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Sainsbury’s had cut the price of the Filippo Berio olive oil by £2, to £4.50

Sainsbury’s continued to demonstrate its newfound competitiveness as it produced the cheapest basket in our barbecue-themed Grocer 33 pricing survey.

As with its most recent win last month, Sainsbury’s undercut its rivals without any help from its Nectar Prices initiative.

At £76.84, it came in £2.87 cheaper than runner-up Asda. Sainsbury’s offered the lowest price for 11 items and was exclusively cheapest for six items including the Kettle crisps. The biggest difference was on the Filippo Berio olive oil, which, having been reduced to £4.50, was £2 cheaper than at Asda.

Asda offered the lowest price for 13 lines and was exclusively cheapest for seven, including the coleslaw and potato salad.

Morrisons came in £3.76 dearer than Sainsbury’s. It was exclusively cheapest for six items including the beefburgers, Heck sausages and Rowntree’s watermelon lollies.

At £81.45, Tesco was £4.61 cheaper than Sainsbury’s. However unlike Nectar Prices, Tesco’s Clubcard Prices initiative had a big impact. Members of the scheme would have received an instant discount of £4.50. This closed the gap to Sainsbury’s to just 11p.

Waitrose came in £14.54 pricier than Sainsbury’s, though it was exclusively cheapest for the Bull’s-Eye BBQ sauce.

There was no sign of inflation cooling as the weather heats up. Prices were on average 13% more expensive year on year and up 2.3% on a month ago.

Even factoring in the Sainsbury’s deal, the olive oil was 42% more expensive than last May while the BBQ sauce was 30% more expensive. A further eight items were at least 20% dearer than a year ago. The only notable price decrease came on the baby peppers, which were 3% cheaper than in May 2022. Prices for the Bryant & May matches and Carex hand sanitiser were unchanged.