When I was in England in 2022, we found an ALDI in the Cotswolds. Not only was it super interesting to see the different kinds of foods there, but the prices were pretty amazing as well.
The grocery prices in the Cotswolds were a real eye opener and so I thought it would be fun to take Jen there so she could have a look around. She was shocked to say the least. 🙂
Even when you factor in the exchange rate, ALDI prices in the UK are incredibly lower than what we see here in the US.
Forget quarters, in the UK you have to put in a pound to get a cart! 😉
They had 2 trolly sizes, we opted for the smaller one. 😉 I love the small trollys!!
Bread 75 pence. About $0.98 USD.
Crumpets 45 pence. About $0.59 USD. These were 35 pence two years ago at the same store.
A half gallon of milk £1.20. About 1.56 USD. In 2022 milk was £1.45. So it’s actually gone down.
British butter £1.69 for 8.8 ounces. About $2.20 USD
Sugar £1.09 for 2.2 pounds. About $1.41 USD. Sugar prices have gone WAY up since I was there two years ago. When I was in the Costwolds in September of 2022, the same bag of sugar was only 65 pence!!
Flour 79 pence for 3.3 pounds. About $1.02 USD.
Eggs £1.35 for 6. About $1.78 USD.
Ice was 99 pence for 4.4 pounds. This is about $1.29 USD. I spotted Walmart selling 7 pounds of ice for $4.58 earlier this summer. Maybe it’s cheaper to produce ice in the UK? HA HA HA.
Fresh basil for 52 pence!!! About $0.68 USD. You would never see a price in the US like this for basil.
Or any fresh herbs for that matter. Someone tell me why the food in the UK is SO MUCH LOWER!
According to Google:
“In 2022, the federal government provided farms with $15.6 billion in subsidies.” {In 2022 the US population was roughly 333 million.}”
“In 2022/23, spending on farm support in England was around £2.33 billion.” {In 2022 the UK population was roughly 67,500,000}.”
Moving on…
Carrots 35 pence for a little over 1 pound. About $0.46 USD.
A sack of bell peppers were going for £1.60. About $2.08 USD.
Celery 79 pence. About $1.03 USD. You wouldn’t even see a price that low here in the USA at Thanksgiving!
Tomatoes on the vine £1.49 for a little over a half a pound. About $1.97 USD.
Enough prosciutto for a dinner of pickety bits £1.99. About $2.59 USD.
10% fat hamburger £3.09 for a little over a pound. About $4.01 USD.
Whole chickens were going for £3.89. About $5.05 USD.
One of the biggest deals I found were canned peaches. 34 pence! That would be about $0.44 USD. Talk about cheeeeeeeap.
A 17.6 ounce box of store brand corn flakes were going for 79 pence. That’s about $1.02 USD. When was the last time you could get a box of cereal for a buck?
4 rolls of toilet paper were £1.45. About $1.89 USD. Toilet paper rolls are smaller in the UK though. They must come here on vacation and wonder why ours are so large.
I know nothing about kitty litter but it was going for £2.19 for a 9.46 pound bag. About $2.84 USD. Was that a deal?
I don’t drink soda but 18 cans of Pepsi were going for £6.49. About $8.48 USD.
I do know that 30 feet of parchment paper for 99 pence {about 1.29 USD} is a heck of a deal though.
And last but not least… Fluff. It’s a BIG DEAL here in New England and at ALDI in the Costwolds it was goinf for £1.99. About $2.59 a jar.
I don’t know about you, but I think ALDI prices in the UK are pretty darn good. What do YOU think? Did you see any deals there?
What have you been paying for some of those same items in your town lately?
~Mavis
Katelyn says
It isn’t really a fair comparison to look at farm subsidization. In the US, farms grow tons and tons and tons of crops which no human or animal consumes, but they still get subsidies. Things are significantly more complex than they look but if you do a bit of research on farm policy, there’s a lot of food for thought (you’re welcome) to be found.
Brianna says
I would love to know the prices at a hardware store. I just bought 3 8’x10” oak boards and they were almost $8/ft. Almost $190 plus tax for 3 boards. Insane. I never payed those prices 5 years ago. I say the same about groceries. Every week is a surprise at another high and unexplained price on something. I am getting tired of the prices.
I have a friend who is a checkout clerk and she sees more people needing to forgo purchasing an item at the register because of a shock price and more people using SNAP than before.
Cindy says
I bet you liked the picky bits meat. I wonder if the canned peaches are as good as the Del Monte brand? Sugar at Walmart was $4 for 4 pounds I think. I do buy name brand flour and milk. I don’t Walmart, Vons – Safeway or Smart and Final milk they seem to have a funny taste to me. But that could be just me. Next time I go shopping I am going to need to stop in there and check it out again. Thanks for the reminder. Carrots the bunnies love here.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks says
Yes, most of the “supply chain” issues seem resolved and wheat is adversely affected by the war in Ukraine, but that’s been going on awhile now. ☹️ And wages have, understandably increased. But a local NC blogger has been tracking the same staple items (bread, peanut butter, jelly, etc) for almost 2 years across stores and generates an average weekly price for the items. The price in January 2023 is lower than now! The average increased this past July, has remained high since then and last week was higher than in January 2023! ??? Why??? I can only conclude that it’s corporate greed, though I don’t know if it’s the food companies or the grocery stores or both. And the prices don’t even take into account shrinkflation. Is there another factor I’m missing that would make prices rise now? Gasoline prices have been dropping and are low now in my area (2.99) so that shouldn’t be a huge factor. Gas went down as food prices went up. I just.don’t.get it. But it is infuriating to me. Forgive my rant. My sister and I were just discussing this yesterday so it’s fresh on my mind.
