I know we're all meant to hate Tesco but....

[JellyBelly10]

... I cannot believe how cheap, and how good, some of their Value range is. It is making a massive diference to my weekly shopping bill, some items are literally a quarter of the price of the things I used to buy. So here's a list of some of the Tesco Basic Value range that I would recommend (just in case anyone else cares about my opinion on this ) :
Cornflakes - 31p for a 500g box (yes that's 31p!!!)
Branflakes - 88p for a 750g box
Yogurts - 33p for 4 (a bit watery, but at 33p I'll put up with that!!)
Flour
-Peanut butter (really good! Cannot tell the difference)
-Apple Juice
-Orange Juice
-Chopped tomatoes (ok a bit full of skin sometimes but they are a third of price, so just pick out the skin!)
-Butter (not that much cheaper than branded alternatives, but you save 20p a pack or so)
-Tomato Ketchup
-Jaffa Cakes
-Eggs...
....ok I got bored putting all the prices in, but they are all dramatically cheaper than the normal Tesco range of similar products! Does anyone have any other suggestions about what I should be trying from the Basic Value range? I'm already buying some of the Tesco Market Value fresh produce such as apples and grapes and peppers and courgettes etc but haven't tried any other of the Basic Value items. What's good and what's awful? I need to reduce costs further, so other recommendations gratefully received.

[Chubfuddler]

Kidney beans. I think they're about 14p. Ditto sweet corn.

[ifeelloved]

But the food is so shit!

[SilveryMoon]

Tesco is my nearest supermarket, I'm in there almost daily.
Sometimes, just for a change we go to Asda for our weekly shop and always seem to get a lot more stuff for less money.
I normally spend just over £100 in Tesco on a Saturday, but can do the same in Asda for a lot less..........

[JellyBelly10]

It's not ifeelloved! Honestly, I've been really surprised. Yes I'm sure that in many cases the more expensive alternatives are better if you did a side by side test...but if you just start buying them I guarantee you that in most cases you/your family won't even notice. This is particularly true of things that become ingredients in something else eg eggs, flour etc. How different can they be when cooked into a cake!? I would never buy any Value ready-made meals, as I'm sure they'd be rubbish. But I don't buy ready-made meals anyway, always cook from scratch, so we are genuinely not noticing the difference. The only 'people' in my household who refuse to embrace the cheaper alternatives are my bloody cats, so we are all eating things that cost a quarter of the price, but they are still dining like rpyalty beacsue they refuse anything cheap!

[boringnickname]

Silvery moon, maybe you should go on a different day

[EdlessAllenPoe]

i quite like their value range and special offers,

though increasingly i find Asda/ Sainsbos better at all round penny pinchery.

[Codandchops]

at the cats still dining like royalty. Cats truly are bloody spilt aren't they?

[MarySA]

I totally love their cleaning sponges at 14p a packet. I panic if I have less than two full ones. That's my favourite item. Sad or what!! It's our nearest supermarket so I go there but prefer Sainsbury's. some of the value stuff is very good and some not very good at all.

[Codandchops]

SPOILT not spilt - bloody iPhone!

[JellyBelly10]

I really wish we had an Asda near us, but we don't. I've just looked on their store locator and the nearest one is 9.6 miles away. So with a 20 mile round trip, would the savings be enough to counter the cost in petrol? Or should I stick with Tesco?

[chezchaos]

But ultimately they're shafting suppliers - and, further down the chain, workers - to get those prices, no?

[Chubfuddler]

Would asda deliver to you?

[CherryCheesecake]

We always shop at tesco. My other half works for them. I love it our asda and morrisons make you feel like youve stepped back into the 90's when you walk in.

[PelicansYawn]

Their value spaghetti is about 29p and I love it, and I'm a huge pasta fan.

[EdlessAllenPoe]

chez the suppliers i know don't make money on tescos, but it does keep their business afloat, so i guess they won't complain too much!
it covers their basic costs so anyone else they supply puts them in profit...

at least with Tescos, you are going to get paid. usually within 30 days.

[AmberLeaf]

Tesco are still on my naughty list and I havent shopped there for a few months but their food is not 'shit' ok its not going to be tip top quality because that would be expensive, but its no more shit than any other budget stuff simply because its tesco!

