Tesco - 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!

When you all answered our poll the other week, the most popular supermarket for gluten free shopping was Tesco with almost 50% of the votes. They were actually the first supermarket to include free from products and have recently been awarded the ‘Christmas Range of the Year’ in the 2023 Free From Christmas Awards. Go Tesco!

If you don’t know what our Glee basket comparison is all about, then click here to read the introduction!

So far, we’ve compared the prices at Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, M&S Food and Waitrose. Make sure you check out the other blogs on our website before you read this week’s and have a look at our Instagram and Facebook for the videos.

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 🏆

Okay Tesco, show us why you’re a winner!

Porridge oats

Tesco normal porridge oats are £1.25 for a 1kg pack vs gluten free oats which are priced at £1.70 for 450g.

So, shopping at Tesco for gluten free oats, you’ll be paying  45p  more for the gluten free oats which is a  36%  increase in product price.

However, taking into account that the gluten free oats are more than half the weight of the normal oats, per 100g, the gluten free oats are  25p  more, which is  202% more expensive than what you get price per 100g for the regular oats.

Box of cereal

Tesco normal corn flakes from their own brand range are 75p for 500g and the gluten free branded ones are £1.75 for 300g.

So, comparing the product price first, buying the gluten free cereal means you have to spend exactly  £1.00  more which is a  133%  increase.

Now, £1.75 isn’t too bad of a price for gluten free cereal, we’ve seen worse previously! But when you look at what you’re getting compared to the standard cereal per 100g, you’re getting 200g less. Per 100g, gluten free cereal is  43p  more and  289% more expensive than the normal corn flakes.

Loaf of white/brown/seeded bread

A gluten full 800g multiseed loaf at Tesco will cost you £1.00, whereas a 550g gluten free seeded loaf will set you back £1.95; almost double the price of the standard loaf for half the amount.

Buying the gluten free loaf means you’re spending  95p  more, which is a percentage increase of  95% .

Per 100g, the gluten free loaf costs  23p  more and that’s a 184%  increase.

Pack of 4 white/brown/seeded bread rolls

The 4 pack of normal rolls cost £1.25 and the 4 pack of gluten free rolls cost a little extra at £1.50.

That’s a price increase of  25p  for the gluten free rolls which is  20%  more expensive - probably one of the smallest increases we’ve seen.

Per 100g, the gluten free rolls cost  13p  more with an  36%  increase.

Pasta

⭐ It’s a price match moment! ⭐

Tesco regular pasta and their free from pasta are priced exactly the same at 75p! We saw this with Sainsbury’s too and it’s great that some gluten free products are being priced the same as the normal range, keep it going!

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

Spaghetti

⭐ It’s a 2nd price match moment! ⭐

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.

Plain flour

We’re back to looking at the Doves Farm flour for Tesco gluten free because they don’t do their own brand. It’s priced at £1.95 for 1kg but their own branded standard flour comes in more than half the price at 80p for 500g more.

So the gluten free flour is  £1.15  more and that’s  144%  more expensive than the standard flour.

But, when you consider the prices per 100g, the price increases even more; the gluten free flour is  14p  more expensive which is a larger 266%  increase.

Digestive biscuits

Here we are again, trying to understand why it’s the digestives that always have the most ridiculous price increases!

The normal digestives at Tesco are 70p for 400g and the gluten free ones are £1.70. That’s more than double the price for over half of the amount

That means that you’re spending  £1.00  more having to buy gluten free digestive biscuits which is a  143%  increase on price per product.

As always, the increase get’s bigger when you check the price per 100g. The gluten free biscuits are are  89p  more expensive per 100g with a silly percentage increase of  507% .

Gravy Granules

Lastly we have gravy. Whilst a tub of gravy granules containing wheat will cost you 95p, the the gluten free tub is £1.50.

So, for gluten free gravy, you’re spending 55p  more for the product and that’s an  58%  increase on the gluten containing tub.

Per 100g, that’s  41p  more expensive and an increase of  86% , when you’re buying gluten free.

THE RESULTS!

So, let’s have a look then at the prices for shopping at Tesco for gluten free. At Tesco, the basket containing all of the normal gluten containing products comes to £8.20. For the gluten free basket, you’ll be spending  £5.35  more buying the 9 gluten free items, which has totalled up to £13.55. That’s a basket price increase of  65% .

If we look at the baskets in quantity/weight, the total price per 100g for each item in the gluten basket comes to £1.77. The gluten free basket however, is more than double the price at £4.26 which is  £2.48  more expensive and an increase of  140%  BUT it’s the cheapest gluten free basket per 100g we’ve had so far!

Well Tesco, you’ve done us proud. When you look at the price per 100g, or in other words, how much you’re getting for what you’re spending, the gluten free basket has has come out the cheapest of all of the supermarkets so far.

On top of that, the price difference between the gluten basket and gluten free basket per 100g is one of the smallest we’ve seen at £2.48 in comparison to somewhere like Waitrose where the difference was £4.17.

That being said, there’s still a significant difference and supermarkets should be pricing gluten free products more in line with their standard ranges.

That’s 5 supermarkets ticked off the list, make sure you check the supermarket leaderboard by clicking here!

Next up, Asda…