Whether you've shopped at Asda or not, you'll no doubt have heard about its Smart Price range. It's the go-to for cash-strapped shoppers looking for the cheapest deals on products throughout the store.
But the budget range is being scrapped by the retailer as it brings in its new Just Essentials line. Many of the former Smart Price products are simply being rebranded so shoppers will know exactly what they're getting, but there are some new items too.
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And its budget fruit, veg and meat - previously labelled Farm Stores - will also come under the Just Essentials umbrella. So what does it all mean for shoppers? We visited the supermarket to find out.
Firstly, with its bright yellow packaging, it's all easier to find.
Anyone who's previously shopped for Smart Price products will know that they don't exactly stand out.
While the packets and tins have mostly plain white labels, the cheaper Farm Stores products all merged with the more expensive stuff, so it was never that obvious that you were getting the budget deals.
The bright yellow colour gives a fresh feel to it too. I know it's all mess with your mind marketing, but nobody wants a trolley full of dull white labels do they.
And talking of fresh, that's perhaps the biggest selling point for this range.
While previously you could only buy frozen mince and frozen fish, you can now get fresh packs. They're cheap too, a 500g pack of beef mince for £1.69 - that's 20p cheaper than most other supermarkets - £2.25 for a 500g pack of lean pork mince and £1.15 for a pack of two fishcakes.
You can now get fresh salmon portions too - mine was £3.88 for a 370g pack, which works out at £10.49 per kg - and braising steak at £3.29 for 400g.
Other new additions include more fresh ready meals, such as chilli and rice or sweet and sour chicken for £1.20 each. And it's joined the likes of Aldi, Lidl and Tesco with its budget pizzas - a 300g cheese and tomato for £99p and a 292g pepperoni for £1.20.
While some of the prices have crept up slightly from Smart Price, such as lettuce up from 42p to 45p and a whole chicken up from £2.28 for 1.2kg to £2.48, you'd still struggle to find them cheaper elsewhere. In total around 60 of the Just Essentials products are now available online and in store, with more to come by the end of June.
For now you'll still find some of the Smart Price products dotted around as they're phased out and you can see from my shop that some of the items, including ham, pasta and orange juice, still have the old labels. By mid August, the retailer says 267 products from the new range will be available, rising to the full 293 by the end of the year.
And with 50% more than in the Smart Price range it is replacing, Asda says its new line ‘is set to become the largest budget-friendly essentials range in the market’. I just hope the retailer doesn't think shoppers will be too blinded by its bright yellow packaging to know when it's adding pennies to the prices. There's nothing smart about that.
My full Just Essentials shop costing £44.61
- Pasta 500g 32p
- Bolognaise sauce 440g 39p
- Strawberries 227g £1.19
- Potatoes 2.5kg 99p
- Green beans 240g 84p
- Pork sausages (8-pack) 86p
- Salmon 370g £3.88
- Fishcakes 220g £1.15
- Eggs 15 pack £1.32
- Pizza cheese and tomato 99p
- Pizza pepperoni £1.20
- Whole chicken 1.6kg £3.34
- Beef steak 170g £2
- Garlic bread 32p
- Beef mince 500g £1.69
- Pork mince 500g £2.25
- Bacon 300g £1.25
- Braising steak 400g £3.29
- Plums 400g 62p
- Lettuce 45p
- Bread 70p (not Just Essentials)
- Trifle 600g £1.40
- Curry sauce 440g 28p
- Peppers (3-pack) £1
- Chilli and rice ready meal £1.20
- Sweet and sour chicken ready meal £1.20
- Chicken curry and rice ready meal £1.33
- Orange juice 1 litre 69p
- Cherries 200g £1.50
- Wafer thin cooked ham 400g £1.69
- Skimmed milk 4 pt £1.29 (not Just Essentials)
- Cherry tomatoes 250g 50p
- Pears 500g 45p
- Kiwis (6-pack) 82p
- Easy peel satsumas 600g 72p
- Onions 1kg 50p
- Red onions 1kg £1
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