Aldi has been crowned the cheapest supermarket for January by the consumer champions at Which?.
Shoppers could pick up a basket full of groceries at Aldi for £82.03 on average, saving a huge £25.68 compared to the most expensive shop, which was Waitrose.
Some 45 popular food and other essential items were included in the comparison, with the same items being picked up in all the shops for accuracy. The study was carried out at eight of the biggest UK supermarkets, and is done on a monthly basis.
After Aldi, Lidl was the second-cheapest for the basket of groceries with the total coming in at £84.07.
Tesco and Asda followed behind, with the basket costing £93.80 and £95.32 respectively.
The most expensive store was found to be Waitrose, with the shop costing shoppers £107.71 on average.
Which? also compared the cost of a larger trolley of 144 items – the original 45, plus 99 more. These items included a larger number of branded items, such as Andrex toilet paper and Cathedral City cheese, and did not include discounter supermarkets Aldi and Lidl, given that they do not always stock some of these products.
Asda was the cheapest for this larger trolley of groceries, continuing its winning streak, which started in January 2020, as the cheapest of the bigger supermarket chains. It cost £363.29 on average for this shop, beating the next cheapest, Sainsbury's (£375.84), by £12.55.
Waitrose was an eye-watering £45.43 more expensive than Asda, coming in at £408.72, on average, for the trolley of comparable goods.
This latest pricing analysis from Which? demonstrates that shoppers can make considerable savings on their grocery budget depending on where they buy their food. However, with even budget ranges and prices at the discounters rising significantly, the consumer champion believes supermarkets must do more to help their customers.
Which? recently launched its Affordable Food For All campaign, calling on supermarkets to provide the support people around the country desperately need in order to keep food on the table during the ongoing cost of living crisis.
Reena Sewraz, Which? Retail Editor, said: "Nobody wants to pay over the odds for their weekly food shop, especially as the cost of living crisis stretches household budgets for millions of people.
"Our findings show that while prices are going up, some supermarkets are significantly more expensive than others. As well as choosing a supermarket that is cheap overall, other ways to save include swapping from branded to supermarket own-brand products, sticking to a shopping list, and resisting the temptation to pick up special offers you may not need."
Shopping basket results (45 items)
- Aldi - £82.03
- Lidl - £84.07
- Tesco - £93.80
- Asda - £95.32
- Sainsbury's - £95.65
- Morrison's - £96.58
- Ocado - £100.87
- Waitrose - £107.71
Shopping trolley results (144 items)
- Asda - £363.29
- Sainsbury's - £375.84
- Tesco - £376.72
- Morrison's - £379.13
- Ocado - £392.43
- Waitrose - £408.72
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