THERE is an almost £9 difference in cost for an identical basket of groceries at the most expensive and cheapest supermarkets, a study has found.
Which? Money compared a basket of 10 branded essential items at six leading grocers, finding Waitrose charged the most at £32.85 and Asda charged the least at £24.12 – a saving of £8.73 or 36%.
Asda’s basket also came in at £6.32 less than the next cheapest basket, costing £30.44 from Tesco.
The biggest price variation for an individual product was for a 750ml jar of Hellman’s mayonnaise, which cost £2 in Asda and £4.42 in Morrisons – a difference of 221%.
The research also found 14 different packets containing identical caplets of the painkiller ibuprofen – which is subject to strict rules governing the active ingredients – with prices ranging from 8p a pill to 20p.
Which? Money editor Harry Rose said: “With food prices rising well beyond the general rate of inflation, we’re all looking for ways we can cut down on the cost of our weekly shop.”
The nine products compared alongside the mayonnaise were: a two litre bottle of Yeo Valley milk, a nine-roll pack of Andrex Skin Kind toilet paper, a 500g pack of Kellogg’s Crunchy Nut cornflakes, a 500g tub of Bertolli spread, an 888ml bottle of Bold 2-in-1 gel, a one kilogram bag of Tilda basmati rice, a 220g pack of Young’s scampi, a 250g packet of McVitie’s Ginger Nut biscuits and a 160-bag box of Tetley tea bags.
A Waitrose spokeswoman said: “Our prices for these brands are very competitive – this price comparison is distorted by the timings of others’ promotions.”
Prices were compared on March 8 using the comparison site Mysupermarket.co.uk.
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