The cheapest supermarket of 2023 has been revealed. Do you think it works out the cheapest when you shop?
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It’s a hotly debated topic and one that gets asked a lot in our supermarket savings community – where is the lowest priced place to shop?
The thing is, I don’t really think there is a one size fits all answer.
Sure, for ME, and the stuff I buy, one supermarket can work out cheaper.
However, we don’t have young kids or pets, so we save on the additional costs, and no one in the family has allergies or intolerances to food.
Just because the basket of food I buy one week is cheaper, the stuff you buy might work out more expensive.
Which is the cheapest supermarket in the UK?
Trying to use a bit of methodology, consumer group Which? has been monitoring prices of groceries across six major supermarkets (* that must have been a fun job *).
First, they made a shopping list of 40 items they thought would be in a typical shopping basket.
Their list included stuff like own label-bread, crisps, butter, cheese, cleaning products, pet food, soft drinks and other everyday items.
They then worked out the average price (including discounts but not multibuys) for each item every month and then compared it.
So what did they find?
Without further ado, they found the lowest price supermarket of July 2023 … drum roll, please …
…
…
The cheapest supermarket for August 2023 is Aldi.
In the last of the monthly comparison, getting 37 items from Aldi added up to £65.21.
Lidl was the second cheapest at £66.53, and Asda was in third place, costing £71.48.
Waitrose (maybe not so surprisingly) was the most expensive, costing £79.51.
Cheapest supermarket month on month 2023
Here is a breakdown of the cheapest supermarket in 2023 which is tracked by Which? on a monthly basis.
Looking back, here are the cheapest supermarkets over the year:
January 2023 – Aldi – £82.03
February 2023 – Aldi – £74.81
March 2023 – Aldi – £72.54
April 2023 – Aldi – £69.99
May 2023 – Aldi – £68.60
June 2023 – Aldi – £72.25
July 2023 – Aldi – £71.22
August 2023 – Aldi – £65.21
September 2023 – TBC
Bigger food shops
While the ranking shows the cost for smaller essential shops, there is also a comparison for a larger show with the original 37 items, plus another 96.
This trolley includes a bigger range of branded goods.
However, as some of the items they compare are branded, this comparison does not include Lidl or Aldi.
If we swapped branded foods to own brand (as I know a lot of people won’t have their whole trolley full of them), the average cost would be a lot less.
And, as Lidi and Aldi generally win each month for years for a smaller basket (see below for their track history), I’d hazard a guess they’d also lead this chart.
| Supermarket | August 2023 – Average cost of trolley (133 branded items) |
|---|---|
| Morrisons | £323.35 |
| Asda | £341.28 |
| Tesco | £352.86 |
| Ocado | £353.81 |
| Sainsbury’s | £359.41 |
| Waitrose | £369.04 |
| Supermarket | July 2023 – Average cost of trolley (135 branded items) |
|---|---|
| Morrisons | £341.92 |
| Asda | £332.14 |
| Tesco | £360.97 |
| Ocado | £367.96 |
| Sainsbury’s | £370.54 |
| Waitrose | £376.66 |
| Supermarket | June 2023 – Average cost of trolley (134 branded items) |
|---|---|
| Asda | £333.16 |
| Morrisons | £343.41 |
| Tesco | £353.37 |
| Sainsbury’s | £356.15 |
| Ocado | £359.19 |
| Waitrose | £369.89 |
| Supermarket | May 2023 – Average cost of trolley (131 branded items) |
|---|---|
| Asda | £332.40 |
| Morrisons | £334.47 |
| Sainsbury’s | £341.40 |
| Tesco | £349.35 |
| Ocado | £354.90 |
| Waitrose | £363.99 |
| Supermarket | April 2023 – Average cost of trolley (135 branded items) |
|---|---|
| Asda | £343.46 |
| Sainsbury’s | £353.96 |
| Morrisons | £355.84 |
| Tesco | £365.77 |
| Ocado | £374.53 |
| Waitrose | £382.22 |
| Supermarket | March 2023 – Average cost of trolley (137 branded items) |
|---|---|
| Asda | £343.91 |
| Sainsbury’s | £353.16 |
| Morrisons | £354.87 |