Cheap basic ingredients are fine, its how you put them together/cook them that makes them shit or not shit.

I use cheap stuff and I cook lovely food!

[JellyBelly10]

I never thought about delivery chubfuddler, but to be honest when I go shopping I love to hover around the reduced items section getting bread for 20p and meat for half price etc, I save a fortune by doing that and obviously I couldn't do that if I was getting it delivered. But I might look into that as I suppose I could get the bulk of stuff delivered and then stil go to Tesco at the right time of evening to get the reduced bargains.
chezchaos, I know this sounds harsh, but I don't really care how Tesco manage to get the prices so cheap, my husband's just about to be made redundant, my own contract ends at the end of the academic year and I've no guarantee of work after that, we are barely managing on what we have at the moment so if I can reduce my shopping bill by half and make ends meet then I'm afraid I don't think of how the food got there so cheaply.

[HecateTrivia]

There's 3 layers of tesco value stuff

the stuff that you can use just fine - eg tinned tomatoes, biscuits

the stuff that's better to mix than use on its own. eg value washing powder/liquid (clothes) , cornflakes

and the stuff you shouldn't touch with a bargepole - eg the bread

the beans are ok, but so watery. They need a bit of tomato puree to save them. It's best to go one step up and buy the own range ones

The tuna is fine, the cheese is fine, loo roll is fine

Most of it is fine, probably best to list the things to avoid really
bread
beans
bin liners (they're so thin they just rip straight open)
yoghurt - I know you said it was ok, but let's face it, it's gritty and bland
sausages and beefburgers - bleugh.

I get meat and potatoes direct from farms for the most part, although sometimes buy supermarket meat. It is not nice. The pork cooks away to nothing, the chicken is tough. But as part of the right recipe, they're edible.

[CaveMum]

The Value (refuses to call it Everyday Value) garlic bread is better than the more expensive stuff in Tesco.
We don't have much choice about where we shop: we only have a Tesco or a Waitrose in our town, though Asda are putting in planning permission for a store.

[HecateTrivia]

oh, and re shafting suppliers?

For the most part, it's the same suppliers as supply the brand stuff.

best stuff goes into the brand name
slightly less good stuff goes into the lesser name
next down to the supermarket own brand
at the bottom of the pile, we've got the value range.

But the actual difference in quality is minuscule.

there's stories galore on here of people working for the companies and they say it's the same stuff. I've no reason to think they're lying.

[CherryCheesecake]

Whats the actual issue with tesco? My oh is on a managers course where he will get qualifications he could use in other jobs. He gets free shares, good pay (enough to support me & dd) and discount on shopping. Hes 23. I think theyre a good company to work for. If the issue was about people on job seekers working there for pretty much nothing, i would have done that purely for experience and where i am theres a high chance of getting a job after.

If im getting it completely wrong please tell me.

[EdlessAllenPoe]

well yes, we did a run of tomatoes (in the factory i worked at some 16 years ago) for sainsburys, tescos, M& S....when we stopped the machine all that changed were the boxes and labels. slightly higher discard standard for M&S but that was it. same stuff. same factory.

[eggyblackett]

What about trying Aldi or Lidl - some very cheap prices but IMO a much higher quality of product than Tesco Value?

[JellyBelly10]

Thanks for the heads up on the stuff that's not good hecate.
CherryCheesecake I've never really understood why everyone hates Tesco so much either! I just know that everyone seems to, so my thread title was a bit of damage limitation! I think people think that they are taking over the world, small corner shops are replaced by Tesco Express shops, every new supermarket seems to be a Tesco and on top of that they apparently 'shaft suppliers'....but personally I think Tesco is a good shop and have been doing all my shopping there for years. Poeple also say that staff are rude and untrained and the shops are scruffy etc. I couldn't care less, I don't go shopping to ahve rained staff give me advice on what I should be buying, and don't care if I have to pick my way through empty boxes to get to the shelf as long as the times are cheap!

[WombOnTheBroom]

Value nacho chips. Much nicer than branded ones as they don't have masses of flavouring dusted all over them - they're just a bit salted.