To wish I could shop at Sainsburys

[Jujuheyhey]

I know this is ridiculous but I bloody love Sainsbos. I do most of my shopping at Lidl/local market because it's cheap and convenient but every now and then I go to the big Sainsburys for 'a few bits' and spend a bloody fortune marvel at the choice and variety and lovely things they have. I know I'm a sad act and that I'm lucky I can afford food, but it pisses me off that I'm always having to watch the pennies when other people can go there and pile their trollies high without thinking about it.

Really don't like aldi, take MIL weekly and it just feels depressing to me. I use sainsburys as there is one a three minute drive away and we collect nectar points to use at Christmas. I find it on par price wise with other shops if you take care to go for lowest priced option.

I like sainsbury's , but it's mostly for the lovely smooth trolleys at our new sainsburys. Its a nice small store, and I can glide around with the lovely trolley, loaded up with children. Not sure its worth the extra cost though, and I also find the pack sizes are smaller than asda or tesco, so you think you're getting equivalent packs of meat but when you get home they're 100g lighter for the same money. I always feel like I've saved money when I do aldi/butcher shop combination, but then can't get coffee pods, certain toothpaste, gripe water, etc etc. So still need to do a top up. I hate food shopping.

We do our weekly shop at sainsburys but I am on mat leave at the minute with a baby who is happiest out in her pram. I walk to Sainso most days and just browse the aisles. Never need to buy anything because they delivered earlier in the week but I still love gazing at the food.
I think it's just a nice supermarket!!

I actively dislike Sainsburys for normal food shopping. I agree re quality being poor and I resent paying twice the price (I'm looking at you party rings!). I do however like the fact if you need something else - like a birthday present, or kids wellies etc., then it's very handy. Likewise if I'm cooking something posh or foodie then I go there as I'm more likely to get the unusual ingredients. I also find they have good deals on wine and champagne. I tend to do my short life Christmas shop there for that reason.

Far happier to have a £60 weekly shop at lidl, less waste and more cash for treats

I have no idea what sainsburys is like but I know how you feel, I usually do my food shopping at Walmart, Walmart has their own brand value food, some of its good and some of its bad could you do this at sainsburys.

Sainbos is lovely for stuff and clothes. I buy almost all DS' clothes from there now (although I size up as it shrinks ime)

But it is expensive now. Still better than Tesco's.

I shop for groceries in Aldi & Waitrose. I don't get tempted so much, and it's much cheaper.

I've noticed sainsburys have doubled the price of their plants.

I totally get what you mean. I shop at Aldi's and then pop across the road to m and s foods to spend a small amount on something really nice. I could just do the whole shop at tesco, but I really like mixing thrift with a little bit of luxury. I like Waitrose too. I have a small budget and extravagant tastes!

I think Sainsbo's is the worst value of all the supermarkets. I actually find Waitrose - as long as you stick to their Essentials range and don't buy artisanal cashmere-woven luxury toilet paper or handmade organic pesto with pine nuts and virgin's pubes - much more reasonable than Sainsburys.

Same here. If I do our weekly shop in Waitrose it's £60, and in Sainsbury's it's £85. No idea how. I actually went round Sainsbury's with a calculator the other week to try to understand where the hidden costs are, but am none the wiser. I do not have this problem with Sainsbury's home delivery - between vouchers and Nectar points I can usually get it down to £50. Maybe store layout? Wide selection? Availability of treats? (It is an enormous Sainsbury's.)

I also rather like (some) Sainsbury's clothes, though I'd never admit it to brand-snob DH.

But I now do two/three shops a month in Aldi or Lidl and resent the higher prices elsewhere.

The only thing Aldi is good for is their wine and nappies. The rest is pretty substandard.

Sainsburys abet more expensive is good for the produce quality, and nectar points system.

We mainly shop in Coop Daily and Tesco Superstore as they are closer to us.

Juju - I'm also poor and an Aldi addict. But I've got good news! I learned, thanks to a thread on here, that Sainsbury's do introductory £10 off vouchers. After you've used one, you then get another for your next shop! I've done a Sainsbury's online shop every 2 or 3 weeks for the past three months, all with 20% off thanks to the vouchers. I'll stop if/when the incentives dry up.

You have to spend £50 to use the voucher. Spending over £40 gets you delivery for £1.

I can't remember how I got the first one, but imagine a quick google will find it - or use one of the money-off websites like topcashback (although it seems they don't have a Sainsbury's one atm.)

There's something on moneysavingexpert that could be worth a try - sign up to the supermarket website, fill a trolley and then just leave it. Apparently the store will often email you a voucher to help you check out.

I prefer morrisons. I used to think this about sainsburys because of their free from selection but morrisons have upped their game this year and theirs is even better so now there's not much sainsbos sell that morrisons don't. Plus sainsburys fruit is vile. Their bananas are the worst I've ever tasted.

I want to try aldi again. I've only been once about three years ago and there just wasn't a great selection at all. They sold a lot of cheap fruit, granted but there was hardly any in the punnets and they only lasted a couple of days. The only thing I was impressed by was the massive bags of herbs. They lasted forever.

