To ask people that do their normal shop at waitrose how they afford it?

[jdoe8]

After spending a few days with a family member that does and doing an aldi shop, the quality is very stark. As much as the super 6 look good, the apples are very powdery and the oranges pithy and not that sweet. It makes me feel a bit poor. In other countries you would have market stuff that is good, but obviously not in the UK.

I feel like I would have to earn 150k to afford it. I like it for the rare treat, but unless you live on cheap stodge im not sure how so many people afford it.

Bit harsh there polly

agree with other poster, for fruit and flowers M&S wins hands down compared to waitrose.

I don't think I was being harsh Vanilla. It depends on your household and income. When my DCs were at home I did do more online shops from Tesco. Now it's just me and DP we have more disposable income, I enjoy browsing in WR and choosing food, and as we cook everything from scratch, I am fairly economical.

I do a TEsco shops every now and then, stocking up of offers like dishwasher tablets, loo rolls, washing up liquid, bleach, etc. But a lot of the time Waitrose have the same offers available. Their own brand thick bleach for example is 50p- same as Tesco.

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I can't see that Polly was harsh at all.

Um.... the bit about "I don't know why someone even starts a thread like this, TBH..."

Why put that line in? Completely unnecessary, particularly when you then go on at length about your shopping habits to answer the OP's question.

For the last couple of years, my main shop has been Aldi - for staples like pasta, cereals, tinned goods, nappies and a lot of veg - and I top up in Sainsburys or Waitrose for things I can't get in Aldi. As prices everywhere creep up, I've found myself buying more and more in Aldi - free range chickens (not that such a thing exists anywhere at the moment!), bacon, sausages and other meat. Quality is fine, I try not to think about the possible welfare aspect but I do buy outdoor-reared or free range when they have it. I'm now spoilt for other supermarkets because of the price difference, but if you tot it up for basics, it's really not that much. You tend to spend more in other supermarkets because the range on offer is so much larger and you're tempted.

Local market on Fridays is good for fresh veg and fruit, as is a local greengrocers. We are on a single wage but not a low one, yet I find most of our household income goes on food and I'm struggling at the end of every month. I'm crap with money though, and really need to start keeping a spread sheet.

Well, why does someone start a thread like this? It's not exactly rocket science that people have different budgets is it? There's nothing at all harsh about asking that.

The op does seem to start odd, fairly random threads like this and disappear though.

I use Ocado and Waitrose on foot. 6-7 people in house and about £130-50 a week. dc all on pack lunches. I get money off my next shop if it was cheaper elsewhere on Ocado. They deliver in hourly slot and take all the shopping to my kitchen. All the bags are recyclable, they even buy bags back from you at 5p a bag. The deals and flash sales are great. If anything is wrong with the items customer service for both Ocado and Waitrose second to none. John Lewis treat their staff well. They are always helpful and happy to be so. Some of staff at local Waitrose been there more than 20 years and know all my kids. It's a package not a status. Good quality in the essentials range as everywhere. I like the smaller shops. Hate 'warehouse ' shopping where you have to walk half a mile to find anyone to help with a query and then they will have no idea. Smaller shops have to stack shelves more often and employ more staff.

You seem a bit tetchy Vanilla!

Would you think it ok for someone to ask 'How can you afford to buy all your make-up from Chanel?' or 'How can people afford 3 foreign holidays a year' or 'How can you afford to send your Dcs to private schools'?
The answer is usually the same- any or all of these.
1 I earn a lot
2 I budget carefully
3 I have different priorities

And just because you are a bit [shocked] at why someone asks, doesn't mean you can't reply!

I've explained why I started this, I haven't disappeared and am reading all the replys but I'm hardly going to go "OP here" and repeat the same answer again and again.

Shopping habits are very interesting, as that BBC show demos.

I'm as tetchy as you are pollu. Here, have a and [

*about "I don't know why someone even starts a thread like this, TBH..."

