What grocery items do you never buy?

[AmberTurnerCo]

I would
Alcohol
Crisps apart from Pringles

Loads of people listing stuff we buy plenty of!

Hard to think what we never buy to be honest.

Vegetables I don't know how to cook and don't have a recipe using.

Standard sized wine bottles. Too much, it'd get wasted.

"Mass market" beer or cider multipacks in cans. We buy individual bottles of quality stuff and drink rarely.

Gum.

Long-grain rice. It's always basmati for us.

@therhubarbbrothers the nearest one to us is half an hour away, they sell everything a normal supermarket sells but they have some real gems in amongst the average stuff, like the seafood I mentioned earlier, so we tend to go and stock up on that.

Is that true about hard water areas and fabric conditioner? I stopped using it but dh has been home and keeps buying it

Me, I can’t stand the smell of them at all PyongyangKipperbang

After being made to eat them as a child I just can’t do it. I buy purée or sauce in jars though for pasta.

I gave up fabric conditioner for a couple of years because my mum is adamant you don't need it. The sheer joy when I went back to it - soft not scratchy towels. Jeans you can move in. Bliss.

I genuinely don't think there's any grocery item I've never bought. Even if I've not bought it for me, I've bought it for others. I have never bought a pot noodle or tin of spaghetti hoops

Apart from that I never buy:

Ready meals, jars of sauces, oven chips, most things processed.

Tinned Faggots & pies
Frozen Yorkshire puddings

@tillytoodles1

Anything in cans.

Really? We get through loads of tinned tomatoes, chick peas, kidney beans and coconut milk.

Honestly, I think the only things I have never bought are dog food and broad beans.

A few days ago I would have snobbishly agreed with:
‘Anything from Iceland‘

I went in for some ice lollies - Couldn’t face Tesco - first time ever.
Came out with Kellogg’s cereal, Robinson’s squash, fruit, veg, Lurpack, walkers crisps, cheese, eggs, beans, rice, loo roll and salad. Oh, and ice creams & ice lollies.
It’s a small store on a retail park but it was brilliant.

I would never buy
Frozen meat, garlic bulbs, spinach

Lazy garlic
Tinned meat
We've bought fabric softener once, never bothered replacing it
Individual yoghurts
Packet mixes or sauces (apart from fajitas - I cant replicate Old El Paso!)
Water or flavoured water

Novelty tinned spaghetti shapes. Had to get Minions a while ago because it was all they had and they were so overly sweet!
Pre-grated cheese.
Instant mash.

A lot of "worthy" and morally superior replies on here

I have never bought shellfish other than prawns because I dislike most shellfish.

Ooh yes instant mash and pre grated cheese are 2 others for me

Don't understand the snobbery regarding frozen veg/fish etc either. Frozen fish is far fresher than the stuff from the fishmonger - unless you live in Padstow and buy your fish straight off the boats. Same with frozen veg - frozen peas taste much better than fresh (where you're paying for 8/9 pod and 1/9 peas, and have likely been frozen within an hour or two of picking. Also frozen green beans (french beans) much fresher and cheaper than fresh - you can buy a 750g or 1kg bag of frozen for much less than a 250g bag of fresh, which have actually propbably been hanging around for a week or 2 before you buy them.

We buy meat from local butchers/farms in bulk and freeze, cook in bulk and freeze - saves time and money, and we end up buying better quality raw ingredients.

BearSoFar I love the character pasta. I call them 'shapes' became the characters change all the time. Shapes on Toast is a lovely
tea for me.

If you check the price per 100g the pre grated cheese is often cheaper than the block stuff.

I don't get it, i mean out if the whole supermarket i only buy a stock average of 60/70 items, so i don't buy most things

The point is, like @Ginfordinner says, is to let everyone know how worthy and morally superior you are because you never buy anything processed, frozen, canned etc and wouldn't know an Iceland if it was built at the end of your road.

The only things we never buy are those at full price when they're the type of product that's always on offer somewhere, eg canned tomatoes, cleaning products, toiletries, tea and coffee, petfood etc. Everything is either on offer or from Aldi or Lidl where they don't really do offers, but most things are cheap anyway.

On the subject of fabric conditioner, we do use a bit in each wash that doesn't contain towels, because it makes things softer and less creased, it doesn't smell because DPs sensitive skin needs the 'gentle baby' variety and a bottle lasts ages, I'd be surprised if we spent a fiver a year on it, so never going to be a noticeable saving if we did without, which we don't want to.

Also agree with pp's about not buying fabric softener - it is a totally unnecessary product which people feel they have to buy due to good marketing - it clogs your washing machine, used to contain rendered animal tallow (not sure if this is the case, but if it isn't it's still 'manufactured', i.e. full of chemicals) and the ones that make your clothes smell 'fresh' for a week, well.... bit grim! Also, why bother with scented soap/perfume etc if all that people can smell is the fabric conditioner from your clothes?

If you live in a hard water area, you can use a bit of vinegar in the final rinse to soften your wash (no, it doesn't make your clothes smell of the chippy), and using fabric conditioner on towels takes away all their absorbancy, so they don't work very well.

I never buy fish or lamb. Dislike both. Rarely bread as no one eats that and eggs.

I buy lots of milk, cheese and frozen veg. crisps and chocolate

I had fabric conditioner passed on to me by a family member once. Can't remember the story but they didn't use it regularly either and we hate to throw stuff away.

It had been day in the cupboard for a while before I caved and threw it away.

@Ginfordinner completely agree with the superiority signalling

To be fair I cant even step into the cereal aisle, they are soooooo full of sugar I actually get a headache just walking past. I wear a mask full of whole grains to help.

Iceland do free delivery and are good for the 'value added' or speciality mix frozen items eg packs of berries, packs of seafood for paella (seriously, does anyone really go to a fishmonger and buy all of that in separate portions each time they make one), fish fillets with coatings/tempura batter etc, also big blocks of cheese and branded butter, some cold meat too. Weirdly though their basic frozen fish fillets and chicken portions (both of these are excellent for curries/stews etc) are more expensive than other supermarkets.

Agree with pps that frozen veg is often fresher than fresh veg, although some things do not freeze too well due to high water content eg cauliflower. And frozen berries are a brilliant way of eating berries in winter. Obviously you can't just sit and chow them down like you would fresh grapes but for making smoothies or overnight oats and things they're great.

Alcohol,
Branded products
Sugar coated cereal
Bottled water