With fuel bills rising and food bills consistently getting higher, the thought of doing the weekly shop can be that bit more daunting than before.
Which is exactly why shoppers have recently been switching up their shopping habits. From shopping around for cheaper prices to buying only value branded products, our weekly spending habits have certainly changed in the last few months.
And, while we hear so much about making the switch to discounted supermarkets such as Aldi or Lidl, or buying own-branded products, what of those who choose to still shop at the bigger supermarkets?
Quite a few of the UK's biggest supermarkets have started offering major price cut campaigns in a bid to secure customer loyalty. One such supermarket is Asda and their recently launched Dropped & Locked campaign.
The big six grocer announced last month it would be slashing the prices across hundreds of family favourites both in store and online, including tea bags, rice and cheese.
With food prices increasing 4.5% from January 2021 to this year, the thought of any discounts and incentives on your weekly grocery bills can sound like a tempting offer.
But, is it too good to be true?
Well, there was only one way for me to really find out the answer to that question - and that was to pop into my local Asda by Aberdeen's Beach Boulevard, where I could shop the price cuts campaign for myself.
First things first, as soon as I found myself in Asda, the one thing that you will notice is how much they are promoting the Dropped and Locked Campaign. There was a huge sign at the entrance and there were banners hanging between the aisles, just to remind customers that there were price cuts on hundreds of family favourites. The reduced items could be found by looking for the green and yellow Dropped and Locked sign on shelves, which tells customers how much the item had been reduced by.
As bold as those signs were and with how much promotion the campaign has, I did find that finding reduced items in store was a little bit more of a mission than I thought it would be. After scouring through the aisles quite a few times, I found that there were only a few items in each aisle that were in the Dropped and Locked campaign. Another little thing I did notice, not all items had the full green and yellow Dropped and Locked advert to show they were reduced, but they did have a small sign saying "New Asda Price Drop."
It's a small thing to notice, but it might make it quite difficult for families who have popped into store for a quick shop. After a while of struggling to find the items, I did bring up the Asda Dropped and Locked campaign on my phone, which did manage to help me figure out which items were reduced in each aisle. It might seem like a hassle to have your phone in your hand while you are shopping, but it did make it slightly easier to quickly whip round the aisles finding what I needed.
Difficulty finding the Dropped and Locked items aside, there are actually quite a few decent savings and price reductions of anywhere between 10p - 25p to be found on a range of items that would be suitable for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
For breakfast items I managed to pick up a 390g box of Shreddies reduced by 15p to £2 from £2.15. Other breakfast cereals included was a 400g box of Cheerios, but they were the only two options for cereal lovers. I would have liked milk to have been included in price cuts, as it would help shoppers to complete to build the full breakfast and I found it slightly odd that it wasn't included.
Lunches had a bit more choice and I certainly managed to get a few decent fridge essentials for around £1 or much less, including an 8pk of Asda Mini Wraps reduced to 60p from 65p, a 454g pack of ham for £2 instead of £2.25, a 90g bag of mixed salad leaves reduced to 60p from 70p and 4 Ski smooth Strawberry and Raspberry Yoghurts reduced to £1 from £1.10.
I do know that the supermarket offers a lot more lunch items in their Dropped and Locked campaign and I did see a 10pk of Asda sausage rolls reduced by 40p to £2 from £2.40 and Asda scotch eggs reduced by 20p to 85p from £1.05. So, there are other options if wraps and simple yoghurts aren't your thing.
Finding items for dinners during the week was slightly more interesting and there were a few options in the fridges. I managed to pick up a 500g pack of diced chicken reduced to £3.65 from £3.87 and 454g pack of Asda sausages for £1.50 instead of £1.60.
Those were the only options I could find in the chilled meat section, the rest was in the frozen aisles. In the freezers I managed to find beef burgers, fish fingers and frozen pizza. I did manage to get a stone baked pizza for £1.15 instead of £1.30. The freezers were also the only area I could pick up a decent amount of veg, with none of the fresh being included in the price cuts. This was where there were the least options, with only a 1kg bag of frozen cauliflower, broccoli and carrot mix on offer.
There were a few other savings to be made on a few ice creams and desserts, if having a sweet after your evening meal is something that you fancy.
I did also manage to finish off my shopping on a few branded cupboard staples, including a 120g packet of Blue Dragon teriyaki sauce stir-fry and a 300g pack of Blue Dragon Medium Egg Noodles. I think those were the main two items that were branded and not Asda's own products, which was a nice find.
In the end, I did find that I had to add on just two items that were not from the Dropped and Locked Campaign to help complete the full shop. These were a 320g pack of stir fry vegetables for 60p and a 700g pack of Scotty Brand new potatoes for 95p. With both being under £1, I couldn't really complain at the still low costs.
Once I had headed home with my two massive bags of groceries I found that my whole cost came to £22.25, which is not something that I am going to scoff at. To get 17 items for just over £20, it was definitely acceptable.
That being said, after I did my calculations, I found my overall total without the price drops would have come to £24.67 - so, I technically only made saving of £2.42. Put into that context, it is slightly a little more disappointing. With the supermarket hyping up the savings you could make, I did expect there to be that bit more.
At the end of the day, I feel like it's a slightly mixed bag of results. On the one hand, I got two big bags of groceries that will last me quite a while and it only cost me just over £20. On the other hand, the savings are quite minimal and a lot of the dinner options are frozen products. I guess, the results might differ for everyone and bigger families might notice that the frozen items are a good option for them.
Here was my full list of groceries that I managed to purchase.
- Stone baked pizza - £1.15
- Asda mild and tender mixed baby leaf, 90g - 60p
- Asda frozen broccoli, carrot and cauliflower mix, 1kg - £1.25
- Ski smooth strawberry and raspberry yoghurts, 4x120g - £1
- Asda Heavenly Moments milk chocolate ice creams, 3 pack - £1
- Nestle Original Shreddies, 390g - £2
- Asda brown onions, 1kg - 65p
- Asda Butcher's Selection diced chicken breast, 500g - £3.65
- Asda Crunchy Vibrant rainbow vegetable stir fry, 320g - £1
- Blue Dragon medium egg noodles, 300g - £1
- Blue Dragon Teriyaki sauce, 120g - 60p
- Asda 8 Cumberland sausages, 454g - £1.50
- Scotty Brand new potatoes, 750g - 95p
- I can't Believe It's Not Butter, 450g - £1
- Asda mini wraps, 8pk - 60p
- Asda cooked ham, 400g - £2
- Basa Fillets, 2pk - £2.30
Total: £22.25
You can shop Asda's Dropped and Locked campaign in stores and online now.
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