Sainsbury’s announces £15m investment in price cuts on store cupboard staples

Sainsbury’s is investing £15m to help reduce the price of cupboard staples in a move it says will help customers manage the cost of living crisis.

As part of the price investment, the retailer claims to have become the only major supermarket to offer free-from pasta at the same price as standard lines.

The price of 500g packs of free-from penne, spaghetti, fusilli and macaroni have all been reduced from £1.20 to 75p.

Other products to feature in the latest round of cuts include own-brand corn flakes, coconut milk, rice, hams and honey.

Sainsbury’s also pledged to make further price cuts on key essentials throughout the summer.

The supermarket has also included what it describes as its By Sainsbury’s ‘happier and healthier’ whole chicken breast fillets in its Aldi Price Match scheme for the first time. It said this followed the commitment in March that all By Sainsbury’s chickens would have 20% more space than the industry standard. The price of its 300g chicken breast fillets have been reduced from £2.50 to £2.29, while its 640g chicken mini fillets have been reduced from £4.95 to £4.43.

“As the cost of living challenges continue, we remain relentlessly focused on lowering prices on the essential products that make the biggest difference to our customers,” said Sainsbury’s food commercial director Rhian Bartlett.

“In the last two years we’ve invested £560m in keeping prices low and more recently we’ve reduced the price of high-volume essentials including bread and butter, milk, tuna and toilet roll. These latest price cuts will help reassure customers that we will continue to pass on savings as soon as we see the wholesale price of food fall. Customers will find great deals when they shop with us and do not need to go anywhere else to get the best prices on their everyday food essentials.”

Bartlett is among four leading senior supermarket executives who are set to appear before MPs tomorrow to give evidence into what supermarkets are doing to tackle soaring food inflation. She is due to appear before the Business & Trade Committee alongside Morrisons CEO David Potts, Asda chief commercial officer Kris Comerford, Tesco commercial director Gordon Gafa and Groceries Code Adjudicator Mark White.

The latest move by Sainsbury’s is one of a raft of recent price-cutting announcements by supermarkets. Asda, Waitrose, Morrisons and M&S have all reduced or frozen the price of cupboard staples over the past fortnight.

Sainsbury’s list of cupboard staples price cuts