Hollie, a mother of four from Derby and the Midlands, shops at Tesco rather than Lidl or Aldi. She spends £50 weekly on food at Tesco and £100 monthly at Costco, totaling £300 monthly for her family of five including cleaning and beauty products. Hollie claims Tesco is not actually cheaper than Aldi or Lidl because supermarket own-brands are comparable in price and some items are cheaper at Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's, or M&S. She gets her Tesco shopping delivered for £3.99 monthly with unlimited deliveries after 3pm daily for orders over £50, saving money on petrol, and prefers Tesco because it has everything she needs, avoiding multiple stores.
Amie O'Brien, a Glasgow shopper, shares budgeting advice for Aldi to reduce weekly shopping bills. She claims using a shopping list and meal plan can prevent doubling food shopping bills at Aldi, and recommends buying reduced items, own-brand products, and avoiding the middle aisle at Aldi to save money.
I'm getting asked this question a lot. I do my weekly food shop for £50 in Tesco, and then every month I go to Costco, and I spend £100 getting some essentials that are cheaper there.
Other shopping experiences provide broader context for UK food spending. Isobel Lorna visited Daylesford Organic Farm Shop in Gloucestershire, spending £37.90 on four items within a £40 budget. A university student spent £26 on processed junk food across four stores including Aldi. As of early 2026, the average UK household spends about £119 weekly on food shopping, and a basic basket of 30 items at budget supermarkets like Aldi or Lidl costs around £45-£46.
Queenie Ma, a mum from Birmingham, has saved about £400 using the cashback app tuck. over 18 months. She receives £5-£10 weekly cashback using tuck.-enabled gift cards, totaling £260-£520 annually.
It's very clever marketing. Lidl and Aldi thrive on their 'we're super cheap' marketing. That's their whole USP, and other stores buy into that marketing in order to get people to purchase from them by doing the 'Aldi price match' and things like that.
If you're shopping at Aldi, which is one of the cheapest supermarkets and you're finding it's still expensive, here's some reasons why your food shopping is still high and super easy ways to fix them.