Morrisons - 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!

Head over to our blog page to read our introduction to the gluten free basket comparison or click here to see what it’s all about.

In short, we’re comparing the price of 9 gluten free products with their gluten containing version across 8 of the UK’s major supermarkets to see where the cheapest place to shop for gluten free is.

Of course, we know that cheap isn’t always best (especially for gluten free) but this comparison will allow us to clearly highlight the price differences between basic gluten and gluten free items and see how prices vary between the supermarkets.

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.

Here we go Morrisons, you’re up! ⬇️

Porridge oats

Morrisons normal porridge oats are £1.29 for a 1kg pack vs the gluten free oats which are priced at £3.50 for also 1kg.

That means that you’re paying  £2.21  more for the gluten free oats which is a  171%  increase in product price.

Per 100g, the gluten free oats cost  22p  more, which is again, because both oats weigh the same, a  171% increase.

Box of cereal

Now this is the only time you’ll see a gluten free product beat a normal product in price in this blog, but it’s all down to the weight. So, Morrisons own cereal is £2.19 but the gluten free cereal is actually cheaper at £1.75. However, when you buy the normal cereal, for the price of £2.19, you’re getting 500g worth of product. When you buy the gluten free product, although it looks like it’s cheaper, you’re actually only getting 300g of cereal.

So, yes, the gluten free cereal is  44p  cheaper than the normal cereal and that’s  20%  less in product price.

However, per 100g, the gluten free cereal costs  15p  more which is a  33% increase when you look at what you’re getting for your money, per 100g.

Loaf of white/brown/seeded bread

A 400g multi seed loaf at Morrisons will cost you 99p whereas a 535g gluten free seeded sliced loaf will set you back £1.90.

Buying the gluten free loaf means you’re spending  91p  more which is almost double the price at a  92%  increase.

Per 100g, the gluten free loaf costs  11p  more and that’s a  43%  increase.

Pack of 4 white/brown/seeded bread rolls

For the rolls, even though the only Morrisons own branded pack of 4 bread rolls I could find were from ‘The Best’ range, they were still cheaper than the gluten free item. The normal rolls cost £1.29 whereas the gluten free rolls will cost you £1.75.

That’s a price increase of  46p  for the gluten free rolls which is  36%  more expensive than the gluten product.

Both packs of rolls were 300g, so per 100g, the gluten free rolls are costing  15p  more with a  36%  increase.

Pasta

A lot of supermarkets have matched their gluten free pasta prices with their standard pasta price. Unfortunately, Morrisons haven’t jumped on this bandwagon as a 500g pack of normal pasta is 95p compared to the gluten free 500g pack of pasta at £1.20

That means that the gluten free pasta costs  25p  more and is  26%  more expensive than the normal pasta.

Looking at the price difference per 100g, the gluten free pasta is  5p  more expensive per 100g and that’s a  26%  increase in price.

Spaghetti

The spaghetti products are priced exactly the same as the pasta so 95p for normal spaghetti and £1.20 for gluten free, both weighing 500g.

Again, that’s  25p  more for gluten free spaghetti, a  26%  increase, and per 100g, the gluten free spaghetti is  5p  more and a  26%  increase in price.

Plain flour

Morrisons also don’t have their own brand of gluten free flour, and actually, looking at other supermarkets, most only stock this branded gluten free flour from Doves Farm. So for flour, we are comparing an own brand product with a branded product which will happen now and again when there isn’t an option to buy own brand.

Anyway, the normal flour is priced at 79p for a 1.5kg pack, but the gluten free flour costs £1.95 for a pack weighing 500g less, at 1kg.

So the gluten free flour is  £1.16  more expensive and that’s  147%  more expensive than the standard flour.

But, this is where it get’s worse, because when you consider the prices per 100g, the gluten free flour is  14p  more expensive which is a whopping  270%  increase.

Digestive biscuits

And if you though the cost of flour was a shocker, just wait for this. A normal 400g packet of digestive biscuits will cost you 71p but for a 160g pack of gluten free digestive biscuits, you’ll be spending £1.69.

That means that you’re spending  98p  more having to buy gluten free digestive biscuits which is a  138%  increase on price per product.

You might think that’s not too bad, or it’s expected when it’s a gluten free biscuit price, however, take into consideration the amount of biscuits you’re getting. For the normal digestives, you’re getting 400g worth but for the gluten free digestives, you’re only getting 160g. That’s less than half the amount. That means that per 100g, the gluten free biscuits are  88p  more expensive with a truly shocking percentage increase of  495% .

Gravy Granules

Last but not least, we have the gravy granules. A 200g tub of gravy granules which contain wheat, will cost you £1.15, whereas the gluten free version costs £1.50 for 170g.

For gluten free gravy, you’re having to spend  35p  more for the product which is a  30%  increase on the gluten containing tub.

Per 100g, that’s  31p  more expensive and an increase of  53% , when you’re buying gluten free.

THE RESULTS!

So, the baskets are full and the total price for each basket has been calculated. The basket containing all of the normal gluten containing products comes to £10.31. It will cost you  £6.13  more however, to buy the gluten free basket, which has totalled up to £16.44. That’s an increase of  59% .

If we look at the baskets in quantity/weight, the total price per 100g for each item in the gluten basket comes to £2.43. The gluten free basket however, is almost double that at £4.49 which is  £2.06  more expensive and an increase of  85% .

This is just the start of our basket comparison series, and Morrisons alone has already clearly demonstrated that shopping gluten free is so much more expensive. And we’re only looking at basic, store cupboard products; if we were to do another comparison with items like pitta bread, wraps, vinegar, soy sauce and fresh and frozen products, I can guarantee the price differences would be even more outrageous.

Keep an eye out for our next supermarket! 👀🛒