Tesco/Sainsburys are not cheaper than Aldi

[Jac912]

I’ve shopped at Aldi for awhile now, and I believe it to be the cheapest supermarket.

Someone told me they stopped shopping in Aldi and went to Tesco/Sainsburys and now save £40-50 a WEEK on their food shop. So surely if you’re saving that much the items must be significantly cheaper compared to Aldi, right? But when pressed they couldn’t give me a single item that was cheaper than Aldi. It was all Club card/nectar deals which come and go.

I am not debating quality, we all know sometimes Aldi quality isn’t as good as other brands but personally I think Aldi quality is pretty good overall, there’s only a few things I wouldn’t buy from there. I am also not debating that many supermarkets sell items for the EXACT same price.

If you believe another supermarket is cheaper than Aldi then I would genuinely love to know what you buy because I really need to save on my food shop.

I shop around and know the shops where products are cheaper. I shop at Asda, Aldi B@m and farmfoods depending on where each product is cheaper

Have you tried Lid?

But the club card points do give you actual saving on things so I think it is fair to include those. Also how do you do all your shopping at Aldi? They have such a limited range. Once you have to go to multiple places you then spend more money on time/travel.

I did an online shop at Asda a couple of weeks ago but they had technical problems so the van turned up without the shopping. 🙄 I printed off what I’d ordered and went to Aldi instead, where the shop came in at £17 less.

I often do online shopping for convenience because I’m disabled so I need DH to come with me to a physical shop. However, if I could go on my own, I’d do Aldi more often than not.

I do the vast majority of my shopping at Sainsbury's. I occasionally go in Morrisons, because it's the only supermarket in my town, and very occasionally into Tesco. But I've never used Aldi.

I have a love/ hate relationship with Sainsbury's. I do think though generally the quality is quite good.

I think if you are a dedicated Sainsbury's shopper- collect the Nectar points, buy the Nectar price goods and use the Smart shop then you can see a bit of reward for shopping there. I find their Smart shop prices really helpful because it's reductions targeted specifically to things that I buy very regularly.

Gosh I feel like part of the Sainsbury's PR team now!

I use Aldi and Lidl and I have conducted my own ‘basket comparison’ experiment across all of the major retailers and they always come out as cheapest. I have noticed that since I moved to Aldi and Lidl I cook more from scratch because they have less choice of convenience foods - which can only be a good thing. In terms of quality I KNOW that Aldi make their suppliers brand match to market leaders and I aways find the quality very good. I do find Lidl a bit more hit and miss on the quality side of things.
i despise the club card/ nectar card ‘prices’ it doesn’t sit well with me and feels exploitative and a sham.

I don't know how people do their whole shop in Aldi or Lidl. You can't predict what they'll have in, things like spices are really restricted and the allergy provision is really poor.

I love Aldi.
Every time I shop at Tesco I wonder why I bother- it’s so expensive. We do have some things we have to get there unfortunately.

I am very sceptical about the huge savings that people claim, unless they're comparing Fortnum and Mason to FarmFoods. Or spending £500+ on a shop. A useful (if slightly anal) thing is to make a list, then price the SAME basket of goods in all the major supermarkets. Aldi does tend to come out slightly less, but mainly because a couple of items are a lot cheaper, but you do have to accept the reduced choice (no gluten free). Yes you can save if you shop around and use discount offers, for example I know that, as somebody who doesn't normally shop in sainsbury, spending £10 or so and using my Nectar card, will trip a £4.50 off £30 voucher, which I can then use to buy items on special offer, or that just happen to be cheaper. So the best solution is to know what is cheaper where, and buy when you're passing rather than making special journeys.

I go with an open mind- if they don’t have something we make do or change the menu plan or wait until next time.
I love the fact that choice is limited- I can be in and out in 20mins. Some things are seasonal so we buy up stuff we like and keep a watch on the middle aisles.

ive found aldi to be expensive lately, i remember doing a full weeks shop for £80 and now its around £150. Tescos is similar on price, the clubcard does save money so it should be included.

i find aldi veg/fruit doesnt last anywhere near as long as tescos though, its very quick to go off!

It depends what you buy doesn't it? I do mine in Lidl every week and have very few issues. Occasionally they will lack something I need but it's rare

It’s the same with people saying they find Ocado cheaper, it really isn’t (especially with the much reduced own brand range). It’s some weird competitive thing to claim X supermarket is cheaper than X. I just shop in Sainsbury’s for the Avios/nectar points and to shop online.

It depends if you stick to your list or are tempted by random stuff that you don't need in the middle aisle!

The secret with the fresh stuff is to go the day after delivery day when the shelves are freshly stocked.

But even on club card price the Aldi alternative is usually the same price. I do also go to Asda for a few branded items (Daz, Heinz ketchup, Marmite and fairy liquid) but not every week.

Yes this is what I mean. Everytime I’ve priced up an Ocado, Tesco or Sainsburys shop online it’s ALWAYS cheaper at Aldi.

I think if you cook from scratch Aldi is fine, I haven't needed to go anywhere else. You can get spices online in larger amounts - they're cheaper and often fresher.

Yes this 100%. I always price up Ocado, Sainsburys and Tesco online and it always comes out cheaper in Aldi.

I also mostly cook from scratch so not buying ready meals, branded snack items etc

It's not all about headline price though, OP. Those £1.29 grapes (made that up) aren't 'cheaper' than the £1.50 ones in Sainsbury's if I have to throw them away within 48 hours. They're a waste.

Value for money is significantly better in Sainsburys and Tesco than in Aldi for fresh produce.

Like most things, the best way to achieve maximum value is shopping around, but many of us don't have time.

I manage to feed a family of 5 (kids all teens) for £120 a week or so, shopping across Sainsbury's and Costco. It would genuinely cost me more in Aldi. I know - I've tried multiple times because everybody is so convinced Aldi is some form of saviour. It isn't.

I do go to other supermarkets for some items I can’t get in Aldi. Mainly branded stuff like Daz, fairy liquid, spices you can’t get in Aldi etc but not every week. I can usually do a full shop in Aldi.

I think the quality of all Aldi goods is very good for the money, whereas the quality of the price-matched equivalents in their competitors is more variable.

Aldi is great for the money, but if they didn't exist, the other supermarkets would probably be charging us more. Aldi keeps the others more honest.

Also, Aldi seem to treat their staff pretty good compared to stories I've heard about the other supermarkets. That counts for something in my choice of where to shop.

I think it depends on lots of factors, everyone shops differently. I take advantage of offers a lot.

We have quite a few items where it needs to be a specific brand for taste preference. For those things, I wait until they are on offer, and then buy several at once, and store them in the cupboard. I’m lucky to have sufficient cupboard space to do that.

Obviously I can’t do that with fresh food, so I tend to only buy that particular thing when it’s on offer. And the rest of the time we just eat something else, (which might also be on offer in its turn) or it’s cheaper anyway.

I live near several supermarkets, so I pick up a lot of yellow-sticker stuff too, by shopping in person several times a week. And I go to different supermarkets to pick up different things too - I have in my head which one has the cheapest price.

I cook from scratch Aldi products are fine for a day or two but then goes off. Due to that I go to other supermarket. I dislike the quality of a lot of their meats and dh can taste the difference even if I havent told him this is from Aldi.

So for me it's not just about savinga its the quality and I often fins the quality lacks.

You need to quantify. How much cheaper, how much was the total shop, is it the same shop, branded or own brand, are the packets/cans the same size? Just saying it's cheaper is meaningless. As I have said Aldi is cheaper, but not by much now, 5 years ago the situation was different, but not the 30-40% that people claim.