Asda has announced that devotees of its Free From range will be able to enjoy significant savings, bringing prices in line with non-specialist everyday essentials.
Having invested in excess of £6 million, Asda has taken the bold step of driving down the cost of healthy living for those with restrictive diets. Focusing on staples — including bread, flour, pasta and alt-milks — the 62 price reductions are guaranteed to make an enormous difference to those that rely on easy access to alternative foodstuffs.
Rebecca Long, senior buying manager, Free From at Asda, said: “With more people than ever buying Free From foods, we’re pleased we can help make these more affordable by lowering our prices, matching the prices of selected lines gram-for-gram against the non Free From equivalent.
“We believe there should be no reason for our customers to pay more for food if they have an intolerance and want to ensure our customers can get everything they need under one roof, regardless of dietary requirements or lifestyle choice.”
Among the 62 products that have been reduced, the following are significant — in terms of the savings they now offer:
Free From gluten-free flour: was £1.50, now £0.33p
Free From pasta: was £1, now £0.53p or 2 for £1
Free From Special Flakes: was £1.80, now £0.62p
Free From grated cheese: was £2, now £1.40
In addition, bread items, birthday cakes, ready-made sauces and dairy alternative products have all been made significantly more affordable. Asda reiterated: “We are proud to roll back the price of 62 items from our Free From range, making essential food products more accessible to all of our customers.”
With this move, Asda may well become the favourite chain of many needing to buy specialist products — whether motivated by dietary intolerances or lifestyle choices. Could this spur on the rest of the ‘Big Four’ to follow suit and make compassion more cost-effective in the future?
Find out more about how UK supermarket chains are embracing plant-based consumers.
