What's the story with grocery prices?

How would you like to knock €2,500 of your annual grocery shopping bill? Although food prices have been climbing internationally for months, such significant savings are just about possible for people who are a little more canny about how they shop.

At the end of last month, an exhaustive National Consumer Agency (NCA) survey, which compared grocery prices between Ireland's multiples, symbol groups, discounters and independents shops, was published, and it could point the way towards substantial savings for Irish consumers.

Although the study showed there was virtually no price difference between the State's biggest supermarkets - for a basket of more than 60 items just 35 cent separated Tesco and Dunnes Stores - it said they still offered some good value when it came to branded goods. The discount stores Aldi and Lidl had bargains in meat, fruit and vegetables, it found, as did some independent retailers.

The message that came loud and clear from the survey was the importance of shopping around. "As grocery prices go up due to international factors, price and value for money become even more important and our strong advice to consumers is to split their shopping basket if possible and to seek value in the range of shops available to them," NCA chief executive Ann Fitzgerald said when launching the report, the first of its kind in the State.

Almost immediately after it was published a supermarket bunfight started. In last Sunday's newspapers Tesco took out multiple ads insisting that, despite all the evidence to the contrary, it was still number one for cash-conscious consumers. On the first of three full-page back-to-back ads in one paper, Tesco published two receipts comparing a very select number of its products with similar items from Lidl. "You can't believe everything you read, but you can believe that Tesco is cheaper than Lidl!" screamed the tag line. There were two further pages advertising "fantastic offers" and "long-term price cuts".

Two pages later, there was a gloating full page ad from Lidl which boasted that it had won the "grocery price Oscars" after the NCA found it to be nearly 17 per cent cheaper than Aldi for a basket of 48 goods. It was also 56 per cent cheaper than Dunnes, 52 per cent cheaper than Tesco and 45 per cent cheaper than SuperValu on what the NCA said were comparable items.

For its part, Aldi was less than pleased with what it believed were unfair comparisons between it and Lidl. Like Tesco, it reckons that the comparisons were drawn between products which were not like for like.

Supermarket rivalries aside, the value of the study lies in showing consumers that if they do shop intelligently then they can save hundreds, if not thousands of euro each year. While the quality of some of the bargain-basement products in many of the supermarkets is patchy at best, some items are certainly worth considering. Few people could argue that all breakfast cereals or tea bags - to pick just two items - are equal, but when it comes to cleaning products the differences in quality are harder to discern. The difference in price between the premium and the value ranges is, however, much clearer.

A two-litre bottle of Domestos in Tesco costs €3.17, while a similarly sized bottle of non-brand name bleach in Aldi costs €1.29. While the makers of Domestos might argue that their product is intrinsically better than the Aldi equivalent, it is hard to imagine it could possibly be nearly three times better. Bleach is, after all, bleach.

It's the same for bin bags, sponges, rubber gloves and a whole lot of other items. A Pricewatch basket of just 10 such items sourced in Aldi costs more than €20 less than similar products made by brands which have big marketing budgets behind them. If consumers were to do just a little research and buy just 20 such items in either Aldi or Lidl each week, instead of buying branded products, they could knock around 30 per cent off their weekly shopping bill. Spread out over the course of a year, the potential savings run into hundreds of euro.

In the wake of the study, several Pricewatch readers got in touch, some despairing of ever being able to avoid high prices and others alerting us to the savings that can be made by selective shopping.

"People are being screwed in this country whatever they do. You can't even shop on the web like you can anywhere else in Europe. I don't mind paying more for good food. The problem here is that you pay more for everything, not just for food and drink. Why can't this country get its act together and stop being fooled by corrupt and inadequate politicians?" asked one angry reader.

Others were more upbeat. "Here's the trick," wrote one, "every second week shop in Lidl or Aldi. We alternate between Tesco (for the name-brand stuff like shampoo) and Lidl/Aldi (for the cheapo generics). It works great!"

"I shop in a local family-owned grocer who has an excellent butcher and good food selection," said another reader. "They also offer to carry my shopping to my car every time I visit. That's unbeatable service!"

This reader said she went to Dunnes or Tesco once every six weeks or so to pick up dry-goods. "I feel without much work I get excellent quality food and meat at reasonable prices. It also surprises me what items are actually cheaper in my local shop than in Tesco. I reckon because of my shopping habits I spend much less overall than the average shopper who sticks to just one outlet. My one big rule: no impulse buys! I think its easier to avoid those if you avoid the big supermarkets too."

Another said his typical shopping included Aldi for basics such as pasta, rice, fruit and vegetables, tinned stuff, detergents, wine and water, Dunnes Stores for some branded stuff and Superquinn for bread, fish "and those nice but expensive final bits and pieces". By doing this he saves "maybe €40-€50" a week, which could lead to that extra €2,500 staying in his pocket instead of the wallets of the supermarket shareholders.