| Tesco | £366.65 |
| Ocado | £371.85 |
| Waitrose | £385.74 |
| Supermarket | February 2023 – Average cost of trolley (139 branded items) |
|---|---|
| Asda | £355.29 |
| Sainsbury’s | £358.77 |
| Morrisons | £371.86 |
| Tesco | £376.95 |
| Ocado | £382.54 |
| Waitrose | £396.58 |
| Supermarket | January 2023 – Average cost of trolley (144 branded items) |
|---|---|
| Asda | £363.29 |
| Sainsbury’s | £375.84 |
| Tesco | £376.72 |
| Morrisons | £379.13 |
| Ocado | £392.43 |
| Waitrose | £408.72 |
Food shop price comparisons 2022
| Supermarket | December 2022 – Average cost of trolley (149 branded items) |
|---|---|
| Asda | £355.62 |
| Sainsbury’s | £368.97 |
| Tesco | £375.97 |
| Morrisons | £377.81 |
| Ocado | £386.68 |
| Waitrose | £406.95 |
| Supermarket | November 2022 – Average cost of trolley (149 branded items) |
|---|---|
| Asda | £355.34 |
| Sainsbury’s | £366.83 |
| Tesco | £375.90 |
| Morrisons | £377.83 |
| Ocado | £380.44 |
| Waitrose | £393.37 |
| Supermarket | October 2022 – Average cost of trolley (148 branded items) |
|---|---|
| Asda | £348.38 |
| Sainsbury’s | £355.65 |
| Morrisons | £367.12 |
| Tesco | £370.38 |
| Ocado | £382.30 |
| Waitrose | £392.94 |
| Supermarket | September 2022 – Average cost of trolley (149 branded items) |
|---|---|
| Asda | £343.38 |
| Sainsbury’s | £353.15 |
| Tesco | £368.26 |
| Morrisons | £370.77 |
| Ocado | £383.77 |
| Waitrose | £384.51 |
| Supermarket | August 2022 – Average cost of trolley (153 branded items) |
|---|---|
| Asda | £337.50 |
| Sainsbury’s | £360.93 |
| Tesco | £362.48 |
| Morrisons | £366.64 |
| Ocado | £386.84 |
| Waitrose | £386.98 |
| Supermarket | July 2022 – Average cost of trolley (152 branded items) |
|---|---|
| Asda | £331.81 |
| Morrisons | £350.69 |
| Sainsbury’s | £351.08 |
| Tesco | £356.51 |
| Ocado | £372.24 |
| Waitrose | £381.35 |
| Supermarket | June 2022 – Average cost of trolley (156 branded items) |
|---|---|
| Asda | £336.89 |
| Sainsbury’s | £349.56 |
| Morrisons | £356.29 |
| Tesco | £357.76 |
| Ocado | £376.84 |
| Waitrose | £385.27 |
| Supermarket | May 2022 – Average cost of trolley (59 branded items) |
|---|---|
| Asda | £129.53 |
| Sainsbury’s | £133.47 |
| Morrisons | £134.09 |
| Ocado | £139.29 |
| Tesco | £139.75 |
| Waitrose | £142.61 |
| Supermarket | April 2022 – Average cost of trolley (63 branded items) |
|---|---|
| Asda | £132.81 |
| Sainsbury’s | £138.58 |
| Morrisons | £139.65 |
| Tesco | £145.92 |
| Ocado | £147.35 |
| Waitrose | £149.82 |
| Supermarket | March 2022 – Average cost of trolley (66 branded items) |
|---|---|
| Asda | £128.60 |
| Sainsbury’s | £135.16 |
| Morrisons | £136.21 |
| Tesco | £140.65 |
| Ocado | £144.01 |
| Waitrose | £148.76 |
Cheapest supermarket month on month 2022
The cheapest supermarket in 2022 overall was Aldi. It was cheaper than others for seven consecutive months, with Lidl just missing the top spot.
However, Which? tracks the costs of items on a monthly basis.
Looking back, here are the cheapest supermarkets over the year:
January 2022 – Lidl – £24.78
February 2022 – Lidl – £24.21
March 2022 – Lidl – £26.83
April 2022 – Lidl – £25.92
May 2022 – Lidl – £23.55
June 2022 – Aldi – £75.61 (see the note above about comparison size)
July 2022 – Aldi – £74.23
August 2022 – Aldi – £76.24
September 2022 – Aldi – £75.61
October 2022 – Aldi – £75.79
November 2022 – Aldi – £77.21
December 2022 – Aldi – £81.63
NOTE: In previous months, Which compared around 20 items in each basket, but have increased the number of items they’re looking at. This makes it difficult to see, overall, how the monthly pricing is changing.
In March 2022, 21 items were compared, with the cheapest basket prices at £26.83. In April, with 18 items, it cost £25.92.
Each time they track food prices, the basket they compare changes. This is because they look to make sure products are available in every store. Foods compared included own-label free-range eggs and raspberries as well as branded products, including Chicago Town pizzas.
