A frugal foodie has set out to investigate whether budget supermarket Aldi really is cheaper than its luxury competitor, Marks & Spencer – and the results might surprise you
In a price battle between Aldi and M&S, who do you think will come out victorious?
With food and non-alcoholic beverage prices spiking by seven per cent in the year to January 2024, many cash-strapped Brits are tightening the purse strings when it comes to their weekly visit to the supermarket. Budget supermarkets such as Aldi are often seen as a significantly cheaper retailer than luxury competitors such as Marks & Spencer – but is that always the case?
Frugal foodie Kat (aka Kat saves on TikTok) went into both supermarkets to compare the price of some ‘basic’ items, including milk, tomatoes, cereal and eggs – and was pleasantly surprised at the results.
“I found it really interesting that a lot of the basic products only had a penny difference, such as butter or sugar, and these are things that we typically buy all the time,” she said. Kat noticed that a two pint of milk costs £1.20 from both retailers, and a six-pack of tomatoes were also priced the same (95). When it came to a single cucumber, there was only a ‘penny difference’.
“Then I moved away from the chilled section and went over to the shelves where I looked at corn flakes,” the content creator added. “This was a 80p in M&S and 79p in Audi.” Eggs had a bigger price difference, costing £1.30 for a six-pack in M&S and 99p in Aldi. Coffee came out at £1.10 per 100g, where Aldi had a slightly cheaper offer of 99.5p per 100g. “The overall price difference for the entire shop was only 51.5p,” Kat concluded, meaning Aldi only just pipped M&S to first place.
Hundreds of viewers flocked to the comments section – with many hailing M&S for being cheaper ‘than people think’. “Thank you,” one person wrote. “I’ve been ridiculed for years for shopping in M&S and Waitrose and I have said that it’s really not different on price but [the] quality is far superior.”
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Another agreed, commenting: “I’ve recently switched to M&S food from Aldi. I find the meats/fruit/veg etc lasts so much longer and has better shelf dates on than Aldi and also tastes better too!” A third added: “I’ve started shopping at M&S. Still stick to same budget as I had with Tesco. Quality is better and I’ve found I have a lot less food waste.”
However, one user branded the price-match as a ‘false economy’ – arguing that items such as meat, fish, and cheese are were the price difference really shows. “A few basics might be the same, but a weekly shop certainly isn’t,” they said. Another joined in, stating: “All of these M&S vs Aldi videos I see never actually compare the price of a proper weekly shop. The only comparisons ever made are basic products which are not going feed a family for a week,” while a third penned: “Basics also includes meat and fish, could you do the same for those?”
Back in March, research from Which? crowned Aldi the cheapest supermarket in the UK, trumping the likes of Asda, Lidl, Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose. M&S was not included in the analysis, which calculated the costs of 71 items included branded items, such as Dolmio pasta sauce, Heinz baked beans and Hovis bread, as well as supermarket own items, including milk and butter. The data includes special offer prices but not multi-buys or two-tier loyalty prices, which are only available to loyalty scheme members. Aldi came out victorious with a grand total of £121.06 – a £37 saving from the most expensive retailer, Waitrose.
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