We compared the prices of 41 popular groceries in March and found that the total cost would have been £72.54 at Aldi - that's just 25p less than at Lidl.
In the wider analysis, where we looked at 137 items across the six 'traditional' supermarkets, we found you could save £41.83 by shopping at Asda, rather than Waitrose.
Read on to find out how your supermarket compares in the analysis.
Cheapest supermarket for a basket of groceries
Every day in March, we checked the prices of 41 popular groceries, including Heinz baked beans, milk and tea bags, at some of the UK's biggest supermarkets to see how they compare.
The chart below shows how much our basket cost on average:
Aldi was the cheapest overall, with our shop costing £72.54, on average, beating rival discounter Lidl by just 25p - the narrowest gap for several months.
The same shop at Waitrose was £92.55, on average, making it £20.01 more expensive than Aldi.
Of the 'big four' supermarkets, Sainsbury's was the cheapest at £80.27.
Find out more:How do bigger shopping lists compare?
We also compared the cost of a larger trolley of 137 items (the original 41, plus 96 more).
This trolley included a larger number of branded items, such as Andrex toilet paper and Cathedral City cheese. You can’t always find these items in discounter supermarkets, so we haven’t included Aldi or Lidl in this comparison.
Asda cost the least with this trolley of groceries, continuing its long-running streak (which started in January 2020) as the cheapest 'traditional' supermarket. It cost £343.91, on average, for our big trolley shop, beating next-cheapest Sainsbury's (£353.16) by £9.25.
Waitrose was £41.83 more expensive than Asda, coming in at £385.74 for the same trolley of goods.
Find out more:
How Which? compares supermarket prices
We look at the prices of hundreds of grocery items at eight major supermarkets every day throughout the year, using an independent price comparison website.
For each supermarket, we work out the average price for each item across the month, then we add those up to get each store’s average trolley price. To keep things fair, we include special offers, but we don’t count multibuys or loyalty scheme discounts.
Our shopping list includes branded items such as Heinz baked beans and Dolmio sauce, as well as own-brand products, including apples and lettuce. Own-brand items won’t be identical across supermarkets, but we’ve used experts to ensure everything we’ve compared is as similar as possible, based on a number of factors, including quality and weight.
Find out more:
What's happening to grocery prices?
The latest results from Which?'s food and drink inflation tracker show the price of some everyday groceries has more than doubled over the past year.
We analysed inflation on more than 25,000 food and drink products at eight major supermarkets – Aldi, Asda, Lidl, Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose – to see how everyday product prices are being affected.
The tracker shows the annual inflation of popular food and drink was at 16.5% overall in the month to the end of February, across the eight retailers. While the inflation rates have dropped slightly among some high inflation categories – such as butters and spreads, which dropped from 29.9% in January to (a still eye-watering) 26.1% in February – it has risen across other essential categories. For example, inflation on vegetables rose from 11.6% to 13%, juice drinks and smoothies went from 13.4% to 15.1%, and cereals increased from 13.4% to 14.6%.
Find out more:Campaign update: supermarkets must do more
This latest price comparison shows that shoppers can make considerable savings on their groceries, depending on where they buy their food.
However, with even budget ranges and prices at the discounters rising significantly, we believe supermarkets must do more to help their customers. Which? has found that while some good practice exists, many of the major supermarkets have not done enough to support their customers during the cost-of-living crisis.
Retailers should be helping customers by making sure affordable basic ranges are available in all branches, including smaller convenience stores, as well as improving unit pricing (e.g. the price per 100g) on all products, so that customers can work out the best value.
While some of the supermarkets have engaged with Which? as part of its Affordable Food For All campaign, none have committed to making any significant changes. Which? is now calling on supermarkets to act by providing the support people around the country desperately need in order to keep food on the table during the ongoing cost of living crisis.
Do you want to see your supermarket take action?source https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/which-was-the-cheapest-supermarket-in-march-2023-aGn8e1X1kfuO