What lowtein does

We read the full online catalogues of the major supermarket chains that serve your city, straight from their own structured product data. For each item we take the price and pack size and normalize to a common unit (per kilogram for meat and seafood) so different retailers' pack sizes can be ranked side-by-side. Then we show you the cheapest.

Where the data comes from

We read the major Britishsupermarket chains' full online ranges — the big national chains alongside the discounters and independents that serve your city, plus the local online butchers. Because these are complete online catalogues, not a weekly printed special, the prices are current and cover far more items than a flyer would.

Every price comes straight from the retailer's own online store, where you can look the item up and check it yourself. We don't republish catalogue images or compete with the retailers; we just point you at the prices they're already publishing.

Is this really the cheapest?

For each cut, we show you the entire ranking — tap a row to see every retailer we polled for that cut this week, with their prices. If we're cheapest by $1, the other retailers' prices are right there to verify. If we missed a retailer your city has, email contact@lowtein.com and we'll add them.

Is the price actually good?

When you tap a row, the expanded panel shows how the price stacks up:

• The typical current price — the median price for that cut across the retailers we track in your nation. The verdict — e.g. "20% below the Englandaverage" — is measured against this. Unlike Canada and the US, the UK has no free, current government table of average retail prices per cut, so we compute the typical price ourselves from the full online catalogues.
• Our weekly trend— the lowest price we've observed across retailers each week since we started tracking. Sharpens with every refresh.

As an independent government cross-check, each city page also cites the Office for National Statistics Consumer Price Index — how meat, fish and dairy prices are trending year on year. That's an official index of price movement, not a per-cut pound figure (the ONS series that published per-item average prices stopped in early 2025, when collection moved to supermarket scanner data), so we use it as market context, not as the verdict. Together: the cross-retailer median asks "is this cheap versus what the big supermarkets charge right now?", the weekly trend asks "is this cheap versus recent weeks?", and the ONS index asks "which way is the whole market moving?"

No AI guessing

Prices on lowtein are pulled directly from each retailer's structured product data. No model is inferring or guessing prices. Where a listing has no clear per-kilogram price (e.g., a multi-pack with no weight stated), we drop it from the comparison rather than estimate.

What's limited

• Some retailers show lower prices only to loyalty-program members or as online-only specials. We capture the standard online price; member-only specials may differ.
• Online prices can change at any time. We refresh regularly, so a price may shift between refreshes.
• Price history is short — we started tracking in July2026, so "typical" comparisons get sharper every week.
• We rank by published price per unit. We don't weigh in on quality, freshness, or store conditions. We're showing arithmetic, not a recommendation.

Free, no accounts

Lowtein is free. We don't require an account, sell data, or use affiliate links.