Aldi and Lidl are joint-cheapest for Christmas dinner essentials,
Which? has found, in an analysis that shows festive meal
ingredients costing nearly £19 more at one major supermarket.
The consumer champion analysed the prices of 12 popular festive
foods including turkey, trimmings and a Christmas pudding at
seven major supermarkets - Aldi, Asda, Lidl, Morrisons,
Sainsbury's, Tesco and Waitrose. The analysis included a medium
frozen turkey crown, pigs in blankets, Brussels sprouts, carrots,
parsnips, cauliflower, broccoli, peas, potatoes, stock, cranberry
sauce and a Christmas pudding.
While Aldi was the cheapest overall, with the traditional festive
food coming in at £33.80, Lidl was just 4p more at £33.84. Two of
the traditional supermarkets were also found to be selling the
key Christmas dinner ingredients for less than £40 including Asda
(£37.01) and Tesco (£39.49).
At the other end of the scale, upmarket supermarket Waitrose was
nearly £19 (£18.88) more expensive than Aldi, with the Christmas
food items costing £52.68. The significant difference would mean
that a shopper switching from Waitrose to Aldi or Lidl could
potentially add a bottle of bubbles, some smoked salmon and a tub
of chocolates to their basket and still come home with change.
The medium turkey crown was the most expensive item across all of
the supermarkets according to Which?’s research, however it was
cheapest at Aldi and Lidl (£15.49). Waitrose was the most
expensive at £26 on average.
Which? found Aldi and Lidl were also joint cheapest for Christmas
pudding at £4.49 while Sainsbury’s was the priciest (£8 on
average).
Which? found that the biggest percentage price difference was for
cranberry sauce. At Aldi, whole cranberry sauce (200g) was 59p
while at Waitrose, own-brand Waitrose Wild cranberry sauce (205g)
was £2.20 - 270 per cent more expensive.
When Which? compared the price of the medium turkey crown year on
year for a three week period in November, it found the highest
increase was at Morrisons and Tesco. The price at Morrisons
was £21.99 on average in 2022 but has gone up to £25.35 for
the same size in 2023 - an increase of £3.36 (15%). At Tesco this
went from £17.00 on average in 2022 to £19.50 in 2023 - an
increase of £2.50 (also 15%) for a similar size product.
Which? found that at Asda the price for the same size frozen
turkey crown went down by three per cent from an average of
£16.50 in 2022 to £16 in 2023. At Aldi and Lidl the price
of the same size turkey crown stayed the same year on year
remaining at £15.49.
Ele Clark, Which? Retail Editor, said:
“With food prices still very high, we know lots of people will be
feeling the pinch this Christmas so it’s good to know that there
are significant savings to be made by choosing one of the cheaper
supermarkets.
“While Aldi and Lidl were the cheapest retailers in our analysis,
two traditional supermarkets were not far behind, meaning most
people are likely to live reasonably close to a store where they
could pick up their turkey and other festive essentials for under
£40.”
ENDS
Notes to editors:
Christmas dinner essentials compared:
*Which? analysed the prices of 12 products - including
a frozen turkey crown, pigs in blankets, Brussels sprouts,
carrots, parsnips, cauliflower, broccoli, peas, potatoes, stock,
cranberry sauce and a Christmas pudding - across seven
supermarkets between 6-27 November 2023.
*Which? analysis includes special offers but not loyalty card
promotions or multi-buy discounts. Loyalty discounts are only
available to people prepared to sign up to loyalty schemes. As
not every consumer is able to do so Which? considers it fairer
only to include prices that are available to all.
*Own-label items are not exactly the same at different
supermarkets, but Which? uses experts to ensure that the products
are as comparable as possible based on a range of factors,
including weight, quality and other industry data. Where cheaper
items were not available for comparison across supermarkets, the
next closest product was included in the analysis.
*Price is just one factor when deciding which supermarket to shop
at. Which? also surveys shoppers on their experiences of
supermarkets’ product quality, customer service, store
experience, online deliveries and a range of other factors to
reveal the best and worst
supermarkets each year.
*Ocado was not included in the full analysis this year, as it
doesn't stock a comparable frozen turkey crown. The online-only
supermarket sells an M&S branded small frozen turkey crown
(to feed 4-5 people) costing £25, as well as a range of fresh
turkeys.
Individual product prices compared
Turkey crown prices compared to last year
Which? compared the price for a medium frozen turkey crown
(2-2.5kg weight range) across supermarkets between 2022 and 2023
for the same snapshot period (6-27 November).
