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

The meat industry has partly got into this sorry state because people expect to pay peanuts for meat.
In fact people expect to pay peanuts for food generally.

I do not say this from a position of vast wealth, but hope that what with stuff being more expensive there will be less waste.

Value conditioner - brilliant for shaving legs and underarms

Anyone who can worry about the life that the animals that make the value meat ranges have led, obviously still has the money to have ethics. I have had to abandon mine. Value meats, value eggs, value flipping everything here. Waitrose essentials is the best quality of all the 'cheap' ranges, but slightly dearer than the rest.

Asda smartprice? Not worth bothering with IMO. Everything I have tried from that range is minging. Tesco value isn't much better, though the butter is fine to cook with, and I always have to buy half as much chicken again as I would elsewhere due to the water content in the value chicken. Sainsbury's basics are the next best after Waitrose Essentials.

I don't have a Morrisons in my whole town, so I have no idea about that, don't have a Lidl's either. We have two Aldi's, but one of them is an hour and 15 minutes away on two buses, and the other is an hour away on one bus. I was actually thinking of popping there (ha!) next week, but it will basically take up my entire day, because I have to allow for an hour there and an hour back, time to shop in a shop I've never been in, and time to put the shopping away before I get on another bus to get the dc from school.

I used to have ethics, and only eat free-range and organic - but when you only have £100 a week to buy food, cleaning products and nappies for a family of 5, which is just £20 a week per person, for breakfast, lunch and dinner, that goes by the wayside in the face of having to EAT.

I wouldn't have entertained the thought either until my dh had a whopping pay cut. At first, I did the Aldi/Lidl thing but as this involved driving a return journey of nearly 20 miles & still needing to go to the supermarket on my doorstep for some things, I decided to not to travel & buy more value things.
Agree the fruit & veg is fine; just lacking in the uniform size & shape. Morrisons Value pasta & rice is fine(though their value line is currently being re-branded as savers & unsure if all products will remain the same). Value kidney beans & tomatoes fine. Unscented baby wipes & dishwasher tabs are ok too.

Having said that, something stops me from buying value meat. Personally, I think Morrisons do the best meats of the supermarkets(except maybe Waitrose) & I'm sure it'd be fine but I just have this niggling doubt that I'll open the pack & it'll stink like it's on-the-turn

Since having two children in nappies I have taken to buying Sainsbury's basics nappies - £1.47 for pack of 20. And they have been great, all poo and wee fully contained! They do have a plasticky coating to them so not sure how breathable/comfortable they would be in the summer months but they have been fab for the winter. And when Sainsburys do their half price baby items promotion they are only 70 odd pence a packet. You can't beat that!

Did however feel a glimmer of being seen as a tightwad scrimping on my beloved DC when I loaded them into my trolley but then thought well they're just going to be pooed and weed in and go into the non-recycling bin just like Pampers would so get over yourself!

Other than that I often buy the basics tinned tomatoes and tinned fruit.

Have got some ideas for other budget buys from this thread, thanks guys!

A couple of people have mentioned tortilla chips, I can confirm Sainsbury's Basics ones are awesome. The butter is also fine but doesn't seem much cheaper than other brands (there is usually at least one brand on offer which works out cheaper anyway). I am happy with basics salad, fruit, veg etc. But in Sainsbury's, a bag of Basics peppers is now £1.95 which doesn't feel like much of a bargain. I prefer the fruit and veg in my local Asda, it is much better quality and cheaper. I get a mix of value, standard and premium ranges. Tesco has a value brand of Special K (it might even be standard, not value), and it is vile - taste and texture like glue.

I would love to go to Lidl more but it's not really convenient, I like having a mooch around when I am passing one. Amazing chocolate. Where else can you pick up a trumpet or diving suit with your groceries? I also liked Aldi when at uni but I don't think there is one near me now. Does Netto still exist here? There was one near my hotel when I went to Germany and I forgot how much I loved it.

You can eat ethically and cheaply.

You just can't if you think that you have to eat meat with every meal.

You can eat ethically and cheaply.

You just can't necessarily eat what you want to.

I could draw a Venn diagram...

Venn diagram is now available if you click on my name - just because I am that bored :o

Onlyaninja

Can't see the Venn diagram- am I missing something?

You can eat what you want to eat- or rather you can not eat what you don't want to eat. If what you don't want to eat is food which causes unnecessary pain and suffering to animals and other human beings. If your desire for chicken Kiev every day or loads of cheap coffee or tea over rides your compassion qnd sense of social responsibility then good luck to you. But don't pretend that you don't have a choice.

