Eat well without paying astronomical sums. This is an ancestral dilemma that haunts many households, always looking for the best deals or good deals to find quality products at a lower price.
However, since 2022, this issue is all the more important given the decline in the purchasing power of the French. In one year, consumer prices rose by 5.6% in March according to INSEE figures.
During the same period, fresh products increased by 15%, a real burden for the daily lives of households. Faced with this situation, the French have had to readapt their consumption methods and move towards cheaper products, often to the detriment of quality.
Finding fresh and responsibly grown fruits and vegetables without emptying your wallet can become a real headache. Between supermarkets or the short circuit, it is therefore complicated to know where to turn.
To answer these questions, UFC-Que Choisir conducted a survey to determine where fruits and vegetables were the cheapest. To do this, the consumer association put together a standard basket of 17 plants from France before visiting more than 400 short-circuit sales outlets across 63 departments in order to achieve an average price.
With this same basket, the volunteers then compared the prices collected with those of seven well-known supermarket brands: Auchan, Carrefour, Casino, Cora, Leclerc, Intermarché and Système U.
Here are the results of the survey.
The result of the survey conducted by UFC-Que Choisir may seem surprising since it goes against popular belief. Indeed, as Femina relates, supermarkets can achieve significant economies of scale.
But, if this is not the case for small producers, they nevertheless have far fewer intermediaries and therefore margins to satisfy. Thus, on conventional fruits and vegetables, the price of the basket is 38 euros whether purchased at the supermarket or in a short circuit.
But is the observation the same for organic products?
Whether fruits and vegetables are bought in supermarkets or on short circuits, one thing is certain, they are more expensive when they are organic. On the other hand, the difference is not the same and plants from organic farming are cheaper in small producers than in supermarkets. Indeed, the basket produced by UFC-Que Choisir costs 41 euros in short circuit against 47 euros in supermarkets, a difference of 15%.
However, the consumer association specifies that disparities exist from one product to another. Carrots, fennel or Paris mushrooms are generally cheaper in supermarkets.
