My quest to find the best budget supermarket range – and the winner is...
I used to be someone who had the weekly shop down pat: a detailed list, a Tesco delivery and the occasional top-up from a nearby Waitrose as a treat. Food shopping these days is far more complicated. For months, food prices have been ratcheting up, which means I – like many – am questioning my loyalty to one supermarket over another. And I have dropped branded products for budget lines: the mark of a discerning grocery shopper is no longer spending more on premium labels, it’s scuttling around for the best bargains.
It’s a timely U-turn. With food inflation having been perilously high, we’re all on the hunt for better value at the supermarkets. Sales figures suggest that customers are increasingly opting for cheaper own-label products over big brands and buying yellow-stickered items nearing their expiry date. Food prices may have finally peaked but their high levels have left a lasting legacy.
Top-end Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference, Waitrose No 1 and Morrisons The Best ranges are all very well, of course, but it’s among the bargain labels that we jostle for the keenest prices. Grocery sales of value own-label lines jumped a whopping 46 per cent in the four weeks to April 16 this year, compared with the 4.4 per cent rise in sales of branded items. In fact, value ranges are more popular than ever before and end up in roughly one in five shopping baskets – mine included. Like many others, I now take a high-low approach: shopping at Aldi for the bulk of my basics then popping into my local Tesco Express and Waitrose for top-ups, treats and premium ingredients.
Click here to explore our full budget label taste test.
Changing faces
In the beginning, supermarket budget ranges looked very, well, budget. In the early days of Tesco Value and Asda Farm Stores (both launched in 1993), utilitarian packaging and limited product selection gave wealthier shoppers every excuse to avoid them. Rebranding exercises have happened many times over to try to boost shelf appeal: we’ve had SmartPrice then Just Essentials at Asda; M Savers and Morrisons Savers; and a roster of contentious non-existent “farm” brands at Tesco (Suntrail, Rosedene, Willow and Redmere, among others, which replaced its Everyday Value lines).
Battles at the bottom
In the Telegraph’s regular taste tests, it’s not uncommon for budget basics to win out over the same supermarket’s premium products, as well as over big brands, and offer a considerable price saving. But even a basket full of budget products has rocketed in cost this year, with lowest cost lines, cheaper to begin with, hit particularly hard by inflation. In March, Which? found that supermarket budget-range prices had risen by 24.8 per cent, while branded goods had only risen 13.8 per cent.
In response, the supermarkets have stepped up their price wars to keep shoppers coming through the door: in February, Waitrose committed ￡100 million to lowering the prices of its Essential products; in May, Tesco, Aldi and Lidl followed Sainsbury’s in cutting the prices of own-brand bread and butter after being criticised for not passing wholesale savings on to customers. A supermarket might not make a profit on its bargain-basement goods, but by strengthening its brand presence – along with ever-important points cards – it can leverage customer loyalty.
So, which low-cost range deserves your loyalty? When it comes to variety, Waitrose wins, with roughly 900 products (depending on the season) in its Essentials range. Sainsbury’s offers around 200. But on cost, Lidl and Aldi beat the lot: according to Which? Data, which is published monthly, Aldi was the cheapest supermarket with an average basket price of ￡75.25 in June. It is followed by Lidl, with an average basket price of ￡77.18. Asda continues its streak as the cheapest traditional supermarket.
Explore our full budget label taste test below.
