Save £500 a year by ditching branded items from your supermarket shop – here’s how to do it

SHOPPERS can save £500 a year by ditching branded items from their trolley, The Sun on Sunday can reveal.

Some popular products have shot up in price by more than 50 per cent in the past two years as the cost-of-living crisis worsens.

Our investigation found swapping big-name brands for similar supermarket own-label products can make your cash go much further.

This week we analysed the prices of 12 of the UK’s most popular branded items online at Tesco, ­Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Asda.

A 460g bottle of Heinz Tomato Ketchup — up 53 per cent since 2019 — was £2.80 at Sainsbury’s.

But the store’s own version was 65p, making Heinz 330 per cent more expensive.

At Tesco, Lurpak (500g) was £4.49. But its own butter was 95p, meaning shoppers would fork out 373 per cent more for Lurpak.

You can also clean up on cleaning products. At Morrisons, Cif Power And Shine Bathroom Cleaner (700g), was £3.

Yet the supermarket’s own version, which is 50ml larger, cost 95p — a saving of 68 per cent.

By switching 12 branded items to own-label goods you could save nearly £15 on each shop, that is more than £500 a year.

The biggest difference was at Morrisons, where the basket of branded groceries cost £30.35 and the cheaper alternatives were £16.25 — £14.10 less.

On the right is how much you could save at the checkouts . . .