Aldi Came Out As The UK’s Cheapest Supermarket In June – But Is That The Full Story?

According to the latest data from Which?, Aldi topped the list as the cheapest UK supermarket in June 2025. Their 79-item basket came in at £131.52, just 37p cheaper than Lidl. Here's how the others ranked:

• Aldi, £131.52

• Lidl, £131.89

• Asda, £144.82

• Tesco, £149.19

• Morrisons, £153.37

• Sainsbury's, £153.78

• Ocado, £165.51

• Waitrose, £178.64
  

That looks pretty clear on paper: Aldi shoppers save the most money on their food shop, right, which is a big plus for their household budgets and helps offset the costs of food inflation. Well, yes, but this kind of data on the lowest prices only tells part of the story....

Why the UK’s ‘cheapest supermarket’ might not save you the most

Here's why the UK's ‘Cheapest’ Supermarket' may actually be costing you more, not less, or may not be as cheap as you might be led to believe!

The price doesn’t include loyalty card discounts.

Which? compares regular shelf prices and calculates the cost of a basket of essential or everyday items. It doesn't factor in loyalty card prices, such as Tesco Clubcard, Lidl's loyalty prices via its Lidl Plus scheme, Morrisons More offers, Asda Rewards or Sainsbury's Nectar, or special offers, which can be a game-changer when it comes to your food budget. These loyalty discounts can save you several pounds on popular grocery items that you may well buy as part of your food shop, especially if you buy strategically and focus on the right products.

For example:

• Tesco often offers branded items at 30% or more off with a Clubcard, and those Clubcard prices can make a difference.

• Nectar regularly discounts meat, household products, and toiletries. Morrisons and Asda loyalty schemes offer similar savings.
  

But it’s not just about snapping up your regular items at a lower price; it’s also about shopping differently. If you’re flexible and willing to swap your usual brand for the one currently discounted with a loyalty card, you can still walk away with the type of product you need, just for less!

For instance, instead of buying your usual laundry detergent, you might pick up a different brand that’s currently on a loyalty scheme offer. It does the same job but saves you money. That’s smart shopping, and it’s something the Which? basket doesn’t capture.

Over the course of a full shop, these kinds of switches really add up. If you tailor your weekly basket around loyalty card offers, you could spend far less than the headline Which? figures suggest.

Many people also find food shopping overwhelming, especially those with issues such as ADHD, and as someone diagnosed with this, I can really struggle doing the food shop, and being able to spend time looking for the best prices, and comparing my usual go-to products against loyalty price alternatives. Supermarkets can be busy, noisy, and overstimulating, making it difficult to focus, compare prices, or stick to a list.

Loyalty card discounts and clearly labelled offers can be helpful, providing structure and predictability. However, on the flip side, trying to hunt down deals, decipher price tags, or mentally calculate value under pressure can feel overwhelming, especially when the store is crowded or noisy.

In those moments, it's easy to give up and grab what you usually buy, just to get out of the shop quickly. That can make sticking to a budget harder, even if you had good intentions going in.

It's another reason why pre-planning your shopping trip or using online tools from home can make a significant difference for neurodivergent shoppers.

One thing I’ve started doing is checking the supermarket’s website in advance, from the comfort of home.

I add the items I want into the online basket, and once I’ve included everything I need, I take a proper look, in peace and quiet, at the loyalty card prices and offers. That way, I can make calm, intentional decisions about where to swap my usual brands for discounted ones.

Once I’m done, I print off the basket, and that becomes my shopping list! It helps keep me organised in-store, and it also reduces the chance of impulse buys, because I’ve already made the decisions in advance. Having that structure makes the whole process less stressful and far more budget-friendly.

You don't have to be neurodivergent to do this, it makes sense for everyone to pre plan what they need to buy and look at alternatives, before steping into the store, and of course, ignoring delivery charges, it can make sense to do your food shop online and have the items delivered to you, as it does make life easier, and less stressful, on the whole! 

