Tesco 'Clubcard Prices' are back again – but are they any good?

From Tuesday 15 September, Clubcard holders can get discounts on frozen items ranging from Carte D'Or ice cream to McCain chips online and in all Tesco stores except Express shops. The promotion will be ongoing and there's no end date set yet, with the discounts it offers changing every few weeks.

Tesco first ran its Clubcard Prices promo last May, and at the time it was thought to be the first time a major UK supermarket had offered reduced prices to all its loyalty scheme members. The promo has run several times since then.

Alongside this announcement, Tesco is also extending its Aldi price match campaign – which will now match the price of more than 500 own-brand and branded items found in Aldi stores. A full list of items included in this scheme can be found on the Tesco website.

Find out how to make the most of your Clubcard with our Reclaim & Boost Tesco Vouchers guide, and see our 33 Supermarket Shopping Tips.

How to get Clubcard Prices

When you shop in store, products with a Clubcard price will be marked with a promotional label. If you're shopping online, products with a Clubcard price will be highlighted in a blue box, which gives the 'regular' and Clubcard price.

If you already have a Tesco Clubcard, to get the cheaper price you simply need to buy items as normal and make sure you scan your Clubcard or Clubcard app at the till – the discount will be automatically applied. If you're shopping online, the discount will be added at the checkout stage and will be shown on your receipt.

If you don't have a Clubcard currently, but do shop at Tesco and are likely to buy discounted items, it's worth signing up as it's free – you can do this via the Tesco website or by downloading the Clubcard app.

Are the deals really any good?

To start with, there are around 200 products in the offer and they're all frozen products. Tesco says that more products across other categories will be added over the coming weeks. The discounts on the items vary, but they go up to 50% and have previously been at least 10%.

Below, we've got a sample of the deals you can get:

As you can see, from the products we've checked, it seems the promotion is generally good value, with the items in it not available for less elsewhere. We checked the prices of items using the Comparasaurus app.

When we tested a sample of the offers last time Tesco ran this deal, 19 of the 30 items were cheapest as part of the Clubcard Prices scheme, four could be found for the same price elsewhere and seven could still be found cheaper at rival supermarkets.

It's always worth checking if you can beat the offers elsewhere as prices change all the time, but if you are buying these items at Tesco anyway, Clubcard Prices will reduce what you pay and often make goods cheaper than at rivals. So see it as a bonus if you're shopping at Tesco (and a reason to make sure you take your Clubcard or get one if you don't have one).

However, don't see this as a reason to switch all your grocery shopping to Tesco – even if you're filling the freezer, the savings are unlikely to justify that, and if you're comparing on price you should always look at the overall cost of what's in your trolley. Loyalty schemes are rarely a reason to switch where you shop – but if you are shopping somewhere which has one, you may as well take advantage.