I have just conducted a shopping experiment, Waitrose vs Asda.....

[CountessDracula]

Went to Asda to do a big shop as needed plenty of cleaning products, cereal etc.

I decided to do a whole shop there, the choice was VERY limited for organic partic meat and fruit, but what there is looks fine. TBH I buy a lot of my meat at the local butcher anyway.

SO - my usual weekly waitrose bill is about £140 (if I buy most of the meat there)

I did thsi Asda shop and it was £98.

Then I keyed every product into Ocado as I unloaded them to see what saving I had made. I used like for like and made adjustments wherever necessary (eg I got organic Lamb Chops 500g, waitrose only did 400g or something so I made up the difference proportionally by adding something else)

The waitrose shop came to £136

Quite a good saving really if you extrapolate it out over a year! Alos have discovered they will deliver for £4 delivery charge

As a supplier to all the major supermarkets I can categorically say that Waitrose treat us more like human beings than any of the others and TEsco pay us on time,every time.We do of course have to give them a discount for this privilege.
Knowing what I do about product specifications and what goes into different private label products -Waitrose all the way for me or if feeling decadent M&S....

CD would you buy all your meat from ASDA? I use Ocado partly because I feel confident about their meat and trust them when buying it unseen online. If I were to use ASDA I would be a bit less confident and would probably buy meat elsewhere. Same with fruit and veg.

I think online shopping is a bit different as a lot of shops will off load their close to sell by date stuff on online customers.

Yes maybe i will milge

Thirtysix thanks that is very enlightening

No would not buy meat online from Asda apart from cheapie mince for the dog

I must admit I use Waitrose most of the time. It offers wonderful quality stuff and is a much more civilsed shopping experience than Sainsbury and Morrisons (no Asda or Tesco nearby).
I do however look at some things, basic stuff and refuse to buy it knowing I can get it far cheaper elsewhere.
But Waitrose is bright, clean, fresh looking and has dead nice staff.

Thanks for the info. I will look into buying basics from there and meat elsewhere.

Wouldn't buy my meat from Asda even in my skint weeks.....would rather buy less and "stretch" it from my local butcher or Sainsbury.

Asda recently won a foodie prize for sourcing local produce, so can't be all bad.
Our local Asda is new, light and airy and they always have enough checkouts open. The staff are relaxed and nice too.
I am right off Sainsburys though. Expensive and the staff look fed up.

Asda own brand bathroom cleaner spray is the biz. Really, really love it!

You are right-they did win a minor prize fro sourcing localy but Wal Mart didn't get to the size they are by helping local farmers..... (sorry to be cynical) they will do all they can for a bit of good PR as they are so far behind Tesco.
Waitrose have for years championed the small producer and local farmer and are very ethically sound-unlike our friends Asda who keep swetshops in China in business......

hmmm... and indeed ethical choice making remains the preserve of those wealthy enough to afford it!

Bought pork from Asda before and iot smelt like fish, because the farmer fed his pigs on fish meal YUK......will buy household goods like laundry baskets, cheal vegetable dishes etc and nice beach clothes for kids there, though, but no food, I'm afraid.....

What is this about Asda Meat and Waitrose Meat and Butchers Meat surely its dead. It doesnt care what shop you brought it from.

Unfortunately Nannyme I agree to a certain extent.
I personally choose to economise in areas such as consumables in order to put the best food I can afford at the time (and it isn't alwasy Waitrose) into my family.I am more concerned with authenticity and quality unfortunately than ethically sourcing as my family have to come first.If money were no object then Fairtrade products would fill my trolley.
Charleycat-yes it is dead but I am interested in what it was fed and medicated with pre slaughter as this all ends up inside us....

I agree nannyme

I wish it wasn't so. We compromise by buying organic fresh produce where possible - particularly for the children and with things like milk, meat and dairy. We buy fairtrade coffee and chocolate and used to buy locally produced dairy and meat when we lived in Cumbria.

Thinking about having an organic veg box delivered weekly but in all my research so far, haven't found one that we could afford regularly!

I quite often buy cheap supermarket or Primark clothes for the children and suspect that this is where the most unethical buying that we do goes on.

However, I also know that because of how far down the road of consumerism and debt that we (as a nation among others) have come, simply saying no to unethically produced goods will not improve things for anybody. Debt and greed has set the standard in the UK and forces people to buy cheap when and where they can so that they can keep up with house purchasing, car driving, public transport fare paying, etc. - just living in 2006 Britain really! If ALL people paid that bit more for ethically produced goods then consumer debt would go through the roof and our economy would fail leaving nobody to buy even the cheapest, most unethically produced food and clothes going - we'd all be too bankrupt. We are in a cycle of self destruct imo. Credit cards are lethal and things like housing market ridiculous but the have-nots just keep on trying to keep up with the haves by getting into deeper debt. This is another reason why I hate the 'fashionable' nature of organic. I know people who buy organic, who can't really afford to, but do so because it is so 'now'!

Shall I shut up now before some economy-intelligent mumsnetter comes and corrects me?

Well i usually shop at asda but today used Ocado online. We are trying to eat organic none processed foods at the moment and are virtually vegetarian and I just couldn't buy half the stuff we needed from Asda. Waitrose was slightly more expensive but i found an online voucher that means I get a free bottle of champagne with my first order so i'm happy lol. I was also pleased I could buy a cookery book in my online shop too.

Also must admit to a feeling of smugness that I can actually shop where all the posh southerners do as there is no Waitrose here in scouseland

Can't believe how snobby some of you are actually! Shocking!

I agree Nannyme.
About 10 yrs ago,we all shopped in our nearest supermarket or local shops and paid whatever it cost pretty much.Asda when purchased by WalMart made price a focus,thereby inviting most other retailers to do the same.In the short tem it was/is good for consumers as in real tems we are paying way less for our groceries than 10yrs ago.The downsides in terms of quality,explotation etc etc we all know but we al like to pay less for the essentials so we can spent more on the things in life which obviously varies from person to person.I have a friend who only buys reduced items in Asda because she likes designer handbags and her 3 yr old to be dressed head to toe in designer brands.Food for her and where it comes from is irrelevant....horses for courses.

Rickman - im with you im afraid!

Don't be afraid JARM! :o

All this talk of chav's and council estates, really gets on my nerves.

Afaik, chav stands for Chatham Average not council house and violent.

No Asda or Waitrose anywhere near here so thats easy

I agree rickman which is why I made the point about cheap food from cheap supermarkets being the only option for many in response to the asda chav comment!