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

mumofthetwins

Quick one ... My little guys are on a saving drive and when we were shopping made me buy mostly value range (Tesco)
We tried
chocolate moose 20p /4 pack ... They liked them
Choc Swiss roll 25p again liked
Cake bars 50p /5 pack liked
Chicken portions (frozen) 3.50 /big bag fine
Dishwasher tablets 1.60 seem fine all dishes so far are sparkling

The boys just said if its rubbish then we just won't buy them again ... Good thinking for 2 10 year olds

red_panda_3

Not good
Sainsbury's basic night lights,false economy,don't have any life in them and will only just re-light for a little while after using them for a 20-30 minute bath.Also seems very un-environmentally friendly to be throwing the used ones in the bin all the time with the metal/aluminium/nasties in them when they didn't last long. Sometimes you see better quality candles on offer,think it might work out just the same to buy them.
Tried Tesco value peanut butter once,really disgusting!(it was about five years ago though)

Pretty good
Sainsbury's milk chocolate,30p for a 100g bar, when you look at the ingredients you can see that there is actually cocoa butter in it.I haven't tried the milk or dark,but looking at the ingredients of the dark I would guess it might not be very good.

WantToBeSE

AWFUL: Asda Smartprice Sweet & Sour. I bought it after someone on here recommended it. Never again! I rarely buy sweet and sour jars, i normally make my own, but if i ever need to buy a jar one again it'll be Uncle Bens.

red_panda_3

I know someone who did some research for the company she worked for into organic products.While researching Tesco's range organic soya milk she discovered that the value soya milk was actually organic as well although it didn't make any claims about it on the carton(this was some time ago though)
On the same subject,noticed the other day that the ingredients on the Sainsbury's basics soya milk and the Sainsbury's own brand unsweetened soya milk(which is actually not that much more in price) are EXACTLY the same.

Vickyh

We are a big users of Sainburys Basic range that or Lidl
Stuffing 15p- splosh of Lea and perrings perk it up.
Coffee- really nice- but they have stopped selling it in our branch
Hot chocolate- dash of milk not bad
Fromage Frais- 42p- just as good as leading brand
Milk powder- good for bread making
Basic flours found no problems with these when baking
Basic pasta / spaghetti- great
Basic rice- I found this fine- we use a rice cooker so no stirring to ruin the rice
Basic eggs- i can't remember if they are caged or not.
Basic crumpet / pitta/teacakes- all fine.
Basic liquid hand soap- lovely grapefruit smell and hasn't brought my hands out in red cracking mess.
Basic nappies- absolutley brilliant- no leaks- but now stopped selling them at £1.44 for 20 nappies they were a bargain!

The things i found horrible were
Margarine
Tortellini- OH didn't like them
Grated cheese- a horrible texture when melted stuck to my teeth!
Rubbish bags- too thin

I can't think of anything else!!

red_panda_3

I bought some Tesco Value Baby Wipes,they were unbelievably cheap,pretty sure they were 12p for a packet and the packet was quite small.They were so,so useless.If you imagine some kind of reinforced nylon pieces of paper which you kind of dipped in some kind of oil,moisture,water,alcohol,liquid,that's the only way I can describe it,they were basically moistened pieces of paper with no absorbency and no 'cloth' qualities at all.Once I had opened them and had seen this I turned straight round and went back in and asked for my money back at customer services,I explained 'how could they sell this' and that the wipes were of no use whatsoever.The lady in customer services could see what I meant and agreed with me and gave me my money back.
There may be different Tesco value baby wipes that are OK but these particular ones were no good.They were ridiculous,what was the point of them existing and having been made and sold by someone?

sharond101

worth buying

Asda smartprice cornflakes
Asda smarprice frozen sweetcorn
Asda smartprice custard powder
Asda smartprice fresh peppers
Tesco everyday value apple and blackcurrant squash
Tesco everyday value coleslaw
Sainsburys basics cranberry sauce
Aldi everyday essentials pasta
Aldi everyday essentials frozen chicken breasts
Co-op basics cornflakes (taste like Kelloggs just smaller flakes)

Not worth buying
Asda smartpric spaghetti
Asda smartprice toilet roll
Tesco everyday value lettuce
Tesco everyday value babywipes

Wizzbang

Vickyh wrote: »

Basic eggs- i can't remember if they are caged or not.

This is the great thing about Sainsbury's Basics range- it's all still ethical and responsibly sourced. The Basics eggs are from barn hens, they DO NOT sell any caged eggs at all. Unlike Tesco's...who refuse to stop selling them until it becomes illegal.

Roxy07

I tried Smartprice Meatballs in Tomato sauce and it was vile.. are Asda's own brand much better? I like meatballs but they are too damn expensive.

[Deleted User]

Roxy07 wrote: »

I tried Smartprice Meatballs in Tomato sauce and it was vile.. are Asda's own brand much better? I like meatballs but they are too damn expensive.

The Aldi ones are very nice and 40p a tin.