What Value things have you tried and liked?

mrsd

I have found that, and found that the value brands sometimes have less additives than the more expensive ones, which i think is good.

daisiegg

I am of the (probably highly unpopular on this board!) opinion that generally, for most things I have tried, anyway, the value stuff does taste worse. I have tried and tried and tried to be really positive about it, particularly in my poor student days, but I really can tell the difference. I remember as a child when I insisted on proper Shreddies, and swore to my mum that I could tell the difference - the first time she tried the old trick of putting the Sainsbury's 'Malties' into the Shreddies box and served it up to me, I knew straight away. I used to buy own brand or value pasta until I met OH and he made me buy De Cecco, and since then when I eat pasta at my mum's house or something, it tastes really cardboardy and horrible.

daisiegg

That said, I worked at Sainsbury's as a student and it was well-known that the Sainsbury's own and value range digestive biscuits were made by McVities...or the same people that made McVities...or something like that anyway. Seems to make sense because I am allergic to milk, and I used to be able to eat digestive biscuits from all the supermarkets, and McVities, etc - and then suddenly they ALL started to contain milk and now I can't have them from anywhere. Seems to indicate that they're all made by the same people!

PudseyDB

daisiegg wrote: »

I am of the (probably highly unpopular on this board!) opinion that generally, for most things I have tried, anyway, the value stuff does taste worse. I have tried and tried and tried to be really positive about it, particularly in my poor student days, but I really can tell the difference. I remember as a child when I insisted on proper Shreddies, and swore to my mum that I could tell the difference - the first time she tried the old trick of putting the Sainsbury's 'Malties' into the Shreddies box and served it up to me, I knew straight away. I used to buy own brand or value pasta until I met OH and he made me buy De Cecco, and since then when I eat pasta at my mum's house or something, it tastes really cardboardy and horrible.

I bought Asda's bite sized wheat thinking its only 100% wheat so its bound to taste exactly the same as shredded wheat - it wasnt!!

rosie383

It all depends on the product. I agree about the caramel jobs, and the asda SP choc mousse are more like a rich, dark choc than the more expensive ones.

I just did the same with the shredded wheat this week to. Grrr! Not very nice!

Mrs_Chip

Some value items are just a good as the branded variety, but some are not so nice, really it's a case of trying them or getting recommendations. We buy Aldi and Lidl, and betwen the two we are able to find most things we use that are better and cheaper than the big brands. (Aldi fresh orange juice is just like Tropicana and far cheaper frinstance)

And if money is really tight, a few weeks of value product and you get used to the taste, and pretty much it no longer matters - I have proved this with fussy OH who now acccepts that this is possible, and is a value convert!

valk_scot

Tesco Value Jaffa Cakes are x100 better than the MacVities ones imho. The MacVities ones are soft and flabby and far too sweet, the Vaue ones have a firmer base, a much more orangey flavour without the overwhelming gluey sweetness and the chocolate is nicer too. And at 79p for 24, they're about a third of the price.

spike7451

valk_scot wrote: »

Tesco Value Jaffa Cakes are x100 better than the MacVities ones imho. The MacVities ones are soft and flabby and far too sweet, the Vaue ones have a firmer base, a much more orangey flavour without the overwhelming gluey sweetness and the chocolate is nicer too. And at 79p for 24, they're about a third of the price.

Same with Lidls' ones,plus they do a cherry one.I find the base has an almost crunch to it..:D

ziggy2004

We get pasta, rice, oats etc from the value brands. Not keen on any of the processed foods but mainly because I have a child who reacts very strongly to a wide range of additives.

Guess it also depends on how badly you need to budget. Buying value stuff means that I have extra to spend elsewhere which at the moment is very welcome!

JulieGeorgiana

I have found that most Basic products are just as nice if not nicer then own brand. I try Basic, Value and Smartprice of most products and since I do a split shop I buy what I like from each supermarket. Smartprice Honey is the best... while value anything is pretty horrid! Most Cheaper products I buy are Basics, and we can't tell the difference.

And I also found that most basic products have less perservatives and addatives too! Simple products!

I agree about the Jaffa Cakes... I bought a meter's worth of McVitties and my DS won't touch them... Tells me they are horrid! Who'd have thought since he eats the cheap ones all the time!