Just been to Tesco ... is the price *really* right?

bitter-roses

... and I was unpleasantly surprised. It seems to me that they have the Value stuff (“Market Value” for their vegetables? I’m going to market to buy veg tomorrow, and we’ll see who has the better value; my money’s not on Tesco) at a very cheap price and then the next level up is their own-brand which so far as I can tell isn’t a whole lot different, price-wise, to their “Finest” range.

Some of their prices astound me (I don’t usually buy bread, ’cause there’s only me in the house and I don’t really like it very much): £1.24 for a loaf of (albeit branded) bread? £0.78 for a tin of (branded) rice pudding when they’re selling an equal-sized tin (by weight) of creamed semolina or tapioca or similar for that same brand at at least ten pence cheaper?

Maybe it’s me seeing for the first time how truly expensive shopping has become, but it can’t all be because of the price of oil, can it? Are Tesco (and ASDA, which in my area at least has gone downhill staggeringly quickly since WalMart bought out ASDA) really taking us all for mugs?

’Cause it sure seems so from where I’m standing.

twentypenceoff

i was pleasantly surprised when shopping at morrisons recently, i had previously avoided it as i had found it expensive however they had vine tomato packs for a pound and gem lettuces for 50p three lemons for 43p and i picked up some nice cheap icecream.

bitter-roses

twentypenceoff wrote: »

i was pleasantly surprised when shopping at morrisons recently, i had previously avoided it as i had found it expensive however they had vine tomato packs for a pound and gem lettuces for 50p three lemons for 43p and i picked up some nice cheap icecream.

They’ve a store up at Peckham, which is a trek seeing as I’ve to rely on public transport (I don’t have a car and can’t afford taxis), but I might take the bus up on Sunday to see what they’re like.

Because I object to paying 34p for one bulb of garlic and 25p for one solitary onion (seems the savings are to be made in multi-packs in most places, but that’s no good to me when there’s only me in the house; the stuff’d spoil before I got to it all.)

Oh, and another thing: why on earth do the supermarkets (Tesco and ASDA seem particularly complicit in this in my experience, yours may differ) make it so cheap and easy to eat absolute rubbish?

Eeyore2009

Bitter-roses are you refering to the ASDA store at Clapham Junction?
If so i agree with you thqats its gone downhill.

mgardner

bitter-roses wrote: »

They’ve a store up at Peckham, which is a trek seeing as I’ve to rely on public transport (I don’t have a car and can’t afford taxis), but I might take the bus up on Sunday to see what they’re like.

Because I object to paying 34p for one bulb of garlic and 25p for one solitary onion (seems the savings are to be made in multi-packs in most places, but that’s no good to me when there’s only me in the house; the stuff’d spoil before I got to it all.)

Oh, and another thing: why on earth do the supermarkets (Tesco and ASDA seem particularly complicit in this in my experience, yours may differ) make it so cheap and easy to eat absolute rubbish?

I would never consider paying 25p for one onion, multi packs are fine if you store them properly. I buy smartprice and keep them outside in tha gas cupboard. works out about 5p per onion

lynzpower

I dont know if its in your area, but I went back down to East Street Market earlier today adn again was really pleasantly surprised with some prices- iceberg lettuce- 39p, sweet pots 4 for 70p, 4lbs of potatoes £1,8 peppers £1- a LOT cheaper than the alternatives around here ( elephant & castle rip off minitesco- & Expensive Vauxhall cross sainsburys.) Also a hideously expensive tescos in Rolls rd area of peckam/ new kent rd - avoid there it really is mindblowingly expensive.
Agree about clapham junction asda.

el_gringo_3

bitter-roses wrote: »

£0.78 for a tin of (branded) rice pudding when they’re selling an equal-sized tin (by weight) of creamed semolina or tapioca or similar for that same brand at at least ten pence cheaper?

Maybe it’s me seeing for the first time how truly expensive shopping has become, but it can’t all be because of the price of oil, can it? Are Tesco (and ASDA, which in my area at least has gone downhill staggeringly quickly since WalMart bought out ASDA) really taking us all for mugs?

Firstly Semolina/ Tapioca will be very difficult to market compared to rice pudding in this country due to peoples experiences of it as a schoolchild. Thus people will already see it as a budget alternative, so they will have to set the pricepoint lower to compensate, even if they sell less than RP.


Secondly, no, its not just the price of oil. Theres a hundred thousand reasons. A few of the biggies:

1. Theres more people in the world than there used to be, but only a similar amount of food production. Yes technology provides greater yields, but farming space shrinks accordingly.

2. Rich/ poor division is massive globally. Countries that 15-20 years ago were producing staple foods have been encouraged to grow herbs,coffee beans and similar by the IMF. Thus they now import more staple foods from the same countries we do (although we tend to pay more and get the higher quality/ more aesthetically pleasing stuff).

3. The UK is not in the position it was in the Global Economy. The rise of China and Russia (and others) means that most of us are, by comparison with the ROTW, far poorer than we were.

4. Desire for certain foods, most of which are not native to these shores. In Germany and France I've found that some things are either far cheaper or far higher quality, whilst a lot of more luxury foods are far more expensive. Obviously the French and Germans have far more of their traditional staples and keep things like burrito kits for very special occasions.

5. Britains liberal stance. We are in one of the most liberal freemarkets in the world, the E.U. We used to get all kinds of allowances to do special trade deals with our former colonies, mainly for food, coffee etc, most of these (all maybe) have now expired. I think bananas was the last to go.

6. Power of so few large corporations in farming, manufacturing and retail. These all set the price based on what the shareholders want - a year on year price increase in their shares. Of course they are going to put the prices as high as they think they can. Britain will naturally be one of the first to feel this pinch - a small island with a relatively big population. The U.S has a far smaller 'bottleneck' because of its size and population spread, only The Highlands of Scotland (Fort William/ Inverness excepted) are uneconomical for larger supermarkets to venture in, thus the relative abundance of 'ma and pa' stores.

Theres so many reasons, the above are just a few. Id recommend reading a book by Raj Patel, called Stuffed and Starved. It will explain the above - and more - far better than I have done!

molthedoll

i usually go to lidl for my fruit and veg - if i don't manage to get the reductions at mr S, W or Ts - I don't live near and Asda though

twentypenceoff

el_gringo wrote: »

Firstly Semolina/ Tapioca will be very difficult to market compared to rice pudding in this country due to peoples experiences of it as a schoolchild. Thus people will already see it as a budget alternative, so they will have to set the pricepoint lower to compensate, even if they sell less than RP.


!

am i the only one here who loves and wilingly eats semolina, and didnt even realise it was meant to be cheap?

laurenjade1402

twentypenceoff wrote: »

am i the only one here who loves and wilingly eats semolina, and didnt even realise it was meant to be cheap?

Love Semolina and just had some Tapioca tonight, first time in years and it was lovely!!!!

satan666wayne

molthedoll wrote: »

i usually go to lidl for my fruit and veg - if i don't manage to get the reductions at mr S, W or Ts - I don't live near and Asda though

Yep i go T's Then A, W, Back to T's Then S.