Basic value lines slated by Martin Isark in Daily Mail

Pitlanepiglet

The problem with this kind of article is that what many people actually take from it is "don't buy value lines they are rubbish" which leaves people paying more for groceries than they need to.

Personally I'm using a bag of Asda porridge oats and they are fine, I usually use Tesco or Sainsburys and I haven't noticed any difference.

I use value products from all the ranges, I don't find that one is always good and one is always bad, they are all a bit of a mix and as others have said I try things and if I don't like them I don't try them again.

Callie22

I use the basics ranges a lot and I don't have a problem with them. I think it's a case of trying a few products and seeing what you like, not everything will work for everyone. One thing I do find though is that the products can be variable in quality, and I've often found something I like only for it to change completely within a few weeks or months. That can be annoying.

Quasar

I never pay much attention to critiques based on taste alone.

Eating little salt, I find most raved about foods are too salty for me. Cooking mostly from scratch, I find many ready made or tinned foods a tad artificial. And so on.

On the other hand, critiques based on nutritional content and additives do get my full attention.

Lugh_Chronain

I agree with most of the comments, it can be a bit of hit and miss. I do tend however to buy offers more these days rather than buying value brands, with the exception of Aldi and Lidl of course, as they can sometimes be more or less the same price or even a little cheaper at times. I also agree with Quasar, cooking from scratch is definitely the best taste wise. Generally prepacked, processed and tinned food just don't tastes as good. I don't think I'm fussy, my mum doesn't always cook from scratch though I think it's because she's mainly brought us up on cooking from scratch. And it does also tend to be cheaper alright.

And I really wonder if Martin Isark has tasted as many as the Daily Mail suggests. I've checked his other website Supermarket Own Brand Guide on the odd occasion, sometimes stuff you want to check can be either limited or surprisingly not mentioned at all. Other than that, I've not had many complaints about his opinions otherwise, he appears to get it fairly correct [mostly] when it comes to taste and value for money. Though as others have pointed out, it mostly depends on preference and personal taste/likes/dislikes. If you don't like what you've bought or are not convinced, don't buy it again as others have pointed out.

Haffiana

The whole thing is a nonsense. Value ranges change - it is one the reasons that they are packaged as value ranges. So, a particular supermarket value packet of biscuits may be made with a run of reject McVities one week (rejected because eg the flour has a lower protein content or something equally unimportant) and the next week it will be from a completely different cheaper recipe, or even from a different factory.

So the Asda porridge oats discussed above - just because they all have the same Asda value packet on the outside doesn't mean that they are the same batch of sludgey oats inside. The journalist might have just happened to buy a tasteless batch, and every other batch was just fine. It is the lack of consistency that causes a product to be badged as 'value' - the quality varies.

Frankly it is as silly as saying all organic produce is better than non-organic...

Edwardia

Haffiana wrote: »

Frankly it is as silly as saying all organic produce is better than non-organic...

I wouldn't ever recommend organic meat from Tesco, it seems pretty tough. I've had a weird tasting organic cucumber from Sainsbury's and some organic chestnut mushrooms from Ocado that tasted like peanut oil.

I doubt that anyone would notice any difference between the organic and non organic versions of Lurpak spreadable or Heinz cream of tomato soup.

I'm yet to find an organic butter that tastes as good as President unsalted.

OH hates Sainsbury's SO organic Italian cornflakes and SO organic digestive biscuits.

There are things that are Wow Amazing though. Duchy Originals from Waitrose unsmoked organic back bacon, Daylesford Organic chicken, Abel & Cole organic fresh UNhomogenised Guernsey milk from Berkeley Farm. OH swears organic Weetabix tastes better, as well as Waitrose organic baguettes. Abel & Cole organic free range eggs. Sainsbury's SO organic lamb chops. Most salad stuff especially Nature & More organic Heirloom tomatoes from Lidl and organic celery and Sainsbury's SO organic carrots.

Taste is subjective though and that's not why I eat organic anyway. I don't believe organic is more nutritious or less fattening. I eat it because of what's NOT in it. No pesticides, no GM, no fungicides, no herbicides, not fed on GM feed and unlabelled.
Sainsbury's SO organic instant porridge is probably just as unhealthy as any other instant porridge, it just doesn't have the added chemicals and GM.

Cheap food isn't inherently unhealthy. Some of it is made more simply and will have fewer chemicals or sugar than something more expensive. Some of it will have more chemicals and sugar. But because it's made down to a price rather than up to a quality it's likely more of it will have undesirable stuff.

The difference between non organic and organic = if you pick up organic you only need to look at fat and sugar, the chemicals won't be there.

stephen77

I will point out some values lines are consistent just use cheaper ingredients, packaging and labour costs.
Eg sausages. value sausages will be consistent just use cheaper cuts of meat and more bulking agents. They will not want the sausage to taste too good as it might take away sales from the std or premium lines.
though as haffiana points out it can be for other reasons as well.

stephen77

Edwardia wrote: »

I


The difference between non organic and organic = if you pick up organic you only need to look at fat and sugar, the chemicals won't be there.

I think some of the drivers between for organic is health.
Thus organic manufacturer are not going to load the product with salt, sugar or fat as the consumer they are targetting, on the whole, want what they consider more healthy products.

I am aware of more cheaper organic products than there used to be. However in general organic consumers are after top end products so organic products developed to be top end spec

Edwardia

I've been doing some reading up and it's not necessarily the wealthiest people who eat organic most, most often it seems to be the people in the middle and especially if they have kids.

In every other country in the EU organic sales are going up but in the UK it's not clear. Sales went up 7.7% during Organic September, according to the Soil Association.

Kantar Worldpanel, the market researcher bods, reported to The Grocer that though Waitrose has only 2.4% of UK market share in total it has 22% of the organic share and last year sales of the organic brand Duchy Originals from Waitrose were up 33%

The EU's own figures put the UK 6th on the organic food consumed table and going down. The Grocer has reported that Italian and British consumers are the ones watching their food spending most and that UK supermarkets are the ones removing organic from shelves in case it went unsold.

In Germany and USA Aldi has organic ranges. Lidl has some organic stuff. In the USA Wal-Mart has an organic range and Target sells organic food too. Amazon sells organic food in both US and UK. Even McDonald's sells organic milk in the UK. In the USA Safeway sells more organic food than any other own brand.

IMO organic should be cheaper, it should be seen as an alternative, like vegetarian. Aldi sells organic stuff in Germany cheaper than non organic in UK

Middy

Things which are brilliant at the value range:
. Tinned veg, fruit and pulses
. Peppers - I only buy them if there are several red or yellow ones in there. Yesterday, I got a bag of 6 peppers - 5 red and 1 yellow for £1.33!
. UHT milk
. frozen berry mix
. Brie

Things I don't buy:
. Meat products - either too fatty (mince), not enough meat content (sausages and pies) or looks rank (most value meat products)
. Cleaning products
. Toilet roll
. alcohol