TikToker goes viral after sharing £5 weekly food shop at Aldi

Some staple items can be purchased for under £1

A TikTok user who revealed how he carried out a weekly food shop in Aldi for under £5 has gone viral on the platform.

However, the account, which is dedicated to handing out tips on how to deal with Britain’s cost of living crisis, posted the video with a caveat.

In the caption, the user said the video was about “surviving on £5 a week, not ‘having a nutritional protein-rich diet for £5 a week’.”

It comes as Britons are struggling to afford their gas and electricity bills, as the energy price cap rocketed by 54 per cent to £1,971 in April.

In addition, food prices are continuing to rise at record rates despite inflation easing from its 40-year high.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said food prices rose by 13.1 per cent in the 12 months to August, the highest rate for 14 years.

Due to soaring costs, many people are searching for ways to cut back on spending and save money as colder, darker weather begins to creep in.

In the TikTok video, the user picks up items for less than £1 in Aldi, which has been named by consumer watchdog Which? as the UK’s cheapest supermarket for the past three months consecutively.

They bought 13 items, including a 1kg bag of long grain rice for 45p, a jar of pasta sauce for 65p, and a packet of bourbon cream biscuits for 25p.

At the end of the video, they revealed that they also bought squash, corn flakes, cans of chopped tomatoes, baked beans, peas and rice pudding, as well as a loaf of bread and packs of pasta for a grand total of £4.97.

Asked what meals they were making from the cheap ingredients, the user replied: “Tomato pasta, rice and peas, beans on toast, rice pudding, etc.”

The video garnered 1.5m views on the social media platform, as well as tens of thousands of likes and hundreds of comments.

While the cost-saving tips were appreciated by many, some people pointed out that no fresh fruit or vegetables were included in the shop and the amount of food purchased would not be enough to last a week.

“That’s not enough for a week though, not even for a small child,” one person wrote.

The TikToker said in reply: “Sadly some people don’t have a choice.”

Another wrote: “It’s sad because in this day and age in this country, people shouldn’t have to live like this.”

In August, a food bank in West Cheshire warned that it had seen a 70 per cent increase in use compared to pre-pandemic levels.

Ian Oulton, a trustee of the West Cheshire Foodbank, told the PA news agency that they were also seeing more people turning down fresh vegetables because “they can’t afford to cook it” due to high energy bills.

But while there has been a rise in people relying on food banks, a survey of independent food banks found that food donation levels have dropped since April this year.