I know we're all meant to hate Tesco but....

[JellyBelly10]

... I cannot believe how cheap, and how good, some of their Value range is. It is making a massive diference to my weekly shopping bill, some items are literally a quarter of the price of the things I used to buy. So here's a list of some of the Tesco Basic Value range that I would recommend (just in case anyone else cares about my opinion on this ) :
Cornflakes - 31p for a 500g box (yes that's 31p!!!)
Branflakes - 88p for a 750g box
Yogurts - 33p for 4 (a bit watery, but at 33p I'll put up with that!!)
Flour
-Peanut butter (really good! Cannot tell the difference)
-Apple Juice
-Orange Juice
-Chopped tomatoes (ok a bit full of skin sometimes but they are a third of price, so just pick out the skin!)
-Butter (not that much cheaper than branded alternatives, but you save 20p a pack or so)
-Tomato Ketchup
-Jaffa Cakes
-Eggs...
....ok I got bored putting all the prices in, but they are all dramatically cheaper than the normal Tesco range of similar products! Does anyone have any other suggestions about what I should be trying from the Basic Value range? I'm already buying some of the Tesco Market Value fresh produce such as apples and grapes and peppers and courgettes etc but haven't tried any other of the Basic Value items. What's good and what's awful? I need to reduce costs further, so other recommendations gratefully received.

yy to the lasange sheets too, forgot about those

teabags - buy them and try them - you are only losing 27p if you don't like them. Even if you end up using 2 bags per cup, still massively cheaper.

We've just started buying the value range. No real difference in mine or my DPs opinion. Right now we can't afford to be fussy.

Peanut (87%),Sunflower Oil ,Dextrose ,Vegetable Oil ,Salt.

oops - sunpat peanut butter - Roasted Peanuts,Stabilizer (E471) ,Cane Sugar ,Peanut Oil ,Sea Salt ,Total Peanut Ingredients (95%)

Value bourbon biscuits Wheat Flour,Sugar ,Vegetable Oil ,Fat Reduced Cocoa Powder ,Glucose Syrup ,Dextrose ,Wheat Starch , Raising Agents (Ammonium Bicarbonate, Sodium Bicarbonate) ,Salt ,Flavouring.

Non value bourbon biscuits Wheat Flour,Sugar ,Vegetable Oil ,Fat Reduced Cocoa Powder ,Glucose Syrup ,Dextrose ,Wheat Starch , Raising Agents (Ammonium Bicarbonate, Sodium Bicarbonate) ,Salt ,Flavouring

But then you have Whole Earth Peanut Butter with 96% Peanuts, Palm Oil and Salt. That's it!

Personally, I always check the ingredients and don't just compare the taste. After all, shite usually tastes good thanks to all the additives.

Having said that, I buy a range of things from Tesco Value to Organic from the Health Food Shop. It just depends what it is. For example, I cook from scratch, so a lot of ingredients can be value products. Frozen Value Brocolli is the same as the "normal" one but at £0.68 half of the price for a bag than the other one. Same goes for frozen sweetcorn or peas. The frozen mixed veg is fine as a soup ingredient but not boiles as a side dish. Value potatoes, onion, peppers etc all fine. Kidney beans etc. Everything that doesn't have extra stuff added I buy. Would never buy the value yoghurts though. They're full of rubbish.

Another tip though: Tesco started adding a new range called "Discount Brand" or something. Pricewise it's just over the Value Range but cheaper than the standard Tesco own brand. It's to compete with Aldi and I bet my arse that it's the exact same products Aldi is selling. It's the same price, the same product lines, it tastes the same and is all or mostly anway produced in Germany! Coincidence?!

The E number is in Sunpat - not VALUE.

Which also has SUGAR in...

Whole earth is different as it is marketed as being an organic pure product. the others are not, so not a fair comparison.

I doubt that anyone would be surprised to find that the ingredients of some of the Tesco Value items are not quite as good as the ingredients of vastly more expensive premium brands! But Tesco Value products exist to cater for a section of the market who do not necessarily have the luxury of being able to worry about whether their peanut butter contains 10% less peanuts than Whole Earth Organic. The fact that there is a broadly equivalent product for considerably less money means that people (like me!) can buy them and feed their family at a reasonable cost. If money was no object I doubt I would be buying many of the Value products, however, as DaisyMaisy showed with her Bourbon biscuit example, many of the value items are just the identical products to the Tesco normal range, but are packaged differently to appeal to a different market. For the time being whilst money is very tight I will continue to buy Value products because in relation to their cost, most of them are extremely good products (in my humble opinion!)

