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Manchester Evening News

Entertainment

Dianne Bourne

Supermarket prices on the rise again at Asda, Lidl, Aldi and Tesco in our weekly comparison for cheapest and most expensive

Asda Aldi Lidl Tesco Sainsbury Morrisons

Prices are continuing to rise on the cost of basic groceries, at both the cheapest and most expensive supermarkets. We have been tracking the prices of the same eight essentials at the six main supermarkets for almost a year now.

And this week has seen 20p minced beef price rises across three of the big supermarkets, while prices have also risen on goods at a fourth. It has seen the overall basket price at the most expensive supermarket this week - Asda - tip over the £12 mark for its first time since we started this comparison.

Last March, the same eight essentials would have cost you just £9.94 at Asda, when it was then the third cheapest behind Aldi and Lidl but this week it's now £12.04. Our representative shopping basket contains two-pint bottle of milk, a loaf of bread, a pack of mince, a pack of chicken, tea bags, coffee, beans and butter.

When we first started monitoring prices, Sainsbury's held the unfortunate title of most expensive for around two months. But it's had quite a turnaround over recent months - so much so that it remains the third cheapest in our ranking now behind Lidl and Aldi.

Weekly shopping comparison - Sainsbury's (Manchester Family/MEN)

It's been the reverse story for Asda - which was the cheapest in our weekly comparison six times last year. But now, it has found itself with the title of most expensive for a fourth consecutive week with the basket of goods now sitting at £12.04.

When it first hit the bottom slot in our rankings at the end of January, an Asda spokesperson had this to say: "We’re working hard to keep prices in check for customers and remain the lowest-priced major supermarket – a position recognised by Which? in their regular monthly basket comparison which has named Asda as the cheapest supermarket for a big shop every month for the last three years.”

Lidl remains the cheapest in our weekly comparison - despite price increases on two of its items this week - with the full basket total of £11.40. Aldi comes in second with the basket priced at £11.56 - after it put the price of their beef mince up to £2.19.

That has had a knock-on effect at two of the other big supermarkets that promise an "Aldi price match". As we've seen in previous weeks, this can work both up and down, and so this week we've seen both Tesco and Asda increasing their beef mince price by 20p this week to match with Aldi.

Sainsbury's and Morrisons are the only two supermarkets this week that did not have a price rise on any of the items in our basics basket. Morrisons has previously had the longest stretch as most expensive supermarket in our study, but has settled into fourth place on our rankings in recent weeks.

With the number of price rises this week, we can see the gap between cheapest baskets narrowing - with just 37p separating the top four cheapest at Lidl, Aldi, Sainsbury's and Morrisons.

Have you changed where you shop to find cheaper products? Where are you finding the best prices? Let us know in the comments.

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