There is often talk on Mumsnet about how incredibly expensive Tesco is compared to Sainsbury.
Now, Tesco is my supermarket by default. I can easily get, via one bus ride or walking, to a number of Tescos. They really, in many ways, own Belfast City Centre and South Belfast. My nearest Sainsbury’s is in West Belfast and would mean a bus to City Centre and then another bus to the Sainsbury’s. And I don’t know West Belfast at all. I have barely even been there. I’m very much a City Centre and South Belfast girl with the occasional foray into East Belfast.
Also, a lot of Mumsnetters recommend Aldi or ASDA as being even better than Tesco or Sainsbury’s. Well, there are no Aldi’s in Northern Ireland at all and my closest ASDA would require a car. ASDA do deliver to our address but I have heard very bad things about them. But I went ahead and included them in my comparison just to be fair and because if they were a lot cheaper? I’d give them a chance.
Using my last grocery order through Tesco I compared prices two ways; I put the same order as well as I could into both Sainsbury’s and ASDA’s websites directly and I used Mysupermarket.com, just to see if I got a different answer.
The result?
Tesco – 96.75
ASDA – 115.26
Sainsbury’s – 127.14
It should be noted, before people have a heart attack that I spend nearly a £100 pounds a week on groceries for a family of 3, that this week’s ordered included Tommee Tippee Nappy Wrapper Cassettes for Adam’s Nappy Wrapper. That was £20 of the Tesco order right there, even more the other two stores. This was also my stock up on meat week so both mince and chicken were bought in bulk.
Anyway, Tesco is not the most expensive supermarket in my town. Sainsbury’s is.
And now I have proof.
Mm. I don’t know who would suggest that Sainsbury’s is cheaper than Tesco. I’ve always thought it was more expensive. We shop there because you’d need a car to shop at Tesco around here, and they do try and price match some things – recently they’ve started a scheme (in-store at least) where you get a money off voucher if your branded items are more expensive than they would have been at Tesco. I don’t know how far that stretches. Northern Ireland misses out on a lot, and these sorts of offer rarely apply online.