I've reduced by food shop by 63% just by switching to non branded food.

somerandomusername

1 year ago I was almost always buying branded food, mcVities, Walkers, McCain's, Heinz etc basically everything was branded, even bread. 

Now I've switched out almost every branded item for a non branded variant and my monthly food spend has dropped from £400 to £150. Now I only ever buy the Tesco branded option, or sometimes the even cheaper Stockwell Co / Hearty Co option. 

I'll be honest, I notice almost no difference at all, provided the food item is a near 1 to 1 match. For example Stockwell beans are basically identical to Heinz beans in my opinion, but a Tesco meat feast is nothing like a Chicago town Deep filled meat feast...

The only time I buy a branded item is when it's on sale, reduced yellow sticker, or the difference is absolutely worth the extra money.

Some branded items are literally 300% more expensive than the non branded one and I feel like a fool for paying so much extra money all these years for a tiny difference in taste / texture. Feel like I've wasted so much money... But yeah I'll always buy non branded where possible now 

Vitor

You're on the slippery slope to shopping at Lidl

PLRFD

Try Farm Foods lots of branded items at non branded prices.

Saver73

I save loads by shopping in Aldi and it's surprising that for most products the difference between branded and non branded isn't noticable. Aldi like the other shops mentioned also sell branded products for less.  I still buy Kelloggs cereal and Cadburys chocolate.

Cheddar cheese is cheaper than most supermarkets at £2.79 for 400g

B&M and Iceland are good options too.

On trolley today's deals B&M has Heroes chocolates carton 200g for £1.29. £2.70 less on average to other sellers. 

LindsayT

Saver73 said:

On trolley today's deals B&M has Heroes chocolates carton 200g for £1.29. £2.70 less on average to other sellers. 

I saw that the other day on Trolley and thought it was too good to be true and it was.

If you look at B&M's website, they are 3.99 and it's 290g not 200g.

Saver73

I often find better instore offers at B&M and tend to use the trolley website as a guide.  Definitely savings to be made in comparison to the big supermarkets on branded products.  My local Aldi had tubs of Heroes 550g for £4.39 recently which is better value, though more chocolate to eat!  😃

oldernonethewiser

somerandomusername said:

1 year ago I was almost always buying branded food, mcVities, Walkers, McCain's, Heinz etc basically everything was branded, even bread. 

Now I've switched out almost every branded item for a non branded variant and my monthly food spend has dropped from £400 to £150. Now I only ever buy the Tesco branded option, or sometimes the even cheaper Stockwell Co / Hearty Co option. 

I'll be honest, I notice almost no difference at all, provided the food item is a near 1 to 1 match. For example Stockwell beans are basically identical to Heinz beans in my opinion, but a Tesco meat feast is nothing like a Chicago town Deep filled meat feast...

The only time I buy a branded item is when it's on sale, reduced yellow sticker, or the difference is absolutely worth the extra money.

Some branded items are literally 300% more expensive than the non branded one and I feel like a fool for paying so much extra money all these years for a tiny difference in taste / texture. Feel like I've wasted so much money... But yeah I'll always buy non branded where possible now 

Fewer beans and more sugar in the Stockwell variety but most people probably don't notice the difference.

Brie

what shocked me today when in Taxco is that different versions of the same food from the same brand can be so different in value. 

I was looking at the Nairn oatcakes.  I had remembered I wanted some when I spotted the gluten free ones - £1.90 for (I think) 200g which seemed quite expensive.  So I went and found the ones not labelled as GF.  £1.50 for 290g.  These were the rough ones.  The fine mill ones were right beside them, same ingredients and also £1.50 but for 250g.  The cheese ones were on a store discount of £1.30 but were only 200g.  The ingredient list for the GF stated that they were GF oats (I didn't know there was such a thing) and certified by the coeliac association and presumably there are more costs to ensuring something is not just GF but manufactured in a special GF environment. 

Net result I was so boggled by it all and feeling rushed as it was fast approaching store closing time (being a Sunday) I ended up buying both the rough and fine ones without checking the best before date on either.  I don't eat a lot of oatcakes but recently had the last ones from a box a few months out of date.  Not nice.    

somerandomusername

oldernonethewiser said:

somerandomusername said:

1 year ago I was almost always buying branded food, mcVities, Walkers, McCain's, Heinz etc basically everything was branded, even bread. 

Now I've switched out almost every branded item for a non branded variant and my monthly food spend has dropped from £400 to £150. Now I only ever buy the Tesco branded option, or sometimes the even cheaper Stockwell Co / Hearty Co option. 

