Tightening our belts with cheap toilet paper

[zippitippitoes]

We've done a supermarket shop for the week and bought quite a few "value" products

frozen prawns
frozen cod fillets
chopped tomatoes
diet cola
2 chickens for £4.00
mature cheddar
Tesco tea tree shampoo

but got stuck on some. Are there some things which just aren't any good when they are really cheap.

We usually shop in Tesco's, but we didn't try the Value range in any of these

Andrex toilet rolls
Kellogs cornflakes
Colgate Tartare Toothpaste
Eggs
Shampoo
Can't Believe It's Not Butter

And is Asda actually cheaper than Tesco?

I bought some toddler clothes there yesterday which were great value (including a suede effect jacket with toggles which I really liked for £12.00)but never buy weekly shopping there, should we?

Their toothpaste is fine, not sure about the value range, but the normal cheaper 'own brand' is ok. The bog roll is fine too, the own brand 'luxury soft' stuff, and about 30p cheaper than Andrex. It all adds up.

Id personally say Asda was dearer than tescos because theres more mon food items that are VERY tempting And where tescos will have Buy one get one free at 1.99 Asdas verison would be 2 for 2.50 or 3 quid.
I spend less at Tescos anyway.
If andrex or another decent brand is on offer you can sometimes get 18 rolls for a fiver, 2 packs of 9.
Or 9 with 3 free, so 12 for 3.50.
Keep the Kelloggs.
Buy One get one free on shampoo, never buy it when its not on offer, you could do that with the toothpaste as well.
Stockpile non food bargains.
The CBINB is sometimes on offer too, buy a few when it is

The cod fillets are actually really nice . Always use the value tomatoes too, and cheese. Less luck with the shampoo though - found it was better to do buy one get one free etc on a better make

Eggs - I do value because we go through so many, but hate myself for it because I always think of the chickens

Toothpaste - I go for Tesco's own, but not value. My hygenist actually advised me to. She said it was just as good as any other toothpaste, cheaper, and was actually less likely to cause sensitivity.

The rest I'm with you on sticking to the brands you know... value toilet paper isn't fun The sort of next step up super soft tesco is better, but you still need more of it than Andrex, so a bit of a false economy.

Asda is cheaper, but their smartprice stuff (value equivalent) isn't as nice as value.

I find shopping online saves me a fortune... I can see the deals more clearly, see what I;ve spent so far, and don't see things that take my fancy just because I'm hungry.

Well, personally, I can economise without caring on loo roll, toothpaste, shampoo, and almost any household type thing but I can't do it wrt meat (I worry about antibiotics and intensively reared animals and buy organic), fruit or veg, so I don't economise on food basically. So in your position I would have got cheaper loo roll, toothpaste, shampoo and tomatoes but good quality chicken, eggs. Whole tomatoes in tins are a lot cheaper than chopped usually you've only got to chop them youself then.

Asda is much cheaper than Tesco I think

At about 17p a tin for the value chopped tomatoes, I'm happier to use them (Just lazy though!)

Tesco Value Toilet rolls - no problem, not as 'soft' but all you do is wipe your are and chuck em - we've always* used it, even when 'flush' (although DH still insists on buying some cheap 'soft' loo rolls for when he does his no.2 )

Tesco Cornflakes - OK, tesco value cornflakes - like cardboard

Toothpaste - value - ARGHHHH

Eggs - we've been buying Value/Bettabuy (Morrisons) eggs for a while now, not as tasty as 'normal' and 'odd' sizes - but pefectly edible.

Shampoo - I use Boots own (69p), haven't tried the value stuff at Tesco although their 'own brand' stuff is fine.

Try the market for vegetables - but( make sure you walk round and compare prices of what you need before launching into 'buying' mode - last week I thought I'd found the 'best deal' on potatoes - 5lb for £1, bought them, walked round the corner and saw 7lb* for £1.

I agree with WWW, would rather economise on the non-food stuff and pay a bit more for better quality/more humanely treated foods.

QofQ, purlease TMI re your dh's choice of loo roll, ewwwww!

it's a lovely thought - but sadly when you're on a VERY tight budget, still isn't possible to do it with 'good quality' food stuffs (and more ethically produced stuff).

FWIW, the kids and DH use Tesco's Mild & Gentle Mountain Herb shampoo (like Timotei) and it works a treat. Lovely smell and it doesn't 'strip' the hair. Only about 80p for 400ml.

Chopped and whole toms cost about the same these days (but somebody here said she doesn't buy chopped because you can't see exactly what went in!)

I'm not happy buying economy meat and eggs from the pov of animal welfare and hygiene. Non-foods mostly fine - buy lots of paper products, shampoo etc from Lidl. Dry foods (like cornflakes) economy OK.

oh and re chickens - if you're not buying organic/free range, have a look in the frozen section - much cheaper, and they come with giblets so you can make some gravy/stock up too

What shampoo do you use NDP?

Also, if you do buy organic, my comparison is smoked salmon: in Sainsbury's 100g of organic smoked salmon is £4.99, in Tesco and Asda the same amount, 100g, is £2.47 so that's quite a difference. (I know you're not talkng about buying it, just the only price example I know off the top of my head to illustrate the differences!)

John Frieda Brilliant Brunette, flamebat.

DH tells me off for buying own brand stuff for DD and not for me, now I can tell him its not just me

Agree Janh Lidl or Aldi great for beans, chopped Toms, Pasta, Loo Roll etc, etc you save a packet!

Sorry, I know it sounds crass to talk about smoked salmon on an economy thread, I just honestly can't think of any other price comparison I know is right and when I was dieting I ate quite a bit of it and no other meat/fish to speak of so not quite as extravagent as it might sound, that would last me a while).

The fact is that DH et al don't care what they wash their hair in. and it does a nice job. But my hair is coloured and the John Frieda stuff is the only one that leaves it nice and soft and shiny.

agree with QQ on the toilet roll issue-
Tesco value beans are awful
but the tomatoes and red kidney beans are good

We've just bought some Aldi toilet roll, and it is fine

oh yes - agree on the bakedbeans thing, Morrisons baked beans are ok, if you're putting them 'in' something as opposed to eating them as a 'side'.

If your kids eat yoghurts, the value one's aren't too bad either (just don't look at the ingredients ) our DS's eat them up just as quickly as they used to eat Scooby Doo ones LOL.

www - dh used to work in a salmon smoking factory and Sainsbo's specifications were higher than those of any other client, including Harrod's

Ooh that's interesting Senora. Sainsbury's and Tesco salmon looks a completely different colour from the Asda one, Asda is paler, much, does your dh know why? (sorry for boring question!)