Shopping: Smartprice, Value, Basic brands

[3cherubs]

I am interested to hear what you all think: I have no real problem with buying some things the cheapest I can get (depends what it is of course!) but I do know people who would not be seen dead buying ASDA Smartprice, for example, even though money is seriously tight.

What do you think?

I buy some things but draw the line at the meat.We don't eat much anyway so don't spend too much on that.I actually prefer cheap beans!

well, food and things i generally buy organic.
But if i was seriously skint then I wouldn't mind things like potatoes, apples etc... but would be wary about packets and tins etc
having read some threads on here there are some pretty manky things in the basic economy tinned goods

also, am veggie.. but when i was little my parents were really not well off, but my mum used to do amaxing things with cheap cuts of meat!

It's fine, it really is. No tins, packets and processed foods are made from nice bits anyway, you might as well get it cheap. The veg is usually just slightly odd shaped, ditto the fruit.

yes but you will find that for example, tins of economy tomato soup have far less tomato, and more water and preservatives and things than a heinz tomato soup

sainsburys economy soup contains sweeteners (what for?) whereas campbells doesn't

no to potatoes (value ones) had em for about 6 months they didn't come out v nice. rather have the 80p bag instead.

yes yes yes to value sausgae! lol - went posh this month on those - big mistake! lol finest was def not better for us.

we have cheap tinned or own brand most things except soup - becuase the own brand soup is shite.
beans, tomatos, taters, noodles - oodles of noodles 8p baaaaaaaaaaargain. hotdog sausage, fruit.

if people are buying out of poshness then they are up their own bottoms, however there are genuinly own brand stuff that doesn't taste nice ( coffee for example)

sausahge burgers retc vile! you're getting hardly any meat (as little as 30% in some)
the rest will be water, and bulking agents

I like bulking agents.

i prefer smart price orange juice cos it has less sugar and i bought smart price passata the other day instead of own brand cos it has less salt. i also am quite happy with smart price fruit in bags, correct me if im wrong but the reason its cheap is cos they are not all uniformm pieces and tbh i dont really care about apples all being the same size. couldnt buy smart price cereal tho, crunchy nut cornflakes have got to be kelloggs

TEASCO VALUE - A COLDITZ ASSESSMENT

Coffee is naff
Soup is naff
Tea isn't great
Some cereals are naff (cornflakes) some are fine (rice crispies and porridge oats)
Lager makes a fab shandy in summer
Sausages are nice
Frozen white fish = lovely fish pie
Fish kievs are lovely and I have only seen them in Tesco Value range
The chocolate is at least as nice as Dairy milk and the whole nut one is much much nicer.
Peanut butter is fine
All the fruit and veg is fine, sometimes the mushrooms are chestnut mushrooms, and these are fab.
Brown bread is crap
White bread just tastes like normal white bread=naff
Value mince is false economy if you drain the fat off
Value beef shin is lovely stewed
Value chicken looks grey
Value lamb is still bloody dear
Value tinned veg are the same as all the others, IMHO

*Disclaimer - - All the reviews given here are subject to the memory, cooking ability and pregnancy cravings of Colditz--**

i like cheapo burgers and dont like the others - i cannot eat cheapo chicken, i just cant do it. i eat cheapo thin sausages.

only buy branded bread. value bread is rank.
value other consumables like deoderant, shampoo, wipes, cleaning products - except loo blue. i like proper loo blue.

i'll happily buy tins and packets of smartprice stuff (although the tomato soup leaves a lot to be desired, easily fixed with a bit of worcester sauce and milk i find). i dont like cheap bread, its nasty and stale. i buy asda eggs and meat (when i cant be arsed to go to the butchers) (although i did finally talk myself into trying a smart price chicken and it was fine). but i do buy good coffee, (i love my coffee) and good shampoo etc, my hair is dry enough as it is, i couldnt get a comb through it the last time i bought cheap. i would say 90% of my trolley is asda or smartprice. do they still make "no frills" stuff? now that was horrible. i also look on the end of aisle slightly damaged box stuff.

i dont care what people think when they look in my trolley, if it tastes ok then i'll buy it, i buy a lot of fresh stuff anyway. i had a friend who would not set foot in asda at all. well, if she had the money to spend elsewhere all fair and good to her. people really care about image when buying food? why?