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Manchester Evening News

Entertainment

Emma Gill

We shopped at Aldi, Lidl, Asda, Tesco, Morrisons and Sainsbury's to see where we can make the cheapest school lunchbox and one was just 74p

Aldi Lidl Sainsbury Asda Morrisons Tesco

School is back and with parents feeling the pinch they'll no doubt be wanting to keep the cost of lunches down.

Unless your child qualifies for free school meals then it's almost always cheaper to buy your own child's lunch rather than paying for school dinners.

While some like to go all out with an elaborate affair, most mums and dads would probably admit to keeping it simple. So how cheaply can you make a lunch? We visited all six main supermarkets to find out.

Opting for standard products, rather than venturing into the cheapest budget ranges, our plan was to make a ham sandwich and include a tube yoghurt, a packet of crisps and a Royal Gala apple for a little as possible, using like-for-like products.

We visited Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury's, Tesco, Aldi and Lidl and opted for own brand items where possible. It was only with the tube yoghurts that we went for the branded Wildlife Choobs in Tesco, Asda, Morrisons and Sainsbury's, as Aldi and Lidl sell their own versions.

Aldi came out cheapest at 74.5p for the lunch (Manchester Family / MEN)

Overall - with two pieces of bread, 40g (four slices) of ham and 6g of margarine used for the comparison - it was Aldi which came out as cheapest, at 74.5p for the entire lunchbox.

While none of them came above £1, there have been some big price increases since our similar comparison back in February, when both Aldi and Lidl were cheapest, coming in at 62p.

Despite many of the products being exactly the same, with the main exception being bread as we used budget last time, the majority have gone up in price.

Among the most notable increases are the cost of spread, ham and apples, with a pack of Royal Gala apples rising at every single supermarket, the largest hike being a whopping 30p at Morrisons.

And there's the old shrinkflation happening too - with Tesco and Lidl reducing their pack sizes to five apples from six, yet still putting the price up by 10p and 20p respectively.

The cost of ham has risen in all but one supermarket, with a rather surprising 30p hike at Aldi, where the 400g pack now costs £1.89, compared with Lidl's £1.69.

The most expensive is Sainsbury's at £2.80 pack, a marked difference on the budget ham we used for the last comparison, which was £1.59 and is now £1.69.

Asda was the only shop where ham has reduced since the last comparison under its 'Price Locked' promotion (Manchester Family / MEN)

Refreshingly Asda's price has reduced from £2.25 to £2 as part of its 'Price locked' promotion. Yet it's Asda that has had the largest increase on spread, with its 500g tub of Brilliantly Buttery rising from 84p in February to £1.10, while others have increased theirs too, Tesco and Sainsbury's both by 25p and Aldi and Lidl by 16p.

Overall it was Sainsbury's that came out as most expensive, at 97.7p for the lunchbox, closely followed by Morrisons at 95.5p.

Have you swapped to packed lunches to save money? Where have you found is cheapest for products? Has your school increased the price of dinners? Let us know your views in the comments here.

Here's how the supermarkets ranked in price - full price of products / lunchbox price