How do you do grocery shopping? in one place or all over?

MrsGSR

Hi, I'm really interested to hear people's responses on this one. I know many people swear by L1dl and @ldi others by @sda.
DH both work in supermarkets so we shop in both, splitting our budget between them and L1dl and I like to go in a cheap high street toiletries store for cleaning products. I also use my local market for friut, veg and herbs and spices.
Do you shop all in one place or do you shop around? Does it make a difference to your budget?
ETA: Neither of us work for big 4.

Tomcatsmum

I tend to do the bulk of my shopping in aldi. I also do a monthly fill the freezer shop at Iceland, and get toiletries from home bargains. Very rarely do I shop at any of the big4 supermarkets now.

geri1965_2

I don't have a car, so I get heavy things like tins, cat litter etc. delivered from Tesco.

I usually go to Aldi to get veg as it is way cheaper, although I can only get there at weekends.

I am also a fairly frequent visitor to Poundland, 99p Stores etc. for toiletries and other bargains that catch my eye.

sonastin

My main shop comes from a!di. OH likes te$co soya milk and a$da biscuits so I do the occasional stock up on branded items we like when I'm in there. Sainsbobs is a handy place to fill up on fuel when I'm on my way home from work so I'll sometimes pop in there for a quick top up of groceries too if needed.

A!di is the only one I make a special "I'm going grocery shopping" trip too but the others all tend to be used in passing (which sometimes includes sainsbobs in passing on the way home from a!di!). Same goes with home bargains, poundland, B&M, etc

LameWolf

I do a once-monthly shop at the local farmers market for cheese, eggs, bread flour and honey (my hay-fever has all but gone since we've started having locally produced honey).

Fruit & veg are bought locally at the market stall either in Central MK or in Stony Stratford, once a week.

Stuff I have to buy from the supermarket comes from one of FIVE different ones - depending what's on my list, I use Ald!, A$da, T3sco and W@itrose locally, and if I send Mr LW to get a few bits in his lunch break, he goes to the M0rries 5 mins walk from his office.

I don't do a "main" supermarket shop at all; I keep a running list, when one of us identifies a need, we write it on, and when there's a few items OR something needs to be bought straight away, we go to whichever place seems best according to what we need to get.

I like Ald!'s prices, but there are a lot of things our local one simply doesn't stock - custard powder, veggie suet, coffee beans, loose leaf tea, drinking chocolate to make up with milk, and "live" yogurt to name but six.

Toiletries are either bought in one of the above supermarkets, or in B00ts or S/Drug, depending on who's got what I need on special offer; and I'm still trying to find a decent source of nuts and seeds, since the demise of Julian Gr@ves, as H&B are horribly expensive and don't carry large enough packs for our needs - I do have to buy jelly crystals in H&B, nowhere else locally sells the veggie ones.

iris

I shop once a week and most of the supermarkets are within a couple of miles of each other.

I start off in Aldi, then go to Lidl, then Farmfoods and finish off in Tesco.

I always check Mysupermarket first to see whether there are any special offers.

I always make a list as well and generally stick to it, unless I see a yellow stickered item that I will use.

In the summer I also buy vegetables from the side of the road.

fiftyeighter_2

Unfortunately I live 20 mns drive from the nearest asda or tesco and 40 mns from lidl,s. So I try to get bulk of my shopping once a month at Tesco or Lidl.s. However if I am in the nearest town I do get bits and bobs from pound stretcher or poundland in the furthest town. And as for yellow stickered items they are not worth bothering with for the few pence they take off. I have seen buy 2 for £5 items separated and priced at £2.50 each. So no saving at all. I read with envy all of you who get such good deals. Wish we had a tesco or asda that did those deals.

Any

I shop all over the place. Usually I need something they have only in 1 shop (or nearest shop) and as I am going there I look for what ever they have on offer.
There are certain items I know are only cheap at Aldi. I know of items that I will only buy from Tescos. I also shop at Costco.
If the offer is really good I bulk buy (ie Napoli chopped tomatos 35p a can so I bought 48:-))

So in short - absolutely all over the place!!

MrsGSR

Thanks for your replies, a lot of you do shop at @ldi! We decided that as our nearest is 8 miles away that it wasn't worth it once you factor in fuel. Although I do like a mooch around there.

scheming_gypsy

What is it with people having problems saying Aldi, Asda and Tesco?

I shop at Asda unless i need some bits and then i'll go to Morrisons because it's closer. To get to Asda I drive past Morrisons, Sainsburys and Aldi but I know where things are in Asda so I just go there.
My Grandad used to go everywhere. He'd go to Radcliffe one day, then Bury the next and Bolton the day after because he knew that carrots were 2p cheaper in Bolton than Radcliffe.. Spend a lot of time traveling about to save very little.

kittendothroar

I shop all over the place but I drive so makes it easier, though since we got rid of the OH car, and we share mine I have to plan better, can't just nip out for something, probably for the best though!!

Sainsbury's is nearest big shop and we do about half our shopping there. The rest just comes from a mixture depending what area I am shopping in - I take a friend once a month or so to do a big shop near my dads, where you have Morrisons, Tesco, Aldi, Lidl and local grocers all within about a mile. I have a big fridge now so veg keeps ages, so only tend to pop out for fruit nowadays. We drink UHT milk so never run out