MSE News: Surge in supermarket bargain hunting

Edwardia

Pincher wrote: »

You get a better class of blueberries in Waitrose.
They are university graduates and have been on a gap year, maturing under Tuscan skies.

The blueberries in Lidl are positively common,
they were grown under sun lamps and appeared as extras in TOWIE.

I'd be really surprised if the Waitrose blueberries were grown in Tuscany as most of the blueberries I've seen are grown in Poland.

Blueberries aren't grown commercially in UK AFAIK.

rickbonar

Blueberry's are grown in greenhouses .. so it doesn't matter they're in Tuscany, Texas or the moon. Genetically they are the same.

Ok if think you "get what you pay for" then £6 for a small tub from Waitrose is 'better' than the same size tub from Lidl at £1.50

I know there goes a counter theory that states items from a cheap store such as Iceland ...say their 4 pints of milk for £1 rather than M&Ss 4 pints at £3 is fresher because ... the cheaper one has a quick turnover whereas Marks have a slow turnover and stays on the shelves far longer and becomes stale as a result.

You get what you pay for ?

COOLTRIKERCHICK

When I first started proper bargin hunting in the supermarkets... my friends and family allways used to laugh at me.... and would pull a funny face when i mentioned the reduced food i used to buy.. When you were at the reduced section at the end of the night, people used to quickly shuffle by, not to be seen near it, or know anyone having a nose....

But now..... things have totally changed, and I think it is in fashion now to brag about bargins, and the price of things...Its not only happening with food shopping, but everything... a few years ago people wouldnt go into charity shops or go to car boots etc, but now they are addicted to trying to find that designer label for a few quid.... but charity shops have cottened on to this, and hteir prices are getting too high, and it is the same with supermarkets, its a maximum of 75% off now, where has you could have bought a joint of meats for less than 50p......

I have bought a chest freezer to accomadate the reductions:D..
as I think there might come a time where the supermarkets will reduce by a few pennies...

dasophster

rickbonar wrote: »

Blueberry's are grown in greenhouses .. so it doesn't matter they're in Tuscany, Texas or the moon. Genetically they are the same.

Ok if think you "get what you pay for" then £6 for a small tub from Waitrose is 'better' than the same size tub from Lidl at £1.50

I know there goes a counter theory that states items from a cheap store such as Iceland ...say their 4 pints of milk for £1 rather than M&Ss 4 pints at £3 is fresher because ... the cheaper one has a quick turnover whereas Marks have a slow turnover and stays on the shelves far longer and becomes stale as a result.

You get what you pay for ?

£6? Never seen blueberries for that much in waitrose; more commonly they are on an offer rendering them £1.99 or £2, and they often get 'red and white stickered' which is the waitrose version of yellow stickered even though they have a few days left even on the display until date then they'll be 50p or less. I don't shop at lidl or Aldi, not due to snobbery but the local branches (which are not that local being 5-6 miles away) are rubbish. xx

Edwardia

Blueberries in the UK taste nothing like blueberries in Canada or bleuets in France IME. I've never seen £6 blueberries in Waitrose either.

As for getting what you pay for.. I agree that paying more doesn't necessarily get you a better quality when it comes to things like lettuce or milk. But a pure new wool suit from Ermenegildo Zegna will always be better than a polyester suit from ASDA George.

I've always been quite happy to buy clothes in charity shops and have picked up some amazing bargains. However it is noticeable now that people are donating fewer good clothes and it takes a lot more hunting to find things like linen trousers or wool skirts. In fact it's often cheaper to buy new Fair Trade certified organic tshirts in supermarkets than buy secondhand in charity shops.

Pincher

I have picked blueberries in Texas, which was a farm open to the public. I have also picked strawberries and raspberries for food/beer money in Scotland.

Nothing tastes like what they used to any more, what with breeding for disease resistance, not bruising during transport, and God knows what.

The packaging in Waitrose makes it sound like the pork rowed for Oxford, before going on tour with Madonna, then slept with Courtney Love and died happy. The Waitrose grocery comes with a life story.

rickbonar

Pincher wrote: »

I have picked blueberries in Texas, which was a farm open to the public. I have also picked strawberries and raspberries for food/beer money in Scotland.

Nothing tastes like what they used to any more, what with breeding for disease resistance, not bruising during transport, and God knows what.

The packaging in Waitrose makes it sound like the pork rowed for Oxford, before going on tour with Madonna, then slept with Courtney Love and died happy. The Waitrose grocery comes with a life story.

Have agree about the pork and strawberry "conserve" that's sold in Waitrose.
Oxbridge graduates all the way!:rotfl::T

COOLTRIKERCHICK

funny enough..talking about bland food..

I bought some reduced plums in the co-op, nice and dark, and they looked as thouse they would be tasty and juicey... but they were bland, tasteless..... they were grown in spain....its the same with cherries..:o

terra_ferma

there are a lot of food myths out there...
waitrose is expensive: actually some stuff is good value for money, like their butter is the same price as S;s value but much better quality.
their clotted cream ice cream is cheaper than most and really nice.
When you shop there you have to be very focused, as some stuff is incredibly expensive. Yellow/red stickers used to be fantastic, but not anymore, now that word has gone round you see a lot of people who go there just for the reduced stuff, so it's not as good as it used to be

lidl's food is cheap and nasty
at lidl you don't know until you've tried it, some stuff is really cheap crxp, but some items (mainly foreign food that is actually sold in the country of origin, like Italy where lidl have a strong presence), are really good.

smod123

dont know if people can help . basically this is my problem. I am always on the look out for a bargain . what i did do was I shop at asda and i always do there price check to see if I save money on my shop.while doing this I also look in the shopping trolleys and see if people have left there receipts. when i started doing this i asked security and also customer services if i was allowed to do this and basically they said yes no problem .i started 3 months ago and there was no problem .......until friday when i was doing what i normally do and basically a security guard came to me and said i was needed to come to the security office with my 8 year old son .when in there they said it was illegal and I would be banned for life for what i was doing . when i argued my case they totally ignored my pleas and i asked why couldnt i have been told when i started this .I hope someone can help .