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The cheapest supermarket revealed - a third cheaper than the priciest.
Aldi named UK's cheapest supermarket - and wins a huge haul of quality awards

Aldi has triumphed in a Grocer price league table, ranking six of Britain's biggest supermarkets. The magazine regularly surveys supermarket prices, but it doesn't usually include Aldi. In its report on Sunday it included the budget chain - and it dominated - identified as the cheapest for 31 of the 33 items.

The magazine looked at prices at Aldi, Asda, Morrisons, Tesco, Sainsbury's and Waitrose. Aldi was an impressive £10.68 cheaper than its nearest rival, at £40.28.

Second place went to Asda. It has held on as the cheapest of the large traditional supermarkets, but evidence from this study suggests that the gap is narrowing. After the test shop, Asda was just £1.10 cheaper than Morrisons.

The mystery shopper was therefore able to go online after their shop and use the Price Guarantee to get a voucher for £2.59: the guarantee promises to refund the difference if Asda isn't at least 10% cheaper. It's a reflection of how Morrisons has been slashing prices in an effort to compete more effectively.

Fourth place went to Tesco, which was initially priced at £53.90, and reduced to £52.06 with an instant refund through the Brand Guarantee scheme. It's a useful illustration of how although the Brand Guarantee can secure a discount, it's no guarantee that you're not paying more for your unbranded shopping.

Sainsbury's was a distant fifth at £57.95, and Waitrose came in as the priciest at £61.64 - more than £20 more expensive than Aldi.

Quality?

The traditional supermarkets would argue that they are charging a fair price for high quality. However, Aldi has silenced on this front too, by beating all-comers in the Grocer's Own Brand awards.

It took home 19 gold medals, while Lidl and Tesco managed an impressive 12 each, and Asda scooped 9. Further down the table Marks & Spencer only managed five golds, The Co-operative three, Iceland two and Morrisons One.

Aldi's golds included prizes for cheddar, cereal, pizza and tomatoes. It also picked up 21 silver medals. This came hot on the heels of news on Friday that it was offering the most affordable of the International Wine Challenge winners too.

Given that Lidl got the joint-second biggest haul of gold medals for the quality of its own brands, it's a shame it was not included in the price comparison by the magazine. However, when we compared prices for our Christmas special, Aldi and Lidl were neck-and-neck on almost every item, (except Aldi sneaked under the wire with a particularly keenly-priced Christmas pudding). It means it's well worth trying both of the discounters to see what you think of their own-brand items - and where you could save the most.

But what do you think? Are you tempted by high quality and cheaper prices? Or are you attached to your traditional supermarket?

Story from here
http://money.aol.co.uk/2016/05/16/the-cheapest-supermarket-revealed-a-third-cheaper-than-the-pri/?icid=maing-grid7%7Cuk%7Cdl11%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D459922

There are items mentioned in the article which certainly wouldn't appear in my shopping basket

All the best Jan

Love Aldi. We start our shop there. Use my supermarket.com to find the other items we need at the cheapest price from Asda / Morrisons then finally Sainsbury's for a few items we can't get any where else.
Fresh food cheap. Super 6 can be fantastic. I buy their peppers, chop them up then freeze for omelettes and stuff like that.

I do an occasional shop at Aldi always good value for the money, biggest problem is the parking it's that popular nowadays

graham64 wrote:I do an occasional shop at Aldi always good value for the money, biggest problem is the parking it's that popular nowadays

Have you noticed the 4 wheel drives increasing?

Mrs Vimes wrote:Love Aldi. We start our shop there. Use my supermarket.com to find  the other items we need at the cheapest price from Asda / Morrisons then finally Sainsbury's for a few items we can't get any where else.
Fresh food cheap. Super 6 can be fantastic. I buy their peppers, chop them up then freeze for omelettes and stuff like that.

Now that is a great idea " I buy their peppers, chop them up then freeze for omelettes and stuff like that."

I think more and more people are beginning to realise we do have more choice available to us and their are cheaper fresh foods that we can buy, eat and enjoy  

All the best Jan

Mrs Vimes wrote:

graham64 wrote:I do an occasional shop at Aldi always good value for the money, biggest problem is the parking it's that popular nowadays

Have you noticed the 4 wheel drives increasing?

Yep not only 4 x 4s some expensive Mercs and BMWs too

Back in the day, I had a Waitrose and Sainsburies where I worked, and a Morrisons (used to be Safeway) where I lived.

Mainly I used the Waitrose because of the quality - although I could buy some things cheaper in the others it wasn't worth the extra time queueing.

Here we only have a Co-Op. Friends bought a bunch of stuff in the Co-Op then drove to the Tescos in a nearby town and bought the same stuff. Tescos worked out more expensive. Quite a surprise.

In other nearby towns we also have a Morrisons and a Waitrose, but guess what? We have not one but two local butchers, not one but two local greengrocers and a horde of farm shops, which is where most of my food comes from.

Chris said:
" We have not one but two local butchers, not one but two local greengrocers and a horde of farm shops, which is where most of my food comes from. "

I think you are fortunate ... although more and more supermarkets are including a 'market' type stall section or fresh meat/fish section in their supermarket, if they have the space.

I do enjoy visiting Farmers Markets, and farm shops, but if I can't I have started to use the fresh meat and fish counters far more than I used to at my nearest supermarkets. I have found that most of the fresh ingredients I buy this way are often a little cheaper than the pre-packed 'fresh' produce... the staff are usually very helpful and yes, you may need to wait a few moments or so to be served but I think it's worth it.

I can remember my parents always used to shop around and take time to compare prices, it is something that people do not seem to do so much these days ... perhaps it's lack of time?

Of course if you shop online you may be able to use food comparison price sites?

I have not yet used any supermarkets for online shopping - have any other readers?

All the best Jan

When we lived in Surrey the farm shops were very expensive and I suspect much of what they sold wasn't local at all. The system works well here as the food is around the same price but more of the money goes to the producers since there aren't all the middlemen and shareholders taking their cut.

When Tescos were angling for a big store here one of their "unique selling points" was hat they would provide local produce. Many people pointed out we could get that already. Experience from elsewhere suggested they would undercut the local shops until they had put them out of business, then jack their prices up once they had a monopoly.

Eventually they went away. Originally they had bought up some parcels of land other than where they intended to put their superstore - right next to the Co-Op - and threatened to keep them derelict until the council gave them planning permission. I believe they have now sold them on.

I think shopping is changing ...
The larger super-stores do not seem as popular as they used to be, and more people are choosing to shop at a smaller perhaps more local shop/store.

I do think bargains are available if you look and choose wisely, and are prepared to be flexible.

All the best Jan

The first superstore I remember was Carrefour, on the outskirts of Bristol. In those days there were Gateway - a west country speciality - and Fine Fare, and a lot of the small shops were VG, Mace or another chain I can't remember. Then there was International Stores, previously Home & Colonial, and what is now ASDA was still Associated Dairies. 

I think there's a geographical difference - or was, both here and in Shropshire there were still a lot of small shops which had virtually gone from Surrey and Sussex and were replaced by various chains like Martins and W H Smith. And Superdrug.

If local shops are coming back into favour this can only be a good thing.