Having read the thread listed in the main OP I am going to admit something very embarrassing and would like some help.

[NotABanana]

This thread

Someone once told me that just because something is organic doesn't mean it is healthy. I just assumed it was.

I never buy any value/smart price food though I do buy own brand stuff sometimes. When I see trollies filled with the bargain own brand food I wonder who is the mug - me for paying for a name or them for buying substandard food? And that is the point - cheap own label and basic own label might be fine, how would I know?

It is just another thing I missed out on learning through growing up without a mother and not having anyone to ask.

Our food bills have come down a little since I started shopping with Ocado to try and save on diesel costs, but as a family of 3 children, 2 adults, 3 hamsters, 5 fish and a cat, our bill could easily be £130 if I bought enough food for the week, sometimes even more. I am not good at buying enough though and usually run out of somethings in the week.

I have also just thrown away 7 apricots, half a punnet of blackberries and half a bag of grapes as they were starting to go mouldy.

Help!

What is it you want help in?

A lot of value products are pretty much the same as the branded equivelant, they are certainly not 'worse' or defective in any way. Take oats for example, they aren't going to be less nutritious just because they are cheaper and not branded or own label are they?

I work in the food industry, and have close friends who work for companies that make supermarket stuff, and believe me a lot of the time it is identical stuff. It's certainly not sub-standard.

A lot of supermarket own brand jam, including the value stuff, for example, is made by the company that also make Bon Mamman, now obviously the recipes are not all the same, but the fruit they use is. I don't buy value jam as it has a high sugar content but I'm just illustrating that it isn't made with lower quality goods, just a different recipe.

Value bananas and apples: not substandard, just funny shapes, too small or big or bent etc.

I'm happy to answer any more specific questions you have if I can

And yes, organic doesnt = healthy. It just means that what pesticides can and can't be used on the crops is regulated. So organic chocolate or organic doughnuts are just as unhealthy as their non-organic equivalents.

Take digestive biscuits as another example, last I heard McVitties make them all anyway, all of them ,even the value ones, so why fork out over a pound for a packet wrapped in McVitties wrapping when you can get the same things for 40p or less?

In these cases it is the branding you are paying for, not a superior good.

Another good way of telling if a cheap own label is fine is to read the ingredient list and compare it with the branded product. If you don't like the look of what's in the list, stear clear of it. If it seems almost identical, try it and see what you think.

Many big brands have deals with Tesco where they have to produce Tesco's opwn label product or value product in order to get their own product on the shelves too.

Try the next label down. So if you buy Organic just because you think it is better (and not because of personal belief) then try the next cheapest. You don't have to drop right down to Value beans straight away

I buy free range meat when I can, if not then I go for British, if I am really strapped I will go for the offers. All are OK, I do believe free range tastes better. I won't buy frozen meat as in frozen pork chops - there is no point as I think you can get just as good for the same money fresh then freeze at home in portions of your choice.

Also do a comparison of Ocado with Sainsburys. I was suprised to find some good deals, I usually shop at Tesco as that is the local Store. I also get a few bits from Waitrose, but not the big weekly Shop.

Sainsburys beat Tesco on some suprising stuff and I find most things a really good deal.

Fruit and Veg. Look into going to the Market or a local farm shop. Ours are really good, much fresher and a good choice - and they let you taste the Grapes

I second the value fruit and veg. When I was weaning DD I bought value avodcados from Tesco. They are small so you can get 4 for £1. They are already ripe so just what I needed. The few times I splashed out on a big one it was invariably hard and then black in the middle when it was soft enough (and too big for DD to eat in one day!)

Hope that helps. I wish I could follow a meal planner but I am often not in the mood for what I have planned, they are meant to really help with the budget though.

There is nothing wrong with the value stuff, it just isn't the right size to conform to a narrow range of sizes. With strawberries in Sainsburys, for example you get a mixture of massive ones and teeny ones.

Also they save money on the packaging so it looks cheap but what is inside isn't any better.

