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

Leafy_Lou

Hi

I'm a posting novice, but have been reading your posts during my lunches for a few months now and thought it was time I had a go....

My DH will only buy the supermarkets bargain brand tinned custard now.
We have had from Asda, Morrisons and Tesco and no complaints for any of them - much cheaper than Ambr0sia, which he used to always get.

each_peach_pear_plum

ajo1 wrote: »

Hello
I like the Sainsbury range and most of what is in it but feel like im beeing looked at as a cheepskate anyone else feel the same

I feel quite smug actually, filling my trolley with Basics products.... why pay more than you need to?! My OH used to hate when we shopped together, because he would feel the cringe every time I pick something up... but now even he chooses some Basics over own brand/branded.

As for the scrutiny at the till, I use a self-scan, even for a weekly shop!!
eppp

(I work for Sainsburys btw )

hannahbroke

I buy loads of stuff from the Tesco Value range, saves me a fortune every month and most of it is just as good as the main brands. Especially things like frozen veg, baked beans and butter, seriously you'd never know the difference on most things! I normally check everything out online first using mysupermarket.co.uk just to make sure the prices are as low as they should be in comparison to the other supermarkets. We live somewhere with all the shops close by so if I see that the Asda Smartprice beans are cheaper i'll do the bulk of my shopping online and then i'll pop along to Asda and pick up the beans.

Geordie_bear

Avoid Asda Smart price shampoo my head was red raw using it

Joeboy22

I shop in Tesco every week and always buy their value biscuits, all taste good to me. The rich teas vary in price from 14p to 29p for some reason ?

Also bars of chocolate for 35p and that's dark/milk or white.

johnnyleeds

I feel i'm a bit of an expert at this having been a cheapskate all my life! I used to shop at Nettos / Aldi etc until several years ago when I discovered that major supermarkets were doing there own similarly priced 'value' ranges which offered more choice and at the same time allowed you to take your pick of the supermarkets other offers and importantly their 'reduced + quicksale/still fresh' lines.

I've found Asda to be one of the best supermarkets for the sheer range of 'value' (or 'smartprice' as they call it) products. Most of them are very good quality, with some exceptions - their 'smartprice' teabags are appauling, which is true with all of the other major supermarkets with the noteable exception of Sainsbury's, who's 'basics' fairtrade teabags (80 for £0.27) are brilliant and easily as good as Tetleys etc.

Morrisons value range is ok, but I've found not always to be as good quality as Asda's. Most of Sainsbury's 'basics' range I find is extremely good, and up until recently, when they were claiming there was a supply problem, an absolute GEM of a find was the Sainsbury's 'basics' white chocolate - £0.28 for 150g! Absolutely yummy! Unfortunately I havent seen it for a few weeks.

Avoid Morrison's 'value' cornflakes as they like cardboard, instead go for the Sainsbury's 'basics' ones that are sold in a plastic bag, they are virtually indistinguisable to Kelloggs - very light and crisp, and for £0.31 for 500g you can stuff you face at breakfast / snack time for pennies!

Plus Tesco do a fantastic pack of 'Everyday Value' bacon for £0.74 - yes thats £1.48 per kilo! Ok its cut into small pieces, but its brilliant for making omelettes, and I just fry it off and drain the pieces and put them into a sandwich which isnt much trouble. I've also used it to make a lovely carbonara sauce - bacon / ham ? not a lot in it is there?

Its a bit of trial and error buying this stuff as obviously personal taste comes into it, you generally have to shop around and buy one thing here, and another thing there to get the best quality 'value' range products from each supermarket, but if you live in a large city this isnt particularly a problem, and what I tend to do is when I visit Sainsbury's which is a little out of my way, I'll stock up on 4 boxes of their teabags (i mean 4 x 27 p = 1.08 - hardly breaks the bank for 320 cups of tea does it?) and I do likewise with other products I want from each place. That way you arent running around like a nutter from one supermarket to another.

Anyroad, I'm glad I found this little thread as its let me share some shopping 'secrets'. Actually the best place for food shopping bargains in Leeds is in Kirkgate market, where you can buy premium brand products for 'value' range prices every day, but its a hit-and-run mission as you never know what they will have in from one day to the next, the other day it was 2 tubs of Utterly Butterly for £1! Plus fresh dry-cured smoked bacon for £1.50 per kilo! mmmm-mmmm!!

got-it-spend-it

I always buy Value/ Basics dark chocolate for baking. Obviously it doesn't have as high a cocoa content as some, but I've never had a problem with using it. It melts well and gives a lovely flavour. I've used Yesco, Asda, Sainsburys and Morrisons all with great success and also the cheap IKEA chocolate too! Varies from about 28p-35p for a 100g bar. I also always use Value flour as I can't tell the difference and it is often less than half the price of branded flour.

We love Tesco value Jaffa Cakes- actually prefer them to branded, and in fact all the value biscuits that we've tried have been fine.

Value/ Basics pitta breads are good too- usually 19 or 20p a pack compared to 65p odd for non value.

dasophster

Johnnyleeds 100% agree on the Sainsbobs basic cornflakes they really are very good. A few weeks ago I had only £6.50 to spend on groceries as we'd just had our water and electric bill to deal with, I got everything Sainsburys basics and got one of those smaller trollies full for that money, and managed to get the essentials to last a week. The Sainsburys basics brown bread is horrible (same goes for all other value brown bread even waitrose essentials) but the white one is nicer than warburtons et al in my opinion xx

sammyroser

Good
Sainsbury's Value Mozzarella - So cheap and so good.
Sainsbury's Value Dried Tomato and Onion Pasta - Just add tomato pur!e and a small amount of sugar.
Sainsbury's Value Mild Cheddar - It's the best mild cheddar I've found.
Sainsbury's Value Ready Salted Crisps - Worse for you in terms of % of fat but they taste really nice and very cheap.
Own Brand Plain and Self-Rising Flour - Does need sifting though as can have a few lumps. Not suitable for making bread.
Own Brand Ketchup - I use it in cooking only but it works fine.

Bad
Morrison's Value Mozzarella - Tasted horrible and really hard.
Any Cheap Jam - Just tastes like sugar too me.
Sainsbury's Value Scotch Pancakes - Very small, no flavour and a texture like crumpets.
Tesco Value Cheese - Blurgh!

minipenny_2

ooo this is a fab thread!

Fresh meat - We get Tesco Value Mince and Chicken breasts. I do have to search for best Chicken breasts and sometimes cut a bit of fat off but they cook and taste fine and both are great for freezing.

my oh likes tesco's value museli although he finds he has to add a few more raisins just for taste. But its 98p a pack which is great considering the amount of cereal we go through!

We use nappies and toothpaste but their already on there.

Oh the