Those Essential Waitrose adverts that were up for a while really caught my eye. I love Waitrose, mainly for the packaging. It’s just lovely! Who doesn’t feel like a brilliant chef with a cupboard full of ingredients like ‘A Scatter of Wild Bay Leaves’ or ‘Easy on the Crushed Chilli’? And I’m no less a fan of the simplicity of the Essential Waitrose line.

So I’ve been meaning to do a post on the Essential Roast advert and actually find out how budget the Essential Waitrose line really is.

Here is a break down of four key components to a Sunday roast – chicken, potatoes, carrots and parsnips. I went with the cheapest basic I could find at Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and ASDA. Please note the prices listed are online and don’t include any sales.

Also, I used the fantastic grocery cost comparison website MySupermarket.co.uk to do some of my price checks. Have you tried it? YOU SHOULD!

I’m not picking a winner–you can do that for yourself! But I have underlined the lowest price per unit in each category. Sadly my Waitrose isn’t the lowest (well we saw that coming!) but it isn’t THAT far behind.

Waitrose/Ocado

Essential Waitrose Large Chicken (Approx 2.3 Kg) – £6.88 (£2.99/Kg)

Essential Waitrose White Potatoes (2.7 Kg) – £1.23 (45.6p/Kg)

Essential Waitrose Carrots (1 Kg) – 98p (98p/Kg)

Waitrose Parsnips (500 g) – 98p (£1.96/Kg)

Sainsbury’s

Sainsbury’s Large Whole Chicken (Approx 2.5 Kg) – £6.98 (£2.79/Kg)

Sainsbury’s Basics Potatoes (2.5 Kg) – 99p (40p/Kg)

Sainsbury’s Basics Carrots (1 Kg) – 89p (89p/Kg)

Sainsbury’s Basics Parsnips (750 g) – £1.12 (£1.49/Kg)

ASDA

ASDA Large Whole Chicken (Approx 2.23 Kg) - £6.22 (£2.79/Kg)

ASDA White Potatoes (2.5 Kg) – £1.28 (51.2p/Kg)

ASDA Smartprice British Carrots (2 Kg) – 98p (49p/Kg)

ASDA Smartprice Parsnips (1.12 Kg) – 84p (£1.12/Kg)

Tesco

Tesco Fresh Whole Chicken Large (Approx 3 Kg) – £8.37 (£2.79/Kg)

Tesco Market Value White Potatoes (2.5 Kg) – 99p (39.6p/Kg)

Tesco Market Value Carrots (1 Kg) – 89p (89p/Kg)

Tesco Parsnips (500g) – 99p (£1.98/Kg)