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After reading a few books recently on Asda/Wal-Mart and Tesco's stranglehold on the UK's food markets, I thought I'd see if I could find out just how much more it might cost me to shop somewhere else. I have chosen some of the items I frequently purchase and the results are presented in the table below, but before that a few notes about supermarkets :-
Not included as there is not one near to me. I am guessing they come in around the same as Asda/Tesco.
I have put these two together as they sell more or less the same thing at the same price. What's interesting about the results is that they are cheaper if you want something that UK supermarkets regard as European "Exotica", such as European meats, cheeses, sun dried tomatoes, fresh pasta etc, but not really much cheaper for anything else. I conclude that it's only worth me shopping there for this "exotica" type of stuff. Especially since they both only ever open one checkout no matter how busy it is.
Know as the lowest of the low, Netto really has terrible stores that make Aldi/Lidl look like Harrods. I took my list to Netto and found that most of the items were not available. The suprising part is that when the items were available, they were about the same price as you'd find them in Sainsbury's. There seems no reason whatsoever to shop in Netto ever.
Where Waitrose fall down the most on the table below is the cost of the meat and unbranded fresh produce. However, perhaps you get what you pay for. Whilst one raw chicken might look the same as any other, maybe Waitrose are really offering better quality meat, and since it's going to go in your body, perhaps this is worth considering/testing.
I was expecting Sainsbury's to be more expensive compared with Asda and Tesco. Perhaps it's the choice of items, or perhaps people just perceive it to be that way. Either way, I will try to shop more frequently in Sainsbury's as they do have a much better choice of raw cooking ingredients.
If food is labelled as "organic" then does that imply the rest is inorganic? The dictionary defenition of inorganic is a. Involving neither organic life nor the products of organic life and b. Not composed of organic matter. What are they telling us. hahaha.
All Prices correct as of 20th July, 2007.
| Item | Tesco | ASDA | Sainsburys | Waitrose | Aldi/Lidl |
| Beef mince (1kg) | £1.85 | £2.00 | £2.80 | £5.29 | £3.50 |
| 12 Pack Box Cat food | £3.08 | £3.08 | £3.18 | £3.19 | £1.89 (not Whiskas) |
| Fruit n Fibre (750g) | £2.54 | £2.56 | £2.56 | £2.59 | 95p (not Kelloggs) |
| Sun dried tomatos (280g) | £1.38 | £1.20 | £1.79 | £3.98 | 99p |
| Milk (4 pints) | £1.15 | £1.15 | £1.15 | £1.55 (Organic only) | £1.11 |
| Bread, Medium sliced Hovis | £1.08 | £1.08 | £1.08 | £1.09 | £1.08 |
| Mayonnaise (600g) | £1.79 | £1.79 | £1.88 | £1.89 | 82p (not Hellmans) |
| Lettuce | 65p | 65p | 65p | 65p | 49p |
| Bananas (1kg) | 59p | 59p | 59p | 93p | 69p |
| Chicken breasts (1kg) | £5.99 | £6.84 | £6.00 | £7.99 | £6.59 |
| Red wine (cheapest) | £2.69 | £2.52 | £2.81 | £2.99 | £2.79 |
| Mushy Peas | 29p | 29p | 29p | 23p | 24p (not Bachelors) |
| Diet lemonade | 43p | 53p | 35p | 46p | 35p |
| Fish Fingers | £2.35 | £2.49 | £2.70 | £2.49 | not available |
| Robinsons Organge (1L) | 91p | 91p | 91p | 93p | not available |
| Orange Juice (1L) | 88p | 88p | 88p | 89p | 59p |
| Edam cheese (500g) | £1.97 | £1.82 | £2.07 | £2.15 | £1.75 |
| Fresh Pasta (600g) | £2.50 | £2.00 | £2.50 | £3.20 | 69p |
| Radish (150g) | 42p | 39p | 42p | 54p | not available |
| Cress | 24p | 24p | 24p | 25p | not available |
| Economy peppers (700g) | 74p | £1.48 | £1.56 | £1.85 | £2.00 (no economy pepper) |
| Aubergine | 98p (large) | 98p (large) | 99p (large) | 99p (small) | not available |
| Tissues | £1.88 | £1.88 | £1.95 | £1.97 | not available |
| Total | £36.88 | £37.35 | £39.98 | £48.09 | £26.52 (incomplete order) |
Copyright © M.F.Hughes 2007