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Which was the cheapest supermarket in June 2023?
Aldi was the cheapest supermarket in June, according to the latest monthly analysis from Which?.
We compared the prices of 42 popular groceries in June and found that the total average cost was £75.25 at Aldi. This was £1.93 less than at its closest rival Lidl.
When we looked at a larger trolley of 134 grocery items, Asda was the cheapest non-discounter supermarket. In fact, our analysis showed you could save £36.73 by shopping there rather than Waitrose – the most expensive supermarket.
Read on to find out how your usual supermarket compares in our analysis.
Cheapest supermarket for a basket of groceries
Our basket of 42 items included Heinz baked beans, own-brand chicken thighs and own-label penne pasta.
The graph below shows how much our basket cost on average:
Aldi was the cheapest supermarket in June overall, with our shop costing £75.25, pipping discounter rival Lidl to the post by £1.93.
The same basket of items at Waitrose, meanwhile, would have cost you an average of £91.80. This makes Waitrose £16.55 – or 22% – pricier than Aldi.
When it came to the 'big four' supermarkets, our comparison revealed Asda was the cheapest at £82.55. There was just 22p between it and the next cheapest supermarket Tesco, where our basket cost £82.67.
- Find out more: tips to spend less at the supermarket
How do bigger shopping lists compare?
We also compared the cost of a larger trolley of 134 items (the original 42, as well as 92 more).
These products included a larger number of branded items, like Bird’s Eye fish fingers and Weetabix cereal. As the discounters don’t always stock big-brand products, we haven’t included Aldi or Lidl in this comparison.
The chart below shows how much our larger trolley cost on average:
Asda was the cheapest for our trolley of groceries, continuing its long-running streak as the cheapest traditional supermarket, which it's been since January 2020. It cost £333.16 on average, beating the next cheapest, Morrisons (£343.41) by £10.25.
Our analysis showed Waitrose was a whopping £36.73 more expensive than Asda, with its total being £369.89.
However, price is just one factor to consider when you're figuring out which supermarket to shop at. We also survey shoppers on their experiences in terms of product quality, customer service, store experience, online deliveries and a range of other factors, to uncover the best and worst supermarkets each year.
- Find out more: our free My Money Health Check tool can give you personalised money-saving tips
How Which? compares supermarket prices
We look at the prices of hundreds of grocery items at eight major supermarkets every day throughout the year, using an independent price comparison website.
For each supermarket, we calculate the average price for each item across the month, then we add those up to get each store’s average trolley price.
To keep things fair, we include special offers, but we don’t incorporate multibuys or loyalty scheme discounts into our analysis.
Our shopping list includes branded items such as Hovis bread and PG Tips tea bags, alongside own-label products including apple juice and cod fillets. As own-brand items won’t be identical across supermarkets, we’ve used experts to ensure everything we’ve compared is as similar as possible, based on several factors including quality and weight.
- Find out more: supermarket price comparison over time
What's happening to grocery prices?
The latest results from the Which? food and drink inflation tracker showed that annual inflation for the supermarket food and drink in our tracker dipped slightly to 16.9% in the three months to 31 May 2023.
This was down from 17% in the three months to the end of April.
The figures also revealed that products at Lidl have the highest level of inflation – up 23.5% for the month of May, year on year. Aldi closely followed with inflation of 22%.
Cheese remained the fastest rising in price of all 20 categories we included in our research.
- Find out more: Which? food and drink inflation tracker
Campaign update: supermarkets must do more
Which? revealed earlier this year that major supermarkets are failing to make their budget-range groceries available to people who have to shop in their smaller stores.
Which? believes supermarkets must do more to help their customers. Retailers should be making sure affordable basic ranges are available in all their branches, including smaller convenience stores, as well as improving unit pricing (eg the price per 100g) on all products so that customers can easily work out the best value.
While some of the supermarkets have engaged with Which? as part of our Affordable Food for All campaign, none of them have committed to making any significant changes.
Which? is now calling on supermarkets to act by providing the support people around the country desperately need to help keep food on the table during the ongoing cost of living crisis.
- Do you want to see your supermarket take action to support people through the cost of living crisis? Sign our Affordable Food for All petition
This story was updated on 7 August 2023 to correct an error. Previously we stated that Asda had been the cheapest 'traditional' supermarket for 18 months, but it has actually held the title since January 2020.
