Ethnic supermarkets are great!

andygb

For all of you into real money saving and home cooking, can there be any better source of ingredients (and ready made treats:D), than ethnic supermarkets?
One of our local high streets has four of these shops in a fifty yard stretch, and we are now making a regular weekly trip there, because the price and quality (particularly fruit and veg) kicks the supermarkets into touch.
For instance, on Saturday we visited the largest shop (run by Turkish people), which has the best choice of goods, and came away with six large peppers (£1), three large bunches of parsley, coriander and spinach (three for £1!!!), seven large lemons (£1), a huge bowl of medium plum tomatoes (£1), 250g vac packed black olives (£1.69), Feta cheese (.99p) and a large, freshly baked Turkish flatbread for £1.
We also had to try hard to ignore the fresh supplies of cakes and Turkish Delight which were trying to lure us with their charms.
So, has anyone else got any of these shops close by, and do you ever shop there?

geri1965_2

We have a Chinese supermarket, Turkish and lots of Indian/Pakistani shops within walking distance. The closest one to us is not very hygienic and has been fined a few times by environmental health, so I tend not to buy their veg, but I get tinned stuff and spices from it.

I try and avoid the Turkish one as the Baklava is too tempting!

I like to get the pistachio kulfi.

Soworried

I couldn't do without our local Chinese one. Noodles at 20p a packet and very good quality, not like the supermarket basics type for the same price.
I also buy Mysan curry sauce there for £1.25. It makes 12 servings of lovely Chinese curry sauce, just like the takeaway.
Our treat is also a box of prawn crackers. They cost 60p and make around 8 bags the size you get from the takeaway.

Gigglepig

Fruit and veg yes but I am often put off by the ingredients of other products. lots of the other products seem to contain for example palm oil which many people steer clear of due to both health and environmental reasons. I find this in other cheap supermarkets as well, not just those that sell foreign foods.

joedenise

Don't have a decent ethnic supermarket near me unfortunately. The nearest one is a drive and train ride away so costs me quite a lot to get there and then I can only get what I can carry. Last time I went I persuaded DH to come with me and managed to buy quite a bit including a 10kg bag of rice, which was so cheap plus bought 2 kg each of red and white onions, chillis and other stuff. Was really pleased with the amount we got and spent just under £30 - I'm sure it would have cost double that in the local supermarket.

Denise

Lizling

I love the ethnic supermarkets!

I'm a bit spoiled for choice here. I've got a Turkish/Indian supermarket and several Indian supermarkets just to the north, various African and West Indian ones plus a Mediterranean bakery (with very cheap baklava mmmmmm, and the older lady there tends to sneak extras into your bag for free if you time it right) a short walk to the south.

All of them do fruit and veg for less than half what the supermarkets charge, and the main Indian supermarket and the Turkish supermarket have the most amazing range, with huge bundles of coriander and mint for pennies, all sorts of unfamiliar fruit, and probably more chillies for 10p than you get in those expensive teeny tiny bags in Sainsbury's.

Huge bags of cashews and almonds are about the same price as the little snack sized packets in the main supermarkets, and obviously the spices are much cheaper too. I totally rely on them for all my beans and lentils, which I eat a lot of. I've been in the area for years, but I still haven't tried all the different kinds of daal they sell.

I still use Lidl for certain basics and cleaning things, but as for the new Tesco Extra opening soon, hahahahaha. I look forward to them trying to compete!

Not all of them are cheap though. There's another Turkish/Greek one up the hill and their halloumi is more expensive than in the mainstream supermarkets. The other problem I have is that a lot of the ones with the cheapest veg are mainly halal butchers, with signs proudly advertising that their meat is 100% unstunned, and as I'm very much against that practice, I won't buy from those.

moments_of_sanity

We have a lovely Chinese shop here but I have heard they are closing due to 'family issues', I will really miss it once it has gone.

thefamousexcuse

Being in London we are really quite lucky. I mean a stones throw away from the flat we have more ethnic supermarkets than we know what to do with them and i must admit I love them.

Myself and OH went into one the other day, and we bought, 4 chickens (They had them on special 4 medium/large chickens for 6! and tbh we rarely buy chicken anywhere else because it tastes great, suppose that has something to do with how recently it was butchered.) a load of veg, onions, potatoes, butternut, carrots, peppers, fresh herbs, spinach.. etc the list is rather large so won't bore you with it. Fruit, hummus, olives, fresh pittas, natural yoghurt, falafel (10 for £1) and what ever else jumped into the basket, few bags of spices etc. i think it came to no more than 25. which when you walk out with 4 large carrier bags (the reusable ones from Mr.S) Think it was a pretty good haul.

There is also a chinese supermarket about a 10 minute tube ride away and again its amazing. We might make a trip once every 4-6 weeks and stock up and again the comparison between the prices of these places and that of a supermarket are not even comparable.

whitesatin

We are lucky where we are as we have a brilliant ethnic supermarket. We are well off for supermarkets here but often can't find a particular thing needed for a recipe and I can almost guarantee they will have it in our Asian supermarket.

VfM4meplse

I only really enjoy shopping at the larger ethnic supermarkets, the small ones tend to be less well-stocked and more expensive. Stick me in Hoo Hing or TFC and I'm very happy...it's just a case of knowing when to stop!

nearlyrich

I go to the chines supermarket in Manchester sometimes and I also buy veg from the Asian store down the road, 9kg of onions for £3 ... much better value than Tesco et al