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 should point out that only dh and I ate. DS turned his nose up at my wholesome offerings in favour of something in luminous bread crumbs that can probably be genetically identified as chicken, but only in the same way blood spots at a crime scene can be identified as human.

After product testing the Aldi nappies, I feel the need to place a public vote of confidence in 'value brand' nappies.

But wouldn't have touched the chicken

LIDL nappies are FAB!!! About £5.17 a pack.
But there have been lots of specials on Huggies lately - 2 for £10 etc. I've not paid more than £5.17 for a large bag of nappies for DD2 (8 months now)

Chicken should go back to being a treat??

CHICKEN?? WTF?

Would beef, pork and fish be OK for the rest of the week then?

The vegetables in the soup unfortunately cost extra.

GetOrf I once bought Dp some 'Birkenstock' stlye flip flops from Lidl for £2.50, He wouldn't wear the/didn't like them so I stuck them on ebay, unbranded etc etc, they sold for....£12.56 hahaha! :o

I use own brand washing powder tablets and dishwasher tablets and find them just as good as the branded products. I just cannot physically bring myself to pay £4 odd for stuff that cleans dishes when the other costs £1 odd.

But with food I will pay more if it is worth it e.g. free range chicken. Cheap things that don't work are poor value though.

Also I bought Wombat furry boots for £25 instead of Ugg for £60+. They are very well made. I especially don't do branded clothing, unless it is such good quality it will be worn and worn and last forever.

coffee that is brilliant

I take a cursory look at the crap in the middle aisles - yellow vests, awful rugs, artists easels.

I daren't take DP in there as he would love it and fill the trolley up with random tat.

I'm glad someone posted (either here or on another thread today somewhere) about the etiquette in Aldi where you have to throw your shopping straight into the trolley at the checkout and sort later.

Just been and you'd have no chance of packing your stuff into bags as per Tesco. I've never seen stuff flung past the till so fast!

I regularly buy the following Tesco value products:
Fromage frais - 42p for six my children eat loads
Kitchen Roll - 2 huge fat rolls
Toilet Roll - again huge rolls and perfectly fine
Chopped tomatoes - for bolognese, chilli, pasta sauce
Teabags - I don't drink tea but hubby says fine
Tinfoil - who cares what brand?
Tuna - not a lot in tin but fine mixed with sweetcorn and mayo for sarnies
Noodles (10p!) - Curry flavour - we love these (I know, I know)
Washing up sponges - 12p a pack of six so I just bin them every 2 weeks and know I always have a clean 'cloth'.
Biscuits - Jaffa cakes custard creams and bourbons all lovely and the shortbread and swiss roll are lovely too.
Lollys - kids love these.
All of the above are great and have saved me a lot of money over the last few months.

GetOrf your DP and mine too! Any old plastic tat almost sparkles at him :o

Katisha I never knew about this etiquette malarky, however, I now understand why the people queueing behind me are always huffing and tutting, Oh well, you live and learn! :)

Aldi do a free range chicken for around £5. There aloe vera loo roll is fab. There sausages have a high meat content , as do Costco if you ever go there

I'll let you into a little secret that I thought everyone knew a lot of the 'value' and 'basic' brands are made by the big companies and are exactly the same but packaged differently.

I know for certain that a certain salt company sells it's excess produce to a value supermarket who then package it up and sell it for more than £1 less.

A well known biscuit company makes extra biccies for a more expensive supermarket for their premium range. They're still exactly the same just packaged differently and cheaper.

There is also a butter company who do this with a mid range supermarket for their 'basic' range.

I'm fairly convinced that most large brand companies have similar deals.

Aldi and lidle pull ups are fab too

Coffeegonecold apparently this is why there is a shelf after the checkouts where you are supposed to sort out your trolley after paying.

But surely that must get pretty tricky on a busy day?

Seeker! Stop banging that chicken at once.... tsk!

Ohhh sorry. Banging on about chicken. I thought it was a euphemism.

Look someone has to bang on about chickens! They are probably the most abused farm animals we have dealings with.

I am old enough to remember when chicken was a treat. Maybe it should go back to that.

Haha who are you the anti-chicken Police?
Will we all just gruel instead

eat gruel obviously, no idea where eat went to

It depends what it is.

Some value stuff is fine, eg I buy from tesco:

• chopped tomatoes in soups and stews
• cottage cheese
• veg including frozen
• orange and apple juice
• smoked salmon trimmings, for me for salads, wouldn't serve to guests

Other stuff wasn't so nice eg the fruit yoghurts.

Most of us eat too much meat. I thought current dietary advice was to eat red meat only once a week and white meat 2x per week. The rest of the time protein should be coming from pulses etc.

How about value salt? What could possibly be different from Saxa or any other, its NaCl FFS!
I buy value butter, value chopped tinned tops for cooking and value red kidney beans for cooking.
I buy eggs and meat product from our local farm shop as the taste and quality is far better.

I don't buy any Value stuff in Tesco except kitchen roll. Why would anyone NOT buy it? Huge rolls at a fraction of the price of even the own brand. I buy loads of Tesco own stuff though. Regarding cheap cuts of meat, we used to eat chicken thighs every week - £3.00 for 10, then Tesco put them up to £3.00 for 4! Bastards.

Value chicken is battery chicken and imo is completely cruel - same thought about value eggs. Happy meat is tastier meat!

I don't have a problem with meat becoming a luxury again. Eat a bit meat meal once a week - a joint or a chicken perhaps. Then use the leftover for another meal, one more meal of mince or chops or sausages, and then eat veggie meals the rest of the time. It's not hard to do.