The battle of the budget supermarkets has been settled for another year. After Lidl briefly pipped it to the post at the end of 2023, Aldi quickly came clawing back and was the UK’s cheapest grocery shop for every single month of 2024, according to Which?. That means that it has retained its crown as the UK’s cheapest supermarket for a fourth year running.
Which? made a shopping list of 56 items and compared how much it would cost across the UK’s eight biggest supermarkets every month. The trolley included popular branded and own-label products including Heinz baked beans, Mr Kipling cakes, household essentials and own-label milk, bread and cheese.
The consumer watchdog found that the average cost of the grocery list at Aldi last year was £100.29. Lidl was second, with an average shop coming in at £101.56 (and a whopping 8p less if you have Lidl Plus).
For a much larger shop of 158 items, Asda proved the cheapest at an average of £415.56 for 2024. Aldi and Lidl weren’t included on that ranking as they don’t have a wide enough selection of branded items.
Unsurprisingly, Waitrose was the most expensive grocer in both cases.
Which?’s full ranking of the UK’s main supermarkets from the least to most affordable in 2024
- Aldi £100.29
- Lidl with Lidl Plus £101.48
- Lidl £101.56
- Tesco with Clubcard £111.22
- Sainsbury’s with Nectar £112.13
- Tesco £112.90
- Asda £113.22
- Morrisons with More £114.01
- Morrisons £116.32
- Sainsbury's £116.70
- Ocado £120.83
- Waitrose £129.83
You can read Which?’s full study here.
All about Aldi
Britain’s reigning low-cost shop has been very busy over the last 12 months, opening a bunch of new stores and making plans for even more. Despite that, it still wasn’t the UK’s fastest-growing supermarket in 2024.
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