'Most expensive' supermarket now third cheapest behind Aldi and Lidl after 15% price cut on shopping essential

A supermarket that's been the most expensive for a basket of essentials since May is now third cheapest behind Aldi and Lidl after cutting the cost of an essential by 15% since last week.

In our comparison of basic groceries, which has looked at the cost of the same eight groceries since March 2022, Tesco has worked out the dearest for 18 consecutive weeks.

But this week it's all change after the retailer slashed the price of its 300g pack of chicken breasts from £2.65 to £2.25 in line with its Aldi Price Match.

Read more: Aldi shoppers 'not surprised' by findings over Tesco's price match

It means Tesco, at £12.33, is now third cheapest for the basket of essentials, which as well as chicken, also contains mince, a two-pint bottle of milk, a loaf of bread, coffee, teabags, butter and beans.

With a bill of £12.12, Aldi has also swiped the 'cheapest' supermarket crown back from Morrisons, which had held the accolade for three weeks running.

The More Card offer that had seen its chicken reduce by 15% has now ended, pushing the supermarket into fourth position, costing £12.45.

Lidl is only a penny apart from Aldi, at £12.13, with Sainsbury's, which has this week changed the size of its chicken breast pack from 300g to 320g, making the comparative size slightly cheaper, now the second most expensive at £12.54.

Asda has taken the unfortunate title of most expensive, partly because of Tesco's price drop, but also because it's increased the price of two products this week.

Its Just Essentials coffee is up from 99p to £1 a jar and butter has been hiked by 10p for the second week running, meaning it's now most expensive of them all, with a block costing £1.89.

Asda says there 'are a number of reasons why prices for individual products fluctuate over time' and highlighted that just this week, it was named the cheapest in the Grocer 33 again, even with its rivals' loyalty pricing.

The retailer disagrees with our weekly comparison and says that our small sample of products does not represent the fuller picture of prices and does not account for its deals. The supermarket says that, across the board, its Just Essentials range is the largest and cheapest available, alongside Aldi's.

An Asda spokesperson said: "Asda is consistently recognised as the best-value traditional supermarket in independent price comparison surveys, including the Grocer 33 basket comparison and the Which? monthly big shop trolley comparison. This is despite these surveys now including loyalty pricing.

“In addition to offering the lowest prices of any traditional supermarket, our customers can make further savings by using the Asda Rewards app. The app gives them money back into their Cashpot each time they shop, which they can use to reduce the price they pay at the till. In less than two years since its launch, Rewards is now used by over six million customers who have saved more than £553m in total."

Aldi also disputes the results of our weekly comparison and says that it doesn’t take into account like-for-like products or ‘the higher quality’ of its products - something that was highlighted in this week's Panorama investigation.

For example, the supermarket says that its beans are 20g heavier than Sainsbury's and that Aldi tea bags are 'better quality than the comparative products used'.

An Aldi spokesperson said: “Our promise to customers is that they will make significant savings every time they shop with Aldi, which is why we’ve been named Which? Cheapest Supermarket of the Year for three years running. Which? has 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:

Aldi

Loaf of white bread 800g - 47p

Milk 2 pints - £1.20

Coffee 200g - £1.99

Teabags 160 - £1.85

Salted butter 250g - £1.79

Beans 420g tin - 28p

Chicken 300g - £2.25

Mince 500g 25% fat - £2.29

Total £12.12

Lidl

Loaf of white bread 800g - 47p

Milk 2 pints - £1.20

Coffee 200g - £1.99

Teabags 240 - £2.79 / equates to £1.86 for 160

Salted butter 250g - £1.79

Beans 420g tin - 28p

Chicken 300g - £2.25

Mince 500g 25% fat - £2.29

Total £12.13

Tesco

Loaf of white bread 800g - 47p

Milk 2 pints - £1.20

Coffee 200g (2 x 100g) - £2

Teabags 160 (2 x 80-pack) - £1.84

Salted butter 250g - £1.79

Beans 420g tin - 29p

Chicken 300g - £2.25 (down from £2.65)

Mince 500g 20% fat - £2.49

Total £12.33 (down from £12.73)

Morrisons

Loaf of white bread 800g - 47p

Milk 2 pints - £1.20

Coffee (2 x 100g) - £1.98

Teabags 160 (2 x 80-pack Savers) - £1.60

Savers Salted butter 250g - £1.79

Beans 410g tin - 27p

Chicken 300g - £2.65 for 330g, equates to £2.41 for 300g (up from £2.25 for 330g / £2.05 for 300g)

Mince 500g 25% fat - £2.29

Total £12.45 (up from £12.05)

Sainsbury's

Loaf of white bread 800g - 47p

Milk 2 pints - £1.20

Coffee 200g - £1.99

Teabags 160 - £1.85

Salted butter 250g - £1.79

Beans 400g tin - 27p

Chicken 300g - £2.65 for 320g / equates to £2.48 for 300g (down from £2.50 for 300g pack)

Mince 500g 20% fat - £2.49

Total £12.54 (down from £12.56)

Asda

Loaf of white bread 800g - 47p

Milk 2 pints - £1.20

Coffee 200g (2 x 100g) - £2 (up from £1.98)

Teabags 160 (4 x 40-pack) - £1.80

Salted butter 250g - £1.89 (up from £1.79)

Beans 410g tin - 27p

Chicken 300g - £2.65

Mince 500g 20% fat - £2.49

Total £12.77 (up from £12.65)