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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Entertainment
Emma Gill

Four out of six supermarkets make price hikes as the cost of one essential shoots up

With the cost of living soaring, shoppers are looking for any way possible to cut back.

Whether that's moving to a budget brand, or changing where you shop, people are altering their habits in search of whatever savings they can get. For the last five weeks we've been comparing the price of eight basics in various main supermarkets and each week there have been notable changes.

Shopping at Tesco, Asda, Aldi, Lidl, Sainsbury's and Morrisons, we've been comparing the cost of the same eight items - a two-pint bottle of milk, a loaf of bread, coffee, teabags, butter, beans, chicken breasts and mince.

READ MORE: Families are making five simple changes in the kitchen to keep money and fuel costs down

Last week we saw somewhat of a yo-yo effect, with Aldi increasing the price of its tea bags and Lidl decreasing its pack, yet putting the cost of its mince up by the same price. And in previous weeks we've seen rises in coffee, milk, chicken and butter.

This week four out of the six supermarkets have increased the price of at least one of the eight products - with three of them hiking the price of butter.

We compared the prices of essentials including tea, coffee, milk and bread at Tesco, Asda, Aldi, Lidl, Sainsbury's and Morrisons (Manchester Family / MEN)

While Aldi and Tesco have both increased their 250g blocks of salted butter from £1.55 to £1.75, at Sainsbury's the price has gone from £1.75 to £1.90.

Aldi's coffee has also increased from £1.65 to £1.69 and it's bad news for all shoppers when even the cost of budget ranges is on the rise - Asda's Smart Price baked beans have gone from 22p to 25p.

Refreshingly there was one change in the opposite direction this week, with Morrisons reducing the price of its Savers loaf to 36p - matching those in Aldi, Lidl and Tesco.

Despite the constant changes, it's Asda who has retained the cheapest crown for the third week running - coming in at £9.47 for the full shop. It comes as the retailer announced last week that it was reducing the price of more than 100 products and locking them in place until the end of the year.

Lidl remains one stop ahead of Aldi, at £9.50 compared with the latter's £9.80. And thanks to its reduction on bread, Morrisons, at £9.77, has taken fourth spot from Tesco, which now ranks fifth at £9.98.

The cost of butter has stayed the same at Lidl (pictured) but three retailers have hiked the price (Manchester Family / MEN)

Once again it's Sainsbury's coming out as most expensive, with a bill of £10.70.

The only slight difference in sizes among our shopping is the baked beans, which range from 400g in Sainsbury's and 410g in Asda and Morrisons, to the standard 420g in Aldi, Lidl and Tesco - which shows you to keep an eye on the size as well as the price. And where the 300g packs of chicken differ at 330g and 350g, we've worked out the equivalent price for a fairer comparison.

Where are you finding the cheapest products at the moment? Let us know in the comments here.

Here's the shopping list and total for each supermarket (as of Thursday, May 5)

Asda

Loaf of white bread 800g (Smart Price) - 39p

Milk 2 pints - 95p

Coffee 200g (2 x 100g Smart Price) - £1.40

Teabags 160 (4 x 40-pack Smart Price) - £1.12

Salted butter 250g (Smart Price) - £1.45

Beans 410g tin (Smart Price) - 25p (up from 22p)

Chicken (bigger 350g pack for £2.35) - equates to £2.01

Mince 500g 20% fat - £1.90

Total £9.47 (up from £9.44)

Lidl

Loaf of white bread 800g - 36p

Milk 2 pints - 95p

Coffee 200g - £1.65

Teabags 160 - £99p

Salted butter 250g - £1.45

Beans 420g tin - 22p

Chicken 300g - £1.99

Mince 500g 20% fat - £1.89

Total £9.50

There were no price changes at Lidl this week (Manchester Family / MEN)

Aldi

Loaf of white bread 800g - 36p

Milk 2 pints - 95p

Coffee 200g - £1.69 (up from £1.65)

Teabags 160 - £1.09

Salted butter 250g - £1.75 (up from £1.55)

Beans 420g tin - 22p

Chicken 300g - £1.85

Mince 500g 20% fat - £1.89

Total £9.80 (up from £9.56 last week)

Morrisons

Loaf of white bread 800g - 36p (down from 59p)

Milk 2 pints - 99p

Coffee (2 x 100g) - £1.40

Teabags 160 (2 x 80-pack Savers) - £1.10

Salted butter 250g - £1.77

Beans 410g tin - 21p

Chicken (bigger 330g pack for £2.25) - equates to £2.05

Mince 500g 20% fat - £1.89

Total £9.77 (down from £10)

Morrisons comes in at £9.77 (Manchester Family / MEN)

Tesco

Loaf of white bread 800g - 36p

Milk 2 pints - 95p

Coffee 200g (2 x 100g) - £1.66

Teabags 160 (2 x 80-pack) - £1.10

Salted butter 250g - £1.75 (up from £1.55)

Beans 420g tin - 22p

Chicken 300g - £2.05

Mince 500g 20% fat - £1.89

Total £9.98 (up from £9.78)

Sainsbury's

Loaf of white bread 800g - 60p

Milk 2 pints - 95p

Coffee 200g - £1.65

Teabags 160 - £1.09

Salted butter 250g - £1.90 (up from £1.75)

Beans 400g tin - 21p

Chicken 300g - £2.20

Mince 500g 20% fat - £2.10

Total £10.70 (up from £10.55)

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