Consumers can find cheaper food items and save on their weekly shop by shopping from one specific aisle.
The world food section can often be hidden or forgotten about during a weekly shop but the aisle can actually be found in nearly all supermarkets and it stocks food from countries near and far; America, China, Japan, India and Jamaica, to name a few. But there's also a handful of staple cupboard items that can be found a lot cheaper.
As the inflation rate continues to sore across the UK, at 10.1%, supermarket prices are steadily increasing, so finding cheaper alternatives has become a necessity for many households. Aside from stocking candy flavoured drinks and Japanese ramen noodles, there are a lot of staple substitutes shoppers can buy to save on their weekly food bill.
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Grains, spices, drinks, sweets, tinned products, and crisps are all found along its shelves. Asda, Sainsbury's, Tesco and Morrisons all stock similar products in their own versions of the world food aisle, reports the Echo. We went to the world foods section at Morrisons to see what shoppers can get for cheaper, and it works out a lot more affordable per gram.
The world foods section also has a lot of staple substitutes, including spices, grains, condiments, drinks and tinned products like coconut milk and tomatoes. Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's, and Morrisons all have their own versions of the world foods aisle and stock similar products.
A bottle of Blue Dragon Thai sweet chilli sauce for example, found in the condiment aisle, is £2.50 for a 380g bottle (£0.59p per 100ml). Whereas the lesser-known brand in the world foods aisle, Healthy Boy sweet chilli sauce, is £2.25 for 750ml, or £0.32 per 100ml. Spice mixes can also be bought for £1.
Noting the price per unit is the best way to figure out if you're making a saving by comparing the price per litre, gram or kilograms. A lot of the foods in the aisle come in larger portions, but they keep for a lot longer.
To prove just how much cheaper the section can be we broke down the key ingredients of a korma (excluding the protein) and compared it to other brands that Morrisons stock.
World foods section
- Indus Korma seasoning mix £1 for 50g
- KTC tin of chopped tomatoes 55p (£0.13 per 100g)
- Fudco Almonds £6.75 for 500g (£1.35 per 100g)
- Island Sun coconut milk £1 for 400ml
- Badshah Basmati Rice £3.50 for 2kg (£1.75 per kg)
Non world foods section
- Schwartz Korma powder £1.10 for 100g
- Napolina tinned tomatoes £1 (£0.25 per 100g)
- Morrisons almonds £2.49 for 200g (£1.25 per 100g)
- Blue Dragon coconut milk £2 for 400ml
- Morrisons Basmati Rice £1.25 for 500g (£2.50 per kg)
The food aisle is also a great alternative if you or someone at home likes free-from products. Gluten free flour is nearly double the price per 500g compared to 'normal' plain flour, so buying a naturally gluten-free alternative like gram flour from the world foods section keeps the cost down.
Not every item stocked in the aisle is cheaper, especially the American candy for instance as this has a heavy price hike due to import costs, but your base ingredients do tend to be a lot better value for money. It's tucked away in most supermarkets but the deals are definitely worth it.
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