JANUARY is such a cruel month. So much month, so little money. The average debt for this time of year is £2,503. credit card debt is up by a quarter from last year and debt counsellors are rushed off their feet. Whether you're hiding from the rent man, gawping in disbelief at your credit card bill, or scrabbling down the back of the sofa for two pennies to rub together, the time has come for an economy drive.

In a bid to make out that each is the cheapest place to shop, supermarkets in recent years have brought out their own rock bottom ranges. They have the most basic packaging and seriously unsubtle titles, such as Economy, Value or Savers.

Anyway, you get the picture. These are the cheapest ranges of the lot. And the savings can be dramatic. Our random basket of goods cost £18.68 when we bought all top brands. Using supermarket own brands it saved us a very respectable amount of almost four pounds.

But when we went for the cheapest lines of all, our shopping bill was only a fraction of the first one at only £6.78 - nearly £12 cheaper.

Of course, they weren't up to the standard of the leading brands, nor even to the supermarkets' main own label lines, where quality seems to have slowly crept up in the last decade. So we had to go for a different standard of testing.

We asked if each of these products was acceptable. We knew they weren't going to be the best of the bunch, but we wanted to see if they were adequate, value for money, however cheap, if the family would put up with them for a few weeks to save a bit of cash. It's not £2,503, but it's a start.

TOP BRANDS

Shortcake biscuits 77p

Baked beans 31p

Sliced bread 42p

Coffee £1.75

Cola £1.29

Cornflakes 99p

Face tissues £1.69

Fish fingers £2.35

Orange juice 89p

Pork pie 89p

Rice pudding 59p

Sausages £2.05

Spaghetti in tomato sauce 39p

Tea bags £1.65

Toothpaste £1.39

Washing up liquid 89p

Strawberry yoghurt 37p

GAND TOTAL: £18.68

SUPERMARKET OWN LABEL

Shortcake biscuits 75p

Baked beans 23p

Sliced bread 39p

Coffee £1.49

Cola 95p

Cornflakes 89p

Face tissues £1.29

Fish fingers £1.95

Orange juice 69p

Pork pie 89p

Rice pudding 42p

Sausages £1.69

Spaghetti in tomato sauce 29p

Tea bags £1.19

Toothpaste 82p

Washing up liquid 59p

Strawberry yoghurt 29p

GAND TOTAL: £14.81

SUPERMARKET CHEAPEST RANGE

Shortcake biscuits 59p

Baked beans 9p

Sliced bread 23p

Coffee 75p

Cola 25p

Cornflakes 55p

Face tissues 49p

Fish fingers 85p

Orange juice 39p

Pork pie 39p

Rice puddings 22p

Sausages 61p

Spaghetti in tomato sauces 19p

Tea bags 55p

Toothpaste 34p

Washing up liquid 57p

Strawberry yoghurt 11p

GRAND TOTAL: £6.78

WORTH TRYING

Bread: If you are happy with supermarket own label sliced bread, you'll probably be just as happy with their economy version. We could taste very little difference.

Baked beans/spaghetti: Not as good as the top brands, and a higher portion of tomato sauce rather than beans or pasta but acceptable and at sometimes as low as 7p a tin, a real bargain.

Biscuits: If the family is constantly raiding the biscuit tin, then try these and see if they notice.

Butter: Tesco's Value butter at 45p is perfectly decent.

Pork pies: Slightly smaller and with less filling. Certainly not a gourmet pie, but no one complained either.

Sausages: These tend to be pink and pale and not very meaty. But one of our testers preferred the economy range to those costing four times as much.

Toothpaste: Despite what the adverts say, it's the brushing that does your teeth most good, not the paste. This paste was thin but did the job.

Tissues: The difference here lay largely in the wrapping. Do you want the tissues or the box?

YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR

These are cheap so still represent good value for money, but...

Washing up liquid: It takes a lot more to get things clean.

Fish fingers: The cheapo ones are smaller, thinner and greyer.

Yoghurts: There is a lot less fruit than in the normal ones and yes, you can tell.

FALSE ECONOMY

Both coffees: Supermarket own label and the economy versions, were disgusting. We'd rather drink water.

Likewise tea bags: It wasn't just the strength that was lacking, it was any decent flavour. Still, with all you've saved, you can afford to treat yourself to a decent cuppa