Tesco usually have a good deal on quorn and other veggie stuff - sometimes it is the cilled range, sometimes the frozen but there is almost always an offer and it is great as the base for so many things. I go to Lidl for jam and marmalade and celery ( a different variety, much nicer) and chocolate digestives. I fins having a fairly fluid list of recipes, so I can change tack mid shop if something like peppers are on special offer helps keep down costs. Also I always buy the cheapest per gramme/fluid ounce etc. of any product - sometimes the biggest isn't the cheapest.

Tescos value have updated their packaging. It cunningly makes it look more upmarket and I am therefore buying a lot more of it!

Indeed, Toptramp, I'm keeping a careful eye on the prices as I just wonder if they will be going up to equate with the new image. Must admit I feel less of a cheapskate with a trollleyload of the new ones.

I don't normally go to Tesco but did visit this week and after months of shopping nowhere but Aldi, I was actually shocked at all the choice. Wasabi Peas! wow!

I spent a fortune because of all the choice but I have noticed the Aldi prices creeping up recently and a lot of the stuff in Tesco was cheaper than Aldi.

Am loving the new labelling, looks less.... urgh

OMG you dont actually believe that this stuff is the same just re-packaged do you? I've worked and read about food for a few years and it aint the same at all! Yes, certain things are fine like butter (as long as its british) but they have made a brand cheaper by using cheaper ingredients and believing the value toms are the same as a good quality is not true. To sell a product cheap it has to involve purchasing cheaper ingredients which could be from around the world just reading the list doesnt mean its the same. Its also clever packaging too, especially with fruit and veg. On many occassions I've read the weights and they are less. I would say that on many occassions (not all) its false economy. Also read the fat, salt and sugar, cheaper foods contain these.

Dont be too drawn in, sometimes its not cheaper, it can be a inferior product, I also remember Kwiksave starting this brand, wasnt it? It started out with kind of seconds with tinned fruit etc. Now I see stores like Tesco's are trying to Value everything but it must come at a cost - prob to the suppliers, growers, pollution, and our health (fats).

A tomato is a tomato is a tomato

I love Tesco . I love that the extra store has so much variety- clothes/shoes for me and DS, make up, toys, DVDS, household stuff... I was even looking at tellies today and got some luggage and new stuff for the kitchen! it means I can get a whole load of stuff in one go without trailing round other shops.

BEWARE BEWARE TESCO REDUCTIONS Half price offers etc. ALWAYS CHECK
Tesco operate just on the edge of criminality.
One policy is to introduce briefly and temporarily an unusual packet size. Grossly overprice it and then dramatically reduce it. Eg today my local Tesco has " Seriously strong" cheese in 350 gm packs at "half price reduced from £5 to £2.50 "(ie reduced to £7.14 kg) Elsewhere in the SAME STORE the same cheese is available in 200 gm packs not reduced at c £11 per kilo, and (400 gm packs would be less than £10 per kilo) or at delicatessan counter at £8 kilo.

Another dodgy policy is to reduce pack sizes without any indication thus disguising a price increase. Many ready meals once 450gms are now 400 gms etc etc

Also please check your invoices to see that reductions are actually deducted at the check out . They frequently are not.
Tesco continue on the ethical path set by Dame Street Porter. You would be well advised to count your fingers on leaving.

Value eggs are from battery hens kept in tiny cages who are so stressed they have their beaks cut off, without anaesthetic, so that they don't peck the hen next to them. Personally I would rather save up to buy free range and eat eggs less often if necessary.

I buy Tesco value, Sainsbury basics, and Asda smart price. I'm well aware that they aren't the same quality and taste as better brands, and I'm well aware that Tesco's is a dubious multinational corporation aiming for world domination. Sadly I'm one of the people who don't have the luxury of choice. It's the lowest priced food, or go hungry. Sometimes I can afford a little treat in the weekly shop, but not often.

Has anyone tried Tesco value cornflakes ? at 31p for 500g sounds too good to be true, well it is. Once you pour it into a bowl it looks lovely and golden. Upon clearer inspection they are more smaller and rounder than your standard cornflakes on top of that its quite chewy that it even makes your teeth tired. 1/10 (for appearance only)