Cheapest UK supermarket: Lidl beats Aldi, Tesco and Asda
Which? found that Lidl had beaten Aldi for the first time since October 2023.
The products included Hovis sliced bread, milk and cheese, and the consumer experts checked prices at eight of the UK's biggest supermarkets throughout July.
Supermarket a verage price for 76 items
Lidl Plus £128
Lidl £128.40
Aldi £129.25
Asda £139.53
Tesco (with Clubcard)£141.92
Sainsbury's (with Nectar) £144.21
Tesco £145.10
According to the Which? report, Lidl was the cheapest overall, beating rival discounter Aldi by £1.25 if you had a Lidl Plus card, or 85p if not.
The third cheapest was Asda, which doesn't offer loyalty pricing in the same way as the others.
Tesco without a loyalty card was still cheaper than shopping at Morrisons with one.
What about loyalty card promotions?
Sainsbury's was running Nectar price promotions on 15 items, while Tesco had Clubcard prices on 16. Meanwhile, Morrisons had two More scheme discounts on items in our basket, and Lidl had three items on our list with a loyalty discount.
Waitrose had no loyalty deals on the shopping list items. It was the most expensive supermarket again this month, averaging £170.91 – that's over £42 (or 33%) more than Lidl.
Why are food prices going up so much?
UK inflation rose to a near 18-month high this summer as food prices shot up for the third month running.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said Consumer Prices Index inflation rose to 3.6% in June, up from 3.4% in May and the highest since January 2024.
The increase was unexpected, with most economists forecasting inflation to remain unchanged at 3.4%.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves says there's 'more to do' to help bring inflation down.
She said: 'I know working people are still struggling with the cost of living.'
'There is more to do and I'm determined we deliver on our Plan for Change to put more money into people's pockets,' she added.
@uktoday_ Don't know what Inflation means? Here's it explained in under 2 minutes #uknews #ukinflation #inflationmeaning #uknewsheadlines ♬ original sound - UKToday 🇬🇧 Newsquest
Rob Mansfield, Independent Financial Advisor at Rootes Wealth Management, says: 'The cost of living crisis continues to bite. The rise in motor fuels was expected given the war in the Middle East and it shows how vulnerable our island is to events all over the globe.
"Most people can't avoid these price rises, so they ask for higher wages, which can in turn drive up prices.'
The figures come after gross domestic product (GDP) shrank by 0.1% in May, following a 0.3% fall in April and leading to fears of a contraction overall in the third quarter.
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Borrowing costs are set to ease further as the Bank of England contends with stagnant growth and rising unemployment, experts have predicted.
Most economists think the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will cut interest rates by 0.25 percentage points to 4% on Thursday.
Interest rates have been steadily cut over the past year from a peak of 5.25%.
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