grocery shopping - branded, shops own and value.

jon81uk

CH27 wrote: »

I never buy pasta sauce in a jar.
I get a 29p carton of passata from Aldi & add my own herbs & spices depending what flavour I want.

We started doing this when we realised how much sugar there is in Dolmioe etc. Fried onion, garlic passata and herbs is all there is to it really. But I do sometimes buy white sauce for lasagne when on offer as making white sauce feels like an effort.

good_advice

When I do the weekly grocery shop, I now take the time to look on the bottom shelf first as this is often the cheapest. Even if it means sitting on knee's.

PenguinOfDeath

AzariahAquila wrote: »

When it comes to grocery Target suits me the most,I have purchased a lot of my stuff from that place and this is why it started becoming my preference.So yeah this is how i do my shopping.

I prefer Target too. But the petrol costs are horrendous!

jackieblack

PenguinOfDeath wrote: »

I prefer Target too. But the petrol costs are horrendous!

Not to mention the air fare, and the weight restrictions on baggage

My belief that AzariahAquila is not UK based is compounded by their recommendation on another thread that Lipton's is a decent tea

maman

good_advice wrote: »

I sometimes make a list of freezer dinners and tape it to the kitchen cupdoard for reference.
.

I have an inventory of all the contents of my freezer(s) on the side of my microwave and I'm very organised at keeping it up to date.


It's quite simple, listed under headings: fish, meat, HM ready meals, vegetables and other (like fruit, bread, pastry, ice cream etc)


I have a copy of my meal plan for that week there as well in case I forget.

flea72

good_advice wrote: »

The doolally = I have been buying the x2 bags of grated chedder for £5. This lasts 2/3 weeks. Again, you have to buy 2. This is putting the weekly bill up. Instead of buying smaller quantity per week.
This week I bought Pilgrims choice. A block. This is delli cheese. New shop tacked. Cut up and clingfilm. Stick various prices on diffrent size blocks and put on end of shelf near their counter. Stand back and watch.
With the block cheese I still have to grate. If I were to leave it for family. They would make door step cheese sandwiches.
I think buying the grated would have been better.
.

You can grate it yourself. I buy catering size blocks and grate it in my food processor, saves time and knuckes. Bag up and freeze. Make sandwiches in the morning with it still frozen, defrosted by lunchtime.

My OH is the same, if he slices cheese, its as thick as a slice of toaster loaf.

kellogs rice krispies is the only foodstuff, we dont compromise on in this house. I put aldi ketchup in a heinz bottle, noone has noticed. HP sauce, yes own brand tastes slightly different, but not so bad that we wont eat it, you soon get used to the different flavour.

When eating out, do you not eat condiments because they arent the right brand! Or do you just eat the ketchup, because you want ketchup?

Agree with the ready made sauce comments. Its just tomataoes and herbs in the jar, that have been pureed and seived. Yes, the 30p jars do taste a bit more acidic, but thats easily counteracted by adding a bit of sugar or more herbs (which is what the more expensive jars contain anyway). I,prefer using tinned toms or,passata as you get a strong tomato flavour and i can add herbs to suit (i prefer oregano to basil)

Nada666

It is compliant customers like you who dutifully purchase the multibuys that is the problem. You should not buy the BBQ sauce or the three packs of meat or the cheese. There will never be decency by supermarkets because they know there are swathes of customers like you without the discipline to drive the market away from this hateful practice.

I don't quite understand the point of paying £1.15 for a jar of pasta sauce. Perhaps the cream(sic)-based ones if you don't have the patience for a white sauce each time but the tomato ones are a complete waste.

good_advice

Wow!Nada you sound like you are in a bad place right now. This is a friendly chat about branded, shops own and value food.

Yesterday, I had an enjoyable afternoon batch cooking. Local radio on for company.

I made a large beef casserole. Veggie lasagne with spinach instead of mince. x2 fruit cakes and a apple crumble.

I cooked with fresh vegetables. THe diced veg pack, onions and value mushrooms went in the casserole. Tesco's own brand diced beef.

For the lasagne, I used value pasta strips, value flour, stork cooking marg. Pilgrims cheese.. Tesco pasta sauce - will put value chopped tomato's on shopping list for future use.) A £1 bag of spinach.
I made my own cheese sauce.

Fruit cakes - i used value flour. No testers seem to know the difference of flour used.Stork cooking marg.Eggs from my cooks tray of eggs.
Dark brown sugar left over from the Christmas cake.
Mixed fruit, nuts and cherries.

The cake was soon sampled as we had visitors arrive wile the cakes were in the oven.
One person asked for a second slice.
The 2nd cake is a gift - family member just coming out of hospital. With all her visitors I thought a HM cake would be appreciated.

The crumble was baked with x2 cooking apples. Value flour, stork marg and caster sugar.

We ate some of the lasagne for dinner last night with a quick frozen veg.
Jacket potatoes cooked in the oven.
x2 portions went in the freezer.

Todays dinner for x2 is the casserole. 4 portions in the freezer.
Steaming fresh veg and potato.

How is everyone getting on with shops own and value products?

paadzer

For Pasta Sauce I use B&M - they have one for 79p and it is over 500g so great value. They also have Ragu 500g for 99p which is better value than Tesco own brand. They also have great deals on pasta.

Frozen sausages tend to be better value, there are some deals currently in Asda.

Cereals, Asda have several on 3 for £3 of own brand, all taste good.

To compare prices and check for special offers I use http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/

DPJames

good_advice wrote: »

Wow!Nada you sound like you are in a bad place right now.

. And not just 'right now'. So much anger. So much venom. What's up Nada? Been dumped? Sacked? Or are you Scottish?