Everyone wants to save money on their shopping bills - in fact, on all my bills, please.
Inflation has hit the shelves and driven up the price of food items we put in our trolleys making it harder and harder to make our wages stretch each month. Inflation is calculated when the Office for National Statistics checks the prices of a range of goods and services that people buy regularly.
This includes things like a loaf of bread, a bus ticket and other things like cars and holidays. The prices are then added together and the overall price is known as the ‘Consumer Prices Index’ (CPI) which is then compared with the CPI from a year ago and the change in price is the rate of inflation.
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Inflation is currently at 10.7%. Usually, it is around 2% and a target the Bank of England likes to stick to. But there are some, like poverty campaigners Jack Monroe, who feel that inflation for the poorest is actually higher than the ONS numbers because the cheapest products have risen well beyond this.
With the cost of living crisis we decided to take a look at the prices of five key foods across a number of chain shops in Merseyside to see how they compare. In each store we chose the cheapest available option for two pints of semi-skimmed milk, a loaf of white bread, a bag of at least six apples, a bag of potatoes and a tin of beans.
We visited 12 shops; Asda, Tesco, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Lidl, Aldi, Home Bargains, Farmfoods, M&S Food, Waitrose, Iceland and Heron Foods.
Here come the disclaimers...
While we tried to get like-for-like products in each shop, sometimes that was not possible, particularly when it comes to bags of potatoes. In most supermarkets they are sold in 2.5kg bags but in some other stores we had to get 1.5kg bags or less.
We felt it was still important to include these in our lists as they may be the only ones available to some of our readers. This is also why we have included shops such as Iceland, Heron, Farmfoods and Home Bargains.
While these shops might not be known for their fresh produce, they may be the closest store for some readers and many may also pick up some staple items while they are shopping for other products. It is also important to say that often buying in bulk, such as beans, can mean it is cheaper per item overall. Similarly, store loyatly cards, coupons and offers can also bring down the price of selected items.
With supermarkets such as Aldi and Lidl, they often stock a variety of foods from different suppliers throughout the year, so these prices are reflective of items we were able to buy on the day and you may be able to find cheaper.
But here are our findings in order of the most expensive total price to the cheapest - and you might be surprised which one came out on top.
Waitrose
Waitrose only had their organic range of milk available at the time of visiting the store.
Milk - £1.75
Bread - 75p
Apples - £2.50p
Potatoes - £1.25
Beans - 55p
Total - £6.80
Marks and Spencer
Milk - £1.30
Bread - 85p
Apples - £1.85
Potatoes - £2.30
Beans - 50p
Total - £6.80
Iceland
So Iceland is not known for fresh produce, but it does sell it so we wanted to include it as many might pick up some other essentials while doing their shop for frozen favourites.
Milk - £1.30
Bread - 79p
Apples - £1
Potatoes - £2.25
Beans - 50p
Total - £5.84
Heron
As with Iceland, Heron is known more for its freezers than its fresh section, but some may only have these shops closest to them. When we tried Heron, their milk section was sold out of two-pint cartons so we bought a one-pint carton instead.
Milk - 95p
Bread - £1.29
Apples - £1.49
Potatoes - £1
Beans - 79p
Total - £5.52
Farmfoods
Milk - £1.55
Bread - 82p
Apples - 99p
Potatoes - 69p
Beans - £1.40
Total - £5.45
Home Bargains
Milk - £1.15
Bread - £1.09
Apples - £1
Potatoes - £1.09
Beans - £1.09
Total - £5.42
Lidl
Milk - 1.30p
Bread - 79p
Apples - 85p
Potatoes - £1.49
Beans - 26p
Total - £ 4.69
Sainsbury's
Milk - £1.30
Bread - 39p
Apples - £1.70
Potatoes - £1.05
Beans - 25p
Total - £4.69
Aldi
As with Lidl, we purchased the cheapest items available to us at the time and both budget supermarkets stock different items at different times of the year.
Milk - £1.30
Bread - 39p
Apples - 99p
Potatoes - £1.59
Beans - 26p
Total - £4.53
Tesco
Milk - £1.30
White loaf - 39p
Apples - 85p
Potatoes - £1.19
Tin of beans - 27p
Total - £4
Asda
Milk - £1.30
Bread - 39p
Apples - 65p
Potatoes - £1.15
Beans - 26p
Total - £3.75
Morrisons
At Morrisons, they have a ‘wonky’ fruit and veg range available that we were able to buy from at the store we visited.
Milk - £1.30
Bread - 39p
Apples - 65p
Potatoes - 99p
Beans - 25p
Total - £3.58
And if you fancy shopping around to find the cheapest of each here is our breakdown;
Cheapest two-pints of milk - Home Bargains at £1.15
Cheapest loaf of white bread - Aldi, Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury's and Tesco at 39p
Cheapest bag of apples - Asda and Morrisons at 65p
Cheapest bag of potatoes - Farmfoods at 69p
Cheapest tin of beans - Morrisons and Sainsbury's at 25p
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