Be cautious with value lines

A._Badger

I can only agree with Edwardia about some of the 'value' products on offer in supermarkets. But, ironically, their very cheapness sometimes means these products are less messed around with. Take 'value' kidney beans at 18p per tin. They are just kidney beans and water - broken kidney beans, but kidney beans for all that.

You have to shop (as we all should anyway) with care, reading the ingredients lists and using as much information as we can get to help us.

Personally, I'm more worried about the food that isn't labelled for the consumer at all - the stuff we are served in restaurants and cafes. What is in those sausages? Those pies? Those sauces? When you are dining out there is no ingredients list to guide you. If mechanically recovered meat bothers you (and I agree, it should) you haven't a hope in hell of finding out whether it's in that pub chicken supreme..

Tiglath

geordie_joe wrote: »

Lets look at it.

Value coffee was 47p in Tesco, Morrisons, ASDA and Sainsburys.

Tesco increased the price to 53p, then Morrisons increased it to 73p.

Lets see what ASDA and Sainsburys do.

Whatever Sainsburys do, I won't be buying their 47p Basics coffee again - it tastes revolting. Their 30p Basics ketchup on the other hand is perfectly acceptable to me, despite being slammed in the Daily Mail today.

frugal_shopper_2

A._Badger wrote: »

Personally, I'm more worried about the food that isn't labelled for the consumer at all - the stuff we are served in restaurants and cafes. What is in those sausages? Those pies? Those sauces? When you are dining out there is no ingredients list to guide you. If mechanically recovered meat bothers you (and I agree, it should) you haven't a hope in hell of finding out whether it's in that pub chicken supreme..

You can always ask, I spent christmas day being regularly interupted (which was not appreciated whilst trying to get 328 christmas dinners cooked & served but I remained polite) by customers who wanted to know where various things had come from & where they could purchase them. Customers asking about various meats were all told which farm they came from & in some cases the specific field the animal spent it's life in.

Edwardia

I agree with A.Badger in some respect about value food - if you're looking for low carb food, generally the lowest carb fish fingers for example are from value ranges.

A._Badger

frugal_shopper wrote: »

You can always ask, I spent christmas day being regularly interupted (which was not appreciated whilst trying to get 328 christmas dinners cooked & served but I remained polite) by customers who wanted to know where various things had come from & where they could purchase them. Customers asking about various meats were all told which farm they came from & in some cases the specific field the animal spent it's life in.

Well, that raises two issues. The first being that you clearly work in a pretty exceptional establishment. the second that, perhaps, we are all getting a bit faddy.

I_luv_cats

What's going to happen if too many people downshift to value/basic brands?

I guess prices would have to go up to protect overall margins!


Some prices are shooting up already.

Value peppers were 89p to £1.10 now £1.25
Value Mushrooms were 97p now £1.25
Value Fresh tomatoes were 75p now 90p
Value UHT skimmed milk was 49p now 53p
Savers eggs (6) 85p to 99p

frugal_shopper_2

A._Badger wrote: »

Well, that raises two issues. The first being that you clearly work in a pretty exceptional establishment. the second that, perhaps, we are all getting a bit faddy.

Part of the marketing is that all produce comes from within a 60 mile radius as far as is reasonably possible. Meat comes either direct from the producer or from the butchers across the road. Either way it passes through the butchers hands as he also runs the abbotoir & he has strict policies that he won't slaughter animals unless they are within 30 miles from the abbotoir & they have a vegetarian diet (herbivores should not be fed animal remains) so we get the info from him partially to pass onto customers who ask & partially to narrow down suppliers to those that are producing the best quality meat at the time.
The faddy customers are generally tourists or worse still people who are in the public eye for one reason or another. Currently the primary customer base is a mix of local people & various police & rescue personnel who are involved in the search for April Jones, very few tourists at this time of year. Most people who ask about the food are doing so because they like the taste & they want to know where they can buy the meat, veg etc...

Although it could be argued the food here is aimed at a fairly exlusive customer base you would get a similar response if you asked in most of the pubs or cafe's although they may be a bit vague when it comes to the sous vide meals & the kebab shop almost certainly wouldn't reveal that the pizzas & chips they sell come from lidl but if you ask you where something has come from or what is in it you will get an answer.

lovingtescoforever

I buy a lot of value lines being a student and there are some very good ones which I will continue to buy even after graduating.

Value Crisps from tesco & sainsburys are cheap and decent - 68p
value chopped tomatoes from all supermarkets are decent.
value chocolate biscuits from all supermarkets are very good.
value soft cheese from sainsburys and tesco is as good as Philadelphia imo.
value chopped carrots in a tin from sainsburys & tesco is good in a bolognese for only 20p
value jaffa cakes from sainsburys and tesco are great.
value ketchup from tesco is decent for 16p. I normally use more on my chips than heinz. not tried sainsburys but will have to after the daily mail article. interested now:D

however don't be fooled by tesco value fresh pizza for £1.50. you can normally get a much nicer branded frozen one cheaper!

Edwardia

[QUOTE=I luv cats;582854Value Mushrooms were 97p now £1.25
[/QUOTE]

Sainsbury's SO organic chestnut mushrooms 250g
were 1.25 now £1 to 22/01/13

Enterprise_1701C

No-one here has mentioned the Sainsbury Basics tea bags. I spent ages trying to find cheap tea bags after working out what a cup of PG cost me. Then I found the basics ones, I actually use these by choice now!