Which supermarket does picnic food the best? What to buy from Waitrose, Sainsbury's, Aldi and the rest

Waitrose’s suggested fare is unsurprisingly both fancy and fanciful.

The company is a behemoth, the brand a bastion of meal deal culture.

But you’d be hard-pressed to find Sicilian blood orange juice, 18-month Comté and decent sourdough in Britain 's other grocers.

We love them for being lavish, but sometimes they just take things too far.

The adage, “big shop at Sainsbury ’s, top-up at Waitrose” is a societal staple in the non-rich, merely comfortable parts of the Home Counties .

The grocer is rarely front and centre any more: even Jamie Oliver jogged on to Tesco in 2018 , clearly sensing a shift as pennies were pinched.

But, for goodness sake, buy the basics (the cocktail sausages, the pork pies and the quiche) elsewhere.

Aldi ’s playful takes on famous brands (crisps and confectionery for the most part) and the wine: game-changing, frankly.

Aldi 's Spanish meat and cheese selection is excellent, the red pepper hummus is strongly flavoured and the own-brand Mini Cheddars are true to the original (blind test? Who could tell?). Morrisons seems to love doing everything in miniature, like the box of 20 chicken poppers (tiny balls of horror) or the pepperoni bites.