The average household has seen a 1.9% jump to the cost of their food shop in the 12 months to October 2024, according to the Office for National Statistics. With living costs still high, many of us are looking at ways to keep our food costs down.
Some UK supermarkets are more expensive than others, but with prices rising across the board, you might be surprised to see how the cost of popular items compare.
Some UK supermarkets are more expensive than others, but with prices rising across the board, you might be surprised to see how the cost of popular items compare.
We’ve looked at the prices of the most frequently bought items from the top UK supermarkets to find out the cheapest places to shop.
Prices correct at time of writing: 16/02/2024. This article is updated quarterly.
What’s on the list?
For all of the items we’ve listed, we’ve chosen supermarket’s own brand products wherever possible, only replacing these with a branded product if it’s cheaper, or if there’s no alternative.
Here’s the list:
| Item | Size | |
| Milk | Semi skimmed | 2 pint |
| Butter | Salted | 250g |
| Yoghurt | Full fat – Greek style | 500g |
| Cheese | Mature | 220g |
| Apples | Braeburn | 6 pack |
| Oranges | Easy peeler | 600g |
| Bananas | Loose | 5 pack |
| Celery | Whole head | 1 Head |
| Carrots | Bag | 1Kg |
| Onions | Brown | 1Kg |
| Tomatoes | Salad tomatoes | 6 pack |
| Bread | White medium sliced loaf | 800g |
| Pasta | Penne | 500g |
| Chickpeas | tinned in water | 400g |
| Rice | Long grain white rice | 1KG |
| Eggs | Medium – Free range | 6 pack |
| Chicken breast | 2 fillets | |
| Salmon fillet | 2 fillets | |
| Beef | 5% fat | 500g |
Which supermarket is cheapest this month?
This month, the cheapest supermarket overall was Aldi, with our list of items coming in at a total of £24.02.
Here’s the total amount for the items in each supermarket:
| Supermarket | Basket total – least to most expensive |
| Aldi | £24.02 |
| Sainsburys | £26.64 |
| Tesco | £27.00 |
| Asda | £28.13 |
| Morrisons | £28.13 |
| Iceland | £30.02 |
| Waitrose | £35.20 |
| M&S | £35.35 |
| Co-op | £35.65 |
Which supermarket has the cheapest items?
While Aldi came in cheapest, it didn’t have the cheapest items across the board. So while this supermarket offers the biggest savings on items like milk, apples and bananas were cheaper elsewhere.
However, while visiting each supermarket to buy the following items at the cheapest price the cost of your shop would only fall to £23.69. which is only £0.33 cheaper than Aldi. When you’ve factored in possible travel costs, it’s unlikely that this would be a cost-effective option.
Here, we look at which supermarket had the cheapest items this week:
| Item | Lowest Price | Supermarket |
| Milk | £1.15 | Iceland |
| Butter | £1.69 | Morrisons, Asda, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Aldi |
| Yoghurt | £0.85 | Aldi |
| Cheese | £1.49 | Aldi |
| Apples | £0.95 | Morrisons |
| Oranges | £0.95 | Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Aldi |
| Bananas | £0.75 | Tesco |
| Celery | £0.57 | Tesco |
| Carrots | £0.65 | Morrisons, Asda, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Marks & Spencer, Aldi |
| Onions | £0.99 | Morrisons, Asda, Tesco, Aldi |
| Tomatoes | £0.95 | Morrisons, Asda, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Co-op, Iceland, Waitrose, Aldi |
| Bread | £0.45 | Aldi |
| Pasta | £0.41 | Tesco, Aldi |
| Chickpeas | £0.45 | Asda |
| Rice | £0.52 | Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Aldi |
| Eggs | £1.30 | Waitrose |
| Chicken | £2.29 | Sainsbury’s, Aldi |
| Salmon | £3.79 | Asda, Aldi |
| Beef | £3.49 | Morrisons, Asda, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Aldi |
Which supermarket has the most expensive items?
While few of us will be surprised that Marks & Spencer and Waitrose are usually the most expensive, it might shock you to see Iceland making multiple appearances on this list.
Here, we look at which supermarket had the most expensive items this week, and how much more they were compared to the lowest price:
| Item | Highest Price | Difference from cheapest price | Supermarket |
| Milk | £1.35 | £0.20 | Co-op |
| Butter | £2.20 | £0.51 | Co-op |
| Yoghurt | £1.25 | £0.40 | Co-op |
| Cheese | £3.40 | £1.91 | Co-op |
| Apples | £2.05 | £1.10 | Co-op |
| Oranges | £2.00 | £1.05 | Marks & Spencer |
| Bananas | £1.20 | £0.45 | Co-op |
| Celery | £1.45 | £0.88 | Co-op |
| Carrots | £1.00 | £0.35 | Co-op |
| Onions | £1.25 | £0.26 | Marks & Spencer |
| Tomatoes | £2.00 | £1.05 | Marks & Spencer |
| Bread | £1.00 | £0.55 | Iceland, Waitrose |
| Pasta | £1.25 | £0.84 | Iceland |
| Chickpeas | £0.85 | £0.40 | Co-op |
| Rice | £1.80 | £1.28 | Co-op |
| Eggs | £1.85 | £0.55 | Marks & Spencer |
| Chicken | £4.40 | £2.11 | Waitrose |
| Salmon | £5.95 | £2.16 | Waitrose |
| Beef | £6.25 | £2.76 | Waitrose |
Finally…
While shopping around definitely pays off in some cases, if you’re grabbing a pint of milk or a bag of onions, rest assured that the difference in cost between these items from different supermarkets isn’t likely to break the bank. If you’re looking for other ways to keep food costs down, have a look at our articles 21 ways to save money on your food bills, 5 ways to cut energy costs when you cook and 12 inflation-busting foods.
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