Supermarket Shopping Article Discussion

jacmboys

I have to say that I find the science of supermarkets fascinating (how sad am I?) and that a lot of my reading time is taken up with books by Felicity Lawrence or Joanna Blythman who both write excellent books on the subject.

I try not to use supermarkets too much but have the bonus of having a rather good CO-OP when I do have to use one in the village where I live. It also has a greengrocers and sadly our butcher has retired to be replaced by a mini bus company.

My top tips for shopping are shop locally as much as you can, my local greengrocer always has a free banana for my son yet supermarkets seem to sneer at you for checking 1 tasteless grape in the hope that it tastes better than last time.

Meal plan and be flexible with it, sometimes you just don't fancy what you planned so have plenty of the staples in the cupboard. The other day I didn't fancy making shepherds pie so we had beans on toast with homemade rice pud instead.

make meals fresh, ready made meals are always made with ingredients that you wouldn't use if you made them yourself, personally I don't to use stabilizers and food colourants when making my meals. they also tend to be healthier and cheaper too.

buy meat from butchers not supermarkets, as i said our butcher has closed down so we have to travel further to get fresh meat now to offset the cost so we buy less of it but buy better quality meat and cuts of meat. A Veggie lasagne can be just as nice as a meat one and is cheaper.

don't shop when hungry.

I have to say that I don't agree with the value range idea of buying the cheaper version in the same way that I wouldn't buy a finest version either from a supermarket neither tend to be very good either the ingredients are too cheap or the quality doesn't reflect the price.

most of the supermarket specials are on processed foods. they are unhealthy and expensive at best anyway.

buy local fruit seasonally instead of using supermarkets idea of global summer time to buy tasteless strawberries in winter, when was the last time you had truly nice non british strawberries or wasn't disappointed when you bit into a big red juicy looking strawberry because the taste didn't match the expectation from the look of the fruit?

Don't use a loyalty card.

don't use a false economy, a three pound t-shirt is rarely made as well as a ten pound one and when you throw it away saying it was only a three pound one it no longer was such a bargain.

MakingEndsMeetToo

When I shop it's good to find that something I want is on a BOGOF offer (provided that the price hasn't been lifted to make it a bad buy). However, when things are on offer and I really don't need or want two, what can I do with the extra one? This is especially vexing with perishable foodstuffs.

While this might seem like a "non-problem" there are times when I don't want to lug extra stuff home, or concoct recipies to use up extra ingredients. Ideas?

phague

MakingEndsMeetToo wrote: »

When I shop it's good to find that something I want is on a BOGOF offer (provided that the price hasn't been lifted to make it a bad buy). However, when things are on offer and I really don't need or want two, what can I do with the extra one? This is especially vexing with perishable foodstuffs.

While this might seem like a "non-problem" there are times when I don't want to lug extra stuff home, or concoct recipies to use up extra ingredients. Ideas?

Hello,

What about going halves with a family member/friend who also needs the same product, or giving the product to a someone, such as family/neighbour or local group/Shelter etc??

nurserebecca

I work for Sainsbury's part time in the price control/ admin department. The main offers change every 3 weeks on a Wednesday. However legally price increases are allowed to be displayed from 2pm the day before the price comes into effect. Sometimes if there are a lot of price changes or if the department is short staffed prices can go out from 12noon. This means that special offers are missed because the current ticket isn't displayed - the following day is, so you cannot see that a BOGOF or half price offer is still on till the end of the day because the advertising has been removed. Offers can change from day to day at Sainsburys but the main day is Wednesday every week and as I've already said the big change every 3 weeks. Basically what I'm saying is don't do your grocery shopping on a Tuesday afternoon or you may be missing out on those all important special offers!

p.s. this is my first ever post!!!:A

polkadot

I do a weekly shop with Asda and actually do have the driver wait whilst I skim over all my purchases. Started when a driver "forgot" to get half my shopping out of the van. Called the store itself rather than the call centre. Got my stuff redilivered next day with a refund on my delivery charge and an extra tin of formula (regular purchase) as a "we're sorry". I dont call the online shopping centre as its based in South Africa and they have no clue about the geography and such here. Last time I did I ended up speaking to one of the agents in Afrikaans and found out that they have scripts and stick to them.

Snazbaz wrote: »

Also watch out if you internet shop - my friends and I have noticed the supermarkets seem to be using it as an opportunity to off-load food that will very shortly be past its use by date.

For instance, Asda delivered 10 turkey slices to me this week as part of my internet shop, that had a use by date of the very next day. This practice by supermarkets has put me off internet shopping now. You can hardly keep the delivery driver waiting while you check the dates on every item of shopping.

If I'm shopping in person, I always grab the food at the back of the shelf as this usually has a longer shelf-life.

On another note, why do they always have to use so many carrier bags when they're delivering an internet shop? It's almost down to one item per bag!

broclo

Wrong place for this no doubt, but does anyone know which supermarket online lets you book the furthest away delivery slot? seems they are all about 3 weeks(adsa, sains, tesco)i'm away on hols 3 weeks and few days and really could do with delivery later that day as i hasve a little person and do not drive...will be too knackered to go shopping on foot lol

mrs.maverick

I am interested to know, does anyone use a Farmer's Market for cheese, veg, fruit etc? Reason I'm asking is that there are a couple where I live, but to be honest the prices are expensive. A bag of 6 Welsh cakes were £3 and so was a bag of apples. I know they are meant to be fresher etc, but they aren't cheap!

freeasabird

I finally took the plunge and went to Aldi to do my shopping. Normally I wouldn't set foot in the shop but needs must when there's a credit crunch. I couldn't find a lot of my established brands but I found lots of equivalent products that were a lot cheaper. The vegetables were ok and I couldn't say no to a bottle of vodka for £7.50. A shopping trip that would normally cost at least £100.00 cost £65.00. There are some organic things but it was mostly good basic stuff that I needed to restock my cupboards. The customer service is non-existent and you have to bring your own bags unless you want to pay 7p per plastic bag but overall it wasn't too bad. I'll definitely go there again.
:j

alouise32_2

I used to work for fox's biscuits and they used the same biscuits for tesco value, asda smartprice, etc, etc as they used for Marks and Spencers and for foxs own label, so save yourself loads by buying value biscuits instead.
Also i get my eggs from our local health shop half a dozen large organic free range eggs for 95p i was spending £1.98 in morrisons for same and the health shop ones are nicer, and have date stamps and lion mark on them.

Janemcc

I have been doing this for a number of years now so would have to see this facility abused and Asda with draw it.

Asda will knock 10% off your final trolly bill with manufactuers coupons, these must be for example 30p off or 25% off usually get them in your magazines/newspapers or with your free samples. Asda must stock the brands you are hoping to get money off or they cannot claim it back from the company. If the coupon is one of thiers ie has thier name on it, or is for a free item then you have to buy that item. They will also only take one coupon per product ie if you have 3 coupons for nappies at a pound each from the same company they will only deduct one per shop, however it is worth splitting your shopping in two if your date on them is close to running out, many people shop for more than one person using the same trolly.

This is off your final trolly bill so pay for clothes, shoes, cd's etc at the check out, if your weekly shop is £50 then you can have upto £5 back. I tend to collect my coupons and save them up until I have a reasonable amount then it looks like a real saving on your final bill.

Asda is a bit funny about internet coupons you print off yourself as this facilty is being abused, I would recommend you try your local branch as it is at the disgression of that branch manager.