I'll be honest, I notice almost no difference at all, provided the food item is a near 1 to 1 match. For example Stockwell beans are basically identical to Heinz beans in my opinion, but a Tesco meat feast is nothing like a Chicago town Deep filled meat feast...

The only time I buy a branded item is when it's on sale, reduced yellow sticker, or the difference is absolutely worth the extra money.

Some branded items are literally 300% more expensive than the non branded one and I feel like a fool for paying so much extra money all these years for a tiny difference in taste / texture. Feel like I've wasted so much money... But yeah I'll always buy non branded where possible now 

Fewer beans and more sugar in the Stockwell variety but most people probably don't notice the difference.

Fewer beans?

A can of Stockwell beans is 420g, costs 28p and has 9.5g of sugar.
A can of Heinz beans is 415g, costs £1.40 and has 8.9g of sugar. 

Maybe the Stockwell can has more juice and less beans, but certainly lot 80% less beans! Maybe 5% or 10%.

And the sugar difference is negligible, less than 1g difference...

oldernonethewiser

somerandomusername said:

oldernonethewiser said:

somerandomusername said:

1 year ago I was almost always buying branded food, mcVities, Walkers, McCain's, Heinz etc basically everything was branded, even bread. 

Now I've switched out almost every branded item for a non branded variant and my monthly food spend has dropped from £400 to £150. Now I only ever buy the Tesco branded option, or sometimes the even cheaper Stockwell Co / Hearty Co option. 

I'll be honest, I notice almost no difference at all, provided the food item is a near 1 to 1 match. For example Stockwell beans are basically identical to Heinz beans in my opinion, but a Tesco meat feast is nothing like a Chicago town Deep filled meat feast...

The only time I buy a branded item is when it's on sale, reduced yellow sticker, or the difference is absolutely worth the extra money.

Some branded items are literally 300% more expensive than the non branded one and I feel like a fool for paying so much extra money all these years for a tiny difference in taste / texture. Feel like I've wasted so much money... But yeah I'll always buy non branded where possible now 

Fewer beans and more sugar in the Stockwell variety but most people probably don't notice the difference.

Fewer beans?

A can of Stockwell beans is 420g, costs 28p and has 9.5g of sugar.
A can of Heinz beans is 415g, costs £1.40 and has 8.9g of sugar. 

Maybe the Stockwell can has more juice and less beans, but certainly lot 80% less beans! Maybe 5% or 10%.

And the sugar difference is negligible, less than 1g difference...

Yes, fewer.

I was merely pointing out that the products are not the same.  Similar but not the same.

I also wrote that most people may not notice the difference so definitely savings to be made. 

somerandomusername

oldernonethewiser said:

somerandomusername said:

oldernonethewiser said:

somerandomusername said:

1 year ago I was almost always buying branded food, mcVities, Walkers, McCain's, Heinz etc basically everything was branded, even bread. 

Now I've switched out almost every branded item for a non branded variant and my monthly food spend has dropped from £400 to £150. Now I only ever buy the Tesco branded option, or sometimes the even cheaper Stockwell Co / Hearty Co option. 

I'll be honest, I notice almost no difference at all, provided the food item is a near 1 to 1 match. For example Stockwell beans are basically identical to Heinz beans in my opinion, but a Tesco meat feast is nothing like a Chicago town Deep filled meat feast...

The only time I buy a branded item is when it's on sale, reduced yellow sticker, or the difference is absolutely worth the extra money.

Some branded items are literally 300% more expensive than the non branded one and I feel like a fool for paying so much extra money all these years for a tiny difference in taste / texture. Feel like I've wasted so much money... But yeah I'll always buy non branded where possible now 

Fewer beans and more sugar in the Stockwell variety but most people probably don't notice the difference.

Fewer beans?

A can of Stockwell beans is 420g, costs 28p and has 9.5g of sugar.
A can of Heinz beans is 415g, costs £1.40 and has 8.9g of sugar. 

Maybe the Stockwell can has more juice and less beans, but certainly lot 80% less beans! Maybe 5% or 10%.

And the sugar difference is negligible, less than 1g difference...

Yes, fewer.

I was merely pointing out that the products are not the same.  Similar but not the same.

I also wrote that most people may not notice the difference so definitely savings to be made. 

But the can is 80% cheaper so even if you got half the amount of beans it's still better value.

Or are you merely just pointing out that each can has less beans, for no particular reason?