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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think Waitrose...

97 replies

bagpackbagpack · 22/02/2017 21:13

Isn't expensive or posh?

Out of interest I just popped my weekly shop (I shop Waitrose and m&s mainly because they are closest and always has a niggle that discount/big 4 supermarkets aren't really worth the extra petrol and traffic to drive to ) into the mysupermarket website.

I would save a royal £3 on my weekly shop, and that's the maximum, if I went to one of the big 4, and that's only if I dropped 3 items out of my basket, because the others don't stock them, theses items where: sea bass (whole, Waitrose fillets them for free), duck legs and pollock fish fingers.. these items actually cost £10 together, so the big 4 seem to be more expensive.

I would like to think that most people can afford to spend £5 on a whole large fish, £4 on 2 duck legs and £1.20 on a pack of fish fingers given they had the choice. All of the above would feed a family of 4.

Would I also be unreasonable to propose a ban on elitist supermarket posts. That goes for Aldi and Lidl shoppers too...

Just shop at your bloody local supermarket people, it's just bloody nonesense that any single one is more expensive than the other!!

OP posts:
PickAChew · 22/02/2017 22:37

And yes, Tesco is really expensive, unless you go in with pot noodle and cheddars in mind.

But even mainstream branded stuff - the other week, Tesco had big bags of Kettlechips supposedly reduced from £2 to £1.25. The premium priced city centre Waitrose I popped into the day before had them half price, reduced from £1.49 to 75p!

HeadDreamer · 22/02/2017 22:39

I go to Waitrose and I don't it more expensive food wise than Asda. I go to Asda only for the cheap giant box of nappies.

redeyetonowheregood · 22/02/2017 22:40

I shop in waitrose on a £60 a week budget for family of 4. I think their vegetables and fruit are excellent quality, I am vegetarian so this is super important to me. I also value their ethical reputation. I think if you just buy what you need and don't get sucked in by the gorgeous home and kitchen products or fancy toiletries it is fine. Their Peruvian organic decaf coffee is the best decaf around too. I meal plan and budget well and love shopping there.

roselover · 22/02/2017 22:47

Ok I know the answer to this ....its Iceland for silly things like ice lollies ...and sliced bread (cheap cheap cheap -and certain offers like apples) and party food (soooo cheap soooo fabulous!!!!)- and Waitrose for veg and fish (we don't eat meat) - M and S for interesting salads - there ya go!

Love Waitrose - and will always be grateful for them carrying my bags out to the car when I had new born twins ....actually I still ask for carry out and they are 7 ...plus they do give masses to local charities - love it!!!

HeadDreamer · 22/02/2017 22:49

Our local one has a Sushi Bar and a Wine Bar, that's quite posh. You don't get that in Asda.

I'm too foreign to know that's considered posh. When I went to university in Auckland some 20 years ago, the student union has a sushi bar and a 'wine' bar Grin

MollyHuaCha · 22/02/2017 22:55

I can't leave without buying a power drill and a canoe when all I went in for was milk and bread.

Just love this...Grin

roseshippy · 22/02/2017 23:12

YABVU, Waitrose is definitely expensive.

Taken directly from their site, all the cheapest options in both cases

courgettes £2.14/kg, Tesco £1.89
potatoes 70p/kg, Tesco 52p/kg
frozen peas £1.31/kg, Tesco 77p/kg
ribeye steak £20/kg, Tesco £14.47/kg
washing up liquid £1.09/litre, Tesco 95p/litre
cornflakes £2/kg, Tesco 78p/kg.
frozen fish fillets £6.25/kg, Tesco £3.66/kg (Tesco: pollock, Waitrose: coley)
tea bags (40) - 45p, Tesco 25p
light bulb LED 60W equivalent, £7.99, Tesco £4.20 or 2 for £7
egg sandwich - £1.10, Tesco £1
whole raw chicken - £2.96/kg, Tesco £1.99/kg

They are more expensive on every single item. Every last one. Double and more in many cases.
I did not cherry pick these items, and I didn't even start on the poncey £12.99 ready meals, just normal everyday items.

AIBU to ask what planet you are inhabiting if you fail to notice this?

What Waitrose DO do is charge the same (non-discounted) everyday prices on branded goods. But most of my shopping is not branded. And they don't match the promos necessarily even on the branded stuff. Waitrose sells 'essential' coconut milk for £1.30/can. Morrisons has MULTIPLE cheaper brands (not stocked by Waitrose) starting from 57p/can. And no, the Waitrose essential is not better (at least not in this case).

Waitrose is expensive and there's no denying it. Yes you can probably by a limited amount of shopping in there at reasonable prices, but if you do ALL your shopping in there, you will spend MUCH more than with other shops.

roseshippy · 22/02/2017 23:13

and Aldi is much cheaper than Tesco, so I'm not even TRYING to make them look bad.

PickAChew · 22/02/2017 23:41

Never seen £12.99 ready meals

I go for the £10 Indian meal deals!

