Checkout Aldi – winner of 'cheapest' store award
Aldi has narrowly beaten its rival Lidl to be named the cheapest supermarket of the year, according to an annual survey by leading consumer watchdogs.
Aldi was the cheapest supermarket for six of the last 12 months while Lidl was the cheapest for five, including December 2021, according to the annual survey from the consumer advice firm Which?.
Which? also tracked hundreds of thousands of grocery prices across the UK's eight big supermarkets, finding that they were charging up to nine per cent more in December than they did last January for a trolley of 19 everyday items.
The shopping list combined branded items such as Kenco coffee, Oxo stock cubes and PG Tips tea bags with own-label products including onions and milk, selected to ensure they were as comparable as possible across the retailers on factors such as weight and quality.
Which? also compared a larger trolley containing a greater selection of items not always available at Aldi and Lidl – finding that Asda was the cheapest of the traditional supermarkets at £135.07.
Which? retail editor Ele Clark said: "No one wants to overpay for basic groceries, especially when a cost-ofliving crunch is putting extra pressure on household budgets.
"Our findings show that while prices are going up, some supermarkets are passing their rising costs on to shoppers more than others. As well as choosing a supermarket that is cheap overall, other ways to save include swapping from branded to own-brand products, sticking to a shopping list and resisting the temptation to pick up special offers you don't need."