Aldi has kickstarted the annual Christmas supermarket price war with the return of its traditional festive food discounts, including vegetables being sold for as little as 19p.
Running throughout the week leading up to Christmas – from Sunday 18 December until Saturday 24 December 24 – the discounted vegetables also form part of Aldi’s year-round ‘Super 6’ fruit and veg price cuts.
The seasonal deal has been designed to keep the costs down for a traditional Christmas roast and includes 1kg of carrots, 2kg of potatoes and 500g of parsnips, as well as red and white cabbages, swedes and the all-important brussels sprouts. All vegetables within the deal will sell for 19p.
Aldi UK managing director of buying, Julie Ashfield, said: “At Aldi we believe that access to fresh, high-quality food is a right, not a privilege – and Christmas dinner is no exception.
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“Christmas is an expensive time for many families up and down the UK, but customers can rest assured that Aldi will always offer the very best value groceries.”
Last year, a number of supermarkets cut the price of their vegetables in the lead up to Christmas, with Iceland reduced the price of its fresh and frozen vegetables to just 1p, while Aldi sold seasonal veg for just 9p on Christmas Eve in a bid to reduce food waste.
This year’s Christmas dinner price wars have so far focused primarily on the cost of purchasing a complete meal as the cost of a typical Christmas roast dinner rises three times faster than wages.
Sainsbury’s has focused on value with its deal, which comes in cheaper than last year’s and works out at less than £4 a head, which is cheaper than Poundland’s chilled and frozen offering, which is £25 for a family of five, working out as £5 per person.
Also beating Poundland in the battle of the discount festive spreads is Tesco – which was first to introduce its bargain meal deal this year at £24.05 for a family of five (£4.81 each).
Heron Foods is currently offering the lowest deal price of £15 for a family of four, working out as £3.75 per person.
However, on a price-per-head basis, Iceland (£28 for eight people), Aldi (£24 for six people) and Asda come in at less. Asda is the only supermarket to offer two sizes of Christmas meal deal, with an ‘under £20’ option and an ‘under £30’ option for larger families of up to ten people, meaning the latter costs just £2.81 per person.