Sainsbury's Basics good/bad items

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  • Thailand
    Thailand Posts: 569 Forumite
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    coupon_collector wrote: »
    Basics blackcurrant and apple squash at about 19p a ltr concentrate bottle is good and the orange flavour is very nice too

    I've only tried the Lemon, and it's great. Can't find online, but I'm sure it was 11-14p. Blackcurrant is there at 19p.
  • Nosmo_King_2
    Nosmo_King_2 Posts: 143 Forumite
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    Basics Digestive biscuits, I think they are just as good as McVities, and Basics Peach Slices - great on breakfast cereal.
  • Becky_2
    Becky_2 Posts: 1,089 Forumite
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    Great thread. Keep it up. I didn't even know that Sainsbury's Basics range was that large.

    The only product that I have tried is the basics pineapple tin for 19 pence and this is as good as the more expensive ones.

    Next time I am in Sainsbury's I shall keep my eyes open for this range.

    Becky
    No toiletries challenge, started 18/1/2010 - Putting £1 in my savings jar for every item that I use up. Pot 1 to 4 = £261. Pot 5=£23
    Boots points:£39.21. Extra money in 2012:£674.59. In 2013 £603.48. 2014: £85. 2015: £0 :j
  • belfastgirl23
    belfastgirl23 Posts: 8,025 Forumite
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    Basics butter is good. Basics potatoes are also fine.
  • Penny-less_2
    Penny-less_2 Posts: 132 Forumite
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    I always buy the basics lettuce. They are usually larger versions of the little gem type lettuce and only about 37p. Really nice. Also a lady who works in our local branch told me that the basic chicken breasts are from the same supplier as the dearer ones - just different sizes.
  • Danili
    Danili Posts: 78 Forumite
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    I would recommend:

    Orange/blackcurrant squash - 18p a bottle.
    Crumpets
    Hand cream - really effective and not highly perfumed.
    Strawberries
    Chopped tomatoes
    Digestives - I use these for making flans, but they taste just as good as mcvities on their own.

    Following on from this thread I have bought the ketchup today and also the 10p(!) shower gel which actually smells quite nice. Will report back my findings!
  • MrsBartolozzi
    MrsBartolozzi Posts: 6,358 Forumite
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    I only go to Sainsbury's once every 2 months or so and mainly stock up on their basics range while I am there. Since it has been a while since I have been I will not put the prices in case I get them very wrong :o .

    We love the Basics frozen yorkshire puds
    I know it's cheaper to make your own, but I am rubbish at it and these only take 4 mins to cook from frozen and are far better than Aunt Bessies and the other Value ones from T, M, A

    Basics pickled onions - great
    Basics frozen lamb chops - as with all the value ranges you have to have a rummage to get the best pack, but these were really cheap (3.50ish for 600g)
    Basics bacon, you have to have a rummage, but I get a few packs of the cooking and back varieties (ok, sometimes I have to cut off a bit of fat, but still far cheaper)
    Ditto Coupon on the white choc, used to be so good, but not lately
    Milk chocolate ok not great - could use in cooking
    I have tried the curry sauce:T . It's ok as a base to add more spices or a bit of chili flakes, and some tomato puree to thicken it a bit, but if you are really skint it's edible on its own.
    jar tomato pasta sauce, not bad if I recall, a bit watery, but I make my own now, and only bertolli's tastes as good :D .
    The tinned veg/fruit tastes just like "normal" tinned stuff - pineapple, mushrooms, sweetcorn, peaches we have tried
    I find the fresh f+v is just the same as "normal" but smaller/strange shapes, but fine chopped up
    packed peanuts and cashews are just like you'd expect too, just smaller or with a few broken nuts
    Honey - its just honey, can't go wrong there
    peanut butter - the crunchy is a bit dry with fewer nutty bits, but I only eat it on toast and it melts so no probs there
    marmalade - like any other cheap marmalade, unless you like the Dundee or darker types, this is fine just fewer bits of peel (which might be a good thing)


    I can't think if we get anything else. If I do will post them. I do feel that in general the Sainsbury's basics range is better quality than Tesco value and Asda smartprice, but then I only buy a few things from this range. Would love to hear about the extended range

    HTH,
    MrsB.

    It's only a game
    ~*~*~ We're only here to dream ~*~*~
  • helping_hubby
    helping_hubby Posts: 1,202 Forumite
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    I buy lots of basics...here's what I buy:
    * Potatoes - good, but tend to sprout early, so only worth the money if you're going to get through that many quickly.
    * Ketchup
    * Mayonnaise
    * Bio Washing powder
    * Vinegar
    * Mint sauce
    * Baked beans
    * Noodles (as in supernoodle equivalents)
    * All the biscuits (cookies, custard creams etc)
    * Ice Cream
    * Foil
    * Cling Film
    * Toilet Tissue
    * Kitchen Roll
    * Tea bags
    * Tinned peeled tomatoes
    * Bacon - but it has to be fried (no oil needed though). I found it very tough when grilled.
    * Eggs, although I'm trying to go free range now
    * Carrots
    * Apples
    * Crumpets (sometimes they have the holes missing though :))
    * Scotch Pancake things - yum
    * Hand wash
    * Butter
    * Mature Cheese - although I prefer to get cathedral city when on offer
    * Salmon - they are like off-cuts, the tail ends, these are great for putting in a pasta dish.
    * Yoghurt (hubby says they are OK)
    * Chocolate mousse
    * Bread (I think this can vary in quality - I'm sure different stores store it differently)
    * Plain Flour for bread making
    * Milk chocolate is quite nice, it's really smooth and creamy unlike Tescos which i found horrible.

    Think that might be it :)


    The things we never bought again:
    * Salad Cream (we buy sains own)
    * Jelly
    * White chocolate
  • hardpressed
    hardpressed Posts: 2,099 Forumite
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    Basic tomato chutney,
    " onion chutney
    " camenbert, in fact I buy mostly basic unless it's got meat in it.
  • taxiphil
    taxiphil Posts: 1,980 Forumite
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    ka7e wrote: »
    Washing up liquid, looks nice and thick but is totally rubbish at getting rid of grease. You end up using 4 times as much as the normal stuff so it's not economical either.

    Got to disagree with your reasoning there!

    It's 13p a litre. That's 6.5p for 500ml. Their normal version is about 65p for 500ml, so it costs ten times as much.

    So if you're using 4 times as much of the Basics one, it's still costing less than half the price of the normal one.

    You'd have to use more than 10 times the quantity of the Basics one for it to be uneconomical.
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