Supermarket 'budget' products have vanished

[ThrushyFanjo]

Everytime I go into Tesco, Asda, Sainsburys etc I can never find any value, smart price or basics products! Not that I ever really bought that many, but things like beans, toilet roll, yorkshire puddings, cornflakes etc. Plus I would always pick up a few of these to stick in the food bank trolley at the end of my shop. Have other people noticed this?!

I miss the Tesco value range.

Yep, no change I've noticed with Waitrose products. The only basic I regularly buy, other than Waitrose essentials, is kidney beans (Sainsbury basics) and plain yoghurts, and they seem to be available still.
I've noticed the cheese basics packs make you buy more, though. I was puzzling to work out if that was much of a saving really.

They do it because they are low profit products and want to make way for luxury versions or seasonal stuff that sells well before Christmas.

Doesn't help of course if you need or simply want to buy the basics versions, most of which are perfectly fine before people jump on the OP for buying brands for herself but putting basics in the food bank.

Food Banks always say they'd rather have cheaper versions because there's nothing wrong with them and it means they can help more people for the same value of donated goods.

The ones I've noticed with Tesco have been, toilet rolls, paper towels, pedal and swing bin liners.

I have been told (by delivery driver) that Tesco are reducing the number of lines they carry. I've also seen articles about Aldi/Lidl being successful because of lower overheads for reasons that include few lines carried.

We may be looking at less choice.

I miss the Tesco value range. they stopped the whole lot then!

I don't think it's a Christmas thing this year, people in facebook groups have been commenting on this for months now especially in Tesco.

The smoked salmon trimmings have been missing from all supermarkets for several months and my stock of frozen packs is all used up now. What is happening to the trimmings, they must still be being produced, why aren't they being sold anymore?

I can't afford to make meals with salmon now.

I never understand why anybody buys branded products, unless you've tried the own brand version and decided it's rubbish or they're in a promotion that makes them temporarily cheaper than own brand. I could count the number of branded items I regularly buy on the fingers of both hands.

I wonder if there's a ready prepared product that the trimmings are going into Sandy? Salad or pasta dish etc?

I've noticed too hence my nit going to Sainsbury so much at all now. Try and get everything in Lidl.

Waitrose basics aren't the same. They're just non fancy and similar price to other supermarket own brand. Certainly not cheap or like basic brands/ Lidl in price.

Welcome to pre-Brexit Britain. It will get way worse over the next few years.

welcome to the three month christmas. Thank goodness for Aldi where the aisles of tat don't expand over the winter. And the food is good.

if you have anything other than sparkly tat to buy before January, get a move on - availability in shops plummets from now.

Maybe demand has dropped as Aldi type stores have become more widespread?

You're right, ironing. I don't think Waitrose essentials are quite the same.

Yes, it's not just for Christmas. The Tesco basic cleaning products and food bags I used to buy disappeared ages ago...the beginning of this year or before.

I used sp food bags & can't find them anywhere now.

When I saw them in wilkos I bought 10 rolls.

That's very true. I still lament Safeway's budget fish fillet fingers, they were 29p for a box of 10 and so delicious. Better than any that are around now.

I tried to get our usual coleslaw from Sainsbury's today- none. Only fancy, expensive pots that you cannot reseal, so difficult to reuse
No small pots of cottage cheese either-or no value type ones, cheapest was ordinary at £1.40 grrr

They are all still there at Tescos- just under different packaging.

I work for Asda and I know that they routinely go through the figures and work out which ranges are the least profitable.

A few months ago they started streamlining their ranges to just the most popular ones in order to maximise profits and free up shelf space for new/seasonal products and a lot of the basics range weren't being bought and so were the first to go.

I think a lot of it was rebranded - usually you can see own brands - Adsas comes to mind

It has nothing to do with Christmas. Tesco has been sneaking this in since at least last January and I am sure other chains have too. It pisses me right off. There are few "everyday value" products left now. I did manage to get value kidney beans and sultanas last week, but saw little else.

Why NOT blame Brexit? The currency has struggled since the stupid referendum, and imports have become more expensive. My guess is that the supermarkets are preparing themselves for the post-Brexit era, when they may no longer be able to offer the value lines because the costs have risen too much.

Yes. I have noticed this a lot as I shopped heavily from the Sainsbury's Basics items as I found them very good. Those products that they still do, have shrunk in size or quantity significantly too. (4 toilet rolls instead of 6), Basic ready meals - much smaller), Basics noodles...gone :-( The prices are nowhere near as good as they used to be and they think we don't notice :-( There should be a campaign to bring back the Basics range that was so useful.

The big supermarket's like Tesco have rebranded a lot of their value ranges to make them look more attractive and less cheapo just like Aldi who don't market own brands as value. Value ranges are still there but you can't do a whole shop sweep looking for a particular range of packaging because they don't package them that way anymore. A few still remain but there certainly isn't the same range they carried years ago. Look out for anything that ends in 'Farm' and you will be in value range territory.

Also in the run up to Christmas shelves are thinned out of a lot of the essentials and filled with more expensive brand names.

Yes, they are there in Tesco under different packaging and with a different name. Many are also more expensive and not as good.

I opened a pack of Rosedene farm apples last week which I had only just bought. Whilst they looked and felt fine, once the packet was opened they just smelled awful. Like vomit. I threw them out, it was so bad. It doesn't seem to be an isolated incident.