Multibuys and in-store promotions are excluded.

Most supermarkets rotate weekly offers, think 2-for-£4, BOGOFs (Buy One Get One Free), or 25% off wine. These types of deals are different to loyalty card prices. They’re usually available to all customers, and are often funded by the brands themselves as a way to increase sales or boost product awareness.

Aldi and Lidl rarely run as many of these kinds of promotions, and there are a few good reasons why:

• They carry fewer branded products, so they don’t have the same access to the larger suppliers who typically fund BOGOF-style promotions.

• Their product ranges are smaller and simpler, so there's less need to offer deals to switch you from one product to another.

• They rely heavily on their own-label products, and for those, running multibuy promotions is often not cost-effective.
  

If you're flexible with brands and shop at a store with a wider selection, you can use these multi-buy deals to your advantage.

Stocking up when offers are available, especially on non-perishables or household essentials, can save you far more than buying at standard discount prices.

It’s one more tool for savvy shoppers to reduce their overall spend, and can mean that branded products can be as cheap as, if not cheaper, than the unbranded products!

Cashback apps don’t work at Aldi or Lidl

Loyalty might not be your thing, but what about cashback? I talk about cashback a lot on my social media, because using cashback apps to buy gift cards to pay for your shop, or using conventional cashback apps when you order your online groceries can earn you between 3 to 10% cashback on your shop, which wh you look at those cashback savings over a year, really add up. 

So why is this relevant to the Which? Cheapest supermarket report, you may ask, and it's pretty simple: the discounters Lidl and Aldi don't work with the cashback apps and websites, and so you can't earn cashback when shopping at these retailers (unless you have a cashback credit card).

Looking at the Which? results, the cheapest supermarket, Aldi, is £13.30 cheaper than the cheapest non-discounter supermarket, which was Asda. Once you factor in cashback that could be earned on Asda's basket price of £144.82, that basket price difference decreases.

As an example if you has shopped, online, at Asda using the Complete Savings cashback service (which is a subscription service), you could earn 10% cashback, which would be £14.82 (although they may not pay the cashback on VAT or delivery charges), which could mean you'd find Asda works out cheaper than Aldi.

Alternatively, had you used a gift card cashback service to buy a gift card to pay for your Asda shop, on which you'd earn cashback, the cost of your shop would be reduced.  

As I write this, the cashback rate on popular gift card cashback service JamDoughnut was 4%, (rates will vary between cashback appsThis and any promotional rates), and that means that if I'd bought a gift card to pay for that £144.82 purchase, I'd have received £5.79 cashback, meaning that in reality, my purchase only cost me £139.03, which drops the difference between the cost of buying from Aldi, instead of Asda to just £7.51

I'd likely have been able to switch to loyalty prices, received loyalty points, or had more choice of products, and possibly been able to switch to lower-priced or alternative, comparable products from the main basket items. This may have narrowed the price difference even further, possibly even beating Aldi's prices. When you factor in cashback and loyalty promotions, these can really turn things around quickly on the cheapest supermarket leaderboard. 

Supermarket cashback apps

Not to be confused with cashback apps, the type of Cashback apps I just mentioned, supermarket cashback apps, such as Shopmium, Checkoutsmart, and GreenJinn, are another way you might be able to reduce your food costs and narrow the basket price between supermarkets. 

These supermarket cashback apps offer cashback on selected grocery products, and usually only work at the bigger supermarkets.

The idea is that you scan the app to see what products are available at the supermarket you are shopping at, and see if there anything on there than you might want to switch to, instead of buying the products you were going to buy.

You then make savings by claiming back the cashback on that product, which can lower the overall cost of what you spend on your food shop. Cashback rates on groceries usually run from 10% to 100% cashback.

So, if you scan through all the different supermarket cashback apps before heading out to the supermarket, you can select the products for which you can claim cashback and add them to your shopping list or adjust your shopping list accordingly. Then, purchase the products and claim your cashback. 

