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Daily Record

Lifestyle

Emma Gill & Rachel Williams

Aldi, Lidl, Asda, Sainsbury's, Morrisons and Tesco lunchbox prices compared - with one costing just 74p

Aldi Lidl Asda Sainsbury Morrisons Tesco

With the summer holidays officially over and the cost of living crisis still continuing, many parents might be feeling the pinch as they get in the essentials this year.

And, unless your kids qualify for free school meals, many parents might opt to create a healthy packed lunch to send their little ones to school with. Of course, like many things recently, this may prove to be an added expense following the rising prices at the supermarket.

Luckily for cash-strapped parents, one mum has compared how much it would cost to create a basic packed lunch from six major supermarket chains. Visiting Aldi, Lidl, Morrisons, Asda, Tesco and Sainsbury's, Emma Gill from The Manchester Evening News found that parents can get prices as low as 74p on a lunch box filled with four standard items.

With the aim of filling a lunchbox with own-branded, or like-for-like items, the savvy mum aimed to find the cheapest price for a lunchbox that would include a ham sandwich, a tube yoghurt, a packet of crisps and a Royal Gala apple.

Here is how the reporter got on as originally reported by The Manchester Evening News...

Overall - with two pieces of bread, 40g (four slices) of ham and 6g of margarine used for the comparison - it was Aldi which came out as cheapest, at 74.5p for the entire lunchbox.

While none of them came above £1, there have been some big price increases since our similar comparison back in February, when both Aldi and Lidl were cheapest, coming in at 62p.

Despite many of the products being exactly the same, with the main exception being bread as we used budget last time, the majority have gone up in price.

Among the most notable increases are the cost of spread, ham and apples, with a pack of Royal Gala apples rising at every single supermarket, the largest hike being a whopping 30p at Morrisons.

And there's the old shrinkflation happening too - with Tesco and Lidl reducing their pack sizes to five apples from six, yet still putting the price up by 10p and 20p respectively.

Asda was the only supermarket to have reduced the price of its ham since the last comparison (MEN)

The cost of ham has risen in all but one supermarket, with a rather surprising 30p hike at Aldi, where the 400g pack now costs £1.89, compared with Lidl's £1.69.

The most expensive is Sainsbury's at £2.80 pack, a marked difference on the budget ham we used for the last comparison, which was £1.59 and is now £1.69.

Refreshingly Asda's price has reduced from £2.25 to £2 as part of its 'Price locked' promotion. Yet it's Asda that has had the largest increase on spread, with its 500g tub of Brilliantly Buttery rising from 84p in February to £1.10, while others have increased theirs too, Tesco and Sainsbury's both by 25p and Aldi and Lidl by 16p.

Overall it was Sainsbury's that came out as most expensive, at 97.7p for the lunchbox, closely followed by Morrisons at 95.5p.

Here's how the supermarkets ranked in price - full price of products / lunchbox price