to automatically ignore value brands

[somedayma]

I probably am BU because I could definitely do with saving some cash on my grocery shop. But I've had some v bad tesco value items in the past (soft rice crispies, plasticky tasting chocolate etc).

I was looking at value chicken breasts today, thinking 'they're probably going to taste the same as the other slightly more expensive ones once it's in a stew anyway'. but for some reason bought the more expensive ones anyway.

Value ready salted crisps taste the same as branded ones. Just FYI

I once remember going to a farmers market at a lovely posh school in SW London and was convinced I saw some of the faces from North End Road street market in the early 80's. They sold me cheap veg then; I'm pretty sure they were selling me cheap veg with mud on for a a fiver a kg in the posh playground. "Look lady, it came right up from Kent this mornin it did". They used to say that in the North End Road as well.

I am genuinely perplexed by the 'if I have to choose btn my family and animals, it's my family' posts. They are really not incompatible. Not unless you've reared your kids to think ethical and environmental irresponsibility are crucial to a happy life. You and your family may like cheap meat, more fools you. But you don't need it, and if you act as if you do you are letting a sense of entitlement outrun a sense of ethics. No grounds for holier than thou 'my family comes first' posturing there.

campergirls there is a big difference between cheap cuts and cheap meat. Ethically it is worth paying extra; on blind taste one might not always be able to tell the difference. I was country bred and not all animals who were "free range" were treated particularly well in the old days.

Actually, campergirls - my dc DO need it. I have two out of four dc on restricted diets due to food allergies. My 9yo DS1 is coeliac, and has to eat a gluten-free diet, I am allergic to lentils and kidney beans (and anything else with naturally-occuring tannins in) and my 11mo baby is at the very least dairy-intolerant, and possibly CMP allergic. The best way for them to get protein in their diet without affecting their allergies is MEAT. And that is from the dietician. So sorry, campergirls, but I will continue to feed my dc as best as I can on the budget I have, and while I will have a twinge of guilt every time I think about the life those battery chickens will have had - I HAVE to feed my dc meat in order for them to have a properly balanced diet.

I am not doing this for a 'like' of cheap meat. I would hazard a guess that you have NEVER tried to feed 5 people 3 meals a day, buy cleaning products and nappies for a baby on £100 a week. Try it for a week and then come back to me. When you have allergies to contend with too. No prescriptions for GF bread from my PCT - in fact, I even have to pay for my 11mo's diprobase excema cream. It all comes out of that £100 budget. I make my own bread, sauces, all with GF flour (which is more expensive than even 'posh' standard ranges). I have to even be careful with things like frozen foods - as they are often dusted in wheat flour to stop them from sticking together. Try it, then come back and berate me for buying value meat and eggs.

I find it's worth following Martyn Lewis's advice of going down 'one level' on everything - eg. if you usually buy branded tinned tomatoes, try own brand. If you usually buy own brand, buy value.

If you hate the cheaper version, fair enough - eg. dh only drinks diet Coke, I only like one quite expensive brand of coffee, we'd both rather go without than have an own brand alternative - but definitely worth the experiment. Frozen veg usually seems to be just as good as do lots of tinned basics.

We're veggie & one of the reasons is that I won't buy garbage meat at the expense of animal welfare, & because it's frankly minging. I can cook cheaper, healthier food without, although I've no objection to cooking a joint if we have guests (my in-laws) who eat meat; I make sure I source decently produced meat.

Obviously I'd re-think that if there were dietary restrictions or allergies such as HuntyCat has to contend with!

But I do think a lot of people rely heavily on cheap meat because they've never been taught to cook from scratch with less meat, or no meat - I had to learn at Uni from a flatmate, & in times of hardship I can't think of anything I've ever learnt which is more useful tbh.

I sent dh out today to get the shopping. He took the list I had written and £80 - this is for 2 adults, 2 teen dcs, and one fat labrador.

He went to Aldi, filled 8 old tescos bags for life for £68. That included soap powder (brilliant stuff), free range chicken, nice ham, all manner of toiletries, tinned and fresh food, fruit, dairy and veg. He says the shop was quiet, and it took him about 30-40 mins, tops.

He then went over the road to tescos. It took him 20 mins in a crowded, dirty, and noisy shop to get the half dozen things he needed, pay and leave.

I've done an on line comparison between tescos stuff and aldis. Aldis was £68, for the same stuff, and same value level, tescos came out at just over £50 more.

I've found Aldis stuff to be great value, and really good quality; tescos is crap, and expensive.

huntyccat- your case is obviously exceptional. I simply don't believe that all the "my family comes first-so I don't care about animal welfare" brigade have special circumstances like yours.
I know I'm probably teaching my grandmother to suck eggs- but are you OK with chick peas?

Can't stand cheap meat ( all the 'stuff' added etc)
But Waitrose are having a laugh with their chicken info:

Birds are fed a diet enriched with maize which gives excellent eating quality, and are reared in purpose-built houses with large windows down each side to allow the natural light to stream in. They also have straw bales to play with to keep them fit and active.

Waitrose chicken

HuntyCat I understand that you have an extra expense because of your children's dietary needs, but £100 a week seems a lot to me! I have a family of 4 to feed, including one in nappies, plus cats and (happy) chickens, but I never spend more than £60 a week at the supermarket. DH buys meat for himself and DS from the farm shop (about £20 every couple of weeks he informs me). We eat and live very well. I don't understand it...

