cheap brands on cheap food bills

Tracey04

Before you read please don't bite my head off Im just trying to word it correctly for your honest answers...
I have read many-a-link on people living off £12.50 per week and £80 for the month etc, and was wondering do people really just eat shop brand stuff. I feel it tastes claggy,no flavour or doesn't do the job.Im not saying that I eat very expensive things but I like my organic fruit and veg (when I thought I could afford it - as I was thinking along the lines of good for the children), we dont eat many ready made things as my son may have a tolarance to some colourings etc, but washing up liquid has always been fairy, toilet paper = Andrex, washing powder = bold or fairy. What sort of stuff do you wash your hair in. In food I only drink Yorkshire tea cos its stronger, buy Nescaffe and only Walkers crisps.

I want to cut my shopping (for food, cleaning stuff and toiletries) from £50 per week to the absolute minnium. What would be your answer be. There is just me and two small boys..

Thanks Tracey

Ps I did get a bargain 5kg pots for 20p and 12 eggs for 20p. Selling off at Asda last night, so I guess its shepherds pie making and freezing them. Any more ideas??

Alikay

You've made a start with your spuds and eggs! Just make a couple of changes a week to start with - like giving the own brand loo rolls and washing up liquid a go. There are bound to be some branded things that you really prefer and would rather spend the extra on...I love Walkers crisps too.. I just buy plenty of them when they're on offer and stash them away so we don't up our consumption just coz they're there!!
Some of the changes have been for the better, even though it's cheaper - like Stardrops for cleaning, and a few of the Aldi/Lidl things.

Penelope_Penguin

Hi, Tracey. I buy loads of Tesco and Sainsbury own brand stuff. We have a few things that we buy branded (coffee, sunflower spread, Marmite), but own brand for most others. I can honestly say I don't notice much difference. It seems to me that Tesco and Sainsbury want to compete directly with Fairy, Nescafe and Andrex, so deliberately make their products the same. Many people even believe that they're made by the same manufacturers.

Have you taken a look at the "Tesco value - yummy or yucky" thread. We discovered value jaffa cakes and choc ices. Bargains compared to full price, and delicious. But don't touch value rice crispies with a barge pole.

Penny. x

wigginsmum

I buy what I can at Lidl - can't say I've noticed much if any difference in quality (and I was a devout Sainsburys/M&Ser! - £500/month). The only stuff I don't buy there is fruit and veg because it's much cheaper in the market outside.

Chipps

Hi Tracey,
How about starting with non-foods? (If nothing else, they certainly can't be accused of "tasting claggy!"

If you have an Aldi or Lidl, their washing powders & liquids are very good - we use non-bio cos of allergies - but I have also used Tesco non-bio & found it good, too. Washing up liquid is, after all, just for washing dishes, & as long as you don't buy the real cheapo thin stuff - most makes are fine. Again, I use Lidl (they do 2 - a posh one in a clear bottle, & one in a yellow traditional w/u/liq bottle for about 39p which I use - it is concentrated, so works well)
Lidl's toilet paper is brilliant value - they do one which is 4-ply, patterned & I think £2.99 for pack of (sorry can't see them at mo, but I think its 10!) Anyway, it's such good quality it lasts for ages. Personally I think its better than anything for which I would have to pay to subsidise being endorsed by puppy dogs!!!:D

As Alikay says, try changing one or two things at a time. A lot of times, I think we are so influenced by advertising that we think things are better because they have a certain label. I can't tell the difference between Tesco o/b weetabix and the brand label - even when they are still in their plastic wrapper! Tesco bran flakes are fine, but I'm not so happy with the cornflakes.

Give it a go, you may be surprised! And after a while you will wonder why on earth you were paying for a whole load of advertising!

brokenwings

i can only agree with what the above ladies have said. Before i changed my shopping habit my food bill was £400 a month and full of 'finest' and M/S stuff.

out of necessity ( dire financial straits ) i changed to buying tescos own and lidles sometimes - everything from washing up liquid ( not necessarily value ) to toilet roll to coffee and biscuits.

noone else has ever commented - and to be honest i cant tell the difference myself.

( have even weaned myself onto tescos diet cola at 43p a 2liter bottle and now cant even tell the difference on that )

oh - edited to add that from £400 a month i am down to £120 a month!

Chipps

Just had another thought....

You say your boys are small - so probably a good idea to make the changes now while they are still young, & before they decide that they will only eat X brand!!!! Otherwise you find yourself with the problem of "hiding" the own-brand stuff in advertised brand boxes!

halloweenqueen_2

Things like flour, rice and pasta do not need to be anything other than basic brands. I make a lot of stuff using tesco SR and plain flour and cannot notice the difference, same with the rice, although I do buy the basmati. i use lidls bread flour as I've tried all the rest and that one has the best results. Tesco baked beans I don't like or lidls but netto's ones are fine. It s a question of taste I suppose. Salad cream, tomato sauce and brown sauce I do have named brands but for the majority of my shopping its basics! I do buy campbells soups as they are versatile and have little recipes on the side I sometimes use!
If you are making all your own meals, theres a good chance that most things you use don't need brand names.
Good luck! I'm now spending roughly £30 a week for 3 including toiletries and we eat very well! I do buy bargains at the butchers which helps!

halloweenqueen_2

Ps it may help you to do a menu planner and buy what you need for that week/fortnight/month. With the school holidays coming up it my pay you to do a tesco shop online, you won't be dragging the boys to the shop and only what you had on your list will go in your (virtual) trolley!!

rchddap1

We buy very few brand names. I find that most of the supermarket own stuff is comparable in quality. Quite often you pay for the brand name rather than the product inside the tin. I started this evaluation process by picking up the cheapest one I could find and giving that a go....if that was rejected, then up the chain I went. Don't ever get to the top of the chain and end up with branded stuff in the cupboards.

As for loo roll...well it only ends up either on your bum or down the loo so I don't see the point in spending oodles of cash on it. Quite often I will search for the large packs and then do a quick bit of maths working out the cost per roll. Then I'll walk off with the pack that has the cheapest price per roll. Last time that was Charmin, previously it was Asda's own.

We are one of those that spend £12.50 per person per week (usually its actually a bit less). With careful planning, and careful shopping it is easily done without any loss of quality. But I agree in the 'do things a bit at a time' mentality. We didn't just leap into this head first. It developed over time....and so its become habit. This makes it much easier to stick to.

lynzpower

Have a look in the "great own brand hunt" do search for it, youll see a lot of the named manufacturers make for supermarkets in any case. We do 100 a month, but reducing to 95 this month for just keeping my eye on the prize, thats for 2 with cleaning & toiletries, & lunches

We buy
Lots of organic ( but only if its UK due to food miles)
finest sausages
named cheese ( eg cathedral city etc) as this is usually on bogof or 1/2 price
kingsmill or hovis type bread or tesco finest
muller yogs or biopots ( mainly cos its one of those things you cant really buy in shops own, although I did have the lidl version of biopot and thought it was probably the same as normal biopot but cheaper)
mccain oven chips
linda mccartney products as theres no shops own comparable
crackers as shops own is usually cream crackers only- always buy shops own if buying them
nouvelle loo roll

Id never buy named
shower gel (go for tescos or boots own)
conditioner- have found a top tesco one which is perfect for me and only 59p
frozen veg
butter
flour/ baking products
chopped tinned toms/ passata/ herbs/ spices/pasta/ rice/

Really it depends whats on offer- if a named brand is on bogof and works out cheaper per unit than shops own then I go for that