What Value things have you tried and liked? 19 March 2007 at 7:48PM edited 30 November -1 at 1:00AM in Old Style MoneySaving 1.4K replies 163.2K views

kate83

Originally Posted by scheming_gypsy View Post
i only buy smart price chicken breasts. A chicken is a chicken so i can't see it makes much difference.

I think the difference is possibly from the chicken's point of view.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'd always thought that *value meat* was either from animals subjected to lower welfare standards, or imported (which can often mean the same thing).

Penny. x

That and it's sometimes bulked out with water so once cooked, it may shrink a lot.

Gingham_Ribbon

Morrisons Bettabuy:

Teabags
Passata
Butter
Baked beans
Chocolate chips
Flour
Handwash

Morrisons own (not bettabuy)
Chocolate spread
Peanut butter
Brown sauce
Cornflakes
Malties (Shreddies)
Wheat biscuits (weetabix)

The butter is great for baking, the passata is ideal for curries and chillis (less nice in Italian dishes) and a friend recently asked if the tea was Earl Gray! I'll probably remember other things later.

Great thread, BS. Thanks.

Edit: some of the things I avoid are the icecream, chocolate spread...anything that has hydrogenated vegetable oil in. I go for the next one up. (Morrisons chocolate spread instead of the Bettabuy one for example. And the same with saccarin (I know there's an h in there somewhere!) I don't like it and don't want my son eating it so I try to avoid it. That means getting, for example, the Morrisons 'brown sauce' (like HP) instead of the Bettabuy (unless something else works out cheaper which it sometimes does.)

It's worth keeping an eye on the price of other things. The value range is usually cheapest, but sometimes there are things cheaper than the Morrisons own label stuff.

helping_hubby

We've been going value mad (mostly sainsburys basics, but we've found tesco value to be very similar quality when we do buy from there). Here's my opinions:

Baked beans...fine
Ketchup....fine (at first it didn't seem value for money cos it didn't last very long, so we bought a heinz ketchup to see how long it lasted and it turned out that the value worked out at less than 1/2 the cost).
Value chocolate - not good to eat straight, but as someone else mentions - great for cornflake and rice crispie cakes, or weetabix brownies
Tea bags - fine
Orange squash - just plain awful - very chemically - even the tesco normal version still isn't good enough for me. We still buy robinsons.
Apple juice - fine
Pasta - fine
Flour - great. We use this in our breadmaker and although I havent tried proper strong flour yet I'm finding the bread is lovely.
Crisps - OK. A little strong. And its annoying that they only do multipacks.
All fruit and veg is absolutely fine.
Only we've found the potatoes don't seem to last very long, so as there's only 2 of us it's better value for money to buy a smaller bag or individual ones.
Noodles - these are great I think. For 8p a pack you can't go wrong
Biscuits - all the biscuits are great. OK so they aren't quite as good as brand names, but for the price they are fantastic and make great cheap snacks.
Cheese slices - great
Mature cheese...absolutely fine. Although doesn't quite taste as good as cathedral city in a toastie.
Chicken pieces (the fresh ones) we've found they don't freeze well. Cooked fresh they were lovely, but after freezing they were tough.
Bacon - lovely - its just different cuts and sizes, but tastes just as gorgeous. Sometimes not very good for grilling though, gets a bit tough if you have certain cuts, so best to fry I think.
Whateve happened to the value gammons in Tesco? I used to boil these up for ham sandwiches and they were gorgeous. But haven't seen them in ages.
Pate - I found it a bit spicy, but was OK.
Corned beef (tin) - lovely.
We've also been using value washing powder now, and have no problems with it.

I'm sure there's lots more I missed. Of course these are only my opinions.

Oh and something I noticed last time I went shopping. The basics 4 pack of loo roll is 40p. The 12 pack is £1.32 (I think). So buying the 4 packs is cheaper.

sissy_2

Yayyyyy someone mentioned Morrisons ty xxx

MegsMum_2

The best Tesco value item has to be the Chilled Cheescake, it is so good! We got the Finest one once when it was in the reduced section and it was crap in comaparison to the value one!
We have it with some cream, so fattening but so nice.:D

mo1_2

asda own brand liquorice allsorts 39p brill

CCStar

Value

Oats
Pasta
Tin Tomatoes
Noodles
Shortbread
Digestives
Kidney Beans
Tinned Fruit - I just wash the syrup off or use the syrup instead of sugar in recipes
Garlic Bread
Pitta bread
Tortilla Chips
Peppers
Peanut Butter
Weetabix - Sainsbury
Flour
Plain Chocolate

My food bill was £600 per month a year ago, mainly shopping at M&S, now it is has gone to £200 this month.

Threads like this have been wonderful

MrsBartolozzi

I like the value basmati rice, pasta, tinned tomatoes, biscuits, flour and probably lots more too, can't think of any but I don't ever buy the value (or similar) frozen chicken portions especially the stuff that only seems to be sold by tesco when its BOGOF. the ingredients list holds a long list of nasties:

http://www.theecologist.org/archive_detail.asp?content_id=309


Not sure if the link will work never done this before..;)

Any way this is a long winded essay about poultry standards and I understand that many people will think that they have heard it all before and that's fine, but towards the bottom of the page when it starts talking about the importation of chickens from the far east to holland for processing it starts to get interesting, and gross. :eek:
it might be cheaper, but so is the quality, and it would seem quantity, of meat.
Incidentally I tried to get a list of ingredients from Tesco.com for the frozen lakeland (bogof) and value chicken, but it was not available because:

"Whilst every care has been taken to ensure that product information is correct, manufacturers are constantly reformulating products and altering ingredient lists. Tesco is therefore unable to accept liability for any incorrect product information" it's chicken !!!!!! what should be in it??

Well rant over, I am interested in your thoughts,
MrsB

hazzie123

Smartprice (Asda)
tinned macaroni cheese,gorgeous.
Beans and sausages,little`un loves em.
tinned veg,all good.
peanuts,no diifferent to kp.
corned beef,same as any other.
cola,fine with vodka.
applicator tampons,same as tampax,
2in1 anti dandruff shampoo,just as good as head and shoulders.
pasta in sauces,gorgeous.
crumpets/muffins,same as any other.

The list could go on and on,cant think of anything I dont like.

Justamum

Tesco Value tomatoes. Also their bourbon biscuits - I'm sure they are exactly the same as the more expensive brand ones. A couple of years ago when a biscuit factory in Cumbria was flooded out (I can't remember which one, but it was a well known make) there was a nationwide shortage of bourbon biscuits for a few months - including Co-op's own and the Tesco value one. I remember the shortage because it's about the only biscuit I eat! So I'm assuming this factory makes bourbons for everybody (except Crawfords, which are the "wrong" shape for a bourbon!)