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Wales Online

Emma Gill & Nisha Mal

'Things got off to a good start from the moment I entered' Woman did big food shop at Sainsbury's to see if it was good value for money

Emma Gill Sainsbury Aldi Heinz Lidl Oil Tesco

Sainsbury's is generally known as one of the more expensive supermarkets. The grocer typically stocks mostly brands and even though it has an own-brand line, you never see it much on the shelves.

Writer Emma Gill decided to visit the supermarket and do her big shop after some readers said they'd switched to Sainsbury's. The grocer has an Aldi price match scheme, which means you can buy foods, toiletries and other items for the same price as the German grocer.

Since last autumn, Sainsbury's has increased its price match line and it now holds 25% more items. Emma says things got off to a good start from the moment she walked in, as she spotted cans of Heinz for £1.

"Everyone knows how much Heinz products have risen over recent months, with ketchup reaching £4 a bottle and beans around £1.40 a tin. Soup is up to around £1.70 a tin in most supermarkets and to get it cheaper you have to buy in bulk, so it was refreshing to see it for a quid for a single tin," Emma wrote in the Manchester Evening News.

The soups were at the entrance (Emma Gill)

"In fact it was 'special offers' like this that impressed me more than anything as I made my way through the store. Unlike a previous big shop at Morrisons, where I found I had to buy at least two of the same thing to benefit from any sort of discount, here the offers are on individual items," she continued.

In fact, most of the items Emma found were on offer in some form or another. Birds Eye crispy chicken breasts were reduced from £4 to £3.50 and Warburtons breakfast muffins were down from £1.05 to 75p.

Elsewhere, a loaf of white Hovis was priced at £1.40 and cans of tomatoes were 32p in Sainsbury's budget Hubbard's range. Two litre bottles of orange juice, as well as meats including gammon, meatballs, burgers and mince were included in the Aldi price match scheme.

Emma said: "The 750g pack of 5% fat mince was already cheaper than Aldi, at £4.29 instead of £4.49, but had been reduced to £3.44 with a yellow sticker even though it was still in date. And the joint of gammon, which would have been the same as the budget retailer, at £3.79 a kg, was also cheaper thanks to a yellow sticker, despite it still having two days left on the 'use by'."

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A wide range of fruits and vegetables were also price matched. Emma picked up a 1kg bag of carrots for 50p, and there were also melons and pineapples for 95p each and cabbages for 65p.

Half price pears were a particular bargain, at £1 for a pack of four 'ripe and ready' fruit and even though they weren't labelled as 'price match', the 2.5kg bag of Maris Piper potatoes was the same as Aldi. Shoppers can also find 'price locked' items such as a 12-pack of Walkers and a 910g box of Shreddies for £3.25, which is 54p cheaper than Lidl's current price of £3.79.

But not everything was cheaper Emma explained: "Of course not everything is as cheap, or cheaper, than elsewhere. I don't think any supermarket can argue that. And there were still some prices that made me wince - like the 500g pack of dried apricots for £3.70. Even after a price rise at Aldi, theirs are still £2.69 a pack and at Tesco they're £3.25.

"Some of the other Heinz products were high too, £2 for a tin for ravioli for example. But unlike other supermarkets, where these are on offer - 3 for £5 at Tesco, 5 for £6 at Asda - there was no such promotion this time."

She continued: "I know one of the main bugbears of Aldi and Lidl shoppers, apart from the fact they don't do widespread home delivery, is that you can't always get the branded products you want and end up having to go elsewhere. So it's easy to see the appeal of a supermarket with both budget prices and big boy brands in the one place, especially when it offers delivery too.

"How things will pan out is anyone's guess. But if Sainsbury's wants to take on Aldi who are we to argue. There's usually only one winner in a supermarket price war and that's the customer. Let battle commence."

A Sainsbury's spokesperson said: “With costs going up, we are working hard to keep prices low. Last year we announced that we would invest over £550m by March 2023 into lowering prices as part of our goal to put food back at the heart of Sainsbury’s.

“We're committed to doing everything we can to support customers with the rising cost of living. Through initiatives such as our Aldi Price Match campaign, Price Lock and My Nectar Prices, customers can find low prices on the products they buy most often both in stores and online.

“Our focus on value means that all our customers will find great deals when they shop with us and do not need to go anywhere else to get the best prices on their weekly shop.”

An Aldi spokesperson said: “Week after week, independent price surveys confirm what shoppers know already – that Aldi is the lowest-priced supermarket in the UK. That’s why Aldi has been named by Which? as the UK’s cheapest supermarket for two years running.

"In the last three months alone, Aldi attracted an additional 1.3 million customers, as shoppers switch in their droves from every single major UK supermarket, including Sainsbury’s.”