Is it just me or is supermarket "fresh" veg a massive rip-off?

luluma

My OH and I love to cook meals together in the evenings - after work it's really the only 'us' time we get to spend together during the week.

Anyway, we pick up ingredients on the way home for dinner (usually from Sainburys Local or Waitrose), but things like fresh veg just seem to be ridiculously expensive *AND* when you get them home, they aren't actually that fresh! They look ragged and beat up so how they are allowed to charge such a premium?!

daveyjp

They are expensive, but something needs to be when you are selling beer at 50p a can.

sonnythecat

You're right. And how much nutrition is left in veg that's past its prime? I'm going to do my very best to grow more veg next year.
I guess its a no brainer, really.

thatguy1

Sainburys Local or Waitrose

I think that's probably why they are more expensive. Shops like Sainsbury's Local, Tesco Express are usually more expensive because of where they are located, higher rents etc...

And you don't expect to get 'cheap' stuff from Waitrose do you?

book-lover_2

luluma wrote: »

Anyway, we pick up ingredients on the way home for dinner (usually from Sainburys Local or Waitrose), but things like fresh veg just seem to be ridiculously expensive

I used to get my fruit and veg from Waitrose. I switched to Morrisons, and it's a lot cheaper. You can get four (nice) apples from Morrisons for £1 or sometimes 50p. A tray of four pears - £1 or 50p. And I got a punnet of 8 plums for 50p. All of these items are usually over £2 in waitrose:eek:

Same goes for the veg. I understand if there's not a cheaper supermarket local to you, but I tend to get our fruit and veg in one bulk buy at the weekend, and it lasts all week.

Missy_Spud

I used to get all my veg from the big supermarkets, but an aldi has just opened up near us so i go there now if i just want a few bits it was £1.11 in tesco for a brocolli and 39p in aldi for one which was even bigger and just as fresh/same quality. same with cucumber 39p in aldi 80p upwards in other stores, much cheaper for me seen as i have to also buy my guinea pigs a load of fresh veg each week too lol you could try buying when its on special offer and blanching/freezing if you have the room, or growing veg yourself i grow peppers on my bedroom windowsil, and have a small plastic greenhouse for tomatoes/sweetcorn and a yard which i grow courgette's etc its really easy to grow your own and you only need a few pots. My mum grows courgette's because they are easy to grow lol she hates the things so im always getting bags full of frozen courgette's during their growing season!

I usually get bags of frozen peas/broadbeans/sweetcorn/babycorn/green beans/peppers as they do work out cheaper and they are alright as an alternative to fresh although i find frozen cauliflower and broclli go very mushy when cooked, i only dip them in boiling water and they turn to mush!

jenniewb

I think its all supermarket veg that is worsening in quality- they used to have good stuff in but at the moment its more common I buy a bag/pack of apples, only to find they are all fluffy in texture, bruised or just oily and have paid around 50p an apple...don't get me started on the hand-picked stuff, it actually looks worse!

I went to Sainsburys tonight, no fresh apples to pick unless you wanted the bruised stuff, grapefruits covered in mould, the majority of the rest of the fruit sold out. I could see they were restocking the shelves but what confuses me is why on earth they are restocking shelves which already have food on and leaving the fruit and veg empty until the next day (and not always that!) Tesco are just as bad. Waitrose I now don't bother- I have yet to buy an apple which isn't very very past its best!

M&S is too expensive for me but the sheer volume of food I am now having to throw away and repurchase would mean I would probably save money if I did my grocery shopping there!

Frozen is where its at! (So long as you don't shop at Tesco who always seem to be out of stock on green beans).

MRSTITTLEMOUSE

I've stopped using supermarkets for fruit and veg.
We are lucky to have a permanent market and the fruit and veg stalls have a high turnover with very competetive prices.
Where else would you get two pounds of perfect apples or pears for a £1 or 10 satsumas for 50p.
They also have too much of some stuff so sell it off cheaply,like the baby plum tomatoes I got yesterday,perfectly fresh they were selling bags of them weighing 2lbs for a quid.
Yesterday I paid £1.10p for two pounds of seedless grapes,£1.30 for two punnets of raspberries,,80p for two pounds of yellow plums,30p for broccolli and and mushrooms at 60p a lb and five fresh figs for £1 ,all fresh and will last longer than the supermarket stuff.
At the end of the day they're selling whole baskets of mushrooms weighing several pounds for no more than a quid and strawberries you'd pay 3 or 4 pounds a punnet for in Tesco for 2 for £1.50.
Supermarkets are total rip offs,try and get to a market even once a week and you'll save loads.

joeyboy

MRSTITTLEMOUSE wrote: »

Supermarkets are total rip offs,try and get to a market even once a week and you'll save loads.

so true. Also for folks who can't do this I'd suggest seeing if you have a LIDL or ALDI near you, they're usually much cheaper then the likes of Sainsburys for fruit and veg, especially as they often have weekly offers and there's always some veg or fruit on, lettuces, cucumbers, bananas, apples etc, often on offer. As an example a cucumber was 29p recently, they're like 70p at Sainsburys and I'd say the one I got was bigger then those at Sainsburys.

Princess_Coupon

Sain's and Tesco =Expensive
Asda and Morrisons = Reasonable

Quality= hit and miss with all 4

wheretheresawill

I find waitrose fruit and veg to be the best out of the supermarkets, but you can't beat a good greengrocers