For as long as I can recall, my weekly food shop has always been at Tesco or Asda. If not done in person, I usually rely on their reliable and convenient home delivery service.

However, with the cost of living remaining high and food prices skyrocketing in recent years, I found myself seeking ways to save money, particularly with two young children to cater for. A "big shop" that used to set me back around £100-120 now edges closer to £200.

Several household staples have seen significant price hikes. In fact, from July 2020 to July 2025, food prices surged by an astonishing 37%. This is in stark contrast to the 4.4% increase over the five years prior to 2020. The foods with some of the highest price rises since 2020 are:

In light of these circumstances, I was keen to see if I could trim down my grocery bill. So, I decided to give Lidl a try.

My local Lidl is a stone's throw away from an Asda superstore, which significantly overshadows its budget counterpart in size. I fully anticipated having to pop over to Asda to pick up items I couldn't find in Lidl. However, I managed to purchase 60 items in Lidl without missing anything from my list. The compact size of the store also made it much easier to locate what I needed (there's nothing quite as frustrating as struggling to find that last item amongst dozens of supermarket aisles).

My total shop at Lidl came to £152.95. The equivalent shop in Tesco would have cost me £164.01. That's a significant saving of £11.06 for a weekly shop. Over the course of a year, that equates to a saving of £575.12.

Several items I purchased were priced the same in both supermarkets, including:

Interestingly, some items were actually cheaper in Tesco, including:

However, on balance, far more items were less expensive in Lidl than Tesco. The most substantial savings included:

One particular food item where there were considerable savings in Lidl compared to Tesco was nuts. As someone who frequently buys a variety of nuts for their versatility and health benefits, I was astounded by the price difference. Pecans are 45% cheaper in Lidl than Tesco. Almonds, walnuts and cashews are 39% cheaper, and pistachios are 38% cheaper. Given that nuts can be quite pricey, this resulted in a significant overall saving.

The checkout experiences at both supermarkets have their pros and cons. In Tesco, I usually choose the self-service tills which, as we all know, can be prone to glitches, leaving you stranded waiting for an attendant to come and rectify them. The scan-as-you-shop service in Tesco is also really handy -- but you can still encounter problems at the checkout.

Lidl doesn't offer self-service tills but, from what I observed, no one had a trolley as laden as mine so I felt self-conscious holding up the queue with my 60 items, while people queued behind me with just a small selection of goods.

Several factors are contributing to the escalating cost of our food, including climate issues (drought in the UK has resulted in lower crop yields this year, whilst extreme weather in other countries has increased the wholesale prices of commodities such as coffee beans and cocoa); the conflict in Ukraine, and governmental decisions.