Aldi has been my favourite place to shop for years, but I now believe you can save more money buying one specific food type at Marks and Spencer.
Food shopping is often my least favourite chore as I hate the feeling of standing at the checkout and watching the price of my weekly food shop climb even higher with every beep. It feels like everything has gotten much more expensive but I am lucky to live only 10 minutes away from an Aldi, which is often considered the most affordable supermarket in the UK.
It is not just my opinion that Aldi has the best prices, as the customer champion Which? have shared the supermarket has consistently had the lowest prices every month in 2026. They said: “Aldi has been named the UK’s cheapest supermarket for the sixth consecutive month, according to Which? analysis. The supermarket has kept the momentum from its 2025 overall win, having taken the title across 10 months of the 12. It was only beaten by Lidl in July and October last year. “
I used to shop only at Aldi because I felt it was the only way to keep my shopping receipts to a reasonable length and avoid overspending on essentials.
However, I recently needed to go into my local Marks and Spencer to buy a birthday cake for a party, and though I would have a laugh at the steep prices as I was there.
While I admit I did baulk at the price tag for some of their chocolates, I was stunned that the price of some of the everyday items were actually cheaper than what I was spending at Aldi.
While at M&S I was just browsing along the aisles as I walked to the baking section when I came across the price of the vegetables.
I immediately noticed the price of the cabbage was 80p, as I had been shopping at Aldi the night before, where the same product was 89p. I also saw that the mushrooms were £1, and I distinctly remembered they had been £1.29 at Aldi.
It is just a small difference, but I have always believed that M&S had really extravagant prices and I did not realise I actually save some money doing my food shop there.
I decided to look at some of their other basic food shop items, and some items were pricier than Aldi but I was surprised it was only by a few pennies.
The semi-skinned milk was £1.65 at Aldi, while it was £1.75 at M&S and the price of wholemeal bread was the same at both supermarkets at 75p.
The next week, I was in the area and decided to try shopping at M&S, as I just wanted a few items and to see how expensive it actually would be. I bought strawberries (£2.25), blueberries (£2.50), a bag of roasting potatoes (£2.25), beef mince (£3.75) and a carton of eggs (£1.85) for £12.60.
I think the price was reasonable and really impressed me after taking the shopping home is that the strawberries and blueberries have lasted ages. It has been over five days and all the fruit I bought is still really fresh.
I love Aldi, but often their fruits and vegetables only last a day or two, so I end up having to throw a lot of what I bought in the bin as I feel like it goes mouldy very quickly.
I think Marks and Spencer can be expensive if you are buying snacks, picky bits or other luxury foods, but I have been pleasantly surprised at how reasonable their basic essential items are.
I think the fruits and vegetables are worth buying at Marks and Spencer. And in the future, I think I will try to buy most of my produce there, as it is roughly the same price at Aldi, but I end up saving money because they last so much longer.
