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

A Waitrose Value chicken is still a battery chicken that has lived a short and miserable life and is stuffed with antibiotics. It just has a posh accent and a bit of green on the packaging.

Yes but Im going to eat it and not keep it as a pet so as long as it tastes ok then its fine.

Seriously- do you not care about the welfare of animals at all?

Value apples and a lot of other fruit is just where they have overstocked on a specific breed (if that is the word) and need to shift them fast. I've seen value apples marked in the small print as english russets and bought a bag for 89p, and seen exactly the same apples on the display above for roughly 4 times the price!

I had principles about the animals we ate when me and DH were both working FT and we had no children. Now I'm working PT and forking out for childcare I feel a bit guilty but not so much that I don't buy the value stuff.

Look as I said it doesnt bother me what happens before they reach the shop - yes they are animals and Im not out there harming animals or anything like that personally but by the time a chicken is in a shop packaged up or whatever its there as food.

I have just started to buy from the asda value range and it is brilliant, I buy the nappies, wipes, lots of food etc and it is amazing. The nappies are so cheap and so good. Plus I buy online so if I order smart price stuff and it isn't in stock they just send me the upgraded stuff. Brilliant. And dishwasher tablets, toilet roll etc may not look as nice but they do the job. I save a fortune.

Value Tesco Rice- good.
Waitrose Essentials UHT Florida Orange- good if really cold. My mum likes the Tesco Value UHT Orange but I find it too sharp.

Coffee- only Nescafe God. Others are too bitter.
I usually stock up on BOGOFs when it's something I buy (like Ribena) and washing products.

BTW- the chicken portions.
Might be an urban myth but I was told they are the birds that are damaged or a bit too manky to be sold whole. Presume if they cuts the legs, breast, wings to sell seperately then mince the rest.

I buy a lot of value things- all the more because I heard someone on the radio saying that the supermarkets put their value products in very distinctive packaging so that people will try not to buy the range because they find it embarrassing to put in their trolleys. He said it's designed to say "Look- I'm really really poor and can't afford anything better"

I used to buy a lot of value stuff - the sainsburys range in particular is very good, but I also have a hankering after Tesco value tortilla chips, insanely.

Now I just buy about 90% of my shop in Lidl (I would go to Aldi as I prefer it but cannot be bothered to traipse to the other side of the city).

Shopping in Lidl topped up with trips to the butcher and Indian grocer has reduced my shopping bill by about half.

I've just been off to lidl inspired by this thread - I'd stopped going. Forgot how cheap they were and have bought the nappies to give them a shot. Weekly shop for us with 2 big bags of nappies for £84. That would have cost me about £110 I reckon in Tesco

Revelation from Lidl is the loo roll - £2 for a dozen.

Oh god how dull I sound.

"Look- I'm really really poor and can't afford anything better"

what a load of rubbish. If someone worries about what a random stranger in the supermarket thinks of their choice of purchase, they have bigger issues to worry about than value products LOL

Seriously- do you not care about the welfare of animals at all?

Not if its a choice between paying more or less

Oh, and I bought some el cheapo face cream from Lidl.

It is in a dark blue pot and costs £3, it is the same as the Nivea Q10 stuff.

The only problem with Lidl is running the gauntlet of German chocolate which is the first thing you see when going through the door. Also the tat they sell in the middle - who the hell buys all that crap?

A handy tip though GetOrf - I'm going to try LIDL again after recommending it upthread to OP, and I'll look out for that loo roll

I use value chicken breasts all the time, especially Morrisons, nothing wrong with it in the slightest. Stories about the conditions of the animals dont bother me, if they did I would become vegetarian.

agree

Everyone's responsible for their own conscience and buying battery-farmed meat isn't illegal.

However, when you consider that you can go to a butcher's and often buy a better-quality piece of meat that has been reared in more human conditions for cheaper than you can buy a value supermarket range, it makes you realise just how money-grabbing supermarkets are.

It is actually possible to have just-as-affordable foods from animals that are kept in much better conditions. The more manufacturers that did this, the cheaper it would become (not least because more meat would be sourced locally and save on transportation costs).

Wow- some pretty unpleasant attitudes on this thread. Who knew?

Does it really matter? We are buying the animal for food not necessarily because it had a feather bed and creature comforts in a former life.

Yes you are.

Not regarding meat as i dread to think of the animal welfare standards of some of that.

But otherwise just go by experience. Some value stuff is poor but by no means all. Give it a go, if it's appalling don't go there again.

I guess you'd turn your nose up at Aldi then? Give it a go. It's great!

BTW the company I work for produce food for all the big retailers. The 'value' lines are often the left over bits of production runs - so not neccessarily any lower quality than the good brands - just unwanted at the time.

Wish we had Aldi or Lidl here.

Maybe, just maybe, saying "I don't care about welfare" could actually be a first step for some in getting to a point where they do care and make different choices ? Maybe some people haven't given it much thought before now.
( eternal optimist who still has a shred of faith in the human race ! )

When i was a student i had a job in a chicken pacKaging factory.During the course of a day the labelling changed many times but not the product.

I dont actually mind the value mince! Ive had Tesco posh mince and its been full of gristle and then chose Asda smartprice mince when I next went shopping to Asda and it was better

I make sure that all the fat is drained off and I do cook it for ages and its surprisingly nice.