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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

UPF's at M&S!

29 replies

Tesseracted · 28/10/2024 17:09

We are having a laugh going down memory lane, remembering Findus crispy pancakes and other 'junk' from our teens, and then I googled them to see if they were still around.
Well yes they are, and I was surprised by the lack of crap in the ingredients compared to much more expensive stuff from M&S.

Have noticed so much unnecessary, awful ingredients in M&S food this past year, and just can't work out why they're doing it. Some of their bread packs in more 'E' numbers, emulsifiers and palm oil than cheap and cheerful packet loaves in Heron foods.
A box of coated chicken/fish bites are swimming in crap, even though a handful of them will set you back close to £5.

Always considered M&S the ones to trust for 'nicer' goods, previously. It's as if they've gone full pelt down the UPF rabbit hole with no hope of a return. There isn't much difference now between what you will find in cheap frozen nuggets and an M&S 'special'.
Sad to see it really, as have always loved shopping there, but there are so few options that are palm oil free now, from ready meals, to bread, to basically anything that isn't raw.

Here are the ingredients to the Findus cheesy pancakes (we all know they're crap, but compare the price and ingredients to a 'higher quality' product from M&S):

Findus Pancake £2.50 - Water, Wheat Flour, Breadcrumbs (Fortified Wheat Flour (Wheat, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Yeast, Wheat Gluten, Paprika, Salt, Turmeric, Dextrose), Pasteurised Whole Egg, Vegetarian Mozzarella Cheese (Milk) (3%), Skimmed Milk Powder, Vegetarian Emmental Cheese (Milk) (2%), Salt, Sunflower Oil, Natural Colour (Beta Carotene)

Compared with M&S Haddock Fingers £4.75:

Haddock (Fish) (56%), Wheatflour contains Gluten (with Wheatflour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Water, Rapeseed Oil, Wheat Starch (contains Gluten), Salt, Raising Agent: Sodium Bicarbonate, E450, E503, Palm Oil, Maize Flour, Sunflower Oil, Dextrose, Yeast, Wheat Gluten, Colour: Paprika Extract, Emulsifier: Sunflower Lecithin

It's grim isn't it?

OP posts:
buffyspikefaith · 28/10/2024 20:20

hazelnutvanillalatte · 28/10/2024 18:16

I agree but I do think a lot of things are better quality - look at M&S sausages compared to Aldi for example, the ingredients are shocking in the Aldi ones

Depends which you're buying surely
The Aldi ones I get are 90% pork or they also have heck ones
Most supermarket sausages are pretty crappy and you have to actively seek out the higher meat ones

buffyspikefaith · 28/10/2024 20:22

@Singinginthespring they do stock ingredients! Meat, fish, veg, fruit, dairy, spices...
I don't feel it's designed as a main food shop though but then it isn't a supermarket so

hazelnutvanillalatte · 28/10/2024 20:32

I'm just comparing the ones I bought in my local shop and when I checked the ingredients they were really bad, I didn't get these ones specifically

ToxicKat · 28/10/2024 20:58

M&S food is really rank nowadays. The food is watery, tasteless and with weird gritty crunchie bits. I can't even touch any of it anymore sadly, just the latest in long line with quality going downhill and prices going up

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