There is a choice, I didn't say there was no choice, I just said that the choice means that you often have to sacrifice one of the three of cheap, ethical, or "what I fancy eating".

A lot of the value or basics fruit and veg are good (but it can often be cheaper just to buy stuff loose, so worth checking, there).

I tend to go for higher welfare meat, so generally avoid the value stuff, there.

We use the sainsbos basics antibac handwash, which is fine, even though the smell isn't great. It's one of the few that doesn't irritate my skin, though and we're less horrified by the way DS1 wastes it than if we buy the pricier stuff.

DH likes the basic faux weetabix.

We used to like the basics toasting muffins, but I spoilt myself by trying the warburtons ones and now they taste really nasty in comparison. I don't know if it's that, or if they've simply changed. The crumpets were never anything but rubbery.

Sorry, onlyaninja- I was agreeing with you. Only I was turning the choice thing the other way round! Tell me about your Venn diagram?

haven't read all of this but spent £10 today in Iceland(battered fish portions, pizza baguettes, quorn portions, kitkats, bread, eggs) - and about £5 in Aldi - pain au chocolat, hi-juice,milk,potatoes,washing up liquid (the best ever!!!).
Aldi washing powder tabs are excellent, Asda own brand tinned toms and tinned tuna is fine.

If you click on my name and then click on something like "see OnlyANinja's photos" it's there. I exaggerated a little. 3 overlapping circles - one is cheap, one is ethical, one is tasty (that's where the exaggeration comes in - it's not so much tasty as "what I desire to eat") and where they all intersect there's a ???

What I want to eat is often cheap or ethical but not both
What is cheap is ethical or what I want but rarely both
What is ethical is cheap or what I want but rarely both

My MIL buys the Value washing up liquid from Morrisons and its shite. The bubbles last 30 seconds....

My local greengrocer has always been excellent - lovely fresh fruit and vegetables, and cheaper than the supermarket (bananas 40p/lb today). It was rightly popular and had a high turnover. However, last year a Tesco Express opened a few doors down and it has taken a lot of the independent shop's trade. WHY??? Are people so Tescofied that their feet automatically lead them through the automatic doors before their brain has a chance to compute the better and cheaper stuff on offer only yards away? Is it just laziness?

I can see this little shop closing down; it's a small tragedy.

roxy Yes. And Yes. And yes. Shall we be depressed together?

I noticed that value washing up liquid contains formaldehyde, they may all contain it in a more fancy name for all I know (Chemistry A-Level was a long time ago) but fooking hell I was .

I buy lots of basics/value/essential stuff. In fact I think Sains Basics mince with the fat fried off tastes 100% better than the extra lean stuff for four times the price; also have no probs buying basics chicken and have sometimes found a cheap one tastes much better than a super expensive corn fed organic one!

Nothing wrong with basics butter, basics bran flakes, basic tomatoes, Sainos beans, basics kidney beans, basics frozen peas, basics cereal bars, basics spuds, etc., etc.. I still seem to spend a fortune though but goodness knows what I would spend if everything was branded. Oh and cheapo shwr gel and shampoo for the dc

I love Asda's diced fresh swede and carrot. It is 50p a bag (£1 for same bag in Tescos!! ) I use it for casseroles and cottage pies. I am badly dyspraxic and the thought of me attacking a swede with a kitchen knife has put me and those close to me into a cold sweat!!! Whatever i dont use gets handed over the fence and my neighbours use it up!!

Today I spread 400g of pork between 5 people for dinner. Most of the dinner was vegetables. I have growing children that need protein in their diet. On just £2.86 per person per day for food, cleaning products, and nappies for the baby - Yes I HAVE had to sacrifice ethics for cost. When you are in the position of having £2.86 a day to pay for 3 nutricious, balanced meals, I'm sure you will also do the same. The nearest butchers and greengrocers to me (I live on a huge housing estate that was built around a Tesco superstore, without even a corner shop within 3 miles radius) are a bus ride away, that costs £3.50 (for me, if I have to take the 3 older dc with me it costs an extra £7.50) to get to. Which would wipe out ANY savings I made by buying there.

If I continued to have ethics in the face of my budget - I would have malnourished dc.

also have no probs buying basics chicken and have sometimes found a cheap one tastes much better than a super expensive corn fed organic one!

Me to married, I am genuinely puzzled sometimes at the "its all value crap chicken and tastes shit", when I dont taste the difference half the time between that and the organic etc ones, which I only ever eat if they are massively reduced if they are going out of date.