I have no problem with most value stuff myself, other than meat (which we now eat a lot less of as I'll only buy free range chicken and pork, having meat once or twice a week, as both chicken and pigs are treated horribly and the meat from value versions tastes awful too) and i find tinned tomatoes a false economy as they have a lot less tomato in them, well the Asda ones do anyway. Lidl is great for lots of stuff. Their nappies are so much cheaper than anywhere else I have seen and good as well.

I don't live anywhere near an Aldi, but there is an amazing Chinese superstore within striking distance and I save a lot buying things in bulk, 5-10 kilo bags of rice, chickpeas and beans, for example. I wish I had a big freezer, though. That would allow me to save LOADS by bulk buying things like fish at the market. Making my own soap and bread has also saved me a fair bit and still lets me have nice stuff.

I appreciate what people are saying about trying to feed a family on £X a week but I would never compromise on buying free-range/ethically reared meat. We could eat meat every day if we bought cheap meat but we don't - 2-3 days of meat, 1 of fish, the rest with vegetarian.

Plus the RDA of protein is smaller than most people think it is and the body has no facility to store excess protein and its excreted from the body. Maybe those who buy value meat - spend the same amount of money but on a smaller sized pack of ethically reared meat and just do smaller portions? Bulking up the rest with veg? (which do contain some protein, just not the full range of amino acids needed by body).

Even on only 2-3 days of meat meals I still wouldn't be able to afford non basic meats. I can't afford non basic anything!

So shoot me as that apparently makes me a V Bad Person [shrugs]

I have already bowed in honour of hunty cat's economy. I know a lot of you spend teeny weeny amounts on food. I don't know how you do it.

Two adults and two teenagers here and three cats. I reckon our weekly shopping bill is closer to £200. Admittedly I don't have to stint but we certainly don't have the best cuts very often.

This week I think dinners have been: cottage pie on Monday, Mince base on Tuesday with yorkies, spuds, veg (admittedly I bought ready made mash on the way home from work on Monday £3 so I could get dinner up in 30 mins), Weds - pizza and salad (3 pizzas), Thurs: pasta and meatballs and salad. The dc like puddings and they are an extravagance and I buy them in - have had brownie pudding, applie pie and profiteroles this week. DS also is starving when he gets in and sometimes has a meal for one. Add in bread and eggs and cereal and bacon, fruit, a few bottles of wine, cat food, cleaning and bathroom stuff and it soon adds up. Last weekend we had a duck on Sunday and chicken breasts on saturday. I never ever seem to walk out of the supermarket spending less than 40 or 50 to keep us going for a few days. Admittedly I do buy easy things and quick things and feel that because I work full time it is justified.

hunty just thought I would let you know that DD has a prescription for diprobase (comes in massive). Apologies if you can't get this in your case, but maybe worth looking into.

Sorry, comes in a massive tub.

We used to shop in Tesco. Switching to Aldi has reduced the food bill, however DHs addiction to the aisle of tat means that there are always a few random items in the trolley.

No one has mentioned Farmfoods. You couldn't buy everything there (not if you don't want to buy frozen chicken of indeterminate origin), but you can buy cheap tinned tomatoes (3 tins for £1) multipacks of branded crisps for £1, Coppenwrath & Wiese (sp?) frozen cakes for a fraction of what Waitrose charge and they also sell Astonish cleaning products which are not tested on animals, cheap frozen veg and Quorn. It's worth a look, you just have to be selective.

Some poeple can shop cheaper than others as they have a better choice of supermarkets in their area. Some will have a choice of aldi, lidle, farmfoods along side tescos, sainsbury and asda. Others may only have a tesco or asda.

It is all very well people telling you how cheap farmfoods or aldi is but if there isn't one then you have to use what you have got and then cut the quality of the food you buy to suit your budget.

I avoid Sainsburys basics cream cheese since discovering it had wheat fibre in it.

Wheat. In cheese.

on reading this i wonder how much chicken you would put in a meal for a family of 5. i manage to get away with 400 gm of mince meat, adding lentils or kidney beans and with chicken i often add chick peas to the dish. but use less and i saw a packet yesterday with 3 breasts in it, weighing more than 500 gms. to me that is an unnecessary amount of chicken, or rather, a larger amount than i usually use. i buy small packets, 377 gm is what i bought yesterday. but reading further up the thread and asking others- i feel a) mean and b) worried that i am not providing enough protein for my growing children

i use value beans, tinned toms
value chocolate spread, kitchen roll, peanut butter, white bread, biscuits, tissues, not loo roll, and might be persuaded to buy the basmatic value rice. and butter but also would not buy value meat, though it was in plentifuly supply when i shopped last night.

"Also the tat they sell in the middle [Lidl]- who the hell buys all that crap?"

ME :o I bought some £5 suede trainers there four years ago, so light and comfortable - I walk a lot - hardly notice them on my feet and they've lasted brilliantly.

You are welcome to mock me for the BRIGHT PINK TOILET SEAT we came home with the other day from the Aisle of tat - impulse buy - in a mad moment DD and I thought it would look 'fun and quirky' - what can I say - we wuz wrong.

Another great Tesco Value buy - Malt Loaf for 19 p. Love it.

377 gm would feed 2 in my family as i would cook a breast per person. We eat veg but no one liks kidney beans, chick peas or pulses.

A chicken diner here would be a breast each, toast pots, yorkies and 2 veg.

Portion sizes