With households having faced relentless price rises with their food shop, there's one store that has been the cheapest for basics since January.
Our weekly comparison of the same budget basics has been tracking the cost of the same eight essentials at the six main supermarkets since March 2022.
Lidl has held the 'cheapest' crown since the end of January now, a position it retains this week, with the shopping basket costing £11.79 - made up of coffee, tea bags, milk, bread, butter, beans, chicken and mince.
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In fact since our comparison first began, there have been just 17 weeks when Lidl wasn't the cheapest. On nine occasions it was Aldi that took the lead, with Tesco and Morrisons earning the accolade once, and Asda coming out cheapest six times - mostly in the first few weeks.
Since then Asda has fallen right down the table, and its current position of 'most expensive' - with the basket costing £13.15 - is one it's held for more than four months, bar one exception.
There is however some good news for shoppers this week as none of the supermarkets have increased any of the items in our basket.
The only change has been one price drop at Asda, with beef mince reducing from £2.99 to £2.79. It's still the dearest out of them all for the product though. All other stores sell the 500g 20% fat pack for £2.49, while Lidl is cheapest at £2.45, but for 25% fat.
Second cheapest in this week's comparison is Aldi at £12.13, followed by Tesco at £12.31, Sainsbury's at £12.33 and Morrisons at £12.60.
It comes as just last week a survey suggested that soaring food prices may have peaked.
Food inflation fell to 15.4 per cent in the year to May, according to a survey by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and Nielsen.
It was down from 15.7% in April. But that is still an incredibly high figure, meaning that a person who spent around £20 in a food shop a year ago would now be paying a little over £23 for the same items.
Have you noticed price rises slowing down? Have you changed your shopping habits amid the cost of living crisis? Let us know in the comments.
Here's the full list:-
Lidl
Loaf of white bread 800g - 45p
Milk 2 pints - £1.25
Coffee 200g - £1.99
Teabags 160 - £1.19
Salted butter 250g - £1.89
Beans 420g tin - 28p
Chicken 300g - £2.29
Mince 500g 25% fat (20% fat no longer available) - £2.45
Total £11.79
Aldi
Loaf of white bread 800g - 45p
Milk 2 pints - £1.25
Coffee 200g - £1.99
Teabags 160 - £1.49
Salted butter 250g - £1.89
Beans 420g tin - 28p
Chicken 300g - £2.29
Mince 500g 20% fat -£2.49
Total £12.13
Tesco
Loaf of white bread 800g - 39p
Milk 2 pints - £1.25
Coffee 200g (2 x 100g) - £1.98
Teabags 160 (2 x 80-pack) - £1.48
Salted butter 250g - £1.89
Beans 420g tin - 28p
Chicken 300g - £2.55
Mince 500g 20% fat -£2.49
Total £12.31
Sainsbury's
Loaf of white bread 800g - 45p
Milk 2 pints - £1.25
Coffee 200g £1.99
Teabags 160 - £1.49
Salted butter 250g - £1.89
Beans 400g tin - 27p
Chicken 300g - £2.50
Mince 500g 20% fat - £2.49
Total £12.33
Morrisons
Loaf of white bread 800g - 75p
Milk 2 pints - £1.25
Coffee (2 x 100g) - £1.98
Teabags 160 (2 x 80-pack Savers) - £1.38
Savers Salted butter 250g - £1.89
Beans 410g tin - 27p
Chicken 300g - £2.59
Mince 500g 20% fat - £2.49
Total: £12.60
Asda
Loaf of white bread 800g (Just Essentials) - 45p
Milk 2 pints - £1.25
Coffee 200g (2 x 100g Just Essentials) - £1.98
Teabags 160 (4 x 40-pack Just Essentials) - £1.52
Salted butter 250g - £1.89
Beans 410g tin (Just Essentials) - 27p
Chicken 300g - £3
Mince 500g 20% fat -£2.79 (down from £2.99)
Total £13.15 (down from £13.35)
Aldi argues that its tea bags are a higher quality than Lidl's 'One Cup', but our comparison has simply used the cheapest 160-box available. Or, as in the case of Tesco and Asda, multiple smaller packs to make up that number.
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