Help me get over my Finest habit

1274

As you'll see from my signature, I am failing the DFW 2008 live on 4K a year challenge (and may get kicked out of the group for my overspend come December :rolleyes:). Part of the reason is my bad Finest/Waitrose habit. I've tried dropping a brand on my shopping, and it's worked OK on some things like meat and fish (own brand and I buy BOGOF) but a lot of my weekly spend goes on things that there's no lower brand equivalent to or where the own brand tastes horrible (like filter coffee).

I've also had a brief (one shop only) try of the value stuff. I tried it with the non food items first and even the cling film was a disaster. The packaging was so rubbish I wasted half the roll trying to get it to tear off and got myself seriously stressed just wrapping my lunchtime sandwich!

I live in a city with no car, no garden for growing own stuff and no accessible Lidl etc, so I need to shop on the internet. Is there any help for me? Has anyone successfully re-educated their tastebuds away from Finest?

floyd

Or use foil?

No but seriously, if you give us more specific examples of Finest items that you feel you need to buy we can suggest alternatives, are they pre-prepared things or basics like tinned tomatoes and pasta?

Which region do you live in so people can suggest shops that may suit your needs. How about Whittards for filter coffee, they usually have some sort of offer on where you get a bag free or 2 for price of 1 or similar which means the coffee is cheaper than supermarket premium.

Give us something to work with

1274

Thanks guys. Here are some examples from my typical shop:

• assam teabags (Finest or Waitrose)
• cordial (Finest apple & elderflower or Waitrose raspberry & pear)
• Heinz ketchup and Hellmans mayo
• Hula hoops multipack:rolleyes:
• capers (Waitrose)
• cafedirect coffee
• artichoke hearts and sun dried tomatoes (Waitrose or T's own but they're really expensive - have on HM pizzas or in salads)

I live in London BTW

All help much appreciated

Toonie

Own brand high juice from Sainsbury is quite lovely. What we tend to do is buy three or four a month (normally on offer) and you can mix them. I like putting orange and lemon together.

Hula Hoops shouldn't cost too much, but you can usually find them in pound shops if you have one close by?

I live in London as well, with no car, and tend to shop from Sainsbury, although I occasionally get my parents to get me things from Lidl and Aldi to bring over if they are visiting.

Try joining the Grocery Challenge-the new one should start in a couple of days for September, they are full of great ideas and tips and are very friendly.

jo1972

There are some things that you just can't buy value, for example I can't buy anything other than Dowe Egberts coffee! But you'll be surprised with most other stuff (other than beef mince!), there's not always that much of a difference. I buy value cereals and T-bags and replace them into non-value packaging and my family have never noticed :shhh:

There is a good thread somewhere on this board about what value things you can just not buy.

I did do a 30 day challenge where we had to buy just value products only and saved a fortune....and survived!

Good luck, I'm sure if you spend a little while on here you'll be persuaded

wigglebeena

I do think sometimes people actually seek evidence to support their hypothesis that it's simply impossible to economise... the cling film scenario was rather Fawlty Towers... Did you promise it a damn good thrashing?

If you feel you're simply 'worth it' when it comes to luxury groceries then you could always just accept that. There are other places to cut down expenditures.

miserly_mum

I agree with wigglebeena if your heart truly isn't in economising on Groceries then you'll always find some reason not to use own brands etc

Steve-o

jo1972 wrote: »

There are some things that you just can't buy value, for example I can't buy anything other than Dowe Egberts coffee! But you'll be surprised with most other stuff (other than beef mince!), there's not always that much of a difference. I buy value cereals and T-bags and replace them into non-value packaging and my family have never noticed :shhh:

I agree, what the eye doesn't see the tastebuds often ignore.

Now, if only your family could switch the Dowe Egberts without you seeing.

gairlochgal

I'm in London with no car and no garden too and there's loads of choice. All the supermarkets online, small ethnic shops with all kinds of interesting stuff, farmers market, LIDL. I just keep shopping around for the best deals - am doing ASDA online and a weekly fruit and veg box at the moment, and then a big bunch of herbs and cup of olives from the cypriot grocer when I'm passing, the bargains at Somerfield if it's handy on the way home from work. etc etc

I buy coffee beans and grind the amount I need as I go.

Stephen_Leak

I agree about the "value" cling film - it's crap - it was one of my "value" product disasters too. However, at least we both tried.

MoneySaving isn't just about making do with the cheapest.

Let me give you an example. Shower gel and body spray. If it's only going to be me smelling me, I use the ASDA own brand stuff. It does the job.

However, if it's (hopefully) going to be a lady friend smelling me, I use Lynx, usually Africa. It's got a different job to do.

However, I stock up when the shower gel is £1.00 instead of £1.88, and when the body spray is £4.00 for 2 instead of £2.48 each.

Astonished_2

1274 wrote: »

As you'll see from my signature, I am failing the DFW 2008 live on 4K a year challenge (and may get kicked out of the group for my overspend come December :rolleyes:). Part of the reason is my bad Finest/Waitrose habit. I've tried dropping a brand on my shopping, and it's worked OK on some things like meat and fish (own brand and I buy BOGOF) but a lot of my weekly spend goes on things that there's no lower brand equivalent to or where the own brand tastes horrible (like filter coffee).

I've also had a brief (one shop only) try of the value stuff. I tried it with the non food items first and even the cling film was a disaster. The packaging was so rubbish I wasted half the roll trying to get it to tear off and got myself seriously stressed just wrapping my lunchtime sandwich!

I live in a city with no car, no garden for growing own stuff and no accessible Lidl etc, so I need to shop on the internet. Is there any help for me? Has anyone successfully re-educated their tastebuds away from Finest?

Yes, yes, me I have...and I was the biggest supermarket snob going!! If it wasn't finest I just wasn't interested - shame on me BUT it is possible to re-educate yourself (and in turn your tastebuds will follow suit)...:D

With the filter coffee - if you can't stand the cheaper stuff why not buy a nice ground coffee instead - it'll probably be cheaper, quicker to make and doesn't taste too bad either...

With the cling-film - store it in the fridge - I know it sounds crackers but it really does make it easier to wrestle it off the roll and on to your sandwiches without you losing the will to live...:D

Shopping on the internet isn't a compromise (as far as I'm concerned anyway) - I save a fortune just by not walking through the doors of a supermarket - impulse buying used to cost me an arm and a leg - and then I changed to internet shopping with Tesco and instantly cut our shopping bill by approx £30 Per week! (However, I now shop at the local Co-op, local grocers, butchers, market etc a couple of times a week instead and have saved even more by only buying what I need when I need it - although I still have a way to go!)

You don't need a garden to grow stuff - it's amazing what you can grow on your window sills - I've currently got 4 pots of basil (different varieties) growing on just one kitchen window sill - if you get some nice pots you could have them all over the house - tumbling tomatoes, herbs, cress are all smallish plants you could grow indoors to name but a few! You could get some window boxes too!

There are some things that you will find you just can't compromise on (it's Tuna for me!) and that's ok, you just have to accept it and let it go!!...:D

Good luck and if you want some motivation just think of all the pennies you'll be keeping in your pocket rather than lining the pockets of Mr Tesco and Co...a £30 a week saving adds up to over £1500 over the year - that's a nice holiday somewhere or some shoes/handbags/clothes - I find that rather motivating myself!!