The Co-Op Moneysaving Tips Thread

renegade

NewCustomerOnly wrote: »

Time to have a dedicated thread for the co-op methinks, after nearly getting conned out of a pound today! So, first tip, don't buy teacher's xmas pressie box of ferrero rocher chocs from the normal aisle! Literally two steps along in the promos they were £1.20 less! (as opposed to £4.50 for the same box!)

However, for those who are Really! downspending this xmas, the frozejn turkeys from £9 look like a good bet.

Any more tips gratefully received here please (co-op is our nearest supermarket!)

You have my sympathy, they have got to be the most expensive shop to have to use.
I would much rather do net shop at the other supermarkets than buy anything at the Co-op.

Ken68

Looking at funeral plans recently. Even they are not competative.

terra_ferma

scotrae wrote: »

And the ethical aspect of co-op is a big selling point for me.

I used to think that too, but in my area it looks to me like they are taking advantage of the fact that they don't have much competition to keep their prices very high. An the people who suffer are those who can't travel to other supermarkets. They are also close to a train station.

I've been there at different times of the day, normally at around 6pm ish, but also other times, and never seen any great offers around.

What time would people recommend going there? I want to try and see if I can get the good offers (but not own brand).
We stopped buying their own branded products because quality was so bad, like cheese, ham etc, and even potatoes were horrible, although some tomatoes were really nice, and the stew mix too. Ready made salads are not great quality.
They make very nice fresh bread too, we go in there just for that sometimes.

If people here are saying that it's not expensive, I'm convinced that they have different pricing in different shops, as I compared mine with waitrose, of all places, and they were more expensive (things like tinned peas). I know MSErs are too price-wise to get this wrong

princessmoneysaver

I used to go about 8pm on a Monday evening when DD had a swimming class, everything was reduced to about 20p each then but I have gone first thing on a Monday morning & got some bargains.

h007

i only go to coop if i only need one or two things as i find them very expensive but the shop is right next to the train station so great for getting stuff on the way home from work.
i remember once i grabbed a 6 pack of reduced scotch pancakes 69p from 99p in coop.
then a couple of days later i was in sainsburys and saw they did them for 65p and that was for 8 pancakes!!

toontron

I wandered in the Co-op yesterday, don't go in very often but I have to say that they did look expensive, also, I didn't think that their Christmas party snacks were very good value, I didn't spot anything there that was cheaper than Mr T, there was actually nothing tempting in there at all.

Money_maker

I find them rather expensive but also good for reductions. I also find their fruit and veg doesn't keep very well but their meat tastes better than Mr T's.

When the flyer comes through, I mark out the offers I'm interested in, check them with http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/ to see if they're the cheapest then go from there.

Like their offers on toilet rolls, though. Also have divi paid into the bank now having had to ring a couple of times about vouchers I lost in the past.

NewLifeAhead_2

My co-op tends to be better for special offers rather then reductions. Every week there are half price or bogof on bulk of things like walkers crisps, toilet roll etc. I paid £6 for 18 rolls in tesco last week and in the co-op they were doing 12 rolls of andrex £5.99 bogof.(i discovered this after my tesco shop of course)
They are of course expensive on a lot of things (well i find it to be more a case of you get less for your money, ie they do the 3 for £10 on meat but instead of say 500g chicken breasts its 375g etc).

NewCustomerOnly

Money_maker wrote: »

I find them rather expensive but also good for reductions. I also find their fruit and veg doesn't keep very well but their meat tastes better than Mr T's.

When the flyer comes through, I mark out the offers I'm interested in, check them with http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/ to see if they're the cheapest then go from there.

Like their offers on toilet rolls, though. Also have divi paid into the bank now having had to ring a couple of times about vouchers I lost in the past.

Thanks Money maker for that moneysaving tip - how did you contact them to arrange that? Does it include the till receipt moc s? Like many others on this thread, this family is stuck with co op - convinced each shop sets own prices, it's the elderly I worry about (they are paying 75 per cent more in some cases AND they cant carry heavy multiple buy offers or drive out of the village.) It's actually Not very ethical to do that, imo! Maybe we should enquire a bit further or complain or ask a consumer programme.

NewCustomerOnly

terra_ferma wrote: »

I used to think that too, but in my area it looks to me like they are taking advantage of the fact that they don't have much competition to keep their prices very high. An the people who suffer are those who can't travel to other supermarkets. They are also close to a train station.

I've been there at different times of the day, normally at around 6pm ish, but also other times, and never seen any great offers around.

What time would people recommend going there? I want to try and see if I can get the good offers (but not own brand).
We stopped buying their own branded products because quality was so bad, like cheese, ham etc, and even potatoes were horrible, although some tomatoes were really nice, and the stew mix too. Ready made salads are not great quality.
They make very nice fresh bread too, we go in there just for that sometimes.

If people here are saying that it's not expensive, I'm convinced that they have different pricing in different shops, as I compared mine with waitrose, of all places, and they were more expensive (things like tinned peas). I know MSErs are too price-wise to get this wrong

Yup, I think youre right, each one setting own price - been wondering about that for a while.

PS If using their cashpoint, consider printing your receipt - often good moc s on back.