lower supermarket brands - quality differences

hamblettamaud

i was interested to read martin's article, "Supermarket Shopping, halve your weekly bill by beating the system", which recommended going down to a lower brand.


it made me wonder which items it's possible to do this without noticing a difference in quality. i imagine that it's easy to do this with pasta and jaffa cakes - after all, pasta is pasta and jaffa cakes are jaffa cakes.

but it's not possible to do it with toilet roll.

men and women, your thoughts, please. thanks.

hamble the doll

linzi_h

I have decided to give some stuff a go. Heres what ive done so far:-

Napolina Chopped/Plum Tomatoes £3.98 (6pk) to smartprice 20p each
Kingsmill wholemeal loaf £1.15 to Nimble wholemeal 57p
Heinz light salad cream £1.76 to aldi light salad cream (69p i think)
Heinz light mayo £1.51 to asda jar light mayo (89p i think) for double
Fruit choices have changed ro either smartprice options or aldi's choices
Instead of using fresh peppers, onions, mushrooms etc I now buy frozen due to waste.

I have started to go onto https://www.mysupermarket.com to compare the prices and i also check out https://www.aldi.com too. I have an aldi and iceland over the road for me so i can shop at iceland too. I take a list of everything I need with me and if i cant get the food any sheaper in these shops then I will go to asda and get them from there. Home bargains is a good place to get some brand products for a cheaper price

hamblettamaud

linzi, i totally agree with you on tomatoes - the difference is that the cheap range are better in that they don't have added sauces or herbs.

and the cheaper salad cream and tinned fruits are no different.

i haven't tried cheaper breads though, so can't comment.

thanks for you reply. appreciated!

hamble

OohSoHolly

ASDA Smartprice biscuits! The Bourbon biscuits are as nice as any others and we've tried a few of the normal milk chocolate wafer ones and they've gone down well. Price range from about £0.18p - £0.38p.

Also, we've started getting alot of our fruit and veg from ALDI as we've found its just as nice, if not better, than the leading Supermarkets and much much cheaper!

penrhyn

Always buy Tesco Value Basmati rice, give it a rinse first and its fine.

skylight

Salad Cream!! THERE IS A DIFFERENCE!!!!! Cheapie stuff is the most vile gunk I can think of. Salad Cream and Brown Sauce are the only 2 brands that I have any loyalty to. Most of my shopping otherwise is shop brand or value stuff. Value biscuts go down very well with the kids!

I do agree with value loo roll though. Shops own brands are AOK, but not their cheap value ones.

Zoetoes

I agree about toilet roll but have found one cheaper brand that is actually probably better, it's called Nicky and it's from Home Bargains for 99p for 4 rolls, thick with added lotion or aloe vera or whatever it is.

Honestly, try it!


I can't believe we're having a discussion about toilet roll.

DCFC79

zoeleigh wrote: »

I agree about toilet roll but have found one cheaper brand that is actually probably better, it's called Nicky and it's from Home Bargains for 99p for 4 rolls, thick with added lotion or aloe vera or whatever it is.

Honestly, try it!


I can't believe we're having a discussion about toilet roll.

get toilet roll from lidl, a pack of 18 i think for £1.20

DCFC79

OohSoHolly wrote: »

ASDA Smartprice biscuits! The Bourbon biscuits are as nice as any others and we've tried a few of the normal milk chocolate wafer ones and they've gone down well. Price range from about £0.18p - £0.38p.

to be honest bourbons are bourbons whether its asda smart price, tesco value, sainsburys basics, ones from lidl or aldi

jinky67

having been a staunch Weetabix supporter for years I started buying Asda's own ( good) and have now got a box of Bixies ones from Lidls they are fab....guess where I will be buying my weetabix from now?

DS loves Lidls own Shreddies and he is a brand snob
their Bran flakes are just like the real thing too.

Digestives and all bicuits are good as are their jams

I always buy my tea and coffee there too
and I find Asda Shades toilet roll the best

sarah_smurf

I also notice a difference in salad cream and brown sauce so I usually get the named brands of them only when there's an offer on if I can help it.

The last time my dad got the really really basic toilet roll from a certain shop I think we were all getting bum burn from how horrible it was lol. Even though he still cuts down on the cost of it, he doesn't get that kind of cheapness and gets a pack of 18 loo rolls for £2.99 from Home Bargains I think in a blue and white pack with plastic handle on which do the trick.

I'm cutting costs at every oportunity & try shopping round for the cheapest items from the shops & look when the offers are on for things I know I can stock up on. But love the Asda's own brand biscuits, even the digestives taste almost the same as McVities just a fraction of a difference.

I've also got corn flakes & frosties cereals of Tesco brand because they worked out cheaper and got a bigger quantity in the box which taste great as they're own brand. I'm not much for there bread though for some reason, must be tastebuds.