And btw, celery used to be as low as .99, (similar to you) but the best price I could find yesterday was 1.79 and that was on sale. Carrots used to routinely be 2#/$1 (which was close to the current British Aldi price) and now they are .99/# So it looks like the British Aldi prices are like how ours USED to be. It does make one wonder.
On a much happier note, I’m loving your posts abroad. My husband has been to London, but I’ve not made it yet so enjoying “tagging along”. Thanks so much for sharing your adventure with us!
Lana says
Income there is way lower and many in that area are really poor so I am glad they have lower prices to compensate.
Karin says
Isn’t that the same in the US? People being really poor I mean? I think prices of real, unprocessed food have always been higher than in Europe. Even in 1990, when I visited the US for the first time, we were shocked by the prices of normal real (unprocessed) food. Most things contained sugar in one way or another or were low fat with added vitamins or something like that.
SueD says
The prosciutto/parma ham, I paid $7.99 for the same amount last week at my local ALDI. The mixed peppers, 3/bag were $3.29; all green, $2.89. I think the last time I bought corn flakes at ALDI, it was $1.89 for 12oz. I’ve seen the prices at ALDI slowly rising over the past year. Still, better prices than other supermarkets around here.
Barbara says
The cat litter is a huge difference. Here it can be upwards from $12 for 3 lbs to $40 for a 12 lb of the good stuff. I wonder why all the ‘bad’ stuff (pepsi) is so expensive? You can ger a b2g1 free for about $12 here (case of 12?). IDK because I don’t drink soda. Gas has not gone down here,(florida), it’s averaging about $3.60 to $3.29? Somewhere in there.
Christy Rose says
When visiting my sister in South Portland last month I think I paid $3.59 at Hannaford’s for a large jar of Marshmallow Fluff. Can’t buy it here in California, it is jsut tiny jars of Kraft marshmallow creme, not early enough for baking whoopie pies!
Lucy says
Gas at the Walmart near me in West Columbia, SC was $2.59/gal. The day before it was $2.74/gal.
Lynda says
The food ingredients are healthier too….
Robin Martin says
I wonder what pay wages are like there, is it also lower than the US or about the same?
Karin says
I can’t say what the wages are in the UK, but in Holland, where. The prices for food are more or less the same, the minimum hour wage is €13,68 =$15,12
Grove says
The tax rate is higher and thus the higher subsidized food rate. The UK does have one of the lowest tax rates in Europe but it is usually 8-20% higher than the US. That does vary and it includes other social services like health care. The free market dictates prices in the US. It’s just a matter if you want the government to take your money and redistribute it for you or not. Some European countries take 60% of your paycheck.
https://brighttax.com/blog/taxes-in-uk-vs-us/
Brenda says
Fluff in RDU metro NC has not gone up or down in the last few years. Hard to find so I guess its not a big seller so no price issues, just under $5 for 16oz at local Harris Teeter. Former MA resident who turned the grandkids on to Fluff!
Tracy says
I confess that I am a bit gobsmacked that this is what you do on your vacations!
Laura says
No better way to get insight into another culture or country than to visit a grocery store. It’s one of my favorite things to do when I travel! Could spend hours perusing all the aisles. Monoprix is France is a favorite!
Mary G says
Thanks for sharing! Although the prices were interesting, I found the different offerings based on region of the world fascinating. Too bad we couldn’t have some of those foods (crumpets for one!) available in the U.S. Aldi does have foods that focus on Germany certain times during the year. I wish they’d do that for other locations.
Are you doing some of your own food prep while on your trip? Or are your grocery purchases mostly for bringing back stateside like the tea you bought?
JulieP says
Well I thought I’d just comment although not sure if many of you will see this. Our food prices have just started to come down thank goodness and our fuel prices. Diesel is £6.79 a gallon here it had got as high as £9.50 a gallon since the start of the war in the Ukraine! $8.89 and $12.44 a gallon! Petrol is slightly cheaper but both our vehicles are diesel. My average food bill on a monthly basis for two adults and the occasional grand child were £389 a month only buying whole foods no highly processed foods, it’s now down to a little over £300 a month, we don’t eat a great deal of meat and we always put up our vegetables and fruit so that brings it down. I shop mostly in Lidl or Aldi but top up in the big supermarkets for me Tesco or Sainsbury’s we don’t have an Asda close by but I believe their prices are more reasonable. The supermarkets here and the power companies have been making a much higher profits since the Ukraine! They publish their profits and it’s ridiculous how much they have made while people ordinary working people like nurses have had to use food banks to survive. The minimum wage is now £11.44 an hour for people such as myself. (Aged 64) I was earning £11.50 an hour in 2019 in the private sector and companies know they can get away with paying this so that’s what they pay. $14.99 an hour! It’s grim but things are getting better.
Dawn says
Fluff in the UK! Who knew?! Some relative of my husband actually “invented” Fluff, which seems kind of cool. We grew up eating fluffernutters and using fluff in whoopie pie filling. Definitely a New England thing! Having fun visiting England vicariously through your posts…
Mavis Butterfield says
How exciting is that!? It was fun to see “American” brands there and what they were selling for.
Kirsty says
Whilst direct comparisons are not the best – we use metric so everything is in grams
Costco sells beef mince for less than Aldi, but does so in 3 – 4kg packs.
The major retailer that sells fluff, does so for $5, for a 213g jar, which is $2.35 per 100g. Gotta love unit pricing.
And most everywhere you put in a coin or a token for your trolley. Return your trolley, retrieve your coin.