by They have been rivals in the supermarket world for many years and there is no doubt that shoppers consider Aldi and Lidl to be the cheapest on many of their groceries.
In our weekly price comparison of basics such as bread and milk, it is usually one of the two cheapest of the six main supermarkets for a small basket of essentials.
But how did they succeed with a big store? I decided to put them to the test by buying the same shopping from both places to see how they compare in price.
Read more: The little-known rule that saved me a fortune on my Tesco supermarket
Everyone knows how similar they are in terms of cost, but you only realize how similar the products are when you shop both – and how closely they track each other. It is no coincidence that both sell pepperoni pizzas that weigh exactly 313g for example.
Both big brands like Lurpak for example also have their own version – and as well as looking very much like the real thing – the packaging of Lidl’s Danpak and Aldi’s Norpak, along with many of the other items, is almost like each other.
And there are plenty of other similar products too, such as the cheese packs, egg cartons, tins of beans and loaves of thick white bread – which are their versions of the Warburtons Toastie. Even the toilet roll packs look the same.
In total I bought 40 of the most common products that shoppers buy including basics such as milk, bread, eggs, meat, fruit, vegetables and some cleaning and household products.
Overall Aldi worked out cheaper with a bill of £63.26 compared to £63.89 at Lidl – and that was even when I used the Lidl Plus card which gave me 15% off two of the products.
Of the 40 products I bought, 28 were the same price, nine were cheaper at Aldi and three were cheaper at Lidl, including the two Lidl Plus offers on sausages and latte pouches and the 2kg bag of potatoes, which was £1.35 at Lidl. compared to Aldi’s £1.79.
Lidl’s trolley would have worked out slightly cheaper if its budget had chopped tomatoes in stock, but even with that, Aldi would still have worked out the cheapest.
Among the products that worked out cheaper at Aldi were liters of apple juice, chocolate digestifs, kidney beans, skin on fries, ice cream lollies, Jive and Titan chocolate bars – the equivalent of Twix and Mars – and their prosecco, is currently there. reduced from £5.45 to £4.75.
This is not the first time Aldi has outperformed Lidl. In a further comparison a year ago, looking at the same 31 products in both supermarkets, Aldi came out cheaper.
It was encouraging to see that some products now cost less than last September. For example the 650g pack of chicken breast was £4.69, but is now £4.49 at both supermarkets. A 1kg pack of fusili pasta used to cost £1.39 and is now £1.29 for both, and cheese has been reduced from £2.55 to £2.45.
However, there are still some increases, such as wheat cereal up from 79p to 85p a box, butter up from £1.79 to £1.89 and bleach up from 60p to 65p a bottle.
An Aldi spokesman said: “Our promise to customers is that they’ll make significant savings every time they shop with Aldi, which is why we’ve named Which? Cheapest Supermarket of the Year for three years in a row. Which one? Aldi has been named the UK’s Holiday Supermarket every month this year, even in its latest analysis which includes loyalty prices.”
A spokesman for Lidl said that if our comparison included its cheaper tinned tomatoes and its XXL bag of penne pasta instead – working out at 82.5p per kg – the whole store would cost the same as Aldi.
They added: “Those who use our Lidl Plus app get a free bakery item when they spend £10 and then another free item when they spend £50. This means that anyone who This shop buys some fresh fruit and picks up one of our bakeries. Sweets like our Ultimate Chocolate Brownie (75p) or the Chocolate Hazelnut Croissant (69p).”
Aldi / Lidl product prices
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Carrots 1kg 69p/69p
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Potatoes 2kg £1.79 / £1.35
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Onions 3-pack 89p / 89p
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Red grapes 500g £1.69 / £1.69
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Beef mince 5% fat 750g £4.99 / £4.99
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Pork Sausages 8-pack £1.79 / ££1.79 or £1.52 Lidl Plus
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Smokeless Bacon 300g £1.89 / £1.89
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Chicken breast fillet 650g £4.49 / £4.49
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Pepperoni Pizza 313g £2.49 / £2.49
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Butter 250g £1.89 / £1.89
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Nordpak 500g £2.09 / Danpak £2.09
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Sausage rolls 6 pack £1.49 / £1.49
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Sugar 1kg £1.09 / £1.09
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Mature cheddar cheese 400g £2.49 / £2.49
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Milk 2 pints £1.20 / £1.20
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Strawberry yoghurt 450g 95p/95p
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Smooth orange juice 1L £1.19 / £1.19
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Apple juice 1L 99p / £1.09
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Orange squash 1.5L 95p / 95p
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Large free range eggs 12 pack £2.79 / £2.79
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Easy Cook Rice 1kg £1.25 / £1.25
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Pasta 1kg £1.29 / £1.29
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Malted Wheat 625g 85p/85p
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Chocolate Digestives 300g 77p/79p
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White loaf of toast 75p/75p
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Baked bottom muffins 4-pack 65p / 65p
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Tomato soup 400g 62p/62p
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Baked beans 410g 41p/41p
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Chopped tomatoes 400g 39p x2 / 47p x2
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Kidney beans 400g 33p/35p
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Fried skin (1kg) £1.79 (equivalent to £1.34 for 750g) / (750g) £1.35
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ice cream lollies 4-pack £1.49 / 6-pack £2.65 (equals £1.77 for 4)
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Jive Bars 210g £1.19 / Caramel Bars & Biscuits £1.29
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Titan Bars 6 pack £1.19 / Caramel Bars £1.29
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Apple Pie £1.29 / £1.29
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Biscuits spread £1.99 / £1.99
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8-pack Latte Sachets 99p / 99p or 84p Lidl Plus
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Prosecco £4.75 / £5.45
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Bleach 750ml 65p / 65p
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Toilet roll 9 pack £2.85 / £2.85
Total Aldi £63.26 / Lidl £63.89
