A host of supermarkets are cutting or locking their prices in a bid to lure shoppers during the cost of living crisis. Here's our roundup of the major promotions currently running at Tesco, Waitrose, Morrisons and more.
Saving money on supermarket shopping is high on the agenda for all of us this year.
While the rate of inflation is not quite what it was, we have still seen the cost of food in particular grow at a scary rate in recent years, putting our finances under pressure.
And with the state of the economy looking less than inspiring, given we have just entered recession, reducing the amount spent on the weekly shop makes a lot of sense.
The big supermarkets know that too, which is why a handful have started the new year by announcing price promotions in order to try to attract shoppers.
Want to save on every shop? Keep an eye out for our weekly supermarket deals roundup, which is updated every Friday morning.
Waitrose
Even the premium supermarkets want to compete on price, with Waitrose the latest to announce cuts.
It is spending £30 million on reducing the price of hundreds of products, starting with more than 200 lines on meat, fruit and vegetables, store cupboard items and fresh food products. There will be further swathes of cuts to come in the Spring.
Essential and ‘duchy organic’ products are being reduced by 8% on average, while dairy, fish, meat, poultry, ready meals and frozen lines are being cut by 10% on average.
For example, British lamb hind shanks are dropping from £15 per kg to £12.50, Waitrose soup mix is moving from £1.20 to £1 and Waitrose essential frozen crinkle cut over chips is dropping to £1.75 from £2.
Marks & Spencer
Another premium name is Marks & Spencer, which has recently promoted a host of its own new deals.
In January it announced price cuts on 65 products, at an average of 6%. It comes after price drops were introduced on more than 200 reductions introduced back in October.
Some drops were even more significant, such as the 22% drop on strawberries and the 17% fall on long grain rice.
Alongside those price reductions, M&S has also extended the price freeze on more than 100 customer favourites until Easter. Products include slices of medium cheddar, Fruit and Fibre Blakes, and its chunky vegetable and chicken soup.
Asda
Asda has launched a price match scheme, where it will ensure that the cost of certain items are no more expensive than either Aldi or Lidl.
It’s the first time that a big supermarket has launched a price match programme against both of the main deep discounters, with 287 products included from launch. Asda reckons that as a result prices on affected items are dropping by an average of 17%.
Morrisons
Morrisons has also announced it is price-matching both Aldi and Lidl.
The supermarket said more than 200 essentials are included in the scheme.
Last month, it also revealed that prices would be frozen on 1,000 products for a total of eight weeks, covering all sorts of household staples like cucumber, tomatoes and pasta.
It has also spent £15 million reducing the cost of around 200 products, by an average of 20%.
Some of the biggest cuts include Morrisons washing up liquid dropping from 75p to 59p and five-packs of bananas falling to 78p from 99p.
Tesco
Tesco started the year by announcing price reductions on 150 popular items.
The products cover everything from fresh fruit and vegetables to cupboard staples, with prices dropping by an average of 12.5%.
Alongside this, it has locked prices for more than 1,000 items until Easter.
Pain at the till
Food price inflation is not quite as painful as it once was.
In the latest inflation data, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) found that the rate of food price inflation in January had dropped to 7%, much lower than it’s peak of nearly 20% last year.
Of course, this means that prices are still rising, just not as quickly as they were previously, meaning that we are having to devote greater sums to our food shopping with every passing week.
Supermarkets are obviously very well aware of how quickly they have increased prices, and have recognised that if they want to keep our custom, they need to do something to make shopping with them a little more affordable.
After all, if they don’t then we will simply take our business elsewhere.
That’s why, alongside these price promotions, a host of supermarkets have focused on special deals for members of their loyalty schemes.
The likes of Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Co-op have all pushed schemes where their loyalty members enjoy lower prices, and it makes a real difference ‒ price tests have found that once these deals are accounted for, the supermarkets often undercut Asda, if not necessarily the deep discounters of Aldi and Lidl.