets should do more to ensure they are widely available throughout all branches – including in smaller convenience stores.
Due to increased demand, budget own-label groceries might be more likely to sell out at the moment. We found that value products were out of stock on three times as many days from December 2021 to February 2022 than two years previously.
- Find out more: what's happening to supermarket food prices?
Price locks on essential items
With inflation getting out of hand, customers will be relieved to hear that some retailers are locking down prices on specific products for the foreseeable future.
- Boots says it will keep more than 1,500 products ‘affordable’.
- Currys locked down prices for several electrical items, promising RRPs lower than in 2021.
- Iceland has extended its £1 price freeze throughout 2023 across 600 frozen products. Since the discount was launched in 2022, 300,000 customers utilised the discount on a single day in December.
- M&S has pledged to keep over 100 items price-locked until 9 April.
- Morrisons has cut the price of 820 own-label and branded products by 20% on average for at least eight weeks.
- Superdrug has frozen prices on more than 5,000 own-label and branded everyday items.
- Tesco has locked the prices on over a thousand own-brand and branded items until Easter (April 2023).
Interest-free food loans
Iceland has launched an interest-free loan scheme to help families pay for groceries over the school holidays.
Iceland Food Club allows customers on a low income to apply for a pre-loaded card of between £25 and £100 (up from £75 when it first launched), with repayments set at £10 a week. However, it's important to understand that there are risks associated with taking out credit, so you should make sure you understand how repayments work.
Tips on cooking and budgeting
Asda has launched a selection of seven 'budget-friendly' recipes on its website designed to feed a family of four an evening meal each day for a week for under £20. The recipes incorporate Asda's Just Essentials range and include dishes such as tuna and tomato pasta, and chicken stew and rice.
Iceland has introduced new energy-saving cooking guidance on packaging from September in a joint partnership with energy firm Utilita.
Utilita's Shop Smart, Cook Savvy research claims households can save £287 by using more energy-efficient appliances, with air fryers, microwaves and slow cookers revealed as the most efficient.
Waitrose has also added a section to its website to showcase a selection of recipes that are under £2 a portion called Super Savers, such as chilli bean bowls with roasted cumin carrots or cheesy leek, chicken and pea pasta with chicken crumbs.
What else are shops doing to help with the cost of living?
There’s more going on behind the scenes. Supermarkets are donating money and food to charities to help people who are the worst off through the crisis, as well as sharing saving tips with customers.
Aldi has added a page to its website to showcase budgeting advice for customers, including money-saving tips and budget-friendly recipes for customers.
Lidl’s Good to Give trustmark highlights long-life items with nutritional benefits that can be donated to food banks. It also has a scheme it's running in partnership with Neighbourly, called Feed it Back, through which all its stores are connected with local charities, food banks, community cafès, and soup kitchens, where its surplus food is used.
Lidl customers can drop off new toys and games in its shops too, which will be collected by local charities participating in its Feed it Back initiative. To further support this, Lidl has committed £250k for charities during the 2022 festive period – including a £125k donation to the toy bank scheme.
But with inflation at a record high and energy bills expected to rise even further, you might still be struggling to buy what you need.
If you need help with food and essentials, you can search for your local food bank on the Trussel Trust website. You can contact food banks directly, or you can be referred to one by Citizens Advice, Jobcentre Plus, a social worker, a medical professional or your local authority.
Your local council might be able to help in other ways, through small loans or food vouchers.
You can read all our cost of living tips and advice for more help and guidance from our experts.
Which? calls on supermarkets to do more
Which? has launched an Affordable Food For All campaign after it found millions of families are skipping meals to survive the cost of living crisis.
In an innovative new study, undertaken with researchers from the Consumer Data Research Centre at the University of Leeds, we've identified 50 of the most at-risk areas for finding affordable food in the UK.
We're calling on supermarkets to commit to clear pricing, better access to budget ranges that enable healthy choices and more offers for those who need them most.
Do you want to see supermarkets take action? Sign the petition.
This article has been updated since it was first published. The last update was on 23 January.
source https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/what-supermarkets-and-shops-are-doing-to-help-with-the-cost-of-living-aNpUU5E5AbYr