Great “Battle of the Brands” Hunt

crossleydd42

All these are good value and have good flavour or perform well:

ASDA 'Smart Price' Brown Sauce
Aldi Almat Detergent (won a Good Housekeeping Award a while back)
Lidl Peanut Butter
Lidl Orange Marmalade (about 28p per jar!)
LIdl Tomato Ketchup

Sarahsaver

I would NEVER buy Charmin ultra after my mum bought some and it blocked our ensuite toilet :eek: its too darn thick, no point in luxury when you flush it away anyhow!

pixiemum

We've cut our weekly shop recently from about £130 to around £90 by getting more own brands and buying less - I used to throw away loads of veg and dairy, now I buy half as much and get more in the week if I need to - simple really!

My own brand basics from Sainsburys...fruit juices, bread, buns, crumpets (the value are just the same) milk, butter, cheeses, meat and fish, veggie burgers, pasta and rice, tinned tuna, crab, beans and veg, mayo, ketchup (a recent convert...it's 50p cheaper than Heinz), olive oil, herbs and spices, baking ingredients, cream of tomato soup (again, swapped recently, different but not worse!) jam and marmalade, dried fruit, cereal (weetabix, cornflakes, rice krispies, cheerios (I can't taste the difference and the kids know no better!) crisps, biscuits, breadsticks, cereal bars non-bio washing tablets, ultra kitchen rolls (as good as Bounty), toilet rolls, tissues, baby wipes....

The only branded goodsin my cupboard now....
Pampers nappies - the only disposables that never leak and never give a nappy rash I've found
Real Pepsi or Coke - whatever is on offer
HP sauce - nothing beats it
Quorn deli ham - no alternative!
Pantene shampoo and conditioner
Tabasco
Green and Blacks Cocoa powder
Nutella
Marmite


Things to think about...
swap Ecover for Sainsburys 'Clean Home' range

It's an amazing saving and one I didn't think would have much difference...now thinking of trying some value brands....

xxx

Sarahsaver

When my kids were little i used lidl baby wipes then tesco value when they got older, terry nappies rather than 'naughty nappies' as dd called them! Cant stand the smell of pampers wipes :eek: or the way they target you as a 'customer' even before the birth.

My kids love lemon squash either tesco value or asda smartprice, and my mum is a recent convert after being a robinsins squash drinker! The trick is to chill some water in the fridge or have ice cubes in it, seems to enhance the flavour:)

brownbake

Mayonnaise definitely has to be Hellmans tried other cheaper and there is no comparison.
Same with Tomato Sauce - has to be Heinz. These 2 are the only real brands we have to get. Oh and branded cereals and bread!!

Beans we get from Lidl at 22p a can and they are good. As are their tinned premium plum tomatoes at 29p a can.

Lidls bacon £1.64 for 14 slices and also their premium sausages at 1.80 - 90% + pork much better than Walls, Kerrys or Tesco Finest.
Lidl also do very good Kitchen Roll 3 or 4 ply just as good as bounty. Those cheap kitchen rolls are a false economy.

Tesco Value coke is good for cleaning the toilet with apparently. Not too sure about drinking it.
Agree with an earlier poster about Roses Lime cordial - others taste too chemically.

saj_k

helmpje wrote: »

Tesco Super fit nappies, mumch much cheaper than leading brands and do a better job

Morrison nappies are good as well

lexa34

lessonlearned wrote: »

I also make a lot of toiletries and cleaning products myself, using kitchen ingredients and essential oils. It's very easy and works out much cheaper than buying proprietry brands. There are some great threads on this in the health and beauty section.

Thanks; this is interesting. Where is best value place to get essential oils in your opinion?

mollyeyre_2

Xbigman wrote: »

Fairy washing up liquid. I've tried others when they were on offer and even the better ones don't measure up.

Only downside, my SIL uses half a bottle if she 'helps' wash up. She buys the cheapies herself and 'force of habit' makes her suirt in too much.
Regards



X

I agree that fairy does seem to be the best washing up liquid - However, I do find that the holes in the tops are generally too large and I decant my fairy liquid into an empty hand wash bottle with the plunger top - it works for me.

ickle_claire

I've been paying around £2.70 for Anadin Extra pain killers for a while. I asked my boyfriend to get me some the other week as I'd got cold (man flu). He had a look at the supermarkets own brand of extra strong painkillers and noticed that they have exactly the same ingredients. Also they're a fraction of the price of Anadin, I've only used Co-Op and Morrisons so far and been happy with them both.

andrione1

i spotted this thread from the email and thought about it, very interesting question. In the end, i just buy whatever is on offer of any brand, but decent quality. these are the few exceptions i miss if i don't have.

Ecover washing up liquid, blue top. excellent, hate using anything else, smells lovely.

Sainsbury's basics for nearly everything.

Sainsbury's vege hot dogs (frozen)

Jif bathroom cleaner. Ok - Cif.

Blackcurrant Tunes, for sore throat. (and have tried EVERYthing)

Body Shop shower gel

Marks Spencers garlic bread

Quorn anything, rather than other vege brands.

Dorma sheets and BHS sheets, percale cotton. lovely