Simple supermarket mistake adding over £800 to grocery bills – and how to avoid paying more

SHOPPERS could be making a simple mistake at the supermarket that's pushing up grocery bills by hundreds of pounds a year.

That's because the main supermarket chains almost always fail to stock their cheapest own-brand products in local stores.

Buying your essential groceries from Tesco Express will set you back £811 more over a year than doing the same shop at Tesco, according to Which?.

The consumer group's mystery shoppers also found the same groceries bought from Sainsbury's are £477.93 cheaper than if you buy them at Sainsbury's local.

Figures from Kantar out today showed that food inflation is now over 17%, with milk and dairy items seeing the biggest price hikes.

But Which? mystery shoppers looking for basics including pasta, fruit and veg, tinned fish and tomatoes and minced meat found local supermarket stores didn't stock the cheaper essential budget ranges.

Tesco Express, Sainsbury’s Local and Morrisons Daily almost never had own brand options for basic groceries, Which? said.

Instead, the cheapest ranges can only be found in the large supermarket stores, which are often out of town.

Penalty for the poorest

But some shoppers don't have a choice when it comes to where they buy their groceries.

People who have low mobility or no access to transport are often forced to buy more expensive foods in their local supermarket convenience store - or go without.

Which? said it's those with the lowest earnings who are hardest hit.

It found that two out three shoppers who earn £21,000 or less shop in a convenience store at least once a week.

It's worst in the Don Valley in Yorkshire, North West Durham in the North East and Rhondda in Wales where food poverty is the highest in the UK.

More than half of supermarkets in these areas are small stores.

And Which? found none of the items on the list of budget essentials in any of those stores.

Sue Davies, Which? head of food policy, said: “At a time when millions of people are struggling to put food on the table, it’s shocking that budget range foods are not available to people who can’t get to a large supermarket.

"Everyone should have access to affordable nutritious food no matter where they live."

But supermarket giant Tesco called the study "highly flawed".