"Eat Well For Less?" - thoughts?

JIL

At a town near us aldi and waitrose share a carpark!!
Waitrose are expensive, that's why they are able to do free coffee.
I agree on the naan breads, they are better than a lot of takeaways. If you are going to splash out on something then it should be something you enjoy.
I do use wait rose via Ocado buy I am very selective. Their 3 for £10 meats are really good. That seems to be a permanent offer.
Eat well for less knew she shopped in wait rose. That marinated chicken is always on offer so why wasn't that part of the savings? If you pay full price for everything then it follows you pay more.
That takeaway swap was a bit silly. Why not an m and s meal deal, or a jar of curry sauce and some chicken, most supermarkets have a meal deal going on. Tescos often have a £6 one.
Is it because the writers/ presenters also do not live in the real world. I'm sure they will eat out far more than they will eat in.

Caterina

Just watched that episode on catch up, it just went on my nerves. I find it difficult to get my head around food snobbery, especially seeing people base their choices and making quality judgement solely based on the look of packaging.

I was a full time working mum with a responsible job and a household to look after, so I understand the need to cut corners, but that woman just seems so spoiled, to me. And what about the husband and his muesli perfectionism?

First world problems, IMHO.

NewShadow

PasturesNew wrote: »

I've never lived near one - never heard of them until I came to MSE. I might live near one now, but I don't know. Asian supermarkets, and similarly named places are an alien planet to me. There's probably one just a 16 mile round trip - but to go, to look, to get one item, it's not worth the cost of the fuel/parking.

I'm not sure how or what you tend to cook, but as an idea - its worth hunting out your local indian or asian supermarkets if you eat a lot of rice, noodles, lentils, chickpeas, spices (cumin, coriander, cinnamon, etc), soy sauce, rice wine, asian fruit or veg (pak choi/beansprouts), prawns, duck, squid...etc.

I've found all the above reliably both cheaper and better quality than my local SMs - texaco, sainsbug, trose, lidl.

Warning, you may be tempted by the 10 kilo sacks of rice, lentils and the like - apparently stocking up is bad...

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

Ilona wrote: »

I called in a Waitrose supermarket last night on my way back from a day out. We don't have them in my neck of the woods, and I was curious as to what they sell and their prices. How the heck can anyone afford to shop in there? I buy a large tub of plain yogurt from Mr T for 45p. It's £1.20 in Waitrose. The cheapest bag of basic cat litter is £3, double that of other supermarkets. Must be a lot of well off people in the West Hull area.
Ilona

Just one our weekly shop at w8rz an came in ageing under £25.

Salad, veg for roasts, quiche, cheeses, Bart coconut block. Milk, marge, butter, biscuits, bread, crumpets, oranges, newspaper free. Shampoo.

Better offers than any other emporium and instant money offs as well. Why give the emporiums like T too much money, when it is evident they squeeze suppliers as much as they squeeze customers.

barneydee_2

I have watched the last show twice as the first time I watched it some one called me so I was distracted lol x The lady in this show realy annoyed me
All the moaning about cutting a few carrots! So much cheaper to buy loss fresh then prepared veg which may have had chemicals add to them to preserve the shelf life, when feeding children I prefer fresh home cooked with no additives .
What a wonderful kitchen going to waste if she is not using it to its full potential. I think as others have said yes they are cutting there food budget but the are not eating better
Dee x

catkins

lessonlearned wrote: »

Catkins - I appreciate what you are saying - that you know plenty of people who work, have children and still manage to cook from scratch.

I guess I'm a bit like the lady in week 2. I just was absolutely hopeless trying to juggle all three and I only had 2 children, not 4. I could cook, I could look after my children and I could hold down a high powered job. I just couldn't manage all 3 at the same time. Oddly enough neither could my mum. She was even worse than me. Bless her heart the food mum cooked was disgusting. Mine was at least edible - well most of the time:rotfl:

As I said I am in awe of people who can juggle a career, kids and still run a perfect house and kitchen. I take my hat off to you.

