Slash your bills - and your ills - with smart shopping.

Shoppers could save a fortune and improve their - and the planet's - health - by avoiding pricey marketed goods in small packages and switching to own brand items that are just as good – or better – than the leading brands.

If you want to save money, it's not only where you shop - but how you shop.

We compared major supermarkets to discounters - and big brands to own-brands. The discounters like Lidl and Aldi are cheaper - no surprises there.

But even within their range, bulkier items like oats and flour are usually found on the bottom shelf. Yet they are much cheaper than products at eye-level - or worse, in small packages that are shoved in our faces near the checkout.

Most products we tried seemed much the same the same whether you paid for a well-known brand, or bought a discount store’s label. Cheap eggs, milk, and white bread  just taste like dear eggs milk and white bread, don't they? So why pay more? Do we really want to pay for the nose for them for the sake of a label?

However, some brands can seemingly never be replaced (like Barry's Tea)

Here are 6 price heroes that'll save you money (prices correct at time of updated publication).

1. Chocolate:

   Aldi and Lidl’s chocolate range is not only healthier - with a range of lower sugar and higher cocoa content bars – but also cheaper. Bars of 100g cost just over a euro – just over half the price of a similarly sized bar of dairy milk. 

2. Ice cream: Almost half of most ice cream content is sugar. But both Aldi and Lidl offer versions with as little as a third of the calories and half the price of premium brands. I can recommend Gianni’s chocolate brownie ice cream in Aldi and would choose it over my previous favourite Ben & Jerry’s Phish Food for health and taste reasons (the latter now seems too sweet).

3. Protein bars:  ‘protein bars’ are another low-sugar product that have boomed in recent years. I’ve been a fan of Fulfil, an Irish company whose products are now widespread. But they are quite expensive. My favourite – peanut and caramel – costs over €3 a bar – or €6.90 for three in Tesco (which is a good deal for this product). Aldi and Lidl both offered many versions of protein bars that I never liked much….until Aldi’s Harvest Morn came along. This is delicious – even nicer than Fulfil bars - at just over half the price.

4. Fancy tea: Like many people who value their sleep, I shun caffeine and drink ‘relaxing tea’ in the evening. Up to recently, this was a pricey habit. Twinings ‘Sleep’ brand was my favourite with a spiced apple and camomile flavour. But this costs over a fiver for just 20 tea bags. Aldi brought out their own version with similar ingredients that I now actually prefer. Cost: just €1.29.

5. Marmalade: I do like some thick cut orange marmalade on my toast in the morning. Old Time Irish used to be my go-to brand. But I’ve been converted to both Aldi and Lidl’s versions which cost just 49c - less than ONE SIXTH of the price.

6. Washing Powder. Aldi’s Almat Bio is not only the best value washing powder – it was, incredibly, voted the product of the year for 2023 by respected consumer champion Which? magazine, beating Dyson’s best devices and even the new iPhone 15. ‘Nuff said.

   
   

Aldi was cheaper than the other supermarkets on average at the time of this survey (Lidl was not included as it compares online prices). However, when it came to getting the cheapest possible products in each store, there wasn't much difference. This shows you can get the same price value in Dunnes and Tesco if you go for the own brand and discounted deals. And Supervalu too was only slightly dearer in this survey. Survey taken courtesy of the Irish Mail On Sunday and used as a sample (correct at time of publication).

TIPS

• Watch the price per kilo or litre.

• Keep your eye on the bottom shelf. That’s where they don’t want you to look. But it’s where you’ll find real value, like 1kg of oats for 79c, or 750g of salt for 49c, compared to several times more at eye-level.

• Steer clear of goods near the checkout, which are over-priced and low in quantity.

• Watch out for small or instant packages. They ramp up the price and increase packaging waste. For example, ‘instant oats’ – often sold near the checkout - cost umpteen times more than the 79c bargain bag.

• Grab a bargain when you see it. Reduced items are often on display at the end of the vegetable counter – or with special stickers.

• Compare prices online before you shop. Up until recently, it had been hard to do this. But now you can easily shop around  on Quidu.ie and there’ll also soon be a new app to help you keep an eye out for the best deals.

Ode to Barrys Tea - the one Irish brand that will never will be replaced.

Not all big-name branded products can be easily replaced. And I think you know the one I’m talking about…

Yes…it was Barrys Tea!

I won’t beat around the tea bush here: I am a Barry's man. Brought up in Cork, I won’t drink anything else.

Aldi and Lidl’s basic own brand teas - McGrath’s and Fallon’s – I find a bit ‘watery’.

But both chains have brought out more upmarket versions.

Lidl has McGrath’s Masterblend, while Aldi now has Fairtrade Reserve.

I tried them both this week. And they are very decent, reasonably strong, teas. I liked and would happily drink both.

But do they measure up to Barry’s? Not quite - for me anyway. But they will probably appeal to others and at just under half the price for Barry’s they are well worth a try!

Note: check and compare supermarket prices on Quidu.ie