I visited Leigh's massive new Farmfoods and was surprised at the products that were much cheaper than Aldi and Lidl

It's larger than your typical Farmfoods and the fact it's brand new means it's a lot more modern than other Farmfoods I've visited. The vast array of products on offer is impressive and there were lots of offers to save money with, such as three for £10 on frozen products like packs of Holland's pies and buy three 2-litre bottles of milk for £3.50.

And there were bigger bulk buys available too, such as huge 10kg bags of Badshah Basmati Rice for £11.99 a bag, two for £22 or three for £30; large packs of fizzy drinks like 24 Dr Pepper for £11.25; bags of 300 Tetley tea bags for £4.99; 5kg bags of red onions for £1.99 and packs of 24 tins of Heinz beans for £19.99. The other Heinz offer of three for £4.50 on tins such as spaghetti and sausages was also as good as you'll find it these days and there were some great offers on other tins such as three tins of chopped tomatoes, beans or chickpeas for £1.

With Aldi and Lidl largely considered the cheapest retailers for food right now - and most frequently the cheapest in our weekly price comparison of essentials like bread and milk - I was surprised to find a number of products cheaper than they charge. A 400g punnet of strawberries cost me just 99p for instance, while at Aldi the same size pack is £2.15. A pack of four Pink Lady apples was £1.39, while it's £2.85 for six at Aldi and an 800g Kingsmill 50/50 loaf was 99p compared with £1.05.

Heinz Ketchup was also cheaper, costing 99p for a 295g standard glass bottle, or the same price for a 400ml plastic bottle of the lower salt and sugar version. And while most supermarkets have dropped the price of their butter recently, down to £1.85 for a 250g block, I was surprised to find the same size pack, from Graham's The Family Dairy, for just 99p. Farmfoods' own brand also works out cheaper at 99p for 227g. Other bargains I picked up included a giant 32 pack of Birds Eye Omega Fish Fingers for £3.99, when the same box costs £8.50 in Morrisons, a 150g pack of bacon for 69p, 15 eggs for £1.99, a 1kg bag of Conchiglie pasta shells for 99p, a box of 10 Tunnock's tea cakes for £1.99 and a pack of six Proper Corn sea salted popcorn for 49p, a third of what you'll pay elsewhere.

It's not just food where shoppers can save money though. There are household products, toiletries, pet products and more, including some giant packs of dog food - £9.99 for 12kg bags of Wagg, or two for £18, and £9.99 for 12 tins of Butcher's. The toothpaste I bought was the cheapest I've found it for a long time - 89p for a 75ml tube of Colgate Triple Action, or two for £1.50. Elsewhere, these are £1.19 each. Imperial Leather Body Wash was the same price too, 89p for a 250ml bottle, or £1.50 for two.

Farmfoods now has more than 340 shops throughout Scotland, England and Wales, with another recent opening at Birchwood Shopping Centre in Warrington. The company says the new Leigh store 'offers our full range of branded and own-brand products including frozen food, groceries, chilled foods, bread, milk, fresh fruit and vegetables along with a range of household and other items' and benefits from a large free customer car park.

It's open seven days a week, Monday to Friday 8am to 9pm; Saturday 8am to 8pm; and Sunday 11am to 5pm. More new openings are planned between now and the end of the year and into 2027.