Are Waitrose Any Good?

Katinkka

shoperholicnot wrote:

Waitrose are good for reductions and general quality is good, although I suggest reading the labels as I was surprised to see that they still put Hydrogenated fats in their breads etc..I did expect better from them

I didnt know it was in the bread as well. I have emailed waitrose about their raisins (after reading about it on here) and thye have passed it on to their 'nutritionist' who will get back to me.,

colmil

We called at the Waitrose in Reading and bought their 'Better for you' or similar egg and cress sandwiches, and I can honestly say that it was totally tasteless!

We do not have one locally and I'm not in the least bit bothered.

muddyfox470

Waitrose food is great; the selection and qualty is decent! (I have the new one in Durham here :P)

Recently however the staff seem to have changed, when it first opened they were all nice and friendly, and knew they had to perform well etc etc. But now they seem to be lapsing with old stock on the shelves.

As for the previously good reductions, i don't know what has happened. They used to reduce stuff by more than 50% but I went in on sunday looking to buy some random goods; and they had reduced their crumbles and mini cakes by 10p each per pack; now when each pack costs 1.99 / 2.09 that is less than 10% off; i swear they must have been having a laugh.

Oh for reductions i have found sunday and wednesday afternoons to be good (altho not just before closing as everything has gone by then )

Waitrose is a decent store, and not overly priced. Their fruit is much nicer than the Marks and Spencer we have access to.

Cheers

Ian

billieboy_2

Katinkka wrote:

I didnt know it was in the bread as well. I have emailed waitrose about their raisins (after reading about it on here) and thye have passed it on to their 'nutritionist' who will get back to me.,

I've e-mailed them as well. Perhaps if enough people complained they'd stop using it in their products?

billieboy_2

billieboy wrote:

I've e-mailed them as well. Perhaps if enough people complained they'd stop using it in their products?

and this is the reply I've received (that was quick!):

"Thank you for your email regarding the use of hydrogenated vegetable fats in Waitrose products.

Since the beginning of 2004 Waitrose have been removing hydrogenated vegetable fats from products in order to improve the nutritional profile. This is being incorporated through new product development and recipe redevelopment as a phased programme across Waitrose products.

You will be pleased to hear that the programme has progressed well during 2005 with removal of hydrogenated fats from ready meals, pies and quiches. We recently launched the first phase of everyday biscuits without hydrogenated fat and this work will be completed by March 2006 for all biscuits. We have also started work in our new patisserie products and this will be extended to all patisserie products in 2006.

We aim to take account of all customer concerns and wish to reassure you that Waitrose are constantly reviewing and updating our products in order to take account of the latest nutritional recommendations.

We trust you will continue to shop at Waitrose.

Regards,

Gabriella Campitelli

Waitrose Customer Service."

Frugal_Fox

Waitrose are wonderful. They are probably more expensive than other chains of supermarket, but since I've been shopping in Waitrose over Tesco's my shopping bill has come down. This is partly because of the quality - food lasts longer, but also because I am not tempted by clothes etc. The reduced items are usually very reduced and there are some real bargains to be had. The atmosphere in the store always seems relatively calm. The staff geniuinely interested in helping the customers. All in all, I'd rather pay a little more, and actually receive a service, and know that the producers that Waitrose use are getting a good deal too.

raeble

I just emailed their Ocado online arm to complain about the variety free gifts they have on offer. Every week or so you get an email to say if you spend this week it was £90 you'll get two free bottles of wine. I don't drink and I can't be the only one. Not that I had any money to be spending with them anyway.

Katinkka

This is the (crap) reply I got about the raisins..

Thank you for your e mail ,

As you may be aware HVO is traditionally used to prevent the fruit
from sticking together as it travels in large consignments from South
Africa, Australia etc. It is used in very small amounts (less than 1%) to
coat the fruit. When there is a suitable replacement to HVO we will use
this instead and we are reviewing alternatives at tfe moment.
If you would like to buy vine fruit without HVO, organic vine
fruit will not have any HVO but the shelf life of these products will be
shorter.



Regards,