Sainsbury's - Gluten vs Gluten Free Basket Comparison 🛒

Table of Contents

• Porridge oats

• Box of cereal

• Loaf of white/brown/seeded bread

• Pack of 4 white/brown/seeded bread rolls

• Pasta

• Spaghetti

• Plain flour

• Digestive biscuits

• Gravy Granules

• THE RESULTS!

Head over to our blog page to read our introduction to the gluten free basket comparison or click here to see what it’s all about.

We’ve already done our Morrisons basket comparison and next up is Sainsbury’s!

Just a reminder, we’re comparing the price of 9 gluten free products with their gluten containing version across 8 of the UK’s major supermarkets to see where the cheapest place to shop for gluten free is.

Of course, we know that cheap isn’t always best (especially for gluten free) but this comparison will allow us to clearly highlight the price differences between basic gluten and gluten free items and see how prices vary between the supermarkets.

We’ve created a dedicated comparison page on our website to keep track of the supermarket prices we’re reviewing. Click here to see the leaderboard 🏆

Sainsbury’s, show us your baskets! ⬇️

Porridge oats

Sainsburys normal porridge oats are 65p for a 500g pack vs gluten free oats which are priced at £1.70 for 450g.

At Sainsbury’s, you would be paying  £1.05  more for the gluten free oats which is a  162%  increase in product price.

If you work our the price per weight, then gluten free oats are still more expensive as you’ll be paying  25p  more, which is a  191% increase.

Box of cereal

Sainsbury’s own corn flakes are priced at 75p for 500g, and no surprise, the gluten free cereal is more expensive, even though you’re only getting 300g at £1.75.

Despite the clear size difference, buying the gluten free cereal means you’re having to spend  £1.00  more and is  133%  more expensive than the normal cereal.

Per 100g, the gluten free cereal costs  43p  more which is big increase of  289% when you look at what you’re getting for your money, per 100g.

Loaf of white/brown/seeded bread

A 400g wholemeal loaf at Sainsbury’s will cost you 65p, whereas a 535g gluten free brown sliced loaf will set you back £1.90; almost 3x the price of the normal loaf.

Buying the gluten free loaf means you’re spending  £1.25  more which is a percentage increase of  192% .

Per 100g, the gluten free loaf costs  19p  more and that’s a  119%  increase.

Pack of 4 white/brown/seeded bread rolls

For the rolls, I couldn’t find any Sainsbury’s own so I had to opt for these Stamford Street Co. branded ones which were still much cheaper than the own brand gluten free rolls. The Stamford rolls cost 72p whereas the gluten free rolls will cost you £1.75.

That’s a price increase of  £1.03  for the gluten free rolls which is  143%  more expensive than the gluten product.

The gluten free pack of rolls was 20g heaver than the Stamford rolls, which means that per 100g, the gluten free rolls cost  39p  more with a  160%  increase.

Pasta

⭐ Ladies and gentlemen, we have a price match! ⭐

Sainsbury’s normal pasta and their gluten free pasta costs exactly the same at 75p! This is the first time in the series that two products, exactly the same in weight, have come out with equal costs.

What a win Sainsbury’s!

That means that the gluten free pasta costs  0p  more and is  0%  more expensive than the normal pasta.

Spaghetti

⭐ And it doesn’t just stop at pasta… ⭐

The spaghetti products are also priced exactly the same as each other, at 75p, both weighing 500g.

Again, that means that the gluten free spaghetti costs  0p  more and is  0%  more expensive than the normal spaghetti.

Who’s up for some bolognaise?! 🍝😋

Plain flour

Like Morrisons, Sainsbury’s also don’t have their own brand of gluten free flour, so we’ll be comparing the Doves Farm flour with their own brand of flour. Normal flour is priced at 79p for a 1.5kg pack, but the gluten free flour costs more than double at £1.95 for a pack weighing 500g less, at 1kg.

So the gluten free flour is  £1.16  more expensive and that’s  147%  more expensive than the standard flour.

But, when you consider the prices per 100g, it get’s even more expensive; the gluten free flour is  14p  more expensive which is a whopping  270%  increase.

Digestive biscuits

The crazy prices of gluten free digestives are back to haunt us again! A normal 400g packet of digestive biscuits will cost you 65p but for a 160g pack of gluten free digestive biscuits, you’ll be spending £1.70.

That means that you’re spending  £1.05  more having to buy gluten free digestive biscuits which is a  162%  increase on price per product.

Now here’s the shocker - look how much you’re getting for those two prices. For the normal digestives, you’re getting 400g worth but for the gluten free digestives, you’re only getting 160g. That’s less than half the amount. That means that per 100g, the gluten free biscuits are  90p  more expensive with a scandalous percentage increase of  554% ! And we’re talking bog standard, run of the mill digestive biscuits. God forbid we look at the chocolate coated ones!

Gravy Granules

The last item to compare is gravy granules. Whilst a 170g tub of gravy granules containing wheat will cost you 67p, gluten free gravy granules cost £1.50 for 170g.

For gluten free gravy, you’re having to spend  83p  more for the product which is a  124%  increase on the gluten containing tub.

Per 100g, that’s  49p  more expensive and an increase of  124% , when you’re buying gluten free.

THE RESULTS!

So, the baskets are full and the total price for each basket has been calculated. At Sainsbury’s, the basket containing all of the normal gluten containing products comes to £6.38. It will cost you  £7.37  more however, to buy the gluten free basket, which has totalled up to £13.75. That’s an increase of  116% ,more than double the price of the gluten basket.

If we look at the baskets in quantity/weight, the total price per 100g for each item in the gluten basket comes to £1.59. The gluten free basket however, is almost 3x that price that at £4.38 which is  £2.79  more expensive and an increase of  175% .

I always had Sainsbury’s down as one of the more expensive supermarkets and although we only have 1 other supermarket at the moment to compare it to, it’s cheaper than Morrisons in both totals for price per item and price per 100g.

Something I’ve noticed though, is that there’s a far bigger price difference at Sainsbury’s between the gluten products and the gluten free products. I was gobsmacked that the gluten containing basket at Sainsbury’s came out as £6.38 when for same items at Morrisons you’d be spending £10.31.

Is it a good thing that the gluten free products were more in line with the price of normal products at Morrisons as opposed to there being such a huge difference in price like with Sainsbury’s?

What do you think?

We’re going famously expensive for our next supermarket so stay tuned! 👀🛒