Sainsbury’s chief executive Simon Roberts has said the supermarket is seeing the “resurgence [in] the big weekly trolley shop”.

In an interview with The Times, Roberts explained that a return to office working by many employers is driving the trend. one of the big “People are back in the office much more, people are short of time again,” he said.

The Sainsbury’s boss said that by offering greater value and choice in-store, the retailer is further encouraging bigger basket sizes.

“If you can go to one store and be certain you can get Monday night’s tea for the family for under £5 and something [nicer] for the weekend … more and more customers are making a decision to do that,” he said.

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Roberts added that “nothing trumps value for money,” adding that “if you’re not super sharp on price, customers will go elsewhere”.

However, the City has warned that a supermarket price war is looming, after Asda chairman Allan Leighton said last week that the grocer is “beginning to see incremental improvements in our price gap“.

The supermarket, which has struggled to be price-competitive over the past couple of years as it struggled with heavy debt loads, is now looking to make a full turnaround.

In January, Asda made one of the first big changes to its pricing offer, with the re-launch of its famous Rollback price proposition. This offers an average reduction of 25% and has now been expanded to roughly a quarter of Asda’s entire range.