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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think Waitrose is an obscene rip-off

198 replies

SomeGuy · 07/09/2009 15:09

I know they have lovely food, and you have to pay more for better-quality meat, etc., but surely there is no excuse for this:

Lindemans Framboise 375ml (raspberry beer)
Asda price: £1.64
Waitrose price: £2.19

Chimay bleu (trappist beer)
Asda price: £1.74
Waitrose price: £2.39

These are just bottles on a shelf.

Similarly canned food:

Heinz Spaghetti bolognese 400g
Asda 70p
Waitrose 98p

Toilet paper:

Andrex toilet quilts 9
Asda £4.76
Waitrose £5.35

and I could go on.

OP posts:
noddyholder · 07/09/2009 15:33

I love it mostly!Sainsburys not as good for meat or wine.Food in waitrose so yum thre is no waste.Asda is dire Went to Aldi too to try it and its exciting for 5 mins all the 'new' things but then you realise nothing decent to eat.They have an own brnds basic range which is not £

florence2511 · 07/09/2009 15:33

I love Waitrose. The staff are friendly and willing to help, the aisles are WIDE, they have a fantastic choice of 'different' food and I love their florentines! They are divine. Mine don't even compare so I've stopped making them.

Sainsbury's would be my second choice with Asda right down there at the bottom I'm afraid.

It's also nice
to shop without experiencing any arguements, swearing and fish wives.........

Waiting for the barrage of expletives to come my way

NoahFence · 07/09/2009 15:34

my main aim in the next 6 years is to get ds1 to be a nice young man in wairtrose

Sassybeast · 07/09/2009 15:34

Waitrose ? You commoner. M&S all the way dahling.

wasabipeas · 07/09/2009 15:34

Isn't Asda under fire for using booze as a loss leader to tempt people into the stores?
We don't have an Asda near us, but the only other option to Waitrose is a tesco where the toothpaste comes in those bit plastic security boxes because there are so many shop lifting druggies in there

scroobiuspirate · 07/09/2009 15:35

we don't have a waitrose in devon, never seen one in fact.

mumof2teenboys · 07/09/2009 15:35

I quite like asda

Original poster
SomeGuy · 07/09/2009 15:35

IME Waitrose sells too many poncey ready meals and doesn't have quite as good a selection of game/odd cuts of meat as Sainsburys does. It's fairly close though.

OP posts:
choppychopster · 07/09/2009 15:36

M&S only has ready meals, not really anything you can actually cook.

Original poster
SomeGuy · 07/09/2009 15:36

Waitrose ? You commoner. M&S all the way dahling.

M&S is not posher than Waitrose.

OP posts:
thighsmadeofcheddar · 07/09/2009 15:38

M&S does have things you can cook, not only ready meals. Lots of yummy things.

noddyholder · 07/09/2009 15:38

M&S is very nouveau or as dp calls it full of 'dunalrights'

Lilymaid · 07/09/2009 15:39

There are many branches of Paul in London, Bamboobutton. You need to hassle your DH a little more!

Agree that some items of branded goods may be more expensive in Waitrose than in Asda, but will happily pay a little more in order to do my supermarket shop in one (more pleasant) place.

Original poster
SomeGuy · 07/09/2009 15:39

like ready meals you have to cook yourself for example.

OP posts:
BerylCole · 07/09/2009 15:40

I hate Waitrose. They are the worst offenders for everything having to look lovely. All cherry tomatoes must be the same size and perfectly shiny and round etc. It's a horrible trend in the long, shameful history of Western consumption. Tomatoes aren't supposed to all be blood red and like identical little marbles. They're supposed to taste like tomatoes. This obssession with everything looking lovely and coming heavily packaged in poncearama sleeves with glossy pictures is wank.

NoahFence · 07/09/2009 15:40

the only weak thing about Waitrose is the cake department.
all dry adn 'orrid

stillstanding · 07/09/2009 15:40

I did a vague basket for basket comparison some time ago and found that Waitrose wasn't that much more at all. So we stuck with them mainly because their things don't all go off the day they are delivered (which I found continually with both Tescos and Sainsburys) and because their fruit/veg and meat were so much better. So yes, in my book, YABU

GetOrfMoiLand · 07/09/2009 15:41

Scoobius - am surprised that Exeter doesn't have a Waitrose, it's the kind of city which should have.

Lol at Noah's nice young man in Waitrose. You sound like a teacake-eating old dear.

Asda does sometimes sell cheap booze - bottles of Bailey's for a fiver a couple of months ago.

The only good thing about it really is that Asda sells a load of ethnic food, whhich i normally would have to go to an Indian grocers for so saves me a shopping trip. However, I would prefer to go to the Indian shop though because their garlic herbs and spices are soo fresh and cheap.

Choosparp · 07/09/2009 15:41

Main reason I go to our local Waitrose is their self-scan thingy, which is fab with 3 yo DS in tow. He gets to do scanning which keeps him entertained on the way round, then no long checkout at the end when he's losing the will. Worth a few quid more I reckon.

NoahFence · 07/09/2009 15:42

i know
they do give me a thrill
i so need to get out more.
they call you madam.

Original poster
SomeGuy · 07/09/2009 15:44

I think you are right BerylCole. The tastiest food was when we were doing s/c Zakynthos. We went to greengrocers and picked up some ugly looking local aubergines, tomatoes, peppers, some basil, and then pulled a chicken out of the bottom of a freezer in a cornershop-type place.

Turns out the odd-looking veg were probably all grown locally and far nicer than the tasteless crap we get in this country.

The state of British chicken, even Waitrose ponce brand is dreadful - all overbred with mostrous breasts.

Waitrose sell far too many poncey ready meals. Things like this:

www.waitrosedeliver.com/wdeliver/servlet/JSPs/shop/display_ind_fs.jsp?line_number=022757&prrfnbr=486 68

Utter toss.

OP posts:
Cheepz · 07/09/2009 15:47

did a shop on my supermarket.com recently and expected to find opodo (waitrose) would be much more expensive - actually was cheaper than everywhere except Asda and even then only a fiver more

did pick special deals and mostly buy fresh stuff and not ready meals which are pricier and not so much branded stuff either

but i was surprised and the quality was 10x better - all the fresh stuff lasted alot longer than from tesco

although agree with poster who made comment about marble size cherry tomatos all in a neat little row - they shouldn't all look the same 'it aint nautral' but i can live with it as the quality is so much better

and the stores are clean and not manic like some of the bigger places

NoahFence · 07/09/2009 15:48

less travelled food is bound to be nicer in greece isnt it though?

abra1d · 07/09/2009 15:48

I'd eat that!

TwentiethCenturyHeffa · 07/09/2009 15:50

Scoobius - there are quite a few Waitrose stores in Devon! I live in Okehampton and it's my local supermarket. There are also branches in Sidmouth, Holsworthy, Torquay and Saltash. I think you can even get Waitrose Deliver in Exeter

We also have a Lidl and Somerfield in Okehampton but I've found Somerfield is consistently more expensive than Waitrose so I switch between Lidl/Waitrose depending on what we're buying. I love Waitrose but I've had to learn to tune out all the luxury stuff and just buy the basics.