When you look at the prices on a monthly basis, you can see how much the prices have crept up over the year. And you can tell why it’s so difficult to budget for a grocery shop!
Month on month – which supermarket is the cheapest in 2021?
Here are the supermarkets that were cheaper over 2021:
January 2021 – Aldi and Lidl were tied – £18.45
February 2021 – Lidl – £19.13
March 2021 – Lidl – £22.48
April 2021 – Aldi – £22.64
May 2021 – Lidl – £22.66
June 2021 – Aldi – £21.61
July 2021 – Aldi – £23.59
August 2021 – Lidl – £24.11
September – Aldi – £24.03
October – Aldi – £24.24
November – Aldi – £24.64
December – Lidl – £23.29
Cheapest supermarket UK 2020
In 2020, Lidl was named the cheapest place to shop.
It was 34p cheaper than its rival Aldi.
Ocado and Waitrose were at the bottom of the list as the most expensive supermarket.
Tracking on a month by month basis, Aldi looked like it was cheaper than Lidl. However, instead of using the monthly summaries, they tracked the 2020 lowest priced supermarket by items they could get hold of.
The basket used in the price comparison used 45 popular branded and own-label products, including Hovis bread, Knorr stock cubes, eggs, cucumber and tomatoes.
UK’s cheapest supermarket 2019
As a price comparison of 53 items over the course of 2019, here’s how supermarkets stacked up:
| Supermarket | Average cost of trolley (53 branded items) |
| Sainsbury’s | £107.01 |
| Asda | £107.65 |
| Morrisons | £109.13 |
| Tesco | £112.40 |
| Ocado | £116.40 |
| Waitrose | £117.81 |
For comparison, in 2018 the UK’s cheapest supermarket in their study was Morrisons, followed by Asda and then Sainsbury’s.
Read next: Find out the cheapest online supermarket
What’s wrong with their old research?
While I’m sure Which? has done their tracking and research perfectly well, I’m not sure it’s a true reflection of how people actually shop.
Missing supermarkets
For many years, they’d only been comparing six supermarkets and they used to miss both Lidl and Aldi up until 2020.
Their rationale?
They used MySupermarket to track pricing and, as Aldi and Lidl don’t offer online shopping, the pricing wasn’t used.
They also haven’t monitored food pricing on Amazon and, if you’re going to buy branded, you may find you save loads of money if you shop on Amazon Fresh or even Morrisons via Amazon.
Natalie Hitchins, Which? Head of Home Products and Services, said:
“Your weekly supermarket shop can have a significant impact on your wallet.
“Our analysis shows how important it can be to shop around to ensure you get the best price for your groceries.”
Will you change habits for lower prices?
Does the research from Which? sway you to shop at another store because it’s “cheaper” than another supermarket in the UK?
Or, are you happy with your own research to know where to shop?
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Tony says
There are some problems here, it depends which town or city you’re in when you go to the supermarket and in Kent for example; Tesco express are higher priced than the other Tesco stores, and (I’m picking on Tesco) their prices change from town to town. When I asked about higher prices in the express stores, the response was that the stores were open later. By definition, the Tesco on the Isle of Sheppey should be charging more as it’s 24 hour but it is cheaper. Lastly, alot of Tesco store prices are ending in multiples of 5, in other words, you won’t find prices of £1.27 or 86p or £4.56, it is either 90p, £1.30, £4.65 it seems as though prices are being made artificially high
Martin says
I don’t trust the results personally as it all depends on what you buy. And not just what you buy but whether you prefer branded or supermarkets own products.
Claire says
We’ve tried a few supermarkets this winter. Tesco works out cheaper for me than Asia because I cook from scratch and bake a lot – their own brand flour is very good for instance.
My parents and their friends swear by Lidl and Aldi as they enjoy pizzas and salads. It obviously depends on your specific needs.
Anne Sweet says
It’s so difficult to compare supermarkets these days. We like a lot of branded products but when we go for supermarket brands we like Sainsburys best. I’ve just done some maths (eek) and my average shop works out at 109 items for £167 but there are seven of us in our family (only one child)
When the supermarkets where smaller and on the high street I remember being dragged around by my Mum and her shopping trolley where she bought bargains from the different shops, fruit and veg from grocers, tea bags and bread from Tescos, tinned food from Liptons, boxes of broken biscuits and sweet snacks from the local market hall. Shopping would take nearly all day but she knew exactly where to go for the best prices. (Mum was a widow with two young children)