Best Supermarket stapes prices?

For canned stuff such as red kidney beans, tinned tomatoes, sweetcorn baked beans etc I find the Tesco everyday value ones are pretty good. Given that I cook most meals from scratch so they're used to bung in stuff like a chilli, pasta bake or spag bol I don't think it makes too much difference if you use them vs the branded ones.

You mention supermarkets but do you only have the 'Big 4' available. I'd commend Lidl or preferably Aldi for fruit and veg and lots of basics like tinned tomatoes, pasta, cold meats, biscuits, chocolate, eggs, milk, cleaning stuff etc. etc.

Farmfoods is worth a look, especially for frozen veg and sometimes bargains on cleaning stuff and some foods are to be found in £ shops.

If you go on to the mysupermarket site you can compare prices and then compare with Aldi or Lidl on your 'shopping day'.

MrsX wrote: »

I'm interested to know what the best prices are in various supermarkets for staples, fruit and veg that are rock bottom prices but dont taste disgusting?

Stock up on the Aldi "super 6" fruit and veg offers . Current offers ( until 6th April ) are on onion,carrot,parsnip,leek, potato,broccoli for 49p . Cannot remember the weights - but definately good value

MrsX wrote: »

I'm about to change jobs, and as a result my salary is set to halve :eek:

I've started looking at how I'm going to reduce my outgoings, a big area for me is grocery shopping. Like many people I've got into the habbit of popping to the local shop for a bottle of milk and coming out with £10 worth of 'bits' every day.

I'm going to get into the habbit of making a meal planner and sticking to it. As I'm going to only be working three days a week I plan to have a "shopping day" where I'll be able to tour the local supermarkets to get the lowest priced items.

I've noticed for example that I can get 400g of hot chocolate powder for 48p in teco, non of my other local supermarkets can match this. Morrisons do custard powder sachets for 15p, again more expensive everywhere else.

I'm interested to know what the best prices are in various supermarkets for staples, fruit and veg that are rock bottom prices but dont taste disgusting?

Probably cheaper and certainly healthier to buy cocoa powder, instead of hot chocolate (only 9% cocoa, 55% sugar! :eek:). If you make your own hot chocolate it counts as one serving of dairy (at least three a day), hot chocolate counts as one serving of junk (maximum 10% daily calories) but not dairy because it's made with whey which is a poor source of calcium.


Farmfoods frozen rhubarb and leeks, 750g three for £2 (loads of other veggies on same offer, I haven't tried any others), mixed berries £1 for 500g.

Aldi whole red cabbage about 50p a kilo, whatever is on the Super Six. Balsamic vinegar £1 for 500ml.

Tesco red onions £2 for 4kg, Value fresh carrots 70p for 1.5kg, butternut squash £1 a kilo, canned tomatoes 31p (80p a kilo), Value dried fruit 95p for 500g, Value fresh parsnips £1.10 a kilo, fresh vegetable selection pack (four of Carrot, Swede, Leek, Parsnip, Onion, Turnip, Brussels) £1 for 1.5kg which is cheaper than most are individually! Mackerel in tomato sauce ~£1 for 400g can (omega-3s), frozen chicken livers 50p for 225g, Value kidney beans 21p for 400g can, Value peanut butter 62p for 350g.

Asda same price as Tesco for fresh carrots, butternut squash, dried fruit canned tomatoes, Smartprice fresh pineapple 80p, Smartprice frozen corn £1 a kilo, Smartprice frozen broccoli £1 a kilo, frozen sliced green beans £1.10 a kilo, frozen parsnips £1.10 a kilo, fresh aubergines 50p each (rollback), Albert Bartlett purple potatoes £1.50 for 1.25kg, swede £1 a kilo. Glenryck pilchards in tomato sauce 95p for 400g can (omega-3s).

I also get frozen crushed garlic, frozen root ginger, crushed red/ green chillis in a jar, large bags of mixed spices, KTC block creamed coconut 75p for 200g (cheaper than canned milk), Maggi coconut milk powder £3 for 300g, KTC coconut oil £1.70 for 500g (amazing as deep conditioner!), canned chick peas (25p-33p), dried red lentils (£1.50 a kilo), brown basmati rice (£1.15 a kilo) from the World Foods section usually in Tesco, all work out cheaper than fresh or own brand. :money:

If you have a Home Bargains nearby, they are pretty good for the basics too. I love their tinned cherry tomatoes (3 for £1) and always stock up on their lentils, broth mix etc. Cereals pretty well priced too, as are their cleaning products. They keep special buys at the beginning of the first aisle but when they are gone they are gone, so stock up as soon as you see them!

B & M too well worth a browse if you have a branch nearby. But be aware of the sell-by dates! They can sell so cheaply because a lot of the stock is approaching it's date. For example, I have recently been buying Kelloggs Optivita there at half the SM prices, sell by date May.