We’re all aware of the significant increase in food prices over recent years, turning the weekly grocery run into a dreaded task for many households.
The most straightforward solution to reduce this cost is to cut back, with consumers more likely to omit non-essential items from their shopping carts. However, there’s a limit to how much you can cut back when you have mouths to feed and the occasional indulgence to slip in.
Fortunately, there are other methods to decrease your expenditure, one of which is the ‘Downshift Challenge’. This is one of several ‘tools and tricks’ featured on Martin Lewis’ Money Saving Expert page aimed at ‘slashing food bills’, and it couldn’t be easier, reports the Manchester Evening News.
READ MORE: Baileys’ new chocolate flavour is a must for chocoholics – and it’s on sale
Essentially, it involves dropping one brand level from what you’d normally purchase. If you notice little or no difference in taste with the new product, then stick with that one for future shopping trips.
“The point of this system isn’t to force you to drop down a brand level on everything, but to ensure you’re not spending money for no reason,” the website explains. “If you can’t tell the difference between the lower brand level goods, then why pay more for it.”
Parenting editor Emma Gill decided to put this challenge to the test with a large Asda shop this week to see how much she could save – and was pleasantly surprised by its effectiveness.
In some instances, this meant swapping out the big brands she’d typically purchase for Asda’s own, and in others, it involved opting for its cheapest Just Essentials range. Many of the budget items are located on the bottom shelf.
The price differences were quite astonishing in some cases. For instance, a pack of 12 Asda Beef Stock Cubes cost her 80p, whereas a box of a dozen Oxo cubes would have set her back £2.40.
The same was true for the gravy – £1 for a 200g tub of Asda’s Gravy Granules, compared to £2.80 for a smaller 190g tub of Bisto.
There were plenty more examples as well, such as Asda Red Cabbage £1.30 for 420g versus Baxters Red Cabbage £2.40 for 440g, Asda’s 12 Yorkshire Puddings 95p compared to 10 Aunt Bessie’s for £2, and Asda’s Butter for £1.89 compared to Country Life for £2.50.
Abandoning some other big brands also proved beneficial. Asda’s Wholemeal Bread Flour cost £1.05 for 1.5kg, while the Allinson’s brand is £1.70 for 1kg.
Asda’s Gold Tea Bags were £1.39 for a pack of 80, compared to £2.50 for Tetley, and they were just as satisfactory. And while Emma said her children are usually quite particular about the Ski Smooth yoghurts for £1.45 a pack, they were equally pleased with Asda’s Greek Style Strawberry Yoghurts for 99p.
Naturally, there are some compromises to be made when trying to save money, and only you can determine if a product meets your standards. Emma found Maris Piper potatoes to be the best for mashing, so stuck with those, and at £1.79 for 2kg, the price matches that of Aldi.
To find cheaper meatballs, she had to choose the ones with 12% fat, which were on sale for £2.60 per pack, instead of £3.75 for the reduced-fat version. The Honey Roast Ham she purchased for £2.75 for 400g contains 76% pork, compared to the Finely Sliced Honey Roast Dry Cured Ham, which is 97% pork and costs £4.
Emma noted: “Of the swaps I made though, there were very few that I wouldn’t buy again. The Creamy Tomato Pasta Bake for example was a big hit with the kids and cost just 69p for a 500g jar. Homepride’s smaller 485g jar is £2.50.
“I found it was the same with household items too, like bleach for 70p compared to Domestos for £1.50, Sponge Cloths for £1.50 compared to £3.50 for the Spontex brand and a four-pack of Asda Microfibre Cleaning Cloths for £1.80, compared to £3 for the branded ones.”
Downshifting meant she could indulge in more sweet treats like biscuits and cakes, and was thrilled to find Asda’s own version of Biscoff spread priced at £1.99, a significant saving compared to the usual £3.20.
However, it’s not a one-size-fits-all strategy. When selecting chicken breasts from the Just Essentials range, she noticed that the £6.19 per kg price tag was actually higher than Asda’s main meat range, which was reduced to £6 a kg due to a Price Drop offer.
This is an important consideration, as Money Saving Expert advises shoppers when attempting the challenge.
“Of course, let’s not go extreme on this,” they advise. “If there’s a 2for1 on a higher brand (and you’d use both packs) making it cheaper than downshifting, stick with the higher brand.”
MSE notes that “downshifting typically cuts grocery bills by 30%. Even if you only swapped half the items, that’s still a 15% saving.”
Emma said: “With my own shop, I saved a whopping £45.49 on the products I swapped, which was way more than I expected. It’s definitely something I’ll be doing again, whichever supermarket I’m in.”
And an Asda spokesperson said: “Asda is consistently recognised as the best value traditional supermarket in independent price comparison surveys, including the Grocer 33 basket comparison and the Which? monthly big shop trolley comparison. This is despite these surveys now including loyalty pricing.
“In addition to offering the lowest prices of any traditional supermarket, our customers can make further savings by using the Asda Rewards app. The app gives them money back into their Cashpot each time they shop, which they can use to reduce the price they pay at the till. In less than two years since its launch, Rewards is now used by over six million customers who have saved more than £580.5m in total.”