Tesco has kicked off a £340m investment to cut several product lines in a new year blitz.

The grocer has launched ‘better than half price deals’ on brands including Kellogg’s, Persil, Walkers, Heinz and Cadbury, plus fresh produce, meats and Tesco own label products. Tesco claims the deals will save the average shopper £27.84 on a basket of everyday products.

Tesco marketing director Carolyn Bradley said: “January is the most financially challenging month for many families as people recover from the festive season. Our customer insight shows that many people want to save money in January but not give up the brands they want to buy.

“The cost of shopping is more important than ever, but customers should not have to compromise on the quality or taste of the food they eat. Tesco is helping customers with thousands of big price cuts on everyday favourites.”

As many shoppers seek to eat more healthily in January, the deals also run across several fresh fruit and vegetables.

Tesco is also unveiling a ‘free upgrade’ of improvements on around 800 products, with the items’ quality improved but the price remains the same. Examples include all Tesco dried egg pasta now made from free range eggs, chilled quiches made with more egg and milk, and oregano and basil added to its tomato sauces.

The new year blitz comes on top of the £195m savings last week in its Boxing Day Sale.

Separately, Tesco has launched a service allowing customers to swap unwanted gold jewellery for cash. It said it developed the service in the wake of the strong price of gold. On its website, Tesco said it will pay £7.81 per gram of nine carat gold.