cheap brands on cheap food bills

VickyA_2

It's up to you how you spend your money and no one is here to criticise.

Our weekly shopping (for 2 adults, including packed lunches) is approximately £25. This includes:

Local, seasonal fruit and veg (other than bananas :rolleyes: )
Locally produced meat - bought from local butcher and monthly farmers' market
Eggs - again, free range, locally produced from local butcher.
Bread (Hovis, because OH's dad works for them :rolleyes: )
Supermarket own brand Weetabix (wheat biscuits) and branflakes
Supermarket own brand pulses, tomatoes and baking equipment
Loo roll - supermarket own brand. It's soft.......
Supermarket own brand washing-up liquid
Fairy non-bio liquid

Cleaning equipment, shampoo etc comes from Wilkos when it's on offer.

Having worked in the food industry myself (now a teacher) and still having friends who work there, I know that it's just a case for most supermarket brands that they just change the packaging.

kittiwoz

I do most of shopping in Aldi so I have no choice of brands. I find most of their stuff is very good though and for a ditherer like me it saves a lot of time not having to make those decisions. I also shop in a local asian grocers store which is good value and packed to the rafters. It's particularly good for pulses, spices and grains.

I almost always cook from scratch although I have the occasional Aldi frozen vegi lasagne for when I am in a hurry which is really very good. I don't buy ready made sauces because not only is it cheaper to make them yourself, I think I make them much nicer than most brands and own brands. I don't eat things like fish-fingers or chicken nuggets since while own brand versions tend to be particularly horrible I think branded versions are pretty rank too. Also I don't eat a lot of meat and normally buy cheaper types such as mince, chicken legs, bratwurst. I hardly ever buy crisps at all, since I think they are a bit of a waste of money tbh, but if I do get a packet as an occasional treat I get McCoys because I like them best. I drink tetley tea though not by choice. My housemates buy it and they drink more tea then me so I can't complain. Personally I like Yorkshire tea, PG tips or Earl Grey and will drink it black no sugar but I put up with the tetley's and have it with milk and 1/2 tsp sugar. I find all instant coffee much of a muchness unless it's decaf which I think is foul stuff. We get instant from Aldi and I buy Dowe Egberts ground coffee from Quality Save for £1. Except that I just knocked my cafetiere off the the draining board the other day so I'm stuck with instant til I can find another one cheap enough.

Loo roll, washing-up liquid and washing powder all come from Aldi and seem perfectly good to me. Other cleaning stuff tends to come from Pound Empire.

While I'm quite happy with Aldi's produce the other factor you have to take into account is means. For example I buy butter because I much prefer it to margarine but if things get really tight I'll buy margarine. Sometimes you have to lower your standards to meet your means.

culpepper

We always used to half the bottle of washing up liquid as soon as we got it home(keep an old bottle),then top up both bottles with water. Its easy to use far too much when you squeeze it in. The same for shampoo.My kids would only use the no more tears stuff as they washed their own in the bath and were not very careful with it so that was watered by half too.

I found some of the own brand tinned things tasted sweet when we bought some for camping, even meat balls.

I buy own brand flour,marg,eggs and tea.
If your yorkshire tea is pricey,you could make a pot with a tea bag instead of a cup .Drink it cold later or heat it up if you have a microwave.

newleaf

My mum used to work in a large biscuit factory. She told me the biscuits are identical, it's the packaging that changes. The shout would come from the supervisor 'Right girls, change your boxes to Sainsburys (or whatever)..' The same bickies just carried on coming down the conveyor belt and got tucked into different boxes.

li'l_p

newleaf wrote:

My mum used to work in a large biscuit factory. She told me the biscuits are identical, it's the packaging that changes. The shout would come from the supervisor 'Right girls, change your boxes to Sainsburys (or whatever)..' The same bickies just carried on coming down the conveyor belt and got tucked into different boxes.

My mum worked for a tea manufacturer and she's told me the very same thing ...quite often it's only the packaging that changes. Sometimes it's just a minor adjustment in the blend or mix that they use!