The incredible food basket I bought for £5 from Asda’s new Just Essentials range!
NEW YELLOW PACKAGING REPLACING THE LONG-LIVED SMART PRICE RANGE
ASDA have recently announced the launch of their Just Essentials range, a collection of low-cost items that will be replacing the long-lived Smart Price range.
The initial launch consists of around 60 products, though hundreds more are expected in the coming months. Given the cost of living crisis that is rocking the nation, the new range could not have come at a better time.
To check out the impressive value on offer, I decided to head down to Asda and see how much food I could get for a fiver from the Just Essentials range. There were bargains to be found down every aisle, and you won’t believe one of the items I found in the fridge.
When I arrived at Asda, the first Just Essentials items I found were in the fresh produce section. I managed to grab a huge 2.5kg bag of potatoes for 91p, six plums for 62p, and six kiwis for 78p.
That’s just over £2 for a hell of a lot of fruit and veg. Moving on, I managed to find a garlic bread for 32p and a cheese and tomato pizza for £1.25, bringing the total to just under £4.
When I reached one of the fridges near the back of the supermarket, I stumbled on a pretty incredible Just Essentials item. For only £1.45, you can take home a large fruit cocktail trifle that could easily be shared by an entire family.
I love the idea that a trifle is so quintessentially British that it is considered an “essential” item in the typical customer’s supermarket shop. You can imagine how fiercely some staff members must have fought for the great British trifle to be included in an essentials value range alongside things like baked beans and potatoes.
“A trifle IS essential, Brian - I put one away every night. It’s going on the list and that’s final!”
It’s also worth noting that the Just Essentials trifle could make the perfect low-price dessert for any jubilee celebrations that you might be hosting this bank holiday weekend. Blimey, you could even get two in for less than three pounds.
This brought my total to £5.33, making for a truly impressive food haul for very little money. Three lots of fresh produce, a pizza, a garlic bread, and the almighty trifle for a fiver is out of this world, in my humble opinion.
While I made my way around, I saw a number of other Just Essentials items that were dotted about the store, including ready meals like macaroni cheese for as little as £1.18 and mini pizzas for only 59p. In the frozen section, they even had ten beef burgers for the lowly sum of £1.60, perfect for a inexpensive barbecue in the nice weather.
The item that really stuck out for me in the Just Essentials range, however, was a whole chicken for only £2.64 - yes, you read that right. How Asda can sell an entire chicken for such a low price is baffling to me, but it could make for an incredibly affordable Sunday dinner centrepiece.
While there were only a number of Just Essentials items available in Asda during my visit, more and more will be introduced over the coming months as the last of the Smart Price stock is slowly sold off. Given the impressive value on offer, it is definitely worth keeping your eye out for the yellow label to make your money stretch as far as possible in these trying times.
At those prices, you could even eat a trifle every day of the week for only a tenner. Need I say more?