Some of the organic stuff is better for you but some things aren't worth it. I have read recently that organic milk is worth getting as are organic carrots. Pick and chose what you bother to buy organic

I tend to steer clear of the more processed value products with long ingredient lists, so wouldn't buy value sausages for example (would rather open a tin of chickpeas) but for unprocessed foods like rice, oats, flour, muisli, tinned pulses and tomatoes (but not baked beans) you can't go wrong really.

I buy a lot of value stuff, and i save a fortune. I think it is a case of picking and choosing, as some are better than others.

Biscuits are exactly the same, and value fruit is great as it is ripe already.

I don't as a rule buy value meat, but pasta, kitchen rolls, chopped tomatoes, beans - you name it I've tried it.

Give it a go, if you just pick up one or two you could trial it.

I have started meal planning and it has brought our food shopping down. It also makes it easier to decide what to cook in the evening as well!

I think some things are more worthwhile getting organic than others. For instance I always buy organic milk because of the volume of hormones and anti-biotics that are pumped into the cows producing non-organic milk. If you don't have budget restrictions then organic meat is better than non-organic for the same reasons.

I don't worry too much about veg being organic because most of the pesticide residue will be on the surface and I wash and/or peel the fruit and veg anyway.

I do tend to spend quite a lot on bread, although I don't worry too much whether it's organic or not. I find that cheap bread doesn't taste as good because they use poorer quality soft flour and flour improvers instead of hard flour. If I was on a budget though I wouldn't be as fussy, especially as we often end up throwing a fair amount away.

In trying to cut costs of food shopping no way could I use Ocado, although the food is lovely at Waitrose .

I use home-brands for rice, biscuits, tea, some cereals etc. I try a swap on something every shop.

Do you food plan for the week? I've started to food plan in the last months as that way I only buy what I plan to use so I don't end up wondering what to make with aubergines and a kumquat left in the fridge.

The alternative might be to have a delivery every 6 days, not 7, or maybe could you alternate with one of the other supermarkets like Sainsburys which only charge £2.50 for a midweek delivery or use Tesco codes, which can be found online, which give money off shopping which covers the delivery cost?

Nowt wrong with value peppers, strawbs, sanitary towels, rubber gloves (I am experimenting with value products too atm, thanks to our own personal credit crunch).

Would not buy value meat fish eggs or cheese.

Also never again value all purpose cleaning cloths - fell to pieces very quickly.

I happily buy "own brand" lots of stuff (Sainsbos non-bio washing powder has a lovely smell).

Brands do count sometimes. I'm not talking about status or anything, but there are differences in what's actually in the product.

Someone mentioned digestive biscuits, saying that McVities make them all. I've never heard that and can't comment on whether it's true, but not all digestives are the same. I don't buy any product with hydrogenated fat in, and many biscuits contain that. I rarely buy biscuits anyway, but if I do, I buy a brand that doesn't contain hydrogenated fat or other nasties.

Same with tinned tomatoes, some contain loads of water. If you want watered down tomatoes for fewer pennies that's fine, as long as you know there might actually be a difference between one product and the next. Knowledge is key.

So my message is don't necessarily buy branded goods, just read the labels and make each decision on an individual basis.

If I'm buying fruit and veg in the supermarket, I buy class 2-3 stuff- just as good, just different shapes and sizes, which can actually be quite useful. Same or things like white fish portions. Some often the meat is not so good, the cuts can be a bit rubbish and we only buy lean mince. Some tinned things not so good- tinned fruit is often in syrup not juice, so I don't buy that. Just check for bulking ingredients on packaged things, and some things have more sugar
I have personally found my shopping cheaper at Sainsbury's than Tescos- but it probably depends upon what you buy. We are on a very tight budget and I don't buy ready made anythings unless they are on a fantastic offer.Basics pasta, own brand wholewheat pasta is great, their cereals are good, too. And the cartons of concentrated juice, which we really dilute for the children anyway.
Soft fruits I buy on offer and freeze in the trays they come in, that way we don't waste them.
Sainsbury's home brand reduced sugar jam is really good, too.
We spend around 200 pounds a month in total on food and cleaning stuff etc. for the four of us. HTH

Agree with not buying things with crap like hydrongenated fat. I always buy tuna steak not chunks as the chunks are false economy, like ecoworrier says, choose carefully, and you can make great savings.

