To ask your suggestions what it's ok to cheap out on?

[lettymoo]

I recently saw a thread about things it's worth spending more on to get better quality, but I was hoping to start a discussion about what things it makes absolutely no difference at all with and the lowest priced versions are just as good.

Some of the things I'll buy the cheapest/value version of include:
painkillers
medications
tortilla chips
cleaning products (although I'm starting to wonder about this)
printer paper
disposable razors
cotton wool pads

Would love to hear your suggestions!

I used to buy Aldi cleaning spray stuff for kitchen and bathroom but have ended up buying brands on offer at Asda/where we instead. I found it too watery and too much like hard work actually cleaning with it!!
Apart from that agree!

I religiously buy my clothes from Debenhams - both their own brands and their concessions. But I buy only at 60% to 80% off. So great quality clothes as a damm cheap price.

In terms of food I religiously shopped at Waitrose and M&S (staple shop from Sainsburys) before we bought a house. We have since started shopping at Aldi and tbh I am happy to swap virtually everything!

Bottled water
Coke
Lemonade
Chicken
Mince
Bacon
Salmon
Salami
Cheese
Washing up liquid/conditioner
Hand wash
Laundry detergent
Pizzas
Prawns
All pasta and pasta sauces
Curry sauces
Milk
Fruit juice
Salad
Vegetables
Pickles/Antipasta/Salad Dressing
Kitchen Roll
Loo Roll

What I have tried and isn't worth the switch:
Cleaning products (except bleach)
Cereal
Croissants
Tonic water
Wine
Spirits
Rice
Naan Bread
Soup
Baked Beans

Medicine 100%. Last week put my husband's £4 Lemsip back and replaced it with a pack of £1 "cold and flu" tablets (same active ingredients) and a bottle of squash for him to drink hot after taking them. I'm so caring. 🤣

Value pasta and passata/tinned toms/puree. If you read the labels the whole lot is made in Italy.

Cleaning products are totally a waste of money. Make your own by using old spray bottles. For general cleaning half fill a spray bottle with vinegar (white or dirt cheap malt), add a really good squirt of washing up liquid and top up with water. You can also dissolve 3 tablespoons of soda crystals in a little boiling water and add that mix to the bottle for extra de greasing power and will particularly help if you live in a hard water area.
If you like a nice smelling spray add some essential oil, I use eucalyptus as it is a natural anti bacterial and put about 25ml in.

You can use this for everything, wiping down, cleaning windows and glass mirrors, as a pre treatment for stains on clothes, spray on floors before mopping, anything.
For bathrooms make up the same bottle but also add some bleach if you have mould/ mildew spots.
I never buy cleaning stuff any more.

Rice snaps, I usually buy branded cereal but when buying rice crises it has to be supermarket own brand

Painkillers such as ibuprofen and paracetamol. I'm constantly amazed at people who will pay nearly 3 quid for a packet of ibuprofen. Just because it's called Nurofen,they think it's more effective. You can buy a packet of 16 tablets in Wilkinsons for 39 pence. Likewise paracetamol. Why pay 2 quid for a packet of 12 Panadol when you can get 16 paracetamol tablets for 20 pence in Wilkinsons? If they just bothered to read the active ingredients on the packet,they would see that they are exactly the same!

Pasta. I've honestly not noticed any difference between the supermarket bargain buys and the more expensive brand names.

Baked beans. Supermarket own brands (although not the basic cheap ones) are just the same as Heinz.

if you still get spots, buy 10 sets in cheap 100% cotton and change them daily. I put 5 on at a time and remove one each night. Life changer for my skin

Really? I'll definitely try that (65 and still have acne . . . )

Superdrug own brand shampoo, toothpaste and moisruriser

Astonish cleaning products ( often £1)

Waitrose own brand washing powder and washing up liquid

All Non-Animal Tested .

