Asda is known as one of the UK’s best budget supermarkets following Lidl and Aldi, but is the only one in the “big four”.
Boasting cheaper prices than Tesco, Sainsbury’s, and in some cases, Morrisons, the retailer is more closely associated with affordable pricing known as their “RollBack” offers.
Marks and Spencer, on the other hand, is renowned for its more luxurious product offerings which come at a premium compared to its competitors.
Even its “Remarkable value” range, which advertises “locked prices” on 150 popular grocery items is more expensive than some of its budget counterparts, though shoppers can still find a bargain like their 40p tins of baked beans.
But when it comes to quality, it seems there’s less disparity than some may believe with many Asda products outranking M&S in a recent series of independent taste tests.
Hundreds of independent testers compared Asda products to their M&S equivalents, and the results revealed that hundreds of Asda’s products were voted “as tasty” or “tastier” than M&S, but at a fraction of the price.
Among the standout products were the Asda Extra Special Sourdough Crumpets (£1.00/6pk) which outranked the M&S 6 Ultimate Crumpets Made with Sourdough, (£1.50).
Asda’s Butcher’s Selection Unsmoked Bacon (£2.25) also made the cut against Marks and Spencer’s £2.80 version of the same meat product.
The budget retailer also won over taste-testers with its Camembert (£2.00), which was voted “as tasty” as the M&S counterpart (M&S Camembert Cheese, £2.90).
Meat and seafood made the cut in the taste test too, with the Asda Extra Special Madagascan Tiger Prawns (£5.00) which were voted tastier than those of M&S and are less than half the price (M&S Collection Madagascan Extra Large Black Tiger Prawns, £11.00).
The pan-fried thick-cut Extra Special British Aberdeen Angus Ribeye Steak (£7.50) proved to be tastier than the M&S equivalent (M&S Collection British Ribeye Steak Salt Dry Aged 30 Days, £10.00).
Asda embarked on its Taste Test journey in July when it nominated a series of stellar products for blind taste testing against luxury names including Harrods, Selfridges, Fortnum & Mason, and Harvey Nichols.
Following results that showed an array of Asda products standing up against their luxury counterparts, the supermarket pledged to continue to deliver on its commitment to quality at low prices through the launch of its M&S Taste Match campaign.
All products in Taste Match are better value than the same items at M&S, a retailer that has a long-standing reputation for great quality food.