Why put that line in? Completely unnecessary, particularly when you then go on at length about your shopping habits to answer the OP's question.*

I agree vanilla, if you don't like a thread just don't reply

We have Sainsbury's, co-op and Waitress nearby. I do my big shop at Sainsbury's, occasional bread and milk at co-op and I buy treat like meals from Waitrose. They have a decent basics range and Sainsbury's doesn't feel cheap so I guess if you pick and choose you could shop OK at Waitrose.

I agree too. Fancy pouring scorn on an op for starting a thread and then writing almost the longest reply on the thread. What very odd behaviour.

We don't buy or drink alcohol, eat out rarely and never have take outs and we choose to spend money on as natural as possible food.

Definitely a lifestyle choice. We're vegan too but surprisingly we spend more money now than when we ate as omnivores.

We got given a Waitrose gift card one Christmas, and spent it on some naice Christmas nibbles....but £50 really didn't go very far. I was screaming at myself because I do a weekly shop for 2 adults, 1 toddler still in nappies and a baby for £50 in Aldi!! That's including nappies.
I agree that the quality in places like Waitrose and M&S is much better - I do occasionally treat myself to some M&S hog roast sausage rolls but it would be impossible for us to do our weekly grocery shop there - our household income is about a quarter of some stated on this thread!

We budget around £200 per week for our shopping, but often come in at nearer £150 unless we're buying wine/beer too. I have my mum watch my DS every day, so she eats here most days as well, so that's 4 people. She and her partner usually join us once a week for Sunday lunch as well so we feed 5 then.

As others have said; the meat is excellent quality; far far better than Sainsbury's which is also local to us. It's comparable only to the butcher I feel, but it's cheaper by quite a bit. I bought 8 huge fillet steaks on my aunt's birthday for a celebration dinner, and it came in at £38; they were so huge I actually ended up giving 1/3 of mine to my husband as I couldn't finish it.

If I'm having a tighter month (saving for holiday), I shop from Waitrose online so I'm not tempted by the pretty displays and I also buy much more from the Essentials Waitrose line; which I have to say is excellent. I personally find that the difference between Tesco/Sainsbury's/Waitrose cost wise is negligible and I like the fact that you can choose your own offers.

DH and I have a combined income of just under £100k, we have no dependent children, and low outgoings. Somehow I do care very much about the price difference between two cans of beans, because I don't like being overcharged. If beans can be sold at 45p week in week out at Tesco, and really yummy tomatoes for £1 and not £2.10 then I expect that to be the price. I cannot abide being sucked up to by a retailer because I fit their profile and then thoroughly ripped off. It was the theme of "The undercover economist" that fancy coffee with syrup and toppings etc. is priced at well over double the price of a black Americano in some coffee shops because some people just wanted to pay more - in other words exploitation of the naïve and wealthy. Not a group I want to be a member of. The only items I go to Waitrose for are Gluten Free Quorn Sausages, because nowhere else round here sells them.

But jdoe8 This is AIBU! It's never been a fluffy place on the forum :)
There are more posters than me saying 'It's not rocket science. Some people have more money than others....'

If you wanted to put it into some kind of context, like 'How do you shop at WR if you family income is £25k' or whatever that would be valid. But to ask how anyone manages to shop there all the time is a bit errr....lacking in imagination possibly?

Yes, and it definitely is an unreasonable question for the OP to ask as the answer is so obvious. They afford it because they have more disposable income. Simple. It's like asking how people afford houses that cost £5m or Ferraris or whatever. They have more money.

People go to Waitrose because of the status associated with it.

Well that's me told!

Here's me thinking it's because it's my nearest supermarket, I like the food and the staff are nice.

ExC I think you might find that the difference between many of the products balances out. WRose might be more expensive for some items but then TEsco can be for other things.

Not everyone has a cheaper option on the doorstep. My cheaper options are a round trip of almost 30 miles. (Lidl, Asda, Aldi etc.)

I'd rather pay a bit more to save time, not pollute the planet with more diesel fumes, and have a greater choice of products even if it costs me a bit more. I know I'm paying more for some items but we don't eat out or spend much on entertainment, so good food within a 5 minute drive for me is something I feel is worth it.

Anyway the OP didn't ask why people went to Waitrose (my nearest supermarket), but how they could afford it. The first question might have had a range of answers but the second only has one.