Toothpaste (as long as it's 1000 ppm fluoride).
Aldi chocolate is better than a lot of brands anyway.
Sparkling water (buy it very occasionally to mix with fruit juice for a fizzy drink) - 17p a bottle.
Flour.
Pasta.
Rice.
Porridge oats (go through a lot of these at home!)
Butter
Cooking oil
Tinned tuna

I recently bought Asda own brand flour instead of smart price, and branded pasta instead of Asda's own as Jamie Oliver said branded pasta was better. All tastes the same to me.

This is going to be a very helpful thread. Thank you.

Disagree strongly on cotton pads (as I like the larger ones that don't disintegrate) and disagree also on tortilla chips as. I like the super fiery ones I haven't found equivalent ones on own brand

Also no way would I swap my Diet Coke for super market cola

I do this with most things. Not tea or sparkling water, which are two favourites in this house and we can tell the difference between brands (and both are better for us than alcohol, so we prioritise them).

My fave thing is dog poo bags, which are quite expensive. But own-brand nappy sacks are 25p and do exactly the same job.

It makes me happy to clean up after my pooch!

I prefer the cheapo tortilla chips.

I disagree about toothpaste. I don't scrimp on that. My teeth still feel furry if I use cheap stuff.

I cheap out on most things. I will only buy branded Fairy Liquid, Yorkshire Tea, Plenty kitchen towel and any branded loo roll.

Waitrose own brand chopped tomatoes and baked beans are the best I've tried, better than Napolina / Heinz.

Yes to tortilla chips - the cheaper ones are better and taste better as they just contain the corn, oil and salt .
Anything from the world food àisle tends to be cheaper or larger quantities - tinned tomatoes , beans, chilli powder etc.

@Snuffalo if I let fairy liquid get on my hands I end up with skin the texture of a cheese grater. However I use the cheapo big bottles of bubble bath and just decant into a squirt bottle, although I'm considering transitioning to bars of soap

For me it's
over the counter medicines like canesten (check active ingredients or ask at counter for the generic version)
salt
sugar
tinned tomatoes
chocolate (Aldi sells the good stuff)

I have to watch a lot of stuff as I have stupid amounts of issues with food so eg gluten, cheese, certain dairy makes me ill so I actually have to stick to a restricted list. Surprisingly, that sometimes works out. I am a diet cola fiend and Aldi cheap cheap cheap 17p per litre is not only gluten free unlike the other supermarket own brands, but it has a lot less caffeine than Coca Cola and Pepsi, the gluten free alternative. I still poison myself, but I poison myself less and cheaper.

Weetabix - basics all the way
Hand wash, toothpaste, all bulk buy from cost co
Mascara all make up other than foundation
Shredded wheat from Aldi

Never cheap out on

Cornflakes
Coffee
Robinson's
Sweeteners

Toothbrush (buy cheap-ish ones and change more often)

Snuffalo but that's more plastic in landfill, no?

However, I love the pillowcase tip!

We love Sainsbury's Basics tea bags in our house (and so do visitors)

Basic veg, eg onions, carrots, peppers, courgettes, cabbage etc etc. Other everyday basics too, eg eggs, flour, sugar, milk, chickpeas, oven chips, natural yogurt. All cleaning products. Lidl every time.

Moisturiser from aldi.
Brilliant thread.

People who cheap out on tinned tomatoes - aaaah! Do you not have functioning tastebuds, or do you just not care? They're graded as they go to be tinned, and the cheap brands are unripe garbage tomatoes while the (not that much more expensive) name brands are actually ripe and red when they're processed.

Can someone link to the thread with things that are worth spending money on!?

Happy for cheap versions of almost everything but have a few major exceptions:

Mayonnaise- anything apart from Hellman’s is completely the wrong texture/consistency/ colour
Beans - got to be Heinz
Ketchup - ditto

@TwigTheWonderKid more toothbrushes in the landfill is a fair point, but I'll try to cut back elsewhere for the sake of my teeth! And to be fair I usually keep a stash of the old ones for cleaning tile ground and around the faucets, etc.