Lidl is no longer the cheapest supermarket

Budget supermarket Lidl is no longer the cheapest chain on the high street, having been knocked from the top spot by a competitor.

In the current economic climate, every penny counts for many UK households, meaning some of us are comparing everything from energy providers to where we’ll do the big shop.

According to the Manchester Evening News, Lidl has been dethroned after increasing the prices of three key products – butter, bread and milk.

The outlet describes how it was just last week that Lidl upped the price of its cheapest block of butter from £1.72 to £1.99, but that now the figure has risen again to £2.15.

The cost of its cheapest loaf has also gone from 36p to 39p, while a two-pint bottle of milk has increased from £1.25 to £1.30.

Paul Lawrenson (Kent)/Alamy Stock Photo

This means the cost of a full Lidl basket containing milk, a loaf of bread, coffee, teabags, butter, beans, chicken breasts and mince has risen from £10.88 to £11.12 in a week, the MEN reports.

Aldi, meanwhile, has remained the same at £10.91 - with Sainsbury's just 3p more than Lidl at £11.15.

The MEN says Tesco has also raised prices this week, having put the cost of its 100g Stockwell & Co instant coffee up to 93p and its beans up by 1p.

Asda has also seen a price hike on its milk, up to £1.30.

Charles Stirling/Alamy Stock Photo

The findings echo new research from consumer outlet Which?, which put a number of leading supermarkets against one another to determine which is the cheapest.

The consumer body published its latest monthly research last week, having compared how much the UK’s biggest supermarkets charge for a larger round of groceries, including daily staples like bread and toothpaste.

While there's a ‘regular price war’ between popular discount stores Aldi and Lidl, there is often huge differences between the larger supermarkets: Asda, Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose.

Which? found that Aldi has the cheapest overall at a trolley of groceries coming in at an average of £75.79 - £25 cheaper than the most expensive option, Waitrose.

“Aldi (Aldi.co.uk) was the cheapest overall for our shop consisting of 48 popular groceries, costing £75.79, on average, beating rival discounter Lidl (Lidl.co.uk) by £1.89,” the report said.

Which?

“The same shop at Waitrose (Waitrose.com) was £101.17, on average, making it £25.38 more expensive compared to Aldi.”

However, when it comes to a bigger shop, it turns out another supermarket works out as cheapest.

While Aldi won its crown based on a haul of 48 items, when another 100 products are added to the trolley, Asda actually works out as cheapest.

Which? said: “We also compared the cost of a larger trolley of 148 items (the original 48, plus 100 more). This trolley included a larger number of branded items, such as Andrex toilet paper and Cathedral City cheese.

“Asda (Asda.com) cost the least with this trolley of groceries, continuing its streak, which started in January 2020, as the cheapest traditional supermarket. It cost £348.38, on average, for our big trolley shop, beating the next cheapest, Sainsbury's (£355.65), by £7.27.

“Waitrose was a whopping £44.56 more expensive than Asda, coming in at £392.94, on average, for the same trolley of goods.”

A spokesperson from Lidl told LADbible in a statement: "At Lidl, we are committed to keeping prices as low as possible for a customers.

"Through independent research carried out by The Grocer, results of their ‘Super 33’ basket comparison showed Lidl to be the cheapest for the past three consecutive reports, with the latest published on Friday 4^th November showing that a basket of Lidl products were 86p cheaper than the next cheapest supermarket, and £26.43 cheaper than the most expensive."