This is done by you scanning your receipt, and then getting the cashback allocated to your cashback account, which you can then withdraw to your bank (once you reach the minimum withdrawal amount, which varies depending on the app you are using).

Using these type of free apps, you can make cashback savings that will help save you money, and lower the difference in basket costs between a discounter and traditional supermarkets.

For example, in June, the cashback apps had offers on:

• Bisto Gravy 

• Nescafe Gold Blend

• Fairy Platinum Plus

• ​Energy Drinks / Soft Drinks

• Salad/Fruit/ Vegetables

• Yogurt

• Porridge

• Pesto

• Bread

• Cheese

• Ready Meals 

• Beer/Wine/Cocktails

• ​Pet Food

None of these work with an Aldi or Lidl receipt.

Bigger stores offer a wider choice

You might not find everything you need at Aldi or Lidl. They carry fewer items. You’ll often need to top up elsewhere, which can increase the cost of your weekly shop and lead to extra, unbudgeted, impulse buys. 

Bigger supermarkets offer:

• Value own-brand ranges like Asda Smart Price or Sainsbury's Stamford Street, and these own-brand items can be much cheaper. You'll typically find these on lower shelves in a supermarket, because they don't want you to easily see the low-cost items, as they are at a much lower margin than the branded products they place on shelves at eye level. So the trick is to look down for cheaper sites; the lower you go, often the lower priced the products will be! 
  

• A mix of premium, mid-range, and budget options.

• A bigger shop means you can buy everything you need in one go, saving you time, fuel, hassle and could work out cheaper too!
  

It's also worth noting that many supermarkets offer an Aldi price match on a range of products, and supermarket prices can then be much more comparable, regardless of which supermarket you are shopping in.

More choice means more control over your spend. For example, let's look at fish fingers! Aldi might offer one type. At Tesco, you might have six to pick from, and one might be on a Clubcard price promotion, another might be in a multibuy deal, a third might have a Shopmium cashback offer. That variety gives you more ways to cut your costs. If you only shop in a store with one choice, you lose the chance to switch to a better deal.

The real cheapest shop is the one that stacks offers.

• Use a store loyalty card.

• Check supermarket cashback apps for product-specific offers.

• Don't forget to look for coupons in supermarket magazines or on the retailer's website.

• Be on the lookout for coupons for products when browsing your social media. Services such as Hashting work with manufacturers to offer consumers the opportunity to claim cash back on products that are often advertised on social media. Recent deals include 100% cashback on Florette salad, 100% cashback on Herta hotdogs, Try Higgidty products for £1 and many more, and they can help reduce the cost of your food shop!  Make sure to follow The Penny Pincher on Instagram, as I often share these types of offers on my Instagram Story. 

• Pay with a cashback gift card purchased through cashback apps like JamDoughnut or traditional cashback services like TopCashback.

When you combine all three, the savings are far bigger than you’d get from shopping based on a headline basket price.

So, is Aldi the cheapest?

On paper, yes. On your receipt, not always!

Aldi and Lidl are great for quick top-ups and core groceries. But if you play the game, bigger supermarkets can be just as cheap, or you'll find little difference in price between the discounter and a more traditional supermarket>

Therefore, switching from your usual go-to supermarket to a discounter may not necessarily save you money and could actually cost you more, making it less convenient for your shopping needs.  

If you’re someone who uses every trick going, you might find the other major supermarkets offer you better value week-to-week, even the most expensive supermarket that's way down the cheapest supermarket list, as you never can tell unless you compare the food prices and offers available before shopping.

This is what I do every week. I check the offers, load up my cashback apps, buy gift cards with cashback, and tailor my shopping around the best deals. It takes 10 minutes and saves me far more than the Which? basket difference.

Are you doing the same? Or are you loyal to the discounters regardless?