Food snobbery

[Feckingfeck]

DM always buys "good eggs" I mean nearly £4 a box from Waitrose. I ate one. Wasn't really too impressed- I mean not sure what I could hope for from an egg really?!

What things do you insist on buying branded?

Are there things you simply wont skimp or get own brands of?

AIBU to think any free range egg is just the same as the next?

I ate Sainsburys Free Range Organic eggs as opposed to just Free Range the other day and was surprised they tasted much better where as I used to think an eggs an egg!

I mostly buy stores own brand of everything but the following I always buy brand:
Heinz ketchup
Dairy gold butter
Taytos
Fairy Liquid
Clonakilty sausages

Eggs, we have our own chickens and they are way nicer than any shop bought ones. All the meat if from the butchers who sources it all locally (inc from us!)
I have always bought the middle of the road tinned toms, I might try the more expensive one see if I can tell. I don't buy many processed foods at all (sometimes a pizza) so maybe that's why brand doesn't matter.

Whilst you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear you can make a jolly tasty meal on the cheap. The exception is food that is not going to be altered except for the cooking: steak, smoked salmon, prawns, chops, etc. Having said that good quality pasta is better than economy but less so in a pasta bake than served with shellfish.

For any Heinz tomato ketchup devotees, the Waitrose essentials one is much nicer and came out on top in the blind tests on Eat Well For Less. I was sceptical but thought we’d give it a go, and haven’t looked back.

I had the egg debate with my husband often. There is one brand I prefer because they taste better and spit less in the frying pan. Eggs vary depending on what a chicken is fed so it’s not as simple as one egg is the same as another. He complained they were more expensive, I pointed out the stuff we buy for him that’s more expensive and he hadn’t complained since.

I prefer Heinz branded sauces, have tried others but I don’t like them. Branded cereal tends not to be so soggy. I can afford not to skimp so I don’t. If I was skint I’d put up with the non brands. Some of the Aldi knock offs are better than brands so we use them.

After trying some Tesco value crisps someone staying with me left in the cupboard I feel no guilt buying Walkers or Kettle or other branded crisps - those Tesco ones were vile. Also Heinz's baked beans. Hellman's mayo. Fairy liquid. I also prefer the branded cereal not the own brand copies.

Happy to buy most basic generic food from Laldi. Like other posters, I'm financially able to buy high welfare animal products which we do. We also try to only buy seasonal fruit and vegetables produced in the UK, which does keep costs down too. I can't really think of anything that I find significantly better as a branded good, and I really love cooking (and eating), but we don't buy much pre-prepared stuff which I imagine might be different - I would pay extra for example for things that didn't include palm oil or high fructose corn syrup for example.

I’m really not fussed for most branded products since I started shopping at aldi and realised their versions are usually just as good, if not better. I wouldn’t buy own brand sauces like Mayo, ketchup, bbq etc or own brand beans (only Heinz) before I tried Aldi’s. Other supermarkets own versions aren’t up to scratch imo but Aldi’s just are.

The only thing I won’t buy cheap is Diet Coke/Pepsi max which I don’t drink often.

I don't like Heinz products at all. We don't use ketchup, but I far prefer Branston beans and Baxters, M&S or Waitrose tomato soup.

I don't consider myself a snob in any respect, but I love food and certain food items are worth paying extra for in my opinion - if you can afford to! I would include eggs in this as I eat a lot of eggs and I honestly could tell the difference in the more expensive eggs so your mum is right, the yolk does taste better! I buy lots of own-brand products though, do most of my shopping at Aldi and Lidl.

@tkwal
You can buy poulet de Bresse in the UK for £35 in fact, still very expensive of course but quite a bit less than 50 quid.
Might be worth it for a very special meal or if you are adept at the Mumsnet chicken stretch. 😉

Lidl is actually really good food.

My own rating is as follows:

Home grown
Local Organic farmers market or local butcher/fishmonger
Waitrose
Lidl
Harvey Nichols for treats
Costco
Sainsbury's
Asda
Marks and Spencer's
Aldi
Iceland

Sorry had that in list format but Mumsnet isn't doing those today it seems.

Ooh, where? I would very happily buy that for a treat meal. Less than a takeaway for us all.

I am no food snob and I am skint but I still buy organic free range eggs. They absolutely DO taste better.

Mutti passata and heinz salad cream

I can’t abide food snobbery. My best friend through childhood had an extremely snobby mother. I remember she came for a sleepover once and her mum had packed a loaf of bread from an independent bakery in her bag because she didn’t want her eating “cheap, yucky crap” that “our lot” had. She also asked my mum not to give her any frozen food as it was “unhealthy crap”. It really upset my parents because we didn’t have a lot of money and she knew this. They wouldn’t have minded so much if she’d have been polite about her preferences.

I broke the rules and in the middle of the night and made us both a sandwich with our cheap, yucky bread. My friend loved it (she said she liked how soft the crusts were), she’d often ask if we could swap sandwiches at lunchtime 😂
Sadly, she passed away a couple of years ago after a 15 year battle with anorexia so whenever I make a sandwich with cheap yucky bread now I always think of her and smile.

However, I am a giant hypocrite because baked beans MUST be Heinz.

Some things are false economy when cheaper e.g. washing up liquid own brands are always more watery and therefore you get through the bottle quicker.

I can tell the difference with meat - a chicken from the butcher is must nicer than the supermarket for example, but its a treat purchase as we cant afford to buy them regularly.

I agree with your DH. Cheap eggs taste nasty, very watery. I love the ones in a blue box in Aldi, they have a very rich taste. Brand wise, there’s only a few things I really like and haven’t found anything as good. Lurpack, Pringles, taste the difference Sainsbury’s bacon (I loathe cheap bacon), warbutons seeded bread, warbutons crumpets and McCains chips. Most other things I’m fine with.

Elbow Grease washing up liquid is cheap and very good. Under a pound for a big bottle in Home Bargains.

I find Heinz standard baked beans very sweet so I have switched to their No Added Sugar ones which we like as they're more 'beany'.
Reading what PPs have said, I'd give Branston ones a go if they had a NAS variety instead of just 'reduced sugar and salt'.

Your DM is wating her money.
I get half a dozen organic free range eggs delivered once a week from a farm two miles away- £1.50, no delivery charge.
They are much taster and fresher than supermarket eggs.

I agree about the orange yolks tasting nicer! They have a lovely rich taste (in my opinion anyway!) And I agree about buying eggs that have higher welfare standards - I’m totally on board with that.

We’ve been buying organic milk since I found out how much better the welfare is for organic dairy cows than regular - apparently they live much longer as well. For only a few pence more it seems worth it.

We buy free range eggs as well, although I realise for the last year or so it hasn’t really made a difference.

Everything else we just buy cheap. Buying more expensive fruits and vegetables etc. never seems to have made a difference taste-wise.

I think deep orange yolks are delicious but I'm not sure if it's psychological.
Only thing I can think of where I have to have a certain brand is Heinz tomato sauce - I don't like much sauce anyway, just a bit on chips, but own brand sauces make me gag.