While data released by finder.com at the beginning of the years shows that only 1.3% of UK residents are vegan, this number was expected to rise to approximately 5.5% by the end of 2019.

And with this diet becoming more and more popular globally, the plant-based gum company, Chewsygum.com, looked at a list of vegan and non-vegan products, found in five of the most well known supermarkets: Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Morrisons and Waitrose, to see where the best place is to shop for each diet.

The experts took the most commonly bought items that have vegan and non-vegan equivalents, looking the following: sausages, burgers patties, milk, spread, yogurt, pizza, cupcakes, ice-cream, cheese and chocolate. The products were mostly the Supermarket’s own-brand, however, if not available, the cheapest alternative product from a different brand was used.

Chewsygum.com decided to look at the price and number of calories per 100g of product to compare and see which is more expensive or calorific, a vegan diet or a non-vegan one. Then the supermarkets were compared with each other to see which ones are the best to shop in if you are vegan or which ones to go to if you have a non-specific diet.

The big price differences
Chewsygum.com found that if you follow a vegan diet, the best shop for you would be Tesco, with the total from the products combined being just £12.30. However, if you fancy a shop at Waitrose, this would cost you almost double, with the total for all products adding up to a whopping £23.92.

If you are an omnivore and have no issues with eating animal produce, then the cheapest option for you is offered by Sainsbury’s (£8.85 for all 10 products), and perhaps to no surprise, the most expensive supermarket, Waitrose, will cost you almost £2 more for getting the same products.

Supermarkets make killing from vegan products
While vegan products are generally known to be more expensive, some supermarkets are taking advantage of that, perhaps a bit too much.

The biggest price difference between non-vegan and vegan products can be seen at Waitrose, where it would cost you more than double to shop as a vegan.

Similarly, it would be very harmful for your wallet as a vegan to shop at Sainsbury’s, where it would cost you £11.45 more to get the same products as someone who eats animal-derived produce.

Asda is the shop with the most insignificant price difference between vegan and non-vegan products (£2.17), followed by Tesco (£3.08).

The calorie count
Shockingly, if you were to buy all the listed vegan products from Sainsbury’s, they would add up to a whopping 4,226kcal.

Interestingly, when it comes to a meat-eating diet, Sainsbury’s is the supermarket with the least number of calories (2,582kcal), so if you have no issues with having animal products, then shopping at Sainsbury’s can be better for your waistline.

If you were to compare Waitrose, the most calorific non-vegan supermarket (3,066kcal), with Sainsbury’s, the most calorific vegan supermarket (4226kcal), the vegan diet will result in an intake of over 1,000 extra calories.

With that said, there are also some supermarkets where being vegan will help you lose some pounds. For instance, in Tesco and Morrisons, the total calories for vegan produce will be about 200 less than the non- vegan total for the same products.

(source: https://chewsygum.com/)