Kikikaakaa · 22/02/2017 23:45

It depends what you buy entirely! We don't eat much meat for instance so all the fancy duck leg stuff doesn't appeal to me. I do love a bit of Waitrose from time to time and happy to go there but mine is utterly rubbish for anything apart from food - 2 choices of loo roll, 2 choices of cat food and hardly any shampoo, the section for all the home type stuff is dire! so I have to shop about for all the various bits, can never just get it all anywhere excetp Tesco. There you seem to be able to buy IT ALL

Kikikaakaa · 22/02/2017 23:50

Maybe it's regional product stocks too,

because in my area (south east) the list of cheapness is

Aldi
Tesco
Sainsbury's
Waitrose

And I have shopped in all 4 for the 'week shop' and that's my local conclusion!
Although like I say, Tescos seems to be the only shop here that is large enough to have a really big range

Giraffesaretootall · 22/02/2017 23:52

Sorry to derail but Waitrose fillet the fish for free?? I never knew that.

So I can go to the counter and buy a big whole sea bass, ask them to fillet it and it should be fresher and better value than the ore-packed ones??

YANBU OP. Waitrose is very good for some stuff but pricey for others.

Giraffesaretootall · 22/02/2017 23:58

Looking this up I've just discovered that myWaitrose card holders get 20% off the fish counter on a Friday! They call it Fish friday! I am definitely popping in this Friday.

brasty · 23/02/2017 00:00

The cheapest fruit and veg is at fruit shops. The supermarkets generally are over priced.

roseshippy · 23/02/2017 00:29

£12.99 ready meal: www.waitrose.com/shop/DisplayProductFlyout?productId=288247

Bettyspants · 23/02/2017 00:48

I'm really struggling to see how you can stretch 2 duck legs at £4 to feed a family of 4 ?? Bloody hell you must be magic

hollinhurst84 · 23/02/2017 00:52

I'm with Clash, I need a new mortgage for waitrose because I'm all "oh balsamic pearls, I've needed those all my life" Hmm and I come out with endless stuff
Booths to me is for when you read a recipe, see an ingredient and go "WTF is that?"
If booths doesn't have it, nowhere will!

HeadDreamer · 23/02/2017 05:07

I use 4 chicken thighs to feed 4 too. Do I can see totally how 2 duck legs can feed 4.

AwaywiththePixies27 · 23/02/2017 05:26

I can easily get a topup shop in Waitrose for under a tenner. It's about having enough self control to not deviate to their bakery for their delicious the rhubarb and custard danish that helps you keep your bill down.

I dont think it's that more expensive than other shops if you shop right. Of course the organic fed with unicorn drops chicken is going to be ridiculously expensive but then you've got the mince around the corner at only £4.

Also if any of you ever find yourself stuck for lunch and need something cheap whilst out / on your lunch break. They do a yummy cheese salad sandwich for about £1.60 here (East Midlands). My usually salad hating DS will happily wolf one of these down.

ItsNiceItsDifferentItsUnusual · 23/02/2017 05:43

I must be doing something wrong then because I always find Waitrose more expensive than my weekly shop at Sainsbury's, which in itself isn't exactly cheap. Same with Ocado - some things they have brilliant offers on but otherwise, when I did a like for like trolley on there recently, it came out more expensive by a fair amount. I'm on a strict max budget per week so I'm already only buying exactly what I need, no treats, and no brands...

BarbaraofSeville · 23/02/2017 05:49

But 'only' £4 for mince is expensive when the same type of mince is £3 for a bigger pack at other supermarkets.

Last year I went to look at the big Waitrose half price event, which included mince and at half price in Waitrose it was only slightly cheaper than the best lean steak mince at the naice artisan farm shop that I get most of our meat from.

AwaywiththePixies27 · 23/02/2017 06:06

Well yes I know its still expensive but no more expensive than the other supermarkets in that regards. A lot of the times the cheaper ones just pumped half full of eater anyway so in my opinion, I'm not really saving that much. I was stupidly overjoyed a few weeks ago when tescos had their whole chickens on offer for £4. I miss Kwik Save and Food Giant. You used to be able to get half a cow for a bargain price there Grin

AwaywiththePixies27 · 23/02/2017 06:09

*water not eater.

newmumwithquestions · 23/02/2017 06:16

I shop mainly at Waitrose. I find it decently priced, but I am picky with animal products - so I won't buy anything that for eg has non free range eggs in. So I'm the other way to you balsamic pearl buyers in that I'll buy from the Waitrose essentials range but if I'm somewhere like Tescos I end up having to buy the most expensive versions of things to avoid battery farmed eggs. Same with fish - Waitrose always has a good range of MSC and nothing dredged. To get the equivalent in other supermarkets costs an arm and a leg or they just don't stock it. Also always good deals on the type of things I buy.

I also top up with things like tins of chickpeas from Lidl and some fruit/veg from the market and meat from a local farm that's high welfare but decently priced. (And far too many tunnocks caramels from the pound shop but even I accept I really really should stop doing this).

But I'm currently a SAHM who can shop around. It's harder if you're working full time - you've got to pick somewhere and go for it - for me that would always be Waitrose.

Whiskeywithwater · 23/02/2017 06:27

I shop in Waitrose as it's the closest supermarket to where I live. In the spirit of austerity I decided a while back that I should look to save money so went on a comparison shopping site and priced up my average weekly shop ..... there wasn't an awful lot in it, but I was amazed that Waitrose actually came out cheaper. So I have now justified it to myself. Obviously there is always the potential to end up with a way more expensive bill in there with all the lovely unnecessary luxury things - but I try to resist! If I'm disciplined, shop on-line and stick to my list, then I know it's not going to be any more expensive.