Best value lines - Mr T or Mr S ?

mggirl

I've been lurking on this board for a while, read with interest and am now putting things into practice.

This week I've got stretched one small pack of mince into 2 portions of chili and 1 shepherds pie bulked out with lentils (all eaten and no-one noticed the difference), made HM bread and pizza dough (could have eatens 2nds) and have started to declutter the toys while the little man's at school.

Yesterday, I checked the freezer and itemised the store cupboard so am off to the supermarket.

Within a reasonable distance I only have Mr T or Mr S to choose from, so which would I be better going to for staples/store cupboard items ?

Is one better quality than the other or is it simply a matter of trial and error ?

I'm looking to buy things like wash powder, tinned toms, L.g rice, noodles, turkey, spuds and onions - nothing too widely exciting :-)

TIA

abaxas

Why not try Aldi?

We go there about every two months to stock up on 'essentials'. They are NOT the cheapest but are value. Ie the cost relative to the quality is better than the supermarkets. Eg tesco cheapo chopped toms 33p, aldi 40p but less juice, more flesh and more 'red' in colour.

Also remember that using value products is not always best or the cheapest way of doing things. Use the correct tool for the job.

mggirl

Sadly Aldi is a 40 mile round trip for me.

H was lucky enough to get another job after being made redundant earlier in the year, so I don't have access to the car anymore.

H + job = me and my bike.

Sadly, value is all my budget will stretch to at the moment but all least he's in work.

lil_me

I tend to prefer Sainsburys Basics to Tesco Value, they also tend to have more items in stock as our local Tesco never has the value stuff in.

Rikki

I prefer T's own sage and onion stuffing, and bake beans to S's.

I think it is trial and error some corners you cannot cut.

mummysaver

I prefer sainbugs basics cereals, cornflakes and wheat biscuits are really good, and I prefer Mr T's value beans and toms! You might find some stuff is cheaper in one than the other, worth having a look on mysupermarket.com, and also as many people have noticed, Mr T's seems to have a lot of gaps where the value stuff should be, or they are pushing their market value/discount range, which is slightly more expensive!

I find Asda is best for tinned goods at the best price, don't know if you have one nearby? Lidl and Aldi are great for fresh veg and fruit as they both do offers on them, worth going in if you are passing, but prob not as a special trip given the distance for you.

Also don't forget to compare the prices with the normal ranges, at the mo it seems that the value lines are increasing beyone the price of them! Also bigger packs do not necessarily mean better value, check out the price per 100g on the shelf labels, Mr T is terrible for charging extra for the bigger packs.

If you have time it might be worth visiting both for their special offers, if they are things that you would use normally, for instance cheese is always on offer in one of the supermarkets, so I always pop in to the relevant one as we use a lot of cheese! Same with butter and/or marg.

If time is short and you don't want to visit lots of different supermarkets, you could try alternating them, you'll soon discover which products you prefer from which shop and can just pick them up every other week.

Well done on all the food stretching so far, amazing just how many dishes you can get from a pack of mince! And hm pizza is delicious, and a great way of getting veg into kids! Good luck on the continued efforts!

recovering_spendaholic

I think Sainsburys Basics is far superior to Tesco Value. I love the Basics beans (they came out near the top in a newspaper taste test thing too) and I think that their basics instant mash is fab! It tastes lovely and I use it for all kinds of things like potato cakes, gnocchi, tuna fish cakes, salmon fish cakes. hm bubble and squeak (I just mix it with a tin of processed peas and a fried onion and then fry it in little cakes) and hm leek and potato soup. It only costs 31p for a bag that makes LOADS! I also like the basics pasta n sauce - only 23p and makes a quick cheap lunch. The basics peanut butter and marmalade are also lovely. The basics sausages aren't too nice however, but neither are the tesco value ones, but the basics sausage rolls (frozen mini ones) are really nice!

Good luck!

cazspatch

i much prefer Mr S. my Mr T never seems to have the value stuff???

My favourite Mr S basics is 12 bread rolls for 24p.
And there toilet rolls.

Havent been shopping for a few weeks as ill but they seem to be making a big thing about there Basic range at the moment

but i would def say trial and error as i find Asdas value mushy peas are awful!

clairelouise100

Tesco Value washing powder is fine, not much smell to it mind but if you use a nice softner then it is still cheaper to buy the value powder compared to other brands. A friend of my sister recommended it to us. Just after I bough it my little boy had a nose bleed and it went on my cream duvet. Tesco value powder took the whole lot out, I really wasn't expecting it to. It also removed the grass stains on his jeans in the summer. Its about £1.68 for a large box. Highly recomended.

MrsBartolozzi

I'd recommend Sainsbury's basics range - the salmon pieces are responsibly farmed and are much cheaper than normal. I really like the soap powder too £1.69 for 3kg (just before xmas so who knows what price now ). It takes out mud and grass stains from DS2's football strip, but like the Tesco one has little smell - which I think is a good thing!
The digestive biscuits are sooo good too, definately up there with McVities. Packet custard and tinned syrup pudding for total of 30p is a cheap, cheats pudding too and a favourite with my boys.

Can't think of anything else, my mind is a blank, but I would just search for Basics on the Sainsbug's website so you can see the range.

HTH

littlem00

My Best bargain is Tesco's Daisy Dishwasher tabs (40) for £2.91