Post divorce and having to budget for first time. Best value supermarket?!

[Scaredycat87]

It’s always been marks and Waitrose.

Can’t stretch to it now!

In your view, cheapest but also good quality supermarket?

Thanks

Mentioned this previously, and think it's not an urban myth, but Waitrose and Aldi use the same supplier for their packaged roast veg - the ones that are all ready to go in a tin tray. It was reported as a Waitrose shopper was unloading shopping at home and said on the label, 'packaged for Aldi...'

Always felt that you can't do a complete shop in Aldi, but think it's becoming less true. They have organic milk which was a surprise for me.

Not keen on some of their cleaning supplies, but mostly subscribe for these things anyway.

[quote SimonJT]@Scaredycat87 Two adults and one child, one adults is a semi-professional sportsman, so a fairly large appetite.

I think you get four avocados in a pack, I get the ripen at home as they’re cheaper, I tend to buy them a week in advance as they do take a while to ripen.

Why buy £3.50 blueberries if you don’t want them to be eaten?[/quote]
I want them eaten!

I used to buy about a dozen punnets a week. And so children have became used to standing in fridge door whilst mindlessly polishing off a punnet before then deciding that they actually want to take out!

Are you all vegetarians? As no meat or fish.
Big fish eaters here.
I think a family meeting is on the horizon

Thank you all for incredibly helpful thoughts

80p blueberries???!!

Where? Please tell me

The organic ones from marks I’ve been buying without a second thought until now… £3.00 a punnet!

@walkoflifewoohoo

"Not at Ocado. The cheapest ones are £2 and that is for a tiny 150g box."

Not £3.50 then? Anyway. The op can't afford Ocado anymore, she a Morrison's gal now

Ain’t that the truth!

Tesco is by far the best of the ones on your list, in my opinion and Morrison's by far the worst. Interesting to see the differences in opinion though!

@walkoflifewoohoo

You say 80p blueberries
Seriously, where please?!

Asda and Tesco. I've just looked in the fridge and it's a 125g pack. The ones you buy are a 150g pack but that's about 6 blueberries more.

Your kids should not be shovelling food in like it's going out of fashion if you're now having to budget. If you're not exaggerating at the amount you used to buy then at that price you've spent £2k a year on blueberries alone.

Start at the budget end of the range, try them once and then go up the range until you find what you like.

If you've really spent 2k a year on blueberries then you're going to make some decent savings if you do it right

Morrisons is your best bet if you don't eat meat. I'm not keen on the meat there.

I'd like to note that while my sister always found Sainsbury's fruit and veg kept much better than Tesco's, I - three hundred miles away - found Tesco's kept much better than Sainsbury's. You may have to do your own research on that.

I think a bit chat about food, more veg than fruit, and being accountable to a budget family wise.
Frozen berries are good, I buy a mixed berry bag 1 kg tesco, £2.39, expensive fruit not bought here, only cat and I,
And new budget, situations changed

Here are the cheapest fresh blueberries at each. Tesco, Sainsburys and Asda are all very similar.

Tesco £7.12 per kg
Sainsburys £7.10 per kg (imperfectly tasty ones, says they are aldi price match)
Asda £7.12 per kg
Morrisons £9.23 per kg
Ocado £10.56 per kg
Waitrose £13.40 per kg
Interestingly lidl blueberries are £1.39 for 150g which works out at £9.27 per kg

You can see I am bored...

Morrisons for you definitely- their fruit and veg 8s really good, and with their “wonky” range you can get things like avocados and blueberries affordably. Their fish and meat is excellent.

We have all the big supermarkets in or near our town and I now generally shop at Tesco. Fruit and Veg good quality. Apply for Tesco club card…it really does save a lot of money. Tesco bakery has the best bread and meat is always good quality.

