The battle of the baskets has been won by Aldi which has been crowned the cheapest supermarket of the year by consumer watchdog Which?.
But the study also found families will be feeling the squeeze at the checkout as grocery prices have soared by 9% over the last 12 months.
Produce has been the hardest hit with Royal Gala apples up by 14%, followed by eggs which increased in price by 12%, onions were up by 11% and milk by 10%.
Which? tracked thousands of grocery prices over the last year from bread and butter to fruit and veg and found Aldi offered the best value for money in six out of 12 months last year, with Lidl the cheapest over five months.
The discounters tied with the same total of £18.45 for one month, the research revealed.
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It was November that helped Aldi pip its rival when a basket of 23 items came to £24.64 compared with £25.51 at Lidl.
But overall just 71p separated the two in a cut-throat price war with Aldi’s basket of an average of 20 items per month totalling £272.33 over a year, compared with £273.04 at Lidl.
Out of the so-called big four supermarkets, Asda trailed in third and Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons regularly switched fourth, fifth and sixth position.
But when it came to a bigger shop of an average of 80 products including big brands tracked each month at the major stores, Asda was the cheapest every month, followed by Sainsbury’s with Morrisons in third place and Tesco fourth.
Britain’s biggest grocer Tesco managed third place just twice over the year, the study found.
The discounters were excluded from the bigger trolley shop as some branded items such as Cathedral City cheddar cheese and Kenco coffee were not available.
Which? revealed food inflation was the lowest at Sainsbury’s where the cost of a basket increased by 0.59% compared with 0.89% at Tesco, 2.5% at Morrisons and 2.89% at Asda.
Despite having the cheapest baskets, the cost of shopping rose by a greater amount at the discounters where Aldi prices were up by 4.32% and by 5.12% at Lidl.
But Waitrose saw the biggest increase of 9.2% between January and December 2021.
Ele Clark, Which? retail editor, said: “No one wants to overpay for basic groceries, especially when a cost of living crunch is putting extra pressure on household budgets.
“Our findings show that while prices are going up, some supermarkets are passing their rising costs onto shoppers more than others.
“As well as choosing a supermarket that is cheap overall, other ways to save include swapping from branded to own-brand products, sticking to a shopping list and resisting the temptation to pick up special offers you don’t need.”
