Sainsburys basic. Any recommendations?

[fudgelover]

I need to cut my food shopping bill. Each week I seem to spend more and more. I shop at sainsburys,just because that is the one nearest to me. Can anyone recommend any of the sainsburys basic range.

All the fruit and veg (fresh and frozen) are great.

Is there an Aldi near you? Cheap and great IMO.

All the cleaning products.

Chopped tomatoes/ tinned sweetcorn.

We've used the shampoo and conditioner occasionally too.

strawberries and naan bread

The baby shampoo and basics shower gel. They are really good value. I use the baby shampoo as a shower gel.

Fishfingers. Dirt cheap and made of sustainable fish.

the mozzarella is good and i use the basic 'italian hard cheese' instead of parmesan for cooking

Cheese, garlic bread, tinned fruit, salmon fillets (but choose carefully).

Pretty much most things. The only one I wouldn't buy again is their lasagne sheets.

Fresh fruit, frozen fruit, juice, pizzas, pitta bread, tinned toms & tinned red kidney beans.

The rice is fine if you rinse it well.

The pasta, juice, dried noodles, tinned tomatoes, fruit and veg (including tinned), and pitta bread, are all good.

Apparently the shaving foam is OK, the chocolate is great. The only peculiar things are the tea-bags. And I've never found a washing up liquid as good as Aldi, or Fairy.

The Basics biscuits are fab, especially cookies, digestives, and Jaffa cakes.

Tinned tomatoes, fruit and veg - especially the large bags of potatoes. The kids like the 'weetabix' too.
I think the value bread is grim though.

And baked beans! Very, very good, and less salt and sugar than some expensive brands.

Oh yes their biscuits are great too. Rice and dried noodles are also ok.

Avoid their rice krispies though.

Biscuits, fruit & veg, bread is ok, pitta bread is good. I'm not massively keen on basic range pasta but it's fine at a pinch.

I don't think I've tried anything from the Basics range that was bad actually. It's probably worth "downgrading" most things as an experiment and then "upgrading" again for the things you don't like so much.

The chocolate is fab.

The salmon is good. All the fruit apart from the strawberries.

2nd the fishfingers, strawberries and blueberries (infact all fruit/veg)

I get the 'weetabix' for dd 2.4yr as it's less sugar.

I've previously drunk the basic instant coffee possibly not suitable if you a coffee 'snob' that comes in a 'bag' but our local seems to have discontinued it.

Cat has the basic's cat food.

DH has the basic chocolate mouses though he's not fussy and the amount he can polish off, I can only justify that cost!

Sanitary towels always been ok, for light use.

The spagetti is fine as is the pasta, just needs a bit longer cooking.

I've got the small cartons of apple juice too, but am bit wary of that after reading something on here as whilst it has less sugar got the dodgy sweetners, but dd has it as a 'treat'.

I will at a push when skint buy the basic ham for sandwiches and also the diced fresh chicken pieces, however, do struggle to buy some of the other basics fresh meat, however, that's probably down to just my preference as it's not as if we buy everything 'organic' or 'free range' anyway so sure the welfare of the animals is the same.

Used the basics prawns in a fish pie, they were fine, also recall basic trout fillets used to be nice, not sure if they do them anymore.

I've probably tried most of the basic's range at some point or other.. only thing I think I'd avoid from albeit poor memory is the soup, it was horrid.

Go for it!

But don't go feeling so virtuous about your savings that you end up buying a tray of 12 iced doughnuts for £2.50 from the bakery.

It is surprising, just how many you can eat before the 'Best Before' date..

Agree with sleepyhead

Do a basics shop- by everything you need from the cheap range. Try it all. Rate it, whilst looking at the amount you have saved. Make note of what you wouldn't buy again ( and let us know!).

Even if you actually bin the odd thing, I bet It'll all be quite acceptable and the pence you chuck because say the value cuppa soup was yuk will not be many.

interesting to see the cross posts!

weetabix and yes it was salmon not trout...

Grated cheese, soft cheese, mozzarella, part baked baguettes

The basic houmous is lush!
So are the Savoury Crackers.. They're like Tuc.

Don't buy the basics dishwasher tablets, they are hopeless.

I buy quite a few basics products and most are very good.

tinned tomatoes, baked beans, fish fingers & fruit & veg. All cleaning products are fine too.

I managed to get to Sainsbo's yest (I make it about once every 2 years currently, I was going about once every 3 months at one stage) and did my big "stock up" shop on lots.

I always find the fruit and veg good. I usually get about 10 tins of tomatoes, but I swopped a few for cartons of chopped tomatoes this time so will have to report on those later.

I always get a few boxes of lasagne sheets - perfectly fine for proper lasagne (but not great for open-lasagne type dishes where you pre-cook the sheets).

Gin and vodka are great for making my infusions (sloe gin, rhubarb vodka, limoncello, etc) - cheap and plenty of sugar in the mix cuts the roughness.

I;ve got the lamb breast before which was lovely (just couldn't find it yesterday) - I usually unroll it and stuff it before slow roasting. The Pork shoulder looked nice (but I'm not in the mood for pork this week).

The various biscuits I have tried were all grand.

I can't remember anything else offhand, but I know there's never been anything I've thought "won't buy that again".

You just don't get those decent basics down here.

(I also tend to stock up on the Sainso own brand things like 2kg bags of spaghetti, 4kg bags of rice, lots of biscuits, various sauces, boxes of wine and plenty of other things while I am there - my credit card does not like these trips, but breathes a sigh of relief in the weeks afterwards! ).

Dishwasher tabs are fine, Brie and Camembert, fromage frais, tinned tuna..... I buy loads of the basics range. Would only avoid the Rice Krispies, tea and coffee, tinned soup, and some of the processed meats. Saves a fortune.