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Manchester Evening News

Business

Emma Gill

Supermarket under fire for 19% price hike on another budget range essential

Asda Lidl Aldi Tesco

A supermarket is under fire for the increasing the price of another shopping essential from its cheapest range. The hike in the cost of Asda's Just Essentials coffee brings the price of a basket of basic groceries to an all-time high in our weekly comparison, at £12.77.

Since March last year we have been monitoring prices of the same eight essentials at the main six supermarkets.

When we first started the comparison, the bill was less than £10 in every store. That was for 160 tea bags, as well as coffee, a two-pint bottle of milk, a loaf of bread, a pack of chicken breasts, a pack of mince, beans and butter.

At that time Asda was the third cheapest retailer behind Aldi and Lidl.

Yet since the end of January, with the exception of one week, the supermarket has ranked most expensive, and reaffirms that position this week after increasing its Just Essentials coffee from 83p for 100g to 99p.

It comes just weeks after it increased the price of its cheapest tea bags and backs up what retail experts are saying about lower income households facing bigger price rises as supermarkets' own brand and budget ranges have gone up more than premium and branded foods during the cost of living crisis.

Asda is under fire for increasing the price of coffee in its cheapest Just Essentials range (Manchester Family / MEN)

"It does feel as though there's no end to it," one Asda shopper told us. "I do like the Just Essentials range as it's cheapest for a lot of things, but it does seem to constantly be increasing at the moment.

"When you are buying the cheapest of everything, there's nowhere else to go from there."

The only other increase this week is at Lidl, where its loaf has risen from 36p to 39p. It still remains the cheapest overall, at £11.86, followed by Aldi at £12.06.

Despite the products having been compared for the last 12 months, Aldi has only this week said that its tea bags are a higher quality than Lidl's 'One Cup', but we simply used the cheapest 160-box available. Or, as in the case of Tesco and Asda, multiple smaller packs.

Third cheapest is once again Sainsbury's at £12.26, followed by Tesco at £12.30, and Morrisons at £12.42.

An Asda spokesperson: "All supermarkets have been impacted by global inflationary pressures which has increased the price of key ingredients. We’re working hard to keep prices in check for customers and we remain the lowest-priced major supermarket - a position recognised by Which? in their regular monthly basket comparison, naming Asda as the cheapest supermarket for a big shop every month for the last three years.

“We’ve recently locked the price of over 500 popular branded and own-label products to give customers more control over what they spend each week.”

Asda's Just Essentials coffee has risen from 83p for 100g to 99p (Manchester Family/MEN)

Have you made changes to your shopping habits amid the cost of living crisis? Do you buy own brand or budget ranges to keep costs down? Let us know in the comments.

Here's the full list:-