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.

My local Sains is filthy with mangy fruit and limp veg. I would only buy a packet of crisps there or a magazine.

I shop at sainsburys. I get loads of good deals in my big supermarket. I don't have an aldi or lidl anywhere near me so maybe I'm just deluded. I have £50 per week for everything for me and DD and manage it at sainsburys.

Harleen, I'm an everything-from-Aldi shopper when I haven't got hefty Sainsburys vouchers. You really couldn't do all your shopping there if you're a menu planner. It involves seeing what's there and basing your menus on what you can get - quite an old-fashioned way of buying groceries, I suppose! I love not having to compare 40 different brands of each product.

There's a massive wine snob in my family. At the last-but-one party, we bought the champagne from Aldi. It was good and he loved it! Raved about the perfect bubble size, balanced acidity, creamy flavour - until he found out it was from Aldi. The silly sod promptly decided he didn't like it after all, and has turned his nose up at it ever since.

My only other local supermarket is a Co-Op that's been revamped from 1978 to 2016. It's a joy to visit now, full of delightful stuff - and expensive! They do consistently win all the ethical awards, though, so I buy what I can there. Usually when it's reduced but, hey, I'm still supporting them and getting quality.

I'm an expat and miss Sainsburys! Always head there to stock up when I'm home.

I have no supermarket loyalty and I find myself in the M&S Food Hall far too often for my budget

garlic - I like that aspect too. I go into my ALDIs and see a huge pile of taught skinned shiny aubegines/tomatoes/potatoes for pennies and plan a meal or two around them.

I go to an Asian supermarket for spices and the odd apart from that I'm struggling to think what ingredient ALDI lacks that I buy. I don't care about branded stuff, I don't buy burgers or sausages or jars of sauce for cooking.

Garlicshake I know about that Champagne too. I think it's won awards and things.

I think that about Booths. I'd love to shop there - it's all laid out so nicely and the food is really good quality.

But I would go bankrupt if I did.

It's the range and quality of non-clothes stuff that like in Sainsbury's.

I like that way of shopping too Garlic.

If I could, I would happily shop in butchers, bakers, fishmongers green grocers etc. Where I used to live in south London, we had an old fashioned high street and I would shop like this when I could. The town I live in, does have these shops but very spread out, with challenging parking so you can't shop in the same organic way. You need to go with a plan.

Booths is lovely as a store, but the last time I got near a store, I needed pork pies, amongst other things. I couldn't find anything outdoor reared, though, which is what I'd expect at their prices. I wanted a nice cake to give as a gift and most of them were made with margarine. The mumtaz curries were delicious, mind!

Sainsburys is my favourite of the really big 3 supermarkets (Waitrose have limited presence up here, so much as I like them I don't get to favour them all that often). Like for like, I find their meat a lot more expensive than M&S, though. Sainsburys do a pack of 4 free range chicken thigh & drumstick pieces which usually costs more than a 4 pack of big fat juicy organic free range ones from M&S.

I don't eat loads of red meat, but get as much of that as i can from farmers' markets, which we have plenty of, even if the area does lack decent butchers. I got almost a kilo of dexter beef stewing steak for £6 at the weekend and is was absolutely delicious.

Their curries are awful, too. The spicing is just so bland and 2 dimensional.

Sainsburys curries are awful.... Sentence ended up in the wrong place, there!

I wish I could shop at aldi they are miles away from where I live

There's a mahoosive Sainsbos about a 10 min walk from me... I love going in there, got me some Kilner jars for £2 a pop at the weekend.
There is however an almost equally mahoosive Tesco right on our doorstep that we go past on our way home from the train station so we tend to shop there

I feel decadent if I pop into Waitrose, but a neighbour of mine recently mentioned she'd done her WEEKLY SHOP at Whole Foods.

We drive past most of the other supermarkets to get to Aldi - and it's still cheaper!
Their cheeses are cheap and tasty (says dh) and I can get goat and sheep cheeses, for me. The wine is good, the very thick sliced bread to die(t) for, and we're always buying something essential daft from the middle bit! We rarely buy meat, but I like theirs, and the chunky fishcakes are good, along with all their other fish stuff. I find the bags of green (assorted salad) last as long as they need to. I find the staff in our Aldi very friendly and helpful.
We have a Lidl nearby, too, that we pop into sometimes - picked up a 10.5tog kingsize duvet there yesterday for a tenner - ideal for spare bed as dh somehow managed to kill his
Our closest shop is Tesco - for emergencies only. There is a Sainsbo in the town, but it never seems to have what I want in stock, so I've stopped going - they've even stopped sending me vouchers.

We shop at a whole mix of places. We live in a rather naice area with a big Waitrose and a Little Waitrose. There's also an M&S, Tesco, Sainsburys and Morrisons, but no Aldi or Lidl.
Slightly off topic, but is it anyone else's experience that M&S branches are always bloody freezing?? Whether it's the relatively big-ish branch in our local shopping centre or the small one at Heathrow Terminal 5 Arrivals/another small one at any service station, I always feel like you need bloody thermals to feel comfortable in one.

Sainsbury's food is quite poor value for money IMO. I do shop there, but only really for reduced food, or Basics, or promotional offers. I don't think it's worth the money otherwise. M&S are barely any more expensive than Sainsbury's and their food is SO much tastier. TU clothing however is excellent value for money. I buy most of my clothes there, they do some really lovely things. The homeware section is nice too.

Lidls fruit and veg are awful. Ive been to ones in dorset, herts, essex and south london and all the veg is awful. Meat not brilliant either.

I like the coffee in Lidl. But I don't like queuing for ages to pay behind all the people with loaded trolleys, I buy a few packets of it to make it worthwhile but even so. To get to Aldi I'd have to drive quite a long way so I'd have to save a lot of £££ to make it worthwhile petrol-wise, something I think a lot of people forget to factor into their calculations. I do online shopping in Sainsburys and get the odd extra in Waitrose as it's walkable from where I live.

I hear you OP. There are 2 of us & 20month DS. I reckon inc nappies & butcher meat we are £80 a week. That's not including a takeaway on a fri & 2 dinners my mums mouse for us (thur & sun).

We don't have an Aldi in NI, I wish we did!!

I buy some things out of lidl when I get a rare child free 30 mins. Their fruit vege chocolate & cereal toppers are great. I've heard Gd things about the cien aqua Skincare.

I do majority of grocery online with tesco & always get our petrol there. We keep the club card vouchers for Christmas which is really handy.
I would shop at asda more if there had a reward scheme & if their delivery service wasn't so shit.

The last 2 times I've shopped at Sainsburys I've thought how the hell does that bit of shopping cost that much! Have vowed not to go back for food though do like the clothes range.

Im not sure id put sainsburys at the top of my shopping places to go. We have one but its past the lldl and around two horrible roundabouts to get out of so i dont bother. I think ldll veg and meat is the better than most supermarkets. Morrisons does nice bread and yogs. Waitrose (i wish) veg is poor but meat good but some way away. Asda great for children stuff but i feel lost in their shop so dont usually do uch shopping. I think its what you get used too.

I work at Sainsburys they will be lowering the prices of a lot of products if that's any help for you :)