Beat the peculiar prices in supermarkets?

northantsandy

It used to be the adage that "buying in bulk" or in larger sizes made them more economical to grab when you went shopping.

Recently in Tescos, Wellingborough (East Midlands) I noticed that this isn't the case - I also double checked the items when taking my parents shopping in Tescos, Quinton Birmingham (West Midlands) - which suggests Tescos, whilst not ripping us off, might, in my opinion, be up to some "dirty tricks" to claw back the money they promise us we're saving elsewhere.

Two specific examples:

3 Litres of Long Life Skimmed Milk (Tescos recently stopped selling 6 x 1l multi-packs)
6 pack of 500ml : £2.44 (or 81.3p per litre)
3 x 1litre cartons: £1.95 ( or 65p per litre)
Price difference: 49p

Nescafe Gold Blend Instant Coffee:
100g jar: £2.60 (so £5.20 for 200g)
200g jar: £5.57
Price Difference: 47p

So when buying the same items, when checking the price labels I saved nearly £1 on only two items.

For my next major shop, I intend to see if there are other items that have simialr "peculiarities", so I'll post them here.

Has anyone else found similar "savings" when supermarket shopping?

moutard

hi
i also have noticed this in the tesco i always check the price per pound or what ever the weight maybe biger is not always better or cheeper

simplz

When shopping in Tesco I always find Napolina pasta is cheaper buying in 500g instead of 1kg. Same with spaghetti and also 3 x individual tins of sweetcorn are cheaper than the 3 pack. Sunpat peanut butter used to be cheaper £/kg in the small jar than the big one but I've not seen the small jars for ages. You really have to check £/kg for everything.

sarahg1969

At the moment, I'm also checking right at the back of the shelves, as a lot of products are shrinking, and I find the older, large ones are hidden at the back!

scarey_man

I always spend a minute or so to work out the cost per unit of measurement if there's a particular deal on. Shopping with me is so much fun!
TESCO seem bad for it, so have to be careful.

cornishlady

unless a product i need is on some sort of offer i always compare the price per 100g eg heinz tom ketchup was actually cheaper in a glass bottle than a large squeezy one

Sharon87

sarahg1969 wrote: »

At the moment, I'm also checking right at the back of the shelves, as a lot of products are shrinking, and I find the older, large ones are hidden at the back!

They shouldn't. At my work (a cinema) when the maltesers packs shrunk we had to put them on display as the sell by dates were sooner.

I also find in Saisnburys sometimes that larger packs are more expensive per kg. I always check how much you get per weight. But I think Sainsburys are sneaky with the fruit. They have packs of fruit and say something like 15p/fruit, then the loose stuff its 70p/kg or something like that. It's deceiving so you have to work out which is cheaper from that - I personally use the scales to weight the pack and work it out from there lol.

nopot2pin

I think alot of supermarkets are guilty of this.
They rely on consumers taking advantage of "offers" which are often more expensive.
The £1 price marked/shelf marked stuff seems to be a real money spinner for them, as consumers think "its only a quid" and throw it in their basket, regardless if its a good buy or not.

OP, and subsequent posters, you are all so right, it is worth while checking how much per kilo/gram/litre ect the item is worth, before it leaves the shelf. :T

valk_scot

I noticed this with Tesco own brand basmati rice the other day. The big 4kg bags were about 20p more per kilo than the 1kg bags.