99p Stores not as cheap as they appear

pelirocco

foreign_correspondent wrote: »

thanks that's worth knowing - I love olives and capers and they are sooo expensive in some places!:T

again the quality and taste of olives vary a lot , and i suspect the price reflects this

foreign_correspondent

pelirocco wrote: »

again the quality and taste of olives vary a lot , and i suspect the price reflects this

that is true, but as a very big fan of olives, which I have bought in many different shops, in the UK and abroad, I have had some truly wonderful olives which were cheap and I have also paid through the nose for some very unimpressive olives (generally sold in great packaging)! Some of the very best I have had came from a small turkish supermarket near where I lived in Holland - they were all very cheap, and all delicious!

At a quid I am willing to give them a try, at the very worst they will be fine for on pizzas and in pasta sauces and if I am lucky they may just be good!

Having lived abroad I became completely weaned off our over hyped brands, and now very rarely buy the 'best' brand as I am no longer convinced they offer anything special at all. In fact, I cant think of one food where I will always choose the 'branded' product - I find Aldi and Lidl have some very good food items from unknown (in the UK) brands, and often the quality of their products surpasses the supposedly 'premium' brands. I will also try anything once - I bought the cheapest bottle of rose wine in aldi last week just to see what it was like and was very pleasantly surprised!

vegankris

downshifter wrote: »

And which companies in this country are 'reputable'? What does that mean, that they have good standards of animal welfare, that their washing powder doesn't damage the environment, that they don't exploit homeworkers or third world children - or even our own farmers? Very few companies are reputable in that sense, just because they have been heard of by most people (down to advertising again) doesn't mean they are good to buy.

So true! While I've heard of brand names like Suma, Technic/Body Collection and am excited to see something in a 99p shop that I've previously paid over a fiver for in specialist animal rights shops online, to a lot of others these are unheard of names.

freeoffers

i play it by ear/tongue. if i like the taste of something and it is cheao mores the better. take beans, i love morrisons chepa beans and HP beans but dislike Heinz. i tired ASda's cheap rice krispies and they were gross so i eat the brnd name now, yet asda oats are my fav, much nicer than brand name and cheaper.
just depends on taste so dont be seduced by brand names. in some instances you do get what you pay for but in some cases teh cheaper is just as good - unless its lidls awful washing powder!!

roddydogs

chuckley wrote: »

the 99p store will be the death of £land, purely on the massive range they have.

Only if its nearby...and has the same stuff.

scorpian81

everyone one has different tastes, and has to explore the cheaper stuff, trying out and finding whats best for them.
my argument for 99p shops is that although they may be a fair bit cheaper than supermarkets on most things, you have to ask yourself why that is.
I dont know exactly, but I'm guessing its a mixture of foreign made brand names being imported, bulk buying and selling stuff cheaper whilst hiding more expensive items in with them also. Its like supermarkets, they normally lose money on special offers but recoup it when the customer buys other items in the shop. Back to the 'British' debate, I remember seeing a while back that poundland were slated for importing polo mints from some far eastern country and selling them here. And that the uk factory where they are made was a very small distance from poundlands main distribution site. They argued it was cheaper, which is why they did it. But it hardly seems 'right' to me.
Erm I will say no more

nest_egg

660ml of Superior Soy Sauce cost me 69p in Tesco, compared to 99p.

Enterprise_1701C

There's one or two things I have learned not to compromise on - like I won't use anything but Parazone on my loo cos it cleans far more effectively than cheaper ones and some more expensive ones.

As for sauces and the such - cheaper ones seem to have less added. I have a friend who has to avoid gluten among other things, you'd be amazed how many sauces have it added but the cheaper ones often do not!

I used to think I would not compromise on tea bags until I tried the Sainsbury's smart price ones!

I now do not have a single "branded" grocery item in the house and I get no complaints.

scorpian81

no branded items, thats very good. especially with no complants! It can be done, but it also depends how fussy the people you live with are also:rotfl:

Enterprise_1701C

Also depends on which box you keep them in!