I buy washable dishcloths.

Some value products aren't as good as the label stuff, but often it's fine just hasn't passed the quality control demands of the premium stuff.

I wouldn't buy value meat, bread, baby wipes, loo roll or yoghurts but I buy a lot of value stuff, especially fruit juice, tinned goods (I just check it's not got anything added to it) and things like kitchen roll. I prefer decent cheese (I find the value stuff very rubbery) but don't eat much of that anyway so a decent block lasts a while. If I don't buy value stuff I buy own brand rather than premium lavel stuff.

I do insist on Hellman's mayonnaise though, no other will do

I buy non-branded basics such as tinned tomatoes for cooking with (bearing in mind Eco's post!) and kidney beans because very often the only difference is that the contents may vary in size, eg a giant tomato and several weeny ones; same for beans etc. You need to experiment, some own/value brands are much better than others, then keep a note of the decent ones. At least if a value brand turns out to be rubbish, you haven't wasted too much money!!

I don't buy value bread as I find it pretty awful but I spotted that supermarket own-brand organic bread seems to be a good price. I've not been in the UK since Easter but Istr then that a Sainsbury/Tesco organic loaf was between 89-99p, much cheaper than branded bread.

Those double roll loo rolls seem to be the best value for money. We bake our bread, and there are usually some bogofs on good quality yoghurts etc. I like the sainsbury's french mayonnaise best!I'm going to stop now or I'll end up being nominated on one of those boring mnetters threaDS!

its true about mcvities, also foxes biscuits that are usually sold in poundland are also sold by m and s at a much higher price and are exactly the same, saxo's salt factory is right next door to asdas and the have a chute from saxo's to asda's asda package it in thier own label and sell it as thier own brand. i actually know this for fact as i know some one who has worked for saxo and foxes.

as far as labels i buy branded bread, crisps, pop and beans and cereal as i believe that you can taste the difference between value ranges. but tinned veg, biccies, juice etc are all own brand labels in my house

i dont buy organic as i cant really afford it and would rather buy fairtrade or locally produced anyway where it is available.

meat i always get from a butchers as there is a really good one near me who is v cheap and sells v good quality stuff.
fruit and veg i will get from a supermarket but i prefer to go to my local veg shop as its cheaper but they have as wide a range!! not sure why.

Tip. If you like Chicken Sarnies for pack ups the Tesco value cooked and sliced Chicken is great. It is really cheap but you would not know it is value, you could throw the wrapper away and your DH and DCs would never know

I don't eat bread myself, but buy white sliced for ds2's packed lunches. Sainsbury now do a value loaf for 37p! I don't know if it's shite or not, but as ds2 often chucks half of his sandwich away anyway, it's good enough for me!

NotaBanana - I have recently started visiting Lidl and it's just fine if you like european food (we do). Smoked salmon; cottage cheese; cream cheese; mozarella all good quality.

Loo rolls/kitchen rolls/washing up liquid great value.

Give it a cautious try and you'll be converted!

Oh dear I'm back..I forgot to say, we usually buy our fruit and veg from a local produce round. Out local veg shop has just as much air-freighted stuff as the supermarket, unfortunately, and it goes off really quickly. We buy local and in season so it usually works out well. Those oyster-cuts of chicken are great value, we get them from the local farmshop delivery, too. They are very versatile and the bones make good stock.

Could I ask soemthing? Why do people always say baked/jacket potatoes are a cheap meal, when the fuel you use to cook them is so expensive? They have to be in for so long...

My gas bill this quarter was a shocker! (from £30 3 years ago, same quarter, to £175 )

Cut back on the spuds, EPPM! I tend to bung them in if I'm baking other things, otherwise I'm afraid to admit but I microwave them!

Well I do mini baked potatoes (just use smaller ones, cheaper than baking potatoes too) and do a whole tray in the oven, and usually do something else on the bottom shelf at the same time like a crumble, so it's pretty energy efficient in that way. Then I have lots of potatoes that last three or four days, for potato salad, sliced up in a spanih omelette etc. etc.

Lots of peple microwave jacket potatoes then just put them in the oven for last ten minutes to crisp up the skin too. This also saves on energy wastage.