Signs of the Times

MaggieBaking

CurlyTop wrote: »

I meal plan and try to stick to what's on the list, although I've noticed the prices creeping up. When I looked in my cupboards, there is a lot of named branded stuff there so will look this month to downshift a brand and see if I can lower the costs more.

If I were you I'd do one shop with everything value as much as you can. You'd be surprised at the non-difference! Then, with anything you don't like as much as the branded stuff, move up a level.

For example, value chocolate bourbons, yummy. Value custard creams, not so much. Value basmatic rice is perfect, but value toilet paper is not right for my OH.

Doing one shop buying as "low" as you can will really surprise you.

lucy*locket

Interesting thread, I've become hooked on money saving over the past couple of years and am always telling my workmates about different deals I've found on MSE. As regards shopping,

• I'm much more price conscious than I used to be and have an idea of the price of most goods.
• I check what I have in my fridge and cupboards before shopping to see what I could use rather than buying more food.
• I waste hardly any food, it grieves me to throw anything away now and I try and re-use where possible.
• I always use a shopping list and check most of the items on My Supermarket website before going shopping, marking which store is the cheapest on my list. I'm lucky enough to have Tescos, Sainsburys, Asda all quite close to each other so I'll often do a round trip and buy the best value goods from each one. It takes a bit of effort but keeps my food bill far lower than it was 20 years ago. I even squeeze in a visit to Iceland en route sometimes!
• I use vouchers quite often although I'm not good at using large numbers of them like some of you do.....I should toughen up!
• I always look at reduced food but the reductions are so small in my local supermarkets it's hardly worth it. I love it when I time it right and they're making further reductions, makes my day.

I'm enjoying reading everybody else's tips and ideas, thanks OP.

Burp_2

I noticed that quite a few of you are using Coupons to reduce your shopping bill... I just wondered what supermarkets still accept coupons now?

Our Tescos no longer does ... is it only Morrisons and Sainsburys or do Aldi and Lidl accept vouchers?

Burp x

Burp x

tiff

Asda, Tesco, Morrisons, Co-op, Sainsburys have all accepted coupons from me, havent tried Aldi or Lidl.

Skint_Catt

Aldi don't accept any coupons or credit cards

C xx

Burp_2

tiff wrote: »

Asda, Tesco, Morrisons, Co-op, Sainsburys have all accepted coupons from me, havent tried Aldi or Lidl.

Thats strange ... our Tescos has signs up saying it wont accept any coupons other than their points coupons

valk_scot

Our Tesco accept coupons including ones printed from the web, but only for items you're actually buying. They also accept some conditional spend ones from their main competitors. What they don't much like are fistfulls of web coupons for a dozen of the same product and I've seen this get queried in other people's shopping. I'm fairly restrained in my coupon use and my local Tesco staff are an obliging lot but there's obviously some sort of upper limit in place. Maybe it's one of these things that's down to the individual manager's discretion?

meritaten

Aldi and Lidl dont accept coupons or credit cards. They like cash and in MOST stores debit cards!
believe me - my local Aldi definately has a better class of shopper than the big four! If, like me, you like to cook from scratch (with the occasional convenience food for emergencies), then its ideal. lovely fresh fruit and veg section - their products often better than branded and half the price - very basic tinned foods (but I just keep basics in anyway), and you get to try some foreign foods for a just a small outlay. and now and then you get something like Freesat or really cheap DVD players - or one week they will cater for builders, another week its campers! its never boring! My OH absolutely loves our local branch! we are now on first name terms with the staff who work a thursday!
Did I mention the staff? the fastest checkouts in retail history! so much so, that its common practice to let people in the queue behind you go first if they only have a few items! and the staff are genuinely nice!

lizzyb1812

Even local schoolboys and girls are noticing price changes - as I was buying the local evening paper yesterday I heard a conversation between a young boy and girl in school uniform. Something along the lines of

"Refreshers - I'll get some of those"

"They've gone up a bit haven't they?"

"Yeah ..... that's about 30% more!"

Didn't hear any more but was glad to hear that 2 twelve-ish year olds could appreciate that costs were rising and that they could do percentages. (not knocking 12 year olds' maths capabilities at all - no kids and no idea of what is taught or when these days)

Meritaten - definitely agree re Aldi, but am not a Lidl fan at all.

babyshoes

MaggieBaking wrote: »

I've certainly noticed a gap in aisles where own brand stuff is. Especially Tesco Value "best sellers".

I also noticed that last time I was in Tesco. The cynic in me decided it may well be a deliberate policy not to refill basic items immediately or to stock less than the expected sales. My reasoning is that for most people, if you *need* a basic, essential item (something like carrots or broccoli or bread) and the cheapest version isn't available, you will just sigh and buy the next price up...

Anyone else think I might be right? Or am I just too cynical? :cool: