Aldi named cheapest supermarket saving shoppers £400 a year – top 8 supermarkets ranked
Shoppers could save an average of £393 through the year if they bought their basics from Aldi rather than Waitrose.
Researchers compared the price of 56 common grocery items available at each of the UK's eight biggest supermarket brands - Aldi, Lidl, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Morrisons, Ocado, and Waitrose.
Using an independent price comparison website, analysts tracked the price of the items such as milk, Birds Eye peas and Hovis bread at each supermarket through the year. Aldi took the top spot in all 12 months of 2024.
In December, the 56 groceries cost £100.29 on average at Aldi while Lidl was £1.19 more expensive when shopping with its loyalty scheme Lidl Plus, and £1.27 more without.
Waitrose, the most expensive, was £29.54 pricier than Aldi in December, with the 56 items costing £129.83.
In March 2025, a basic shop of 79 products cost £133.73 in Aldi and £176.41 in Waitrose.
For the big shop, of 203 items, Asda was cheapest at £498.00, while Waitrose was more than £75 more expensive at £573.15.
The prices vary from month to month because analysts only compare prices for items that are available in all supermarkets, so some months don't include all items.
Results have always included special offers, but not multibuys. But since June 2024, the analysis has also included loyalty card prices.
While Asda was the cheapest supermarket for a bigger shop during 2024, this was only for nine months of the year.
This is because it faces a "strong challenge" from Tesco Clubcard prices, which came out cheapest in three out of the seven months of Which? including loyalty prices.
However, Asda has upped its game and has vowed to roll back prices on 10,000 items in the biggest cost cutting campaign in 25 years.
It has retained the crown for cheapest supermarket for a big shop for January, February and March 2025.
In some stores, loyalty card holders get special discounts on selected items. NimbleFins previously reported how they were not always cheaper when looking at the price per gram or millilitre, leading to supermarkets not putting this information on discount price labels.
The ‘big shop’ analysis for December 2024 included prices for the 56 groceries in the smaller shop category and an extra 102 added on top.
In December the 158 items cost £410.40 at Tesco with a Clubcard (£440.40 without) and £415.56 at Asda, compared to £458.12 in Waitrose.
Waitrose was the most expensive for larger trolley items every month of 2024 apart from September, when Sainsbury's was priciest (when not using a Nectar card).
Aldi and Lidl were not included in the large trolley analysis because they don't stock many of the branded items listed in the Which? list.
NimbleFins research into the average cost of food found a family of four spends on average £682 a month on food, including eating out and takeaways. This equals £157 a week. Of that, £508 a month (£117 a week) goes on grocery bills.
When looking at solo households, the average man spends £165 on groceries, while a women spends £126. This equals £38 and £29 a week respectively.
These figures are slightly down from the inflation peak.
In April 2023, our research showed:
- A family of four spent: £559 a month on groceries (£129 a week).
- The average man spent: £181 a month (£42 a week)
- The average woman spent: £138 a month (£32 a week).
Cheapest supermarket for basic shop
March 2025
| Supermarket | Average price for 79 items |
|---|---|
| Aldi | £133.73 |
| Lidl with Lidl Plus | £134.40 |
| Lidl | £134.43 |
| Tesco with Clubcard | £146.79 |
| Asda | £147.09 |
| Tesco | £149.83 |
| Sainsbury’s with Nectar | £150.46 |
| Morrisons with More | £155.47 |
| Morrisons | £156.86 |
| Sainsbury’s | £159.24 |
| Ocado | £167.20 |
| Waitrose | £176.41 |
(Analysis of 79 popular groceries)
Cheapest supermarket for bigger shop
March 2025
| Supermarket | Average price for 203 items |
|---|---|
| Asda | £498.00 |
| Tesco with Clubcard | £503.03 |
| Sainsbury’s with Nectar | £515.79 |
| Morrisons with More | £522.27 |
| Morrisons | £534.80 |
| Tesco | £540.63 |
| Ocado | £553.46 |
| Sainsbury’s | £559.66 |
| Waitrose | £573.15 |
(Analysis of previous 79 plus 124 other items)
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