Regrettably it's just beyond me.......I can do what I can do and I have my limits.

I guess I can just empathise with the women on this programme, women who, like me, lack the domestic goddess gene.

No, not everyone can be a domestic goddess! I can cook reasonably well and so can my OH but we both enjoy cooking. I do know people who don't like cooking or think they can't cook and they often use what I would call "short cuts" rather than always eat convenience food. They might buy a pizza base and then put their own toppings on it or buy a jar of pasta sauce but they still eat healthily on the whole - lots of fresh and frozen veg, lots of fruit etc. The thing that struck me about both families was that they did not seem to eat healthily.


They could change their shopping habits and eat more healthily and save money (quite a lot). I think the children in the second programme had a pizza each for time (I might be wrong). If so that, to me, is silly. If you do pizza with a jacket potato and some salad then you don't need a whole pizza each. I make my pizza and me and OH normally only have a quarter each in one meal.

Caterina wrote: »

Some of their offers are amazing, they price-match MrT, when they do the final YS reductions you can get seriously posh food for pennies, their service is great, the quality of their food is unbeatable, they run an ethical outfit (all staff members are "partners" and share in their profits AND they get paid a decent living wage), you can get free tea and coffee from their takeaway machine, free newspaper if you spend £5 (£10 at weekends), if you need a bulk shop their delivery over £60 is free...what's not to like?

Some of their stuff is rather expensive, but this is the case in most SMs, as OSers we are all used to pick and choose, offers and YS goods are luck of the draw but so it is for every other SM.

I find it cheaper to shop sensibly at W8rose than casually at MrT!

I agree that Waitrose can be expensive but isn't always. They do have some good offers and their yellow stickered stuff is a real bargain - just a shame I don't live close enough to go more often!


I almost always put my shop into "mysupermarket" and it is interesting to see how the supermarkets compare. Waitrose is certainly not always the dearest (often Tesco are) and occasionally they are the cheapest (admittedly not that often!)

MLW

Why is my licence fee being wasted on Greg Wallace helping the Warner family cut there weekly shopping bill from £350. I have never had £350 a week net to spend on anything let alone food. If this couple are so wealthy can afford £350 a week without thinking about it then let them waste their income - if they don't have to think about their spending then it's probably a case of easy come easy go. How about helping out people on minimum wage - bet you can't save them much money and won't give you the whopping savings figures you can boast with the more wealthy families. I am still watching this episode right now so don't know the outcomes yet BUT I know what they can save for one week on their food shopping is more than I can afford in 3! Why am I subsidisng help for these people?

Velja

I watched both episodes and was also surprised that they featured two well-off families. Who are still overspending even after the intervention. I would have preferred to see a family with a normal income and budget getting some advice and help.
Otherwise I just couldn't relate to their "problems". Ooh..shall I spend £60 on muesli or £59. Grrrrr...

missflirtuk

My guess is that Mrs Warner only has a kitchen because it came with the house.

Rainy-Days

Caterina wrote: »

Just watched that episode on catch up, it just went on my nerves. I find it difficult to get my head around food snobbery, especially seeing people base their choices and making quality judgement solely based on the look of packaging.

^^ This!

I sooo agree. I have just sat and watched it on pre-record catch up and I was sat there with my eye brows going ceiling wards constantly. The food snobbery was amazing. How I laughed when they pulled out Jordan's cereal at the end and the Waitrose marinated chicken.

They could well do to want- notice it mentioned he is doing consultancy work. They need to be careful that could dry up in a heartbeat.

I really like the trick with the cheese straws though - that was good and also the chicken with the roasted veg. I use chicken thighs quite a bit and I think they are really tasty.

The jars of sauces I always knew were sugar laden so thats why I make my own, but wow how much was astonishing.

That woman has a beautiful kitchen and yet she is not using it to it's full potential. My kitchen I love it totally, spend allot of time in there and use it to it's hilt. I just think allot of it is just 'show' with these people. 17 shopping trips to the supermarkets in a week is shocking, you would be lucky to get me out twice!