The Bargains thread has made me think.
I mentioned that Miller is £6 for 12 bottles in Morrisons - my friend works there and gets 10% discount and so I could save a further 60p. I hummed and hawed whether to do this but eventually decided, too much hassle for 60p.
But as I drink Miller, I always check the price of it in any supermarket / shop that I am in. For the same reason I always check Pringles prices!
My car generally takes about 55 litres of fuel, garages in my area vary by no more than 1p per litre - I usually have a good idea who is cheapest and will go to them. Again, reality is maximum saving of 55p.
I eat Warburtons blue loaf and always watch the prices of it - best deal is usually a 2 for £2 and I will buy and put some in freezer.
However, these are not huge savings and in the same breath, I would throw a few quid at a takeaway coffee that I could get in the office for free, I will do the rest of my grocery shop without comparing each individual item's price etc etc.
It would appear that some items just stick in my head for wanting best value.
What products do you price watch on? And is the perspective / products different from a woman's point of view?
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I'm not sure it is Bobby.
For me personally I've been very hard up in my younger years and once you start to get out of that situation, even in a small way, you vow never to go back to it. It always irked me and my parents that when you can only afford to buy a single item it is a lot dearer per item than buying a multi pack and storing it.
I'm answering two threads here!
Like Harleyman my cupboards are full to bursting and we'll never go hungry.
Having said that when I was working full time and earning well, I neither had the time or the inclination to look at prices where small amounts were involved.
Now I do have the time I find I see it as my contribution to the family finances and shop very carefully as those small amounts all add up over the month.
I find it annoying that the supermarkets seem to think we're thick and don't realise the tactics they use.
Tesco have had two pack of cheese for £3 for months. A couple of weeks ago it appeared at £1.75 per pack but 'price dropped' to £1.72.
This makes me dig my heels in even though the amount is small.
I shop online for most things, but I always review what I want and then search for a better price at a different supplier of that item before ordering.
I do it with most things we buy, not just food but I'd be the first to admit that idf our income was what it used to be I wouldn't bother, it is just a matter of trying to protect our general standard of living from slipping too much.
I still won't shop at Aldi or Lidl though:)
Pat
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>>What everyday prices do you watch?>>
Bobby, you live north of the border don't you ;-)
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Things I am watching or selling on eBay.
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I tend to see which supermarket is doing cheaper petrol, 10p off a litre for spending 60 is better than 5p off unless you can get 3.
then I check which does a box of stella cheaper - work out which is more beneficial - then see if I can work my route around my necessary journey.
Curretly Asda doing 18 tins at 10, almost half price and Sainsbury's doing 36 tins for 20, the latter is closer to me so thats where I'll be getting my next shop !! Knowing my luck they'll ahve run out !
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>>>Things I am watching or selling on eBay.
Ditto.
Plus classic hi-fi, boats/outboards and houses.
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Oh Pat - you ARE missing out by not, at least, trying ALDI or LIDL.
We are fussy about the quality of our food and I can assure you that the quality of much of the offerings at these stores is quite as good as their branded equivalents.
There are items they do not carry, but I would think that around 90% of our grocery & vegetable/fruit shopping is done there now.
Neither, of course, deliver, so if that service is important to you the savings compared with convenience may well tip the balance in favour of the majors.
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+1 for Aldi, their food is as good as you get in any supermarket and very favourably priced. I've had good quality cycling gear from them for a fraction of what you'd pay elsewhere and the Workzone branded tools are good value for the home bodger too.
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If I shop it is usually ASDA (at 11pm or later to avoid the 'throngs') and I buy whichever works out cheapest - often you'll see a deal on small packs that makes it cheaper to buy a few than a single big pack of the same stuff.
Other than fuel and gas/electric I've not really noticed a big rise in the supermarket bill, but then I don't go that much and tend to spend under 50 quid buying ingredients, whereas the gaffer tends to buy ready-made cack.
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Delivery is important but my gripe with both Aldi and Lidl is the way they handle their goods in at the National Ditribution Centres all over the country.
Lidl is worse than Aldi but some of the warehouses simply don't come up to the standards of Asda/Tesco/Sainsbury or Waitrose in any respect.
Pat
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In my area, the cheapest and priciest petrol often differ by 3p/L. So for 50L fill up, I can save £1.50 (and I don't have to travel out of way to go to cheapest ones).
My wife is a savvy shopper and she almost memorizes what is sold where at what price! I have a Sainsbury near to my home (can walk there) and I often get good deals when I shop there at late nights.
I recently threatened to leave my mobile network (out of contract) and they immediately gave me 40% discount :-)
I do visit Lidl but they are good for some items only - not much varieties either.
No Aldi or Asda nearby :-(
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Good old haggling can obtain substantial discounts. Managed to get a further £28 off an already substantially reduced table and chairs priced at £310 last week. Wife walked away in embarrassment but was happy with the result.
