Aldi value shames Tesco

Today we made a decision to give Aldi a try for our weekly shopping following a number of recent television adverts claiming they sell British Assured fresh meat. We are usually keen to shop by convenience and having a Tesco only ten minutes away by foot has always meant Tesco have been our preferred choice. Today we broke the mould and tried an alternative option.

Aldi is a smart conveniently laid out store and the fact it was busy confirmed that many others had already made the change. For this weekly shop comparison we have compared like for like and where necessary the price has been adjusted accordingly (15 fish fingers v 14 fish fingers as an example) to ensure a fair price comparison is used.

We were quite interested to see if there really is a difference and the results were quite simply staggering. Before going into the results, our Shopping List comprised of the following items:-

The Shopping List

CLEANING PRODUCTS
15 Large Floor Wipes
40 Surface Anti-Bacterial Wipes
Kitchen Rolls (120 Sheets per Roll)
Own Brand Toilet Cleaner (Adjusted)
FRUIT & VEGGIES
Broccoli Stalk
Peppers (3 Pack)
White Seedless Grapes (500g)
Carrots (1kg Bag)
Apples (Bag)
Rocket (Bag)
Classic Salad (Bag)
Frozen Garden Peas (1kg Bag)
MEAT
Smoked Back Bacon (14 Rashers)
Fish Cakes (Twin Pack)
Seasoned Medium Chicken (1.5kg)
Minced Meat (750g)
Chicken Thighs (Pack – Adjusted)
FROZEN FOOD
Brains Faggots (Pack of 4)
Breaded Cod (Pack of 4)
Fish Fingers (Own Brand – Adjusted)
TINNED PRODUCTS
Chickpeas (Tin)
Kidney Beans (Tin)
FRESH PRODUCTS
Milk Semi-Skimmed (4 Pints)
Large Eggs (10 Box)
Garlic Bread Baguette (1)
DRINKS
Hobgoblin Ale (2)
Hopping Hare Ale (2)
OTHER ITEMS
Small box of Freezer Bags (Adjusted)

The list above has been calculated to be completely comparable to ensure fairness is achieved. I was keen to understand how different the savings could be and set a bench mark of around 10% however the result was staggering.

Aldi were cheaper on all but 1 item out of the total of 28 items purchased on our shopping list, this was the Twin Pack of fish cakes. There was 1 item where both Aldi and Tesco were identical on price, this was the Kitchen Roll. All of the remaining 26 items were cheaper at Aldi.

The Big Differences

A Pack of 40 Anti-Bacterial surface wipes cost 75p at Aldi compared to £1.25 at Tesco, a difference of 75%

A 500g pack of White Seedless Grapes cost £1.39 at Aldi compared to £2.00 at Tesco, a difference of around 40%

10 Large Eggs cost £1.15 at Aldi compared to £2.00 at Tesco, a difference of 85%

A 1kg Pack of Carrots cost 59p at Aldi compared to 99p at Tesco, a difference of nearly 70%

The packet of Classic Salad once adjusted to be compatible costs 79p at Aldi compared to £2.14 at Tesco (200g) which is a staggering 150% more!

A tin of Kidney Beans (400g) at Aldi cost 25p compared to 55p at Tesco, over twice the price.

A seasoned Medium 1.5kg Fresh Chicken cost £3.99 at Aldi compared to £6.00 at Tesco, which is 33% more.

Frozen Garden Peas (1kg) cost 99p at Aldi compared to £1.60 at Tesco, a difference of 60%

Frozen own brand Fish Fingers once adjusted cost nearly three times the price at Tesco which is shocking.

The bottled Ales were 25p cheaper per bottle despite Tesco having a 4 for £6 deal on.

The Overall Savings

Based on the total shopping list, Aldi came in at £38.40 v Tesco at £52.37. Aldi offered a saving of £13.97 which is the equivalent of 50p per item bought. This is an overall price difference of around a third, this is a huge saving.

In this exercise it shows that swapping to Aldi has made a big difference on this shop. It is worth saying that Tesco are cheaper for Cheese which we didn’t include.

Oh just in case you though I’d missed it, the difference on a 4 pint carton of Semi Skimmed Milk was 5p in Aldi’s favour.

Next week we will compare the weekly shop to Waitrose.

DarcyB