Ethnic aisles in supermarkets

Apollonia

It's not just with food items this happens.

In Tesco if you buy a cotton wool pleat from the 'beauty' aisle it costs £1.38 for 100g. In the 'baby' aisle, a cotton wool pleat is £1.30 for 200g. Cotton wool balls labelled 'baby' are £2.25 for 300, 'beauty' are £1.29 for 100. Same with cotton buds: 'baby' = 300 for 80p, 'beauty = 200 for 80p. These are all Tesco's own label items.

floss2

Apollonia wrote: »

It's not just with food items this happens.

In Tesco if you buy a cotton wool pleat from the 'beauty' aisle it costs £1.38 for 100g. In the 'baby' aisle, a cotton wool pleat is £1.30 for 200g. Cotton wool balls labelled 'baby' are £2.25 for 300, 'beauty' are £1.29 for 100. Same with cotton buds: 'baby' = 300 for 80p, 'beauty = 200 for 80p. These are all Tesco's own label items.

Goes to show how stupid the big stores think we are

BabyBoots

Some of the baby/beauty price difference is VAT. For babies to be wiped with cotton buds is an essential item; for adults it is a luxury, per the tax rules.

The same goes for "ladies'" and "men's" razors. For men to be hair free is essential; for ladies it is a luxury :rotfl: I just buy
the "men's" razors - they're just razors after all.

marmiterulesok

You should have a look in your local Indian/ethnic shop,if you're lucky enough to have one.You can get big bags of spices for next to nothing compared to what you pay for a small jar in the supermarket.Ditto for basmati rice,all manner of dried beans,peas and lentils,coconut milk etc.

Callie22

I always buy my herbs and spices from the World Foods aisle. One thing I noticed last time I was in Asda was that they sell small bags of dried limes for just over £1 (they're used a lot in Persian cooking). I remember seeing these in a posh deli for 75p each - you get about six or seven in a bag from Asda!

katep23

On two occasions in the world food aisle I have found dried chickpeas and kidney beans for 50p a 500g bag in Morrisons; the normal price varies from 89p to £1. I wish I had stocked up more!

Sainsbury's had tinned chickpeas 4 for £1 a month or so ago in the world food aisle - 69p a tin in the tinned food aisle!

suki1964

BabyBoots wrote: »

Some of the baby/beauty price difference is VAT. For babies to be wiped with cotton buds is an essential item; for adults it is a luxury, per the tax rules.

The same goes for "ladies'" and "men's" razors. For men to be hair free is essential; for ladies it is a luxury :rotfl: I just buy
the "men's" razors - they're just razors after all.

Complete rubbish

Vat is paid the same rate on all razors and all cotton wool

It's only babywear that's zero vat, not baby toiletries and all razors are equal

snowleopard61

bargainbetty wrote: »

Go to ethnic shops, that'll be a real wake up call! So much cheaper on spices, herbs, chillis, lentils etc than supermarkets!

I'm sure this is true of some, but not all; there is one in my area which is absolutely enormous and has the most amazing selection (not only Asian foods but just about every other nationality you could think of) - but IMO it's far from cheap. If I go there I know for certain that I'll be able to get what I want, but at a price. Asda's World Foods section, for example, is definitely cheaper.

snowleopard61

Apollonia wrote: »

It's not just with food items this happens.

In Tesco if you buy a cotton wool pleat from the 'beauty' aisle it costs £1.38 for 100g. In the 'baby' aisle, a cotton wool pleat is £1.30 for 200g. Cotton wool balls labelled 'baby' are £2.25 for 300, 'beauty' are £1.29 for 100. Same with cotton buds: 'baby' = 300 for 80p, 'beauty = 200 for 80p. These are all Tesco's own label items.

I'm pretty sure most OSers are aware of the following, but in case not: dried fruit tends to be noticeably cheaper in the baking aisle than in the 'snack fruit' section of the fruit and vegetable aisle of any given supermarket.

tiredwithtwins

anything like herbs, spices, rice etc i get from the world food aisles from mr t's ... to go to an asian/chinese supermarket is a couple of miles out of my way so i try and get everything at once in once vist so mr t's wf aisle is a last minute/back up shop rather than the main buy!!
ive also discovered a polish supermarket near me that does those humongous tins of tomatoes for about £1.50!!!! ace for when i do a bulk cook of chilli/lasagne/spagbog!!