There aren't many places where I haven't shopped for food - Asda, Aldi, Morrisons, Sainsbury's, Lidl, Tesco, Iceland, you name it, I've been to them all.
One place I've never done a food shop is Marks and Spencer. There's always been something about the place that screams expensive, the kind of place your rich grandma would shop for her weekly joint of meat.
I don't have a rich grandma, but if I did, I imagine that's where she'd shop. So when I was asked to see how its products - and its prices - fared against budget retailer Aldi, I could have laughed out loud.
Read more: Almost every single item in my supermarket shop cost less than Morrisons
'This is not just food' after all, and there was no way on earth that M&S would even get close to Aldi's prices, or so I thought.
Like many shoppers, I knew little of the retailer's Remarksable range, which seems to have been thrust into the spotlight of late. The company's investment, which has seen prices drop after being matched against key competitors, comes at a time when customers are more willing than ever to shop around in search of the cheapest products.
Its focus is on everyday staples - 'delivering trusted value' for customers, with 'no compromises' on M&S quality, welfare and sourcing standards.
And it turns out that some of its products are indeed pretty cheap - at today's standards anyway - with a few of them cheaper than Aldi's standard tier would you believe.
I was shocked to discover that a 250g block of butter costs £1.75 in M&S, compared with Aldi's £1.99. Even in our weekly comparison of basics like bread and butter, only Lidl gets anywhere close to that price, at £1.72, with the majority of the big supermarkets matching Aldi's price.
Potatoes were cheaper too, £1 for a 2.5kg bag from M&S, compared with £1.09 at Aldi. The fact they're sold from the fridge certainly gave them a fresher feel and there were compliments all round for the mash they made to accompany the sausages, which were also devoured.
The range is clearly proving popular too. The shelves for some of the products, like the six-pack of eggs for £1, were completely bare.
Don't get me wrong, there are still loads of items where Aldi can't be beaten on price, especially when there are added reductions, like the carrots being reduced from 47p a kilo to 29p and tins of chopped tomatoes down to 38p a tin. Then there's the size difference too - Aldi's Royal Gala apples much larger than the more expensive ones from M&S for instance.
But with many of the staples, like a loaf of bread and tins of beans, the two are just pennies apart, and milk - at £1.55 for four pints - is exactly the same price at both. And having sampled the quality of the products in our weekly shop, I'd say it's money well spent.
It's probably not somewhere I'd go to do my regular big shop, but it's made me realise that maybe you don't need to be rich to shop at M&S after all.
Shopping list with prices M&S / Aldi
- Beef mince 750g £4.25 / 500g £2.29 (equates to £3.43 for 750g)
- Bacon 300g £2.40 / 360g £1.69 (equates to £1.41 for 300g)
- Carrots 1kg 45p / 29p
- Broccoli 53p / 62p
- Potatoes 2.5kg £1 / £1.09
- Apples Royal Gala x6 £1.70 / £1.39
- Bananas loose 73p (0.78p per kg) / 84p (14p each)
- Rice pouches x2 £1 / 70p
- Salted butter £1.75 / £1.99
- Skimmed milk 4 pints £1.55 / £1.55
- Plain flour 1.5kg 75p / 58p
- Pasta 500g 85p / 69p
- Rich Tea biscuits 50p / 34p
- Chopped tomatoes x 4 £1.60 / £1.52
- Tuna £1.05 / 69p
- Beans 40p / 37p
- Chicken soup 55p / 45p
- Apple juice 1L £1 / 85p
- Cornflakes 85p / 59p
- Pork sausages 8-pack £1.85 / £1.49
- Loaf 70p / 69p
- Cooked chicken £2.75 / £1.89
Totals £28.21 / £23.46
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