Aldi narrowly beat its competitor Lidl to be named cheapest supermarket of the year as grocery prices have risen by as much as 9% over the past 12 months, according to an annual survey.
According to the annual survey by consumer advice firm which? Aldi was the cheapest supermarket in six of the last 12 months, while Lidl was the cheapest supermarket in five months including December 2021.
For a month – January last year – Aldi and Lidl were tied, with a basket of 19 items available from both discounters for £18.45.
The? also tracked hundreds of thousands of food prices in the UK’s eight major supermarkets and found they were charging up to 9% more in December than in January last year.
The prices for a trolley with 19 items have risen by an average of 3.4% over the last year. Waitrose prices rose the most – up 9.2% – and Sainsbury’s the least, up 0.59%, according to Which? analysis.
Some own-brand foods rose more in price than others across all eight supermarkets, including Royal Gala apples (up 14%), free-range eggs (up 12%), brown onions (up 11%), skim milk (up 10%) and semi-skimmed milk (plus 9%).
Lidl, cheapest supermarket in 2020, offered shoppers the best deal in December at £23.29 for a basket of 22 groceries, compared to £23.64 at Aldi.
At £32.85, Waitrose was more than £9 or 41% more expensive than Lidl.
Waitrose was also consistently the most expensive supermarket over the 12 months, with a basket of essentials costing between £6 and over £10 more per month than the cheapest alternative, which? found.
The shopping list combined branded items such as Kenco coffee, Oxo bouillon cubes and PG Tips teabags with private label products including onions and milk, selected to ensure they were as comparable as possible across retailers on factors such as weight and quality.
The? also compared a larger trolley with a wider range of items not always available at Aldi and Lidl such as , Waitrose.
Waitrose was also the most expensive for the larger trolley every month except one in 2021.
The? Retail Editor Ele Clark said: “Nobody wants to pay too much for basic groceries, especially when a cost of living crisis is putting additional pressure on household budgets.
“Our results show that when prices rise, some supermarkets pass on their rising costs to shoppers more than others. As well as choosing an overall cheap supermarket, you can also save by switching from branded to private label products, sticking to a shopping list and resisting the temptation to grab unneeded specials.”
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