What are the best and worst basics/value/smartprice own brand products out there?

trinidadone

DominicH wrote: »

Good: Sainsburys Basics part-baked baguettes, olives, tuna (indistinguishable from brand names), supernoodle knock-offs (exactly like similar products), Blue British cheese (softer than Stilton, harder than things like Saint Agur, not bad at all).

OK: Sainsburys Basics houmous. Nice enough, but costs as much as other non-economy store brands.

Bad: Sainsburys Basics Salsa dip. Has the consistency of mucus, and tastes a little bland. Too much tomato, too little else. I threw it straight in the bin.

can you confirm if the baguettes are chilled or frozen?

taylorsmum04

Morrisons value mushy peas with mint 17p a tin,
Morrisons value 3 way cook chips 1.31p a 2.25kg bag
Morrisons value tuna 45p a tin

wekslap

Hi,

I was wondering if I could maybe benefit from the experiences of other forum members as to their opinions of which is the nicest out of the supermarket own brand items, particularly their no frills lines? In the current economic climate I am trying to save money on my supermarket shopping while hopefully not sacrificing "too much" on flavour and quality. Any and all tips and info on well-liked items would be greatly appreciated, and would hopefully benefit everybody, if we pool our experiences!

thanks, in anticipation,

Wekslap

willow_loulou

Asda tinned rice pudding is a staple in my house and a few of my friends too 17p a tin and has been known to be breakfast when the milks gone off!

Value noodles most brands are pretty good and filling with tinned sweetcorn and chopped up frankferters in.

Tesco value pickled beetroot is great too, tastes the same to me as the more expensive ones.

Asda Smartprice butter is lovely

willow_loulou

Oh and Asda own brand steam puddings are lush - Ive just discovered those!

I only ever by tesco own filter coffee too - the french one

santer_2

Some products have reviews here

http://www.supermarketownbrandguide.co.uk/search.php?table=all

Tick the supermarkets you have nearby, tick to include tasting notes, tick any dietary requirements, set the score to 9+ then enter a search item

Coopdivi

Hi there, I notice you've been a member of MSE for two years now. Have you ever thought about using the search function?

Ken68

Hi Wek: With protein being the most expensive part of a diet you need to research the least cost per gram. For example fresh fish is about £11 a kg and frozen fish can be bought for less than £4 per kg. Both are near enough 100% protein. The cheapest plain yogurt is £1.10 per kg (again nearenough 100% protein) and will give you approx 50% of your daily protein requirement.Not that you would want to just eat yogurt but gives you an idea of the price.
And in my case the garden is the most profitable.

JBD

I have to disagree with some of the things in the 1st post. I find the following very nice/good value.
Sainsbury's basic toilet rolls
Sainsbury's basic tinned sweetcorn
Sainsbury's basic chocolate [especially for cake toppings].
sainsbury basic chocolate mousses
Sainsbury's basic pittas

wekslap

I don't know if this has already been mentioned earlier, but I just remembered reading in The Guardian I think, the other week, that Which magazine did a blind tasting panel test of leading big name labels, and supermarket own brand, tomato ketchup. The results were bit of a shock in that Heinz only came thirteenth, and that the number one was Sainburys own brand. Tesco's own brand and M&S own brand were joint 2nd place. I think they were the supermarket normal own brand, not the no-frills versions, but maybe also worth trying the no-frills versions as they can't be "that" different can they?

Wekslap