interesting comparisons 15 June 2017 at 5:42PM in Food shopping & groceries 10 replies 3.3K views

jackyann

Hello, I don't usually come onto this board -I usually hang out at Old Style. However, this post seemed to fit better with you.
I don't know if any of you ever visit the Savvy Woman website, but Sarah Pennells has done a price comparison across supermarkets for 6 basic items. Asda was the cheapest, with Aldi & Lidl much higher.

https://www.savvywoman.co.uk/11836/save-money-on-your-weekly-food-shop-do-discount-supermarkets-really-save-you-cash/

I personally don't buy these items from supermarkets. On the rare occasions I go to one of these, it is for something specific. However, I thought you might like to see it.

Nargleblast

Thanks for that, jackyann, I have saved that website in my favourites list.

A._Badger

I'm not sure it's necessarily a like for like comparison (instant coffee is notoriously variable). My experience of Aldi is that you pay 'own brand' prices but the quality is considerably higher.

Of course, so much depends on what you buy. No two shopping baskets are the same.

dlusman

A._Badger wrote: »

I'm not sure it's necessarily a like for like comparison (instant coffee is notoriously variable). My experience of Aldi is that you pay 'own brand' prices but the quality is considerably higher.

Of course, so much depends on what you buy. No two shopping baskets are the same.

Agree - The biggest difference is on the coffee , where the Aldi & Lidl are both fairtrade Colombian and the others are god knows what. I am sure if they had picked a Columbian coffee from the other supermarkets the baskets would have come out more.

They also say they have picked the cheapest range at each store - but if you look up coffee at Aldi on mysupermarket you will find jars at far less than £1.99 per 100g ( cheapest in 100g jars appears to be £1.39 - or you can get something in 200g for £1.49 )- so the whole study appears very flawed

PLRFD

Lidl filter coffee did well in a taste test on tv Jay Rayner seemed to really like it.

jackyann

I can definitely see the flaws. I buy very little at any supermarket, and am not near any of these. I go by a Lidl about once a month, and I stock up on their stuff that seems very good to me: part-baked bread, smoked salmon, olives, some cans etc. and their organic milk is consistently cheaper than any other supermarket.
As I only go in occasionally - to a random supermarket that I happen to be passing when I need something - I am aware of how variable prices (and quality) can be.

Pollycat

dlusman wrote: »

Agree - The biggest difference is on the coffee , where the Aldi & Lidl are both fairtrade Colombian and the others are god knows what. I am sure if they had picked a Columbian coffee from the other supermarkets the baskets would have come out more.

They also say they have picked the cheapest range at each store - but if you look up coffee at Aldi on mysupermarket you will find jars at far less than £1.99 per 100g ( cheapest in 100g jars appears to be £1.39 - or you can get something in 200g for £1.49 )- so the whole study appears very flawed

I wondered where the massive difference between Asda's £3.47 and Lidl's £4.83 had come from - and it's the coffee.

Asda = £0.67
Lidl = £1.99

Not really a fair like-for-like (or even similar) comparison, imho.

But thanks for the link, jackyann.

jackyann

Out of interest, I added up my own spend on these items, and it did come out higher, with coffee and sausages making the biggest difference.
Milk is the only item I regularly buy at a supermarket.
This week, in preparation for a camping trip, I did buy 100g fairtrade instant coffee at the Co-op and it was £2.99
Eggs, from the local farm are about the same (but fresher, and I know are nicer, as I buy from supermarkets when the hens go on strike!)
Bread, I make my own, about the same (but I hope, much nicer!)
Sausages, difficult to say, but I think my butchers would be about £2 for a similar weight (uncooked, but I wonder how much water the supermarket ones lose in cooking?)

Personally, I would have to take into account travel as well, other than to my local Co-op,which I think would come somewhere near the middle, but I have no idea what their sausages cost.

Anyway, interesting, thanks for your comments, and good to pop onto another part of the forum!

Pollycat

jackyann wrote: »

Out of interest, I added up my own spend on these items, and it did come out higher, with coffee and sausages making the biggest difference.
Milk is the only item I regularly buy at a supermarket.
This week, in preparation for a camping trip, I did buy 100g fairtrade instant coffee at the Co-op and it was £2.99
Eggs, from the local farm are about the same (but fresher, and I know are nicer, as I buy from supermarkets when the hens go on strike!)
Bread, I make my own, about the same (but I hope, much nicer!)
Sausages, difficult to say, but I think my butchers would be about £2 for a similar weight (uncooked, but I wonder how much water the supermarket ones lose in cooking?)

Personally, I would have to take into account travel as well, other than to my local Co-op,which I think would come somewhere near the middle, but I have no idea what their sausages cost.

Anyway, interesting, thanks for your comments, and good to pop onto another part of the forum!

Comparing sausages is like comparing an elephant with an orange;) - although the article does seem to have chosen the 'cheap' range in all cases.

Personally, I cant conceive of anything worse than paying less than £1 for 8 sausages.
The ones I buy are very high meat content (85%+) if I buy from a supermarket or proper ones from a proper butcher.
I don't have to worry about travel costs as I can jump on a bus (weekly ticket that I use for socialising so no extra cost) to get to my local Tesco Extra and we have a butcher in the village.

I also only buy Colombia and Costa Rican coffee so, like you. my costs would be much higher than those quoted in the Asda list.
I also only buy free-range eggs.

Interestingly, the 2 shops that come out most expensive are the only 2 that supply free-range eggs in the comparison.

Doc_N

Interesting, but all it really shows is that the so-called 'Savvy Woman', Sarah Pennells isn't as savvy as she likes to think she is - or that she's been 'encouraged' to carry out this survey in a particular way to make Aldi and Lidl look more expensive than they actually are. My guess is that it's been fixed - no genuine moneysaving food blogger could be that stupid or naive.

As others have said, the only reason for Aldi and Lidl appearing more expensive is that she's ignored the cheaper coffees they both sell (£1.49 for 200g - twice the amount) and included a premium one instead.

She's also ignored the much cheaper non free range eggs available at £1.09 for 15 at Aldi and Lidl.

Factor both of those in, and the Aldi/Lidl price drops to around £3.15 - the cheapest of the lot!

Never believe a blogger trying to push a particular viewpoint!

Pollycat

Doc_N wrote: »

Interesting, but all it really shows is that the so-called 'Savvy Woman', Sarah Pennells isn't as savvy as she likes to think she is - or that she's been 'encouraged' to carry out this survey in a particular way to make Aldi and Lidl look more expensive than they actually are. My guess is that it's been fixed - no genuine moneysaving food blogger could be that stupid or naive.

As others have said, the only reason for Aldi and Lidl appearing more expensive is that she's ignored the cheaper coffees they both sell (£1.49 for 200g - twice the amount) and included a premium one instead.

She's also ignored the much cheaper non free range eggs available at £1.09 for 15 at Aldi and Lidl.

Factor both of those in, and the Aldi/Lidl price drops to around £3.15 - the cheapest of the lot!

Never believe a blogger trying to push a particular viewpoint!

Thanks, that's interesting.
I don't have a Lidl or Aldi close so didn't know about the cheaper coffee and eggs, although I did mention those 2 items from Lidl & Aldi in an earlier post.

We’ve picked five everyday items from the UK’s big four supermarkets (Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons) and two discount supermarkets (Aldi and Lidl) and compared prices of their cheapest ranges.

So Ms Pennells has been a tad economical with the truth.