The Vegan Supermarket Shopping Challenge!

Week 1 Aldi

Have you ever wondered in chain stores that operate in different countries offer the same goods and if they do offer the same goods, are they the same prices?  

Last week, two Instagram vegan bloggers, @louisamoss (me!) in Dublin and @yesdaveitsvegan in Essex started the #vegansupermarketchallenge.  Both had the same shopping list, on the same day, one shopping in a Dublin Aldi store and one in Aldi in Essex, England.

Which store do you think was cheaper? 

Well, most of the products were cheaper in Aldi UK – we were surprised by this because Aldi is an EU shop and well, you know, Britain, well, we won't mention the B word.

If you compare the lists you will see that the spinach and strawberries seemed cheaper in Ireland, but they were smaller pack sizes so were in fact, more expensive.

The only item that was cheaper in Ireland was Tortilla Chips!

 

Here is the price comparison.

                                                                        UK - pounds                                                 IRL-euro

Vegan Ice -cream                                         1.49                                                                2.49

Oat Drink                                                       .79                                                                  1.29

Baby Spinach                                                .99                                                                  .69*

Baby Plum Tomatoes                                  .85                                                                  1.29

Yogurt Errity                                                 1.79                                                                n/a

Vegan Puddings                                           1.79                                                                2.49

Strawberries                                                 2.69                                                                2.99*

Caramel Biscuits                                           .69                                                                  .99

Tortilla Chips                                                 .45                                                                  .34

Bread White Toastie                                       .45                                                                  n/a

Vegan Brioche                                              .99                                                                  n/a

 

*UK spinach was 200g, Ireland was 90g, UK strawberries were 400g, Ireland was 340g.

I hear that @louisamoss is still devastated about the lack of vegan brioches!

So, let’s convert the prices of the items that were the same from UK into euro using today’s exchange rate.

 

UK - euro                                                       IRL-euro

Vegan Ice -cream                                         1.71                                                                2.49

Oat Drink                                                       .91                                                                  1.29

Baby Plum Tomatoes                                  .98                                                                  1.29

Vegan Puddings                                           2.06                                                                2.49

Caramel Biscuits                                           .79                                                                  .99

Tortilla Chips                                                .52                                                                  .34

 

Total                                                               6.97                                                                8.89

 

So that’s a difference of nearly two euro on 6 low-cost items! 

Ireland was more expensive!

 

We will be continuing our research because it was so much fun!  And let’s face it, in these lockdown times, safe, essential fun is hard to find!  Follow us on Instagram @louisamoss and @yesdaveitsvegan for more comparisons!