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Asda shopper praises new Just Essentials range after weekly shop costs under £30
The Just Essentials line includes nearly 300 discounted products
An Asda shopper has praised the supermarket’s new budget range after her weekly shop amounted to less than £30.
Last month, in response to the ongoing cost of living crisis, Asda launched its Just Essentials range with nearly 300 new low cost products; that’s 50% more discounted items than the Smart Price range it replaced.
Discount products include fresh meat, fish and poultry, baked goods, frozen products and cupboard staples. The range also includes household essentials such as washing up liquid, shampoo and conditioner.
Since its launch last month, customers have been loving the new range, with many taking to social media to share their savings.
And this week, one customer showed how her weekly shop consisting exclusively of Just Essentials products came to less than £30.
Writing in the Extreme Couponing and Bargains UK Facebook page, Laura Kelly explained that she ‘wanted to see what all the fuss was about’ after reading about the budget range online.
Laura then revealed that the whole haul, which included fresh meat, fruit, tinned goods, pasta, fruit juices and a variety of ready meals, cost her just £29.59. For context, she explained that a similar shop in Tesco set her back £70.
She wrote: “So impressed with the quality of the food, I will defo [sic] be going back. I did get a few microwave meals, as sometimes [they’re] easy and quick for the kids to grab, and they were nice too.
Laura Kelly / Facebook
“I’m never embarrassed to buy cheaper foods and love a bargain… this was an experiment for me and we are pleasantly surprised.”
Another shopper also showed off her haul in the Facebook group, sharing that a weekly shop for a family of six cost her less than £110, a saving of around £70 from her usual shopping.
Tiffanie Davies Shaddick was able to make a variety of meals with her Just Essentials shopping, including chicken Katsu curry, homemade cottage pie, Teriyaki beef stir-fry with egg noodles and peppers and even a full Sunday roast dinner with chicken.
The rest of her shop consisted of fresh fruit and sandwich ingredients.
This comes in the wake of a fierce online debate about the Just Essentials branding, which some people accused of ’embarrassing’ poorer people.
One person said: “The way it screams ‘inferior product’ and that people on lower incomes don’t deserve nice design and should have a basket full of poverty markers”, while another questioned: “@asda Why have you changed your value range to bright yellow please? What was wrong with white?… any consideration for people who might be embarrassed that they can’t afford brands?”
However, many shoppers jumped to the supermarket’s defense by pointing out that there’s nothing embarrassing about saving money.
A spokesperson for Asda also defended the new branding, saying in a statement to The Mirror that they’d received positive feedback about the range.
They added: “We don’t understand why anyone would feel embarrassed for saving money.”