Basics/value etc foods

[cheapo]

For breakfast this morn i had asda smartprice bran flakes,no difference from the usual asda bran flakes and they where only 71p! Been thinking of buying more from this range and the others (Basics,Value,Bettabuy etc).

Just wondered what others got from these ranges which were really good and what wasnt so good.

Strawberries are always a good one, because they are often smaller and hence have more flavour. In fact, any kind of fruit or veg where the reason they're marked down is because they're not the 'perfect' shape and size. Personally I like a mixture of different sized carrots....

my dh used to work for one of the major retailers and he said that some of it is exactly the same product, and is only cheaper due to less fancy packaging.

we shop in sainsbury's and i buy their basics salmon fillets for use in fishcakes/risotto etc, and also their potatoes and tomatoes. only difference is the sizing. also the tinned toms and pulses are good, but not baked beans...too much juice and not enough beans.

Yep fruit and veg is usually due to size and shape, tesco value bananas often have fair trade stickers on them but are not the right shape. I get carrots and other fruit too. Nice apples at the moment.

Oats are good too for porridge.
Honey is fine.

I wouldn't get value highly processed foods like biscuits as cheaper ingredients may be used like hydrogenated fats. But check the ingrediendts, they may be fine.

I work in the food industry and many of the top brand producers also manufacture the supermarkets' value ranges along with the other own brand products. Recipes may vary but it's still food so has to fill all the criteria quality wise as any other food.

Agree with the tinned stuff too like tomatoes and pulses, but the baked beans are not so good!

tesco value chocolate moose is currently better than the non value one with regard to taste and recipe, I know coz a very good friend works for the suppliers. It is just the labelling as lardymardy said.

value dark chocolate is also good, esp asda smart price.

Not quite Green & Black's, but.....

Thanks for replys,I thought it was something to do with the packaging in most cases. Just thought this was quite a good money saving thread. x

just started a thread about this! am doing it for lent, want to see how much I save

Wheres your thread Vacua?

yay you found it

well what got me interested was something on moneyexpert website, forget actual name of it, and it was talking about this artificial tier of tesco/asda own brand, tesco/asda finest/special and tesco/asda cheapo

I thought 'waitrose do not do this thing' and checked it out at tesco

my observation for today is that tesco value cereal bars are lower in fat and calories than the normal tesco 'healthy eating' range and about 2/3 of price - like 40p for 6 (or was it 60p for 4?) anyway they are nice, the apricot ones

how did the tesco value cereal bars compare to the waitrose ones?

I can't tell any difference

I like the tesco value ones more because they have fewer calories?

sainsbury's basics weetabix are not good imho but fruit and veg all fine

Good - salmon fillets (just odd shapes and
sizes

• tin toms
• chocolate, esp good in cooking such as choc chip cookies
• new poatoes (odd sizes)

Not good - washing up liquid

lol - I meant price wise! It would be interesting to see tesco/adsa cheepo / value / waitrose prises.

just checked, waitrose cereal bars £1.05 for 5

Value peppers! 5 or6 for about £1 rather than 68p each. Sort through the bags until you find one with mostly red in. I second Sainsburys basic salmon fillets- DP and I just had one each for tea for total cost of £1.61

Oh yes peppers are great too!

that probably confirms my view of waitrose! (where I have never shopped). I stick to tesco then

dish cloths / sponge scourers / microfibre cloths are also fine

thin bleach is the same as any other thin bleach

value choc digestive biscuits are yummy
actually i find all the value biscuits / custard creams / rich tea / bourbons / digestives the same as non value ones

flour is flour IMO

plain natural yogurt is fine IMO too
butter is the same IMO
Coleslaw is the lowest calorie around (my grandmother buys it for this proeprty and grates extra carrot in)

frozen sweet corn is the same IMO

as is tinned tomatoes / tom puree
tinned tuna the same IMO
butter is the same IMO
pickle is yummy
mixed fruit jam is perfectly edible
chocolate

Tesco value tuna pasta bake ready meal has NO crap and only normal kitchen ingredianst and tastes nice

Things i dont do:

I dont do anything value with pork / chicken due to animal welfare reasons... saying that i dont do normal with those things either, has to be at least british pork / F-R chicken

Ketchup / salad cream
squash has aspartane in (i dont do that!)
washing up Liq (too thin)
corn flakes (yuk)
coffee

(having said all that im a waitrose fan and normally shop there )

Basics tuna (can't remember if it was Tesco or Sainsbury) was definitely not worth it. It reminded me of that pink slurry that is cheap, cheap, cheap cat food. So disgusting that I actually threw it away.

Basic tinned tomatoes very good, also basics fizzy water.

I used to always have branded cereals, now hardly ever do (although I agree on cornflakes), had tesco and netto sugarpuffs recently and they are just the same.
Tesco baked beans (not value - haven't tried them) are nicer than heinz - but then I think the sauce in Heinz is too thick.

the thing about waitrose is, well animal rights and sustainable fishing and so on - just saw that Tesco £1.99 chickens thread and stomach lurched a bit at the thought

waitrose, m&S and co-op all come out quite well where meat and fish are concerned and also don't sell clothes that are made by children with fingers missing due to dangerous machinery and so on

argh am talking self out of own special new project

Tesco Value Face Wipes - very nervous about this as skin is a bit of a sensitive nightmare, however used one this morning and face has not fallen off yet. Skin feels a bit dry though.