The days of feeding a family at a mid-priced supermarket are over for many parents.
Grocery shopping bills have been rising for more than a decade with large numbers ditching the big four – Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury's and Tesco – for no-frills chains such as Aldi and Lidl. But the big four have long been trying to compete with the German giants with their own budget ranges.
And Leeds-based Asda has gone all out with a new Just Essentials range with 300 products – 50% more than the old Smart Price range – all in bright yellow packaging. The range has been so popular Asda has had to limit shoppers to three items per product.
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Is this new range a genuine option for shoppers eager to save money for other rising bills over which they have no control? Or is it just clever marketing?
Parents editor at our sister title the Manchester Evening News, Emma Gill did her big shop at Asda buying almost exclusively Just Essentials products. It cost just shy of £52 but was it enough to feed a family-of-four? Here's how she got on.
She writes:
Keen to get in on the action I decided to give the range a go to see how cheaply I could feed my family of four - two adults, a teen and a tween - for a full week.
Even I was surprised that I managed to do it for little more than £50, well £51.87 to be exact, and that was for breakfast, dinner and tea over seven days, with some snacks thrown in too.
I had to make a meal plan for our teas to make it work and that's something most people swear by to help keep costs down. On a typical week I don't plan it out as rigidly, which inevitably leads to either another shopping trip where I spend even more when things catch my eye, or a rather uninspiring beige tea from whatever's languishing in the freezer.
The only things I bought from outside the range were the chilli powder and the milk, but even the price of those was included in the total. Some of the products are staggeringly cheap, especially in today's climate. A 500g pack of spaghetti is just 23p for instance, while a jar of bolognese sauce is 39p.
It's always cheaper to make your own meals and the two big 2.5kg bags of white potatoes, costing just 99p each, gave me enough spuds for the Sunday dinner, a corned beef hash and a huge portion of mash to go with the battered fish. They were good potatoes too and while I'd usually buy Maris Pipers for mash, these didn't disappoint like cheaper spuds have done in the past.
But if you are short on time the range does include some ready meals like lasagne, curry and macaroni cheese for 90p each. Meat is usually one of the most expensive parts of a big shop, but the whole chicken, costing £3.19, was enough for the Sunday roast with enough leftover for a curry.
Likewise, the bag of frozen mince beef and onion was split between a chilli and a bolognese and proved just enough for the four of us, with the help of some carrots to bulk out the latter. You can't fail to be impressed by the prices in this range, after giving it a go I can see why customers are being dazzled by the quality as much as the yellow packets.
Here's how Emma's week's meals panned out
Breakfasts
Weekdays
Choice of either Wheat Bisks (Asda's version of Weetabix), toast, jam on toast
Weekend
Saturday - either eggs on toast, pancakes, cereal or fruit
Sunday - big breakfast with choice of eggs, beans, sausages, bacon, mushrooms, toast
Dinners
Weekdays
Sandwich with a choice of fillings - lettuce, ham, cheese, tuna, egg mayonnaise / tuna and mayo pasta or tomato pasta
Sausage rolls
Crisps
Carrot sticks, cherry tomatoes, choice of fruit - apple, pear, or easy peeler
Fromage frais or chocolate mousse
Weekend
Either a sandwich (as above), toastie, tomato or chicken soup, sausage roll, cheese on toast
Raspberry mini roll, fruit
Teas
Sunday
Sunday dinner with chicken, carrots, peas, mash, roast potatoes, sausages, Yorkshire puddings and gravy
Strawberry cheesecake
Monday
Chicken curry (using jar of sauce and chicken left over from Sunday dinner) with naan bread
Ice cream
Tuesday
Spaghetti bolognese with garlic bread
Peach slices or other fruit
Wednesday
Corned beef hash
Ice cream
Thursday
Fish, mash and mushy peas
Sultana scones with jam
Friday
Chicken burgers with potato pops
Rice pudding
Saturday
Chilli con carne with tortilla chips
Ice cream
Corned beef hash
Ice cream
Thursday
Fish, mash and mushy peas
Sultana scones with jam
Friday
Chicken burgers with potato pops
Rice pudding
Saturday
Chilli con carne with tortilla chips
Ice cream
Snacks
Carrot sticks, leftover fruit, chocolate and nut muesli bars, tortillas if not eaten with chilli, milk or white chocolate
The full shopping list
- Cooking Peppers 700g £1.35
- Mushrooms 250g 50p
- White potatoes 2.5kg x 2 £1.98
- Carrots 1kg 48p
- Onions 1kg 50p
- Pears 500g 45p
- Apples 500g 65p
- Easy peelers 600g 75p
- Cherry tomatoes 250g 50p
- Round lettuce 50p
- Mild white cheddar 825g £3.65
- Eggs 15-pack £1.35
- Unsmoked back bacon 300g £1.25
- Wafer thin cooked ham slices 400g £1.69
- Whole chicken 1.54kg £3.19
- Pork sausages 8-pack 454g 96p
- Sausage rolls 480g 98p
- Soft spread 500g 83p
- Chicken burgers 8-pack £1.50
- Battered fish fillets 4-pack £2.35
- Corned beef £1.85
- Garden peas 300g x 2 48p
- Mushy peas x 2 50p
- Red kidney beans 400g 33p
- Baked beans 410g 25p
- Chopped tomatoes 400g x 3 96p
- Tomato soup 400g 30p
- Chicken soup 400g 24p
- Mild curry sauce 440g 28p
- Bolognese sauce 39p
- Gravy granules 200g 32p
- Wheat Bisks 77p
- Strawberry jam 454g 34p
- Tuna in brine 145g 55p
- Pasta shapes 500g 35p
- Spaghetti 500g 23p
- Rice 1kg 48p
- Potato pops 500g 72p
- Beef mince with onion 650g £2.65
- Garlic bread baguette 170g 32p
- Mini plain naans 4-pack 55p
- White rolls 6-pack 49p
- Brown bread 800g x 2 78p
- White bread 800g 39p
- Mayonnaise 500g 49p
- Variety flavour crisps 6-pack 82p
- Tortilla chips 180g 43p
- Rice pudding 400g x 2 46p
- Sultana scones 10-pack 49p
- Peaches in syrup 411g 34p
- Chocolate mousses 6-pack 72p
- Fromage frais 12-pack 88p
- Chocolate & Nut Muesli Bars 6x23g 67p
- Raspberry flavour mini rolls 6-pack 45p
- Vanilla ice cream 2L £1.02
- Strawberry cheesecake 375g 68p
- Milk chocolate 100g 33p
- White chocolate 100g 33p
- Plain flour 1.5kg 58p
- No added sugar double strength orange squash 750ml 41p
- Orange juice from concentrate 1L 69p
Not from Just Essentials
- Chilli powder 44g 70p
- Skimmed milk 4-pint £1.45
Total £51.87
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