Sainsbury's Basics good/bad items

WendyR14

I like the sauce poured on a fried rice rather like a chip shop curry sauce but my partner finds it too sweet for that. Neither of us like it much as a base for a real curry as such (not spicey enough). However we both love it mixed with mayo to make a great coronation sauce - which we generally use for a potato salad (fab as a side dish to tandori chicken) rather than as the traditional coronation chicken. Thinking about it now, might be just as good using yoghurt; am also thinking done over hardboiled eggs also sounds good. In short it's got lots of uses.

Mum_on_a_mission wrote: »

Quick question - does the curry sauce work with anything other than chicken? Say prawns or vegetables or chick peas?

many thanks for all the tips on this thread

Moam

fedupandskint

just tried the custard creams and caramel wafers - perfectly accpetable in my opinion. Less sweet than the other versions I think which is ok with me!

Just did a main basics shop and halved my shopping bill by swopping what I would ususally buy from the main Sainsbugs brand or TTD for basics.

I have been working up to this point from the beginning of the year when I first started buying basics. I never thought I would be in this position to do this from the organic TTD label snob I was.

V pleased at halving the bill! Bring it on!

omnom

Great: basics pasta shapes, basics spaghetti, basics baked beans, milk chocolate, dark chocolate, natural yogurt, strawberry yogurt, frozen mixed vegetables, mozzarella (sp?), loose apples, chopped tomatoes, peeled plum tomatoes, big bag of potatoes, basics soft spread (use it for baking, not sure about other uses), oven chips, ready salted crisps multipack

Not so great: tomato ketchup (we like Asda Smartprice though).

HH62

omnom wrote: »

Not so great: tomato ketchup (we like Asda Smartprice though).

I tried the ketchup earlier this week, with the last of my bottle of Heinz, on the same plate and I couldn't tell the difference.
I'm wondering if they use different suppliers for different batches? I got a huge bottle of it and half expected it to be horrid but it was fine.

1carminestocky

HH62 wrote: »

I tried the ketchup earlier this week, with the last of my bottle of Heinz, on the same plate and I couldn't tell the difference.
I'm wondering if they use different suppliers for different batches? I got a huge bottle of it and half expected it to be horrid but it was fine.

Our kids were using it for quite a while before we told them it wasn't Heinz (we decanted it into the existing, empty, Heinz squeezy bottle to see what reaction we got. None whatsoever). Consequently we are now saving over £40 a year. On ketchup :eek: (our kids will get through a large bottle every 2 weeks!). And what's even better about it is the basics ketchup contains loads less salt than the Heinz (0.9g per 100gms as opposed to 3.1g per 100g!). A no-brainer.

1carminestocky

fedupandskint wrote: »

just tried the custard creams and caramel wafers - perfectly accpetable in my opinion. Less sweet than the other versions I think which is ok with me!

Just did a main basics shop and halved my shopping bill by swopping what I would ususally buy from the main Sainsbugs brand or TTD for basics.

I have been working up to this point from the beginning of the year when I first started buying basics. I never thought I would be in this position to do this from the organic TTD label snob I was.

V pleased at halving the bill! Bring it on!

We were similarly amazed at our shopping bill when we went 'basics' and put our brand snobbery where it belonged - in the bin. And don't let any of the food snobs tell you sniffily that you are eating rubbish as in many cases, if you accept that less fat/sugar/salt is better for health, then you are eating healthier. The brand names (and this includes TTD) tend to stuff their food with lots of fat and salt because that's what we have all become accustomed to calling 'tasty' or 'quality'. No matter how tasty it may be perceived to be, the high fat/sugar/salt content is no good for you whatsoever.

fedupandskint

1carminestocky wrote: »

We were similarly amazed at our shopping bill when we went 'basics' and put our brand snobbery where it belonged - in the bin. And don't let any of the food snobs tell you sniffily that you are eating rubbish as in many cases, if you accept that less fat/sugar/salt is better for health, then you are eating healthier. The brand names (and this includes TTD) tend to stuff their food with lots of fat and salt because that's what we have all become accustomed to calling 'tasty' or 'quality'. No matter how tasty it may be perceived to be, the high fat/sugar/salt content is no good for you whatsoever.

Too right!

We were discussing this at work when we were eating Mr T's jaffa cakes 50p for 24 opposed to £1.66 for 24 Mc Vitities. Not one of use could tell any difference and we had a chat about how we thought the lower brands were less full of salt sugar and fat.

Funny how this has only just occured to me! Those companies are very good at suckering us into a brand and a label, very well practicised indeed. It takes a lot to a) find the basics ranges and b) walking round with a trolley full of basics

b) is me and feeling the looks of everyone else at my trolley full of basics, yet why does this matter. I think it is my own label snobbery trying to get back out when it doesn't matter.

It's cheaper and less full of fat, salt and sugar. What's to be embarrassed about? Nothing

Giulliana

I've tried a few Sainsbury's Basics and found most of them disgusting or just plain ... well cheap; but the one which sticks in my mind is the Cornish pasty which tasted like I had a mouthful of rancid fat. I don't shop there at all now, I think the afore mentioned pasty put me off completely.

kezzae

fedupandskint wrote: »

Too right!

We were discussing this at work when we were eating Mr T's jaffa cakes 50p for 24 opposed to £1.66 for 24 Mc Vitities. Not one of use could tell any difference and we had a chat about how we thought the lower brands were less full of salt sugar and fat.

Funny how this has only just occured to me! Those companies are very good at suckering us into a brand and a label, very well practicised indeed. It takes a lot to a) find the basics ranges and b) walking round with a trolley full of basics

b) is me and feeling the looks of everyone else at my trolley full of basics, yet why does this matter. I think it is my own label snobbery trying to get back out when it doesn't matter.

It's cheaper and less full of fat, salt and sugar. What's to be embarrassed about? Nothing

I agree, we were spending about £150 per week on groceries and we would only buy branded. I Just thought all basic brands would be unhealthy and bland but then I read an article on here about dropping a brand to cut down your grocery bill and then read this thread. I decided to give it a go and noted all the peeps reccommendations for sainsbury's basics brand. I havent got a Sainsbury's near me but they do home delivery's so I placed an order and I have to say that there isn't anything that we have disliked.
I wish I'd doon this sooner, our bill for last week was £62 and that included the delivery charge and was for a full shop, I was a bit wary about the meat, so I bought 1 tray of Basics chicken pieces for stir fry and it was really good quality.
Everything on my list was from the basics range and yes my cupboards, fridge and freezer are full of orange and white labels:rotfl:but when I think about the money we have saved and how much healthier the basics range is compared to branded I can put up with that!!!:rotfl::rotfl:

Clowance

I don't think anyone need worry about "walking round with a trolleyful of basics" - no one else is remotely interested in your shopping basket, we are all too busy looking for our own stuff.