Aldi crowned the UK's cheapest supermarket in July

Aldi was the cheapest supermarket in July for a list of 93 everyday groceries, according to Which? analysis.

It's the seventh month in a row that Aldi has taken the top spot, with our shopping list costing £158.05 on average across the month.

Meanwhile, the loyalty price battle between Sainsbury's and Tesco rages on, as Sainsbury's with a Nectar card was once again cheaper for our items than Tesco with a Clubcard.

Read on to find out how other supermarkets, including Lidl and Asda, compare – and how much you could save by switching supermarkets.

Cheapest supermarket in July

We checked the prices of 93 popular branded and own-brand groceries, including milk, cheese and Hovis sliced bread, at eight of the UK's biggest supermarkets throughout July to see how they compared.

The table shows how much our shopping cost on average:

Aldi once again secured the title of the cheapest supermarket in July, with an average price of £158.05 for our list. Lidl came second, with an average price of £160.70 – a difference of £2.65. 

Asda was next, with our list of items costing £185.81 on average.

Loyalty prices continue to play a big role if you are a Tesco or Sainsbury's shopper. Sainsbury's with Nectar came in at £187.86 for our list, while Tesco with a Clubcard cost £188.45 – just 59p more.

Morrisons and Tesco without a Clubcard both came in at £195.63 for our list, followed by Sainsbury's without Nectar at £197.85. 

Waitrose was again the most expensive supermarket in our monthly analysis, with the items on our list costing £226.95 on average throughout July. This is a difference of £68.90 on average, or 44% compared with Aldi.

There were 48 loyalty discounts overall in July: 25 at Sainsbury's and 23 at Tesco. There were no loyalty discounts at Lidl, Morrisons or Waitrose for our list in July.

• Find out more: cheapest supermarkets of 2026

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How much of a discount do loyalty cards give?

Having a loyalty card would save an average of 3.6% at Tesco and 5% at Sainsbury's over the month. 

In May, Lidl announced a big change to its loyalty card scheme. Now customers collect points rather than reward coupons; £1 spent equals one point. This brings the scheme into line with both Nectar and Clubcard.

The discounts offered by loyalty cards may sound good, but that's only if you can access them. Our research has found that millions of people can't access loyalty promotions because they aren't eligible to join the supermarket schemes due to their age, lack of address or difficulties with digital access. 

Earlier this year, Tesco announced a new Clubcard for 16 and 17-year-olds. The move comes after a major Which? campaign urging supermarkets to lift unfair restrictions on their loyalty schemes so more people can take advantage of lower prices. 

Although this is a win for consumers, more work is needed as certain restrictions continue to lock people out of valuable savings. Groups often affected include under-18s and those without smartphones, who may struggle – or simply not know how – to access loyalty prices.

• Find out more: loyalty schemes compared

What has happened to the longer list?

We no longer publish research on the longer list of groceries as part of our monthly cheapest supermarket analysis, which included more branded items as well as own-brand items.

Instead, each month we publish our research on the cheapest supermarket for branded groceries separately, which we think will be of more use to shoppers as it will allow us to make more granular price comparisons. 

This new monthly tracker won't include Aldi and Lidl, as they don’t stock the same range of branded goods as the non-discounter supermarkets.

• Interested in more than just price? Shoppers have rated product quality, customer service, online deliveries and more to reveal the best and worst supermarkets.

What's happening to grocery prices?

 The UK inflation rate fell to 2.6% in the year to June, down from 2.8% in May, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). 

Grocery inflation also eased to its slowest rate since December 2024 in the four weeks to 12 July 2026, according to Worldpanel by Numerator. The figure stood at 2.6%, with sporting fixtures and the warm weather helping boost take-home sales at supermarkets. 

Brands outgrew own labels for the first time since August last year, with sales up 5.5% vs 4%. During these four weeks, 497m shopping trips were made with an average of 17 per household – the highest rate since March 2020. 

However, Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Worldpanel, warned that even though the rate of inflation has cooled, the cumulative cost of the weekly shop keeps climbing. The average household spent £5,530 on groceries over the last 12 months to July – this is up £156 on the same period last year. 

• Find out more: check what's happening to prices by supermarket, category of food and ranges, using the Which? food and drink inflation tracker.

How Which? finds the cheapest supermarket

We check the prices of hundreds of grocery items at eight major supermarkets, using an independent price comparison website. 

For each supermarket, we calculate the average price of each item across the month, then add those up to get each supermarket's average total price. 

What items are on the list?

Our shopping list comprises the country’s most popular and widely available groceries, based on extensive market analysis. 

It includes branded items such as Cathedral City cheddar and Hellmann's mayonnaise, as well as own-brand products like potatoes and baked beans. 

Own-brand items won’t be identical across supermarkets, but we’ve ensured everything we’ve compared is as similar as possible, based on several factors, including quality and weight.

Which? never shares the full list of products used in its analysis, to avoid supermarkets attempting to skew the results. 

We don't want supermarkets to compete with one another to lower prices only on the items they know they'll be judged on. Instead, we want retailers to work to make groceries affordable across the depth and breadth of their available lines.

What about special offers and loyalty prices?

We include special offers but not multibuy discounts. 

We can only include loyalty prices that apply to all members of a scheme (where there's one price on the shelf for shoppers with a loyalty card and another for those without). Currently, this type of two-tier pricing is used at Lidl, Morrisons, Sainsbury's, Tesco and Waitrose. 

We're unable to include discounts that are personalised to selected members, and we can’t factor in points or other rewards, as these vary between customers and don't always have a quantifiable monetary value.

• Find out more: how to spend less at the supermarket.