A comparison of two high street supermarkets' budget ranges has shown what they consider to be "essential".
ASDA and Waitrose went head-to-head in the £10 budget challenge and the former's new range 'Just Essentials' surprised reporter Anna Highfield.
She was "blown away" by her visit to the store and emerged with a full basket for just £10.
Anna was impressed by the range and quality and reckoned family favourites such as tomato soup and baked beans were a match for brand names such as Heinz.
She ventured to upmarket retailer Waitrose which might be expected to be pricier and wanted to see how far her tenner went there as the cost of living increases
MyLondon reported the supermarket's slogans provide a good indicator of customer values.
ASDA prided itself on prices, encouraging shoppers to "Get the Asda price feeling"
But the Waitrose slogan insisted: "Everyone deserves quality food."
Anna continued her comparison of the two giants and her findings are below:
She reckons everyone deserves quality food - but whether everyone can afford quality food is a different matter.
Anna visited Waitrose to see how far her£10 would get her, buying only products from the supermarket's budget range 'Essential Waitrose'.
The first thing she noticed about Essential Waitrose is that, unlike ASDA's Just Essentials, the budget range at Waitrose is not designed to stand out.
While ASDA's new range dominates the shelves with its attention-grabbing yellow-pages bright yellow colour, Essential Waitrose had to be hunted down to spot its highly miss-able white packaging.
The second thing she noticed was the quantities.
Both ranges included everyday products such as rice and cheese, the Waitrose versions were tiny in comparison.
Shoppers at ASDA, she discovered could buy a kilogram bag of long grain rice for 45p, Waitrose shoppers pay £1 for half the quantity, 500g.
The same was true of grated cheddar, which was £2.40 for a 500g bag at ASDA, but £2.65 for a 250g bag at Waitrose.
Her third and favourite observation was the hilarious selection of items which Waitrose considers "essential".
While she had been impressed with the scope of ASDA's 276-item-strong essentials range (which included relative luxuries like hot chocolate, granola, and quiche), it paled in comparison to that of Waitrose.
Anna says not all customers would consider food products like Tiramisu, Greek Feta, and bake-at-home Petit Pains to be essential store cupboard staples - but Waitrose customers do.
Semolina flour, mini marshmallows, Edam and Brie were also staples of the Waitrose budget range, which have been designed with European arts collectors hosting an impromptu lunch party in mind.
Her favourite "essential" product from Waitrose was the supermarket's Sustainably Sourced, Responsibly Fished, Wild Pink Salmon. Tinned tuna eat your heart out.
To keep the comparison fair, though, she decided to dodge any of the supermarket's more extravagant "essential" items, and just bought genuine everyday essentials she could compare to those at ASDA.
For £9.95 in Waitrose, that bought her a small bag of long grain rice (£1), a tin of tomato soup (60p), a tin of baked beans (45), a soft spread (£1.15), fresh tomatoes (£1.50), a small bag of grated cheddar (£2.65) and an oven pizza (£2.60).
The collection looked a little lacking when set next to the huge haul, but Anna managed to get for 14p less at ASDA.
She was able to fill her basket in cheaper outlet ASDA with food such as soft spread (83p), long grain rice (45p), cheddar (£2.40 for a big bag), and baked beans (25p).
Luxuries such as hot chocolate (£1.02), granola (£1) were also included and the most expensive item a cheese and onion quiche for £1.42.
Her £10 basket also included fresh tomatoes (50p), six yoghurts (79p) and a tin of tomato soup (30p).