I find Sainsbury's to be more expensive than Waitrose but I prefer it for quality.
Probably the best way forward would be to mix and match a bit. Get fruit from Morrisons (better quality than from Tesco I think), fish from Waitrose. Dry goods and oil from Aldi once a month for ex.
I've never shopped in Asda do can't comment.
As for blueberries, not all are the same you'll have to road test different shops and different ranges from the same shop.
You could easily sell the ideas to your children by adopting a more environment friendly approach to food: has it travelled far, what about packaging waste etc. You'll give up on avocados and blueberries pretty quick with this model.
Eating Too much fruit is not actually healthy For teeth, sugar levels and so on. More vegetables and salad items might be healthier but, let's face it, not as enjoyable.
Pulses are filling and healthy. Eggs and dairy (without added sugar or sweeteners) are also good for children unless intolerant.
Fish and meat: accept you simply have to pay more for top quality, there's no other way around it.
Whatever you do, never buy prepacked rubbish like cereal bars or crisps, biscuits: they are cheap but there isn't a lot of product got the money and they're not good anyway.
Fruit juice or smoothies is another unhealthy option so if these are favoured only buy in small quantities or make your own smoothies with leftover of frozen fruit.
It will have to a gradual adjustment but don't give up on quality where you can.

If you use Tesco, you need to make sure you sign up - collect points which you can use at X3 the value on meals and days out and you also get their special offers. We use delivery saver at £8 a month for anytime deliveries

This is going to sound like classic MN wankery but… just stop buying blueberries etc. Especially if they’re eaten mindlessly. Buy frozen mixed berries as a treat (£2/kg) and the kids can have a smoothie with them once a week. Stick to apples, bananas, pears. If you’re actually going through industrial quantities of those I’d see if you have a local market or if you’re in a big city whether a wholesaler will deliver to you. I add (at my expense) my fruit and veg order to my work order at New Covent Garden Market and it comes to my door.

And for the full MN experience get a raspberry/blueberry/gooseberry plant for the garden or balcony if you have one, so your kids can see “when it’s gone it’s gone” irl.

And for the full MN experience get a raspberry/blueberry/gooseberry plant for the garden or balcony if you have one, so your kids can see “when it’s gone it’s gone” irl.

• £3 at Asda, by the way!

Waitrose for meat 3 for £10 and fruit and veg then Tesco for everything else. Waitrose only expensive if you buy branded stuff and luxury nonessential items

I prefer Tesco some of their items are Aldi price matched.

You can always go on the shopping app and plan what you are buying in store to work out prices.

(I often have a delivery because I live in a flat with stairs only and have bad wrists and shoulders. But even though there is delivery fee I can plan the budget well this way. When you are in store it is tempting to pick up extra bits. I also like being able to read all the ingredients as I am intolerant to a lot of things).

I don't know about Morrisons but the three I do know it does least to most expensive Asda, Tesco, Sainsburys and that is also the order for least to best quality. Tesco is a good compromise imo.

Have you checked out the moneysaving expert website? There are forums on there that can give you advice on stretching your budget, for example by buying whole milk and watering it down instead of buying skimmed/semi skimmed, switching from cereal to oats and using oats/lentils/beans to pad out other meals especially mince.
They also recommend a 'downshift challenge' ie if you buy branded try shifting to own brand/from own brand to basics etc and see if you notice a difference.
Certain f&v are obviously cheaper than others-
cheap = carrots, potatoes, other root veg, onions, bananas, apples, cabbage, other stuff in season, frozen veg
expensive = berries, tropical fruit, pre-prepared veg, exotic vegetables
Frozen fish is also often cheaper than fresh. DP is a fan of frozen basa fillets. Frozen salmon and tuna are cheaper than fresh but more expensive than white fish.

One other thought, if energy bills will also need paying from a much reduced budget, fridge door doesn't stay open for one to ponder what to snack on. It doesn't make a huge difference in the great scheme of things but it goes with being careful about wasting energy. Which, as per imported food, it's not good for the environment.

I do the bulk in Lidl then the twiddly bits in wait rose or Sainsburys. Meal planning is key

I swear to god I sound like an Iceland brand ambassador on these threads, but they are brilliant for frozen fruit & veg, pretty low prices, free delivery over £35, and they do same day delivery. Plus they sell massive bags of frozen pomegranate seeds for £2, which is kind of unexpected. Their smoothie mix is great too if your DC are fruit raiders like mine are.

Lidl is so much cheaper than Ocado. I love it.