Find HIDDEN supermarket discounts in the ‘world foods’ section – up to 80% off herbs, spices, tinned goods & more

MSE Update Friday 30 May 2025: Although we first published this blog a while back, we've updated all the prices below, and the general principle still stands – cheaper versions of the same and similar products can be found in different aisles of the same shop.

What we found in the world foods aisle…

Further down this blog we’ve more examples in a comparison table, but here’s a quick illustration of the sort of hidden bargains we’re talking about...

Garam masala:

• Natco garam masala is £2.95 on Nectar (£3.20 without) for 400g in Sainsbury’s world foods aisle. This works out as 7p per 10g.

• Sainsbury's own brand garam masala is £1.10 for 38g (29p for 10g). The Natco garam masala is 76% cheaper per gram.

Desiccated coconut:

• East End desiccated coconut is 70p on Clubcard (£1 without) for 200g in Tesco's world foods aisle. This works out as £3.50 per 1kg.

• Tesco's own brand desiccated coconut is £2 for 100g, and £10 per kg - Tesco is almost three times the price of the East End coconut.

This was the trend across many items we checked at Asda, Morrisons, Tesco, and Sainsbury's. In some cases, you initially pay more in world foods but get a bigger product that saves money in the long run. Luckily, most are foods that’ll keep well once opened.

Here are a few more examples we spotted:

What’s available will depend on where you live, because, although supermarkets almost always have a world foods section – even in some smaller local/express stores – the individual products cater to local demand. So if you live in a very multicultural area, you’re likely to have a much wider selection to choose from.

How we did our research, and other things to note…

To keep things fair and above board, when comparing prices we ignored special offers – as these come and go – and we always compared the cheapest equivalent we could find, which in most cases was the supermarket’s own-brand. Aldi and Lidl weren’t included as they tend to stock just one version of most products they sell, and don’t usually have a separate area for world foods.

If you’ve allergy concerns, we checked with the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and it confirmed all food products sold by UK supermarkets – including the world foods section – have to be clearly labelled with allergen info, and it must be in English (even if there’s a foreign language elsewhere on the packaging), so you shouldn’t need to worry.

Is it worth switching to world foods?

World foods was cheaper for the vast majority of items we looked at. Not always by much, and sometimes it means paying more for a bigger pack that’ll save you in the long run. Yet a few products were slightly more expensive gram for gram, so always check this and the price per 100ml/100g before you buy. See our supermarket guide for more tips and tricks.

Of course, as with any time you switch from one brand to another, it comes down to personal taste. It’s possible in some cases paying more means better quality, but as everything we’ve compared at least looks and smells the same as its pricier counterpart, we reckon it’s worth a try if it saves you money.

You can also save on groceries in other aisles simply by ‘downshifting’ from branded goods to cheaper own-brand equivalents (see MSE’s Downshift Challenge).