When you're rushing around a supermarket at the end of a long week at work it's so easy just to grab some favourite brands from the shelves and head off to the tills. You don't really have to put too much thought into it.
With inflation now at 9%, however, and the cost of living crisis deepening, that supermarket bill suddenly looks a bit more important, especially if you can shave a little off it.
To help us all with some advice, consumer experts at Martin Lewis's MoneySavingExpert site have pointed out a simple hack: You are likely to make substantial savings if you simply crouch down in supermarket aisles.
Read more : 'I went on Cardiff's food tour and discovered some amazing things about my home city'
The theory goes that supermarkets tend to put the most expensive (and most profitable) items within the customer's eyeline. But cheaper and own brand items can often be found on the bottom shelf. I headed out to Asda to put this theory to the test. Could I really save that much money just by crouching down? You can get more consumer news and other story updates by subscribing to our newsletters here.
I started with a household essential: I checked the price of top-shelf coffee versus bottom-shelf coffee and found that Douwe Egberts cost an eye-watering £5.90, while ASDA's own brand was a mere £1.83. The teabags told a similar story. The Pukka green tea on the top shelf was £2.79, whereas ASDA's own green tea was only 70p a box.
By the way - to answer an obvious question you might have, I compared like for like on size and weight - not just the most and least expensive items. In this way, I found some stark price differences: for example, a tub of top shelf Fage Greek yoghurt costs a whopping £4.50, while the bottom shelf ASDA equivalent is priced at £1.50.
I headed to the milk aisle - though on this occasion I decided to go dairy free. A carton of Califia Oat milk, found on the top shelf, will cost you £2.65, whereas the ASDA oat milk, on the bottom shelf, only costs £1. With butter, meanwhile, a middle-shelf pack of Lurpak will set you back by £3.50, whereas a bottom shelf tub of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter is only a pound. You'll soon be able to pay for your shopping with a smile - read more here.
The theory was proven correct yet again when I had a look at the pasta shelves. The Napolina spaghetti on a higher shelf cost £1.10 a pack, while the ASDA Smartprice on the bottom shelf was priced at 23p.
The pasta sauces were similar, with the £2 Dolmio sauces placed directly at eye level, and the 70p ASDA equivalent found further down. As for the olive oil, the middle-shelf Filippo Berio cost £7.99, compared to ASDA's own on the bottom shelf which was only £3.20.
Moving on to condiments, the Hellman's mayonnaise, positioned in the customer's eyeline, was priced at £3.29, with the bottom shelf ASDA jar retailing for 75p... or it would have done if it hadn't have sold out! Tomato ketchup, meanwhile, saw the Heinz brand sitting high up the shelf at £2.29, with ASDA's own - again, lower down - coming in at 42p.
As for chopped tomatoes, Napolina cans were priced at 85p on the higher shelves, whereas the 30p ASDA Smartprice tins were lurking at the bottom. Baked beans highlighted another discrepancy in price and shelf placement. A Branston Beans four-pack on the middle shelf cost £2.50, while the ASDA own-brand beans were only £1.20 on the lower shelves.
The same was true of flour, with a tub of Homepride costing £1.50, compared with the ASDA Smartprice at 55p. As for cream crackers, Jacob's occupied the top shelves at £1.50 a packet, with the 40p ASDA version hidden away on the bottom shelf. Quaker porridge sachets were priced at £2.65 a box, with the ASDA equivalent only costing 79p. Can you guess which one was on the bottom shelf?
The eye-level jams and preserves, such as Bonne Maman, were retailing at £2, while the ASDA jam on the lowest shelf was being sold for only 85p. The same went for peanut butter, with the £3 Pip and Nut occupying the top shelf and the £1.20 ASDA version sitting at the bottom.
Finally, I went to check out the fizzy drinks. By now, it should come as no surprise to learn that the top shelf Coca Cola came in at £1.77, while the bottom shelf Smartprice cola was priced at an astonishing 20p. Adding all of the prices together, the total cost of your higher shelf basket would come out at £51.78. If you opted for the lower shelf alternatives, your basket would only cost £16.82.
Yes, you read that right. Just by shifting your gaze to the bottom of the supermarket shelves, you could save £34.96.
Some people might say, well, you get what you pay for - and some products will be of a higher quality than others. But with the cost of food soaring, others might be surprised to learn just how much you can save by dropping down a shelf or two. So, as prices continue to rise, next time you head out to do your weekly shop, keep an eye on the lower shelves. You might just save a fortune.
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