Keep a price list in your purse

aprildawn

Hello all.

I have been a lurker on this site for quite a while and i thought I ought to go "legit" and say HI and start to contribute.

I only have a small pension and so have to be very careful when the word "BARGAIN" tempts me to buy LOL

I did a search of the site and couldnt find anyone refering to using a price list (if it has, apologies)

I have a lidl within walking distance, an Asda a little further away and a morrisons a car drive away. I got fed up buying a "bargain" at one store only to find cheaper in another.

I find I only buy about 20 items regularly. Pack sizes can vary from store to store and I found the only way you can compare prices is to work out the price "per 100g"

Most stores list this on the shelf tag so i rarely have to whip out the calculator.

my list shows the food items running down the left had side. The columns across are headed with the places I shop. The intersecting box shows the price per 100g.

I carry this list all the time and have found it does stop me from making mistakes.
(my memory is rubbish)

I hope this is a helpful idea for a few people at least.

Regards
April Dawn

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aprildawn

Just a little addition to this post.

This example only shows a fraction of pence in savings but it does show how paying attention to the weight/size of a product does count.

Today tesco (value) baked beans and Asda (smart price) are both 28p
Tesco's weighed 420g = 6.7p per 100g
Asda's weighed 410g = 6.8p per 100g

Corned beef shows an even bigger difference

Asda (smart price) 1.39 for 340g = 40.9p per 100g
Tesco (value) 1.55 for 230g = 67p per 100g !!!

Hope this explains things a little better

Regards
April

pixiedust88_2

Hi april. I look at these differences too. Sometimes Tesco are better value, sometimes not. But they can be cheeky and state they are better value when in fact that is not always true.

We all need to shop smart so Tesco and other large supermarkets can't so easily dupe the customer.

Blobby8_2

Run this over chicken breast portions offer/value/bogoff etc.
Amazing fiddles for years in the price per 100gram, cheese is similar too

pixiedust88_2

I stand there for ages looking at deals, trying to figure out if I am about to be conned. I take a calculator with me to the supermarket, I don't like to be duped in to buying things. Tesco are so good at scrambling the minds of people like me who were never good at math. I couldn't do without my calculator, I would buy everything that said ‘offer’ otherwise and be none the wiser to the con.

aprildawn

Thanks pixiedust and blobby.

It really makes my head spin trying to work out the "con/bargain" ratios :rotfl:

One HUGE thing i forgot to mention is that, armed with my "price list" I check my regular items online, after all there isnt much point saving pennies if i spent pounds on travel costs LOL.

Asda and Tesco on line shopping sites allow you to check the basics without having to actually buy.

I shop at Morrisons for meat only, the butchers at my nearst store are brilliant, they will cut exactly the size or cut i want PLUS they are having (possibly every 6 weeks) an offer on pork shoulder at a pound a pound ! (guess whats in my freezer)

When i go to Morrisons I take my price list with asda and tesco prices and check the prices and either buy items OR add morrisons current prices to the list .

The price list works if you have a few main shops but it really shows its worth in STOPPING impulse buys !

I actually walked out of a pound store empty handed when my list showed they were more expensive .

There have been some horrible "cons" recently ie all fruit and veg 79p ?????

I checked back on my list
79p for 500g The same items were 1.40 per kilo last month.

I wonder if the office of fair trading should get involved ??

Regards
April

mongmoney

April,
Thanks for this, I'm definately going to do it for the regular items. Don't forget the other stores though. I have found that I*cland, Fa*mfds and Al*i are great for the staples of milk, bread and sugar.
Mongy

missladyannie

Tesco are also notoriously bad for charging more for a multipack than if you bought the items separately, for example the Tesco premium brand lager is 2.84 for a 4 pack, but for the 8 pack it is over double so to get the best value you would buy 2 x 4packs rather than the 8 pack - I always check their multipacks, they do the same on catfood on the 24 sachet packs too (always buy 2 x 12packs) x

nakmeister

This is really helpful thanks April, I never thought about it this way but will definitely pay closer attention now!

Karmacat

It might be a good idea to save that list online, maybe at individual supermarkets, or at mysupermarket. Brilliant post, tho, aprildawn, if you're out and about all the time, it can't be beaten

gaily

Thanks April - what a good idea.

I must admit that we do have a choice of Iceland, Tesco M&S or Waitrose in our village (meaning Tesco is usually one of the 'lesser' evils!) But If I'm in Iceland, and the price for beans is a bit more than in Tesco, then I'm not going to hop in my car (with a pair of 4 year olds in tow) in order to get them. I usually outweigh the savings I'm making on the bread and milk as being adequate.

I'm cetainly not knocking this approach, and it may just mean I go without beans until the next time I'm in Tesco. It's a good enough idea for me to think about doing something similar.

Thank you.