We have a big retail park with aldi, tesco,tk maxx, m&s food on one side of the road, and sainsbos on the other. Dh doesn't see the point in doing both sides of the road. I hate tescos.

Oh and actually, I don't think aldi is much cheaper than the big supermarkets.

Why don't you try going in the rlevening as they are good at reducing items

I'm a sainburys and waitrose girl, M&S for lunches but I appreciate how lucky I am to not have to think about food costs but understand this is not the same for everyone... Some insensitive posts

Some posters are being pretty insensitive, I think everyone knows there is a supermarket hierarchy but it has changed a bit since lidl and aldi came on the scene.

Sainsburys is definitely over priced and over rated.

Those who went to Aldi a few years ago and found too much that they didn't stock might wish to try again. The range has improved a lot over the last couple of years. Much better range of herbs, spices, pulses, ready made food and picky bits like olives etc.

I go to an Aldi that is opposite a Waitrose, so I get almost everything in Aldi and a quick look in Waitrose for anything they don't have in Aldi.

I usually spend about £30 in each and in Aldi I get a trolley full and in Waitrose about a carrier bag full but to be fair in Waitrose I am usually stocking up on Lavazza coffee, which is actually cheapest from Waitrose if you get the twin packs and have them on your MyWaitrose offer.

Big difference for me is that I can afford to go round Aldi and buy what I want without looking at prices. Doing that in Waitrose would lead to bankruptcy very quickly.

What Sainsburys is very good at is bakeware and they often have 75% off sales. I have a nice collection of lovely baking trays that I got from there at a quarter of the normal price.

Same as Backforgood, I find Sainsburys hideously expensive. Usually shop at Tesco and but mostly own brand items. Once after coming back from holiday I hadn't booked my Tesco online shop and took my usual list of items to Sainsburys, bought the same stuff with Sainsburys own label it cost significantly more.

I also notice in their petrol station shop that when they put branded offers on say pouches of Twirl bites, their offer price is £1.50 per pouch whereas at Tesco and other shops their offer price is £1. Their special offers on branded products rarely compete with those in other stores it seems.

Honestly, it strikes me that Sainsburys prices are on a par with Waitrose and given the choice, I'd prefer to shop in the latter!

I buy quite a lot in Sainsburys (I live near one) but I prefer the fruit and veg from Lidl.

M+S Food Hall is the best.

I wait till nectar have deals on their clothes then spend the points on a top or something when they do, 2 years ago I got a sainsburys coat for £7.50 using double points or something like that, this year I got a linen summer top

we have a local one and its expensive but handy, aldi or lidl are miles away....

I buy the frozen rice and the pack of 1.50 pomegranates and the ready mash, once a week, we dont drink or smoke and so these are my guilty pleasure sad git that I am

I feel your pain. I love Sainsbo's too, but I just can't justify the expense. I shop in Morrison's & have a budget of £200/month for everything - food, household stuff, nappies (holy mother of fuck how much do I spend on nappies?!). I used to be a Tesco devotee but then we moved & now it's too far to justify the extra petrol when Morrison's is walkable.

I think it does depend in what sort of things you buy.

When DH was made redundant a few years ago, we lived in a different part of the country where we had access to all the major supermarkets. Money was so tight that I made a spreadsheet of all the things we buy regularly & how often, and went round Sainsbo's, Tesco, Morrison's, Asda, Lidl & Aldi checking all the prices to see which would be cheaper overall. Lidl won for most things but as we still needed to go to Tesco/Morrison's for the bits Lidl didn't sell it became a false economy.

I find generally Morrison's is cheaper if everything is full price, but Tesco have a lot of offers on the stuff we buy. Plus the reduced aisle is awesome for meat & fish.

Btw totally not embarrassed by my supermarket spreadsheet. I don't think there are many things in life that can't be improved with a spreadsheet

Aldi's fruit and veg is much better than Sainsbury's. So is their packaged meat. Things like their rip-off of Muller Corners are genius. There's lots to love but I agree Sainsbury's is lovely so I split the shop across both - not really for money reasons (though it really does help), I just got fed up of my veg going off quickly. Something to think about...?

I've started doing my basic supermarket shop in Asda recently instead of Tesco, I've been gobsmacked at the difference in price. My usual deodorant and washing powder are both at least a quid cheaper....for the exact same thing, at a standard price - no special offer or anything!
On a whole trolley I've worked out I'm saving between £10 and £15.
We don't have a Sainsburys or Waitrose, so I take my saving and get something really nice from M&S food instead.
The Aldi and Lidl here are both quite small, and on the other side of town. I've been once or twice, but I think I got caught up in the novelty of it and ended up spending more on things "just to try", family weren't keen, so didn't do that again!

Always used to think sainsburys was my favourite (their kids clothes are gorgeous) but definitely more of a lidl girl now. Their fruit and veg is much nicer and I like the meat selection. Wish they had a fish counter though
though.