Community
Print
German budget supermarket chain Lidl has been named the cheapest shop in the UK to buy Christmas dinner foods and ingredients from.
A study by Little Loans compared the costs of nine plant-based festive staples at Lidl in a league table of the top nine UK supermarkets. Lidl came out on top, and shopping there this Christmas could save shoppers up to 50 percent compared to the pricing seen in Waitrose and Marks And Spencer.
Lidl had already made news for its vegan collection earlier this year when the chain revealed its German stores would match its vegan alternatives to be the same price as the meat equivalents.
Affordable vegan Christmas food
The items compared included some of the most commonly bought animal-free Christmas foods, including nut roasts, roast potatoes, carrots, Brussels sprouts, cranberry sauce, stuffing, vegan gravy, carrots, parsnips, and red cabbage. Buying all of these items together from Lidl came to £8.83, the lowest price total of any UK supermarket.
Besides nut roasts, Lidl is offering other vegan alternatives for 2023, for example, a Vegan Sausage and Cranberry Wreath pastry dish, as well as vegan party foods, sides, starters, and more.
Just trailing behind Lidl is Morrisons in second, with vegan shopping totaling £9.19. Fellow German budget brand Aldi is third at £9.42. Not far behind is Asda at £9.55 and Tesco at £9.70.
With demand for vegan food ever-increasing while the cost of living crisis continues, this is a clear move from UK supermarkets to continue meeting plant-based demand while ensuring cruelty-free foods are affordable for the majority of the population.
Waitrose and M&S almost double in price
That said, there is a marked price jump with the names lowest down the list — Waitrose will cost shoppers £16.70, and Marks and Spencer £16.80. Co-op is not among the cheapest either, with the items costing £15.23. The report looked into whether Nectar, Tesco Clubcard, and other loyalty cards made any difference to the totals, and it was found they did not.
Vegan food too expensive in the cost of living crisis: fact or fiction?
It’s not only cheap and affordable to buy vegan food at Christmas time, but it’s affordable all year round. Plant-based being inevitably more expensive than other diets has been shown to be a myth, as seen in this Oxford University study which found a vegan diet is actually more affordable than vegetarian and meat diets, as well as being healthier.
Vegan meat alternatives are often the most expensive items you can buy on a plant-based diet, but these are far from a necessity. Vegan whole food staples such as beans, lentils, rice, potatoes, fruits, and vegetables are not only significantly cheaper than meat, dairy, and eggs, but are also considered healthy, found to reduce risk of disease, assist with fitness and longevity, and a host of other health benefits.