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>> Oh Pat - you ARE missing out by not, at least, trying ALDI or LIDL.
>> We are fussy about the quality of our food and I can assure you that
>> the quality of much of the offerings at these stores is quite as good as
>> their branded equivalents.
Aldi and Lidl fresh fruit and meat is simply not good enough, You cant be that fussy.
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>> Aldi and Lidl fresh fruit and meat is simply not good enough, You cant be
>> that fussy.
Our local ALDI's veg/fruit is as good as most of the majors, most of the time. Shop carefully is the watchword.
Meat - well, we buy ALDI chicken, but for other meats and sausages we use a good local independent butcher. I don't think any supermarket beef/lamb/pork/ sausage is particularly good.
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>> Aldi and Lidl fresh fruit and meat is simply not good enough, You cant be
>> that fussy.
Aldi's meat counter ain't gonna match Waitrose or the farmer's market. Comparing like with like though it's as good as or or better than equivalent Tescbury's value/basics stuff. Premium bacon and sausages are excellent - Taste the Difference!!
What's the issue with fruit, range stocked or quality?
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Thu 1 Dec 11 at 21:08
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I seem to recall that Pat revealed that this was all sourced from the same place in a thread a long time ago. I think the secret is the way they're stored. BTW Tesco's tomatoes taste of nothing, how they actually achieve this is a mystery neigh a miracle, but you won't catch me eating them again.
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>> What products do you price watch on?
I've relaxed my hawk-like scanning of prices a little recently, but when I do the food shopping I still notice if anything's gone up (it's usually up) in the last week. I can go into an unfamiliar supermarket and mentally compare their prices with my usual one on most of the items that I buy.
I'll also shop in the cheap stores in town for things that I would buy anyway, just to save a few more spondulicks. Examples are 3x tins of tuna, £4 in the supermarket but £2.79 in Home Bargains; 750ml bleach 79p in the supermarket but 39p in HB; 4 bog rolls £2.25 vs £1.75 in Wilko. There, that's a day's school dinner money saved in 3 items - I can put up with the queues and the tracksuit-clad louts for that.
Last edited by: Dave_TDCi on Thu 1 Dec 11 at 16:30
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>>tracksuit-clad louts <<
*walks away hanging her head in shame in her cuddly warm tracksuit*
Pat
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I couldn't tell you the price of anything, I don't do supermarkets as they give me 'the twitch',
The only everyday price I keep my beedies on is www.boilerjuice.com/heatingOilPrices.php
I should have bought 1000 ltrs back in the summer when it was cheap(er) and I ain't buying now!
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>> >>tracksuit-clad louts <<
>> *walks away hanging her head in shame in her cuddly warm tracksuit*
>> Pat
You don't have facial tattoos or a Staffy tied up outside though. Well, I hope you don't :)
Last edited by: Dave_TDCi on Thu 1 Dec 11 at 20:53
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Bog rolls. Not so long ago therse were around 30p a roll for run of the mill (not cheapest). Now they are over 40 p in Tesco. So if they are somewhere around the 30p mark (as they were in a recent offer in Tesco) that's the time to clean up, as they say :-)
Pringles were around 1.25 a while back. Suddenly they seem to be £2, but become cheap again when you apply the frequent buy one get one free.
2l Pepsi -was around 1.35, now more like 1.75 except often on offer.
Admittedly my prices go back maybe up to two years, but in my head I have a rough idea of quite a wide range of prices and to say that inflation is 5.2% seems to be stretching the truth!
Last edited by: smokie on Thu 1 Dec 11 at 21:23
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Pepsi Max hovers around a pound for two litres occasionally....!
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>> Pepsi Max hovers around a pound for two litres occasionally....!
78p in Tesco a couple of weeks ago.
8 pack of cans is currently on BOGOFF.
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I typically pay 79p for a 2 litre bottle of Pepsi. I love Quality Save but their prices have been increasing.
Would pay no more than £1 for a bigger can of pringles.
Try and get grapes for less than £3.50 per KG but that can be tricky.
Fresh orange, no more than 60p a litre.
Golden Wonder crisps no more than 20p a 30g pack.
2 litres of milk no more than £1 but hopefully I can get it for 79p.
1.25 litres coke, no more than 99p.
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I won't compromise on orange juice - Tropicana for me every time - cheaper in Asda but you have to brave the cast of Shaun of the Dead.
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Try ALDI orange juice with bits, not from concentrate - Del Rivo brand,IIRC
It's as near to freshly squeezed as I have tasted from a tetra pack, (and we used to squeeze the juice from fresh naranjas a lot in Spain).
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We prefer to eat crisps without salt on them so the options of brands is very limited.
I used to watch the price of Smiths crisps ( Tescos often did extra large packs).
Waitrose now sell their own crisps, Crinkle ( no salt) or Salt your own with little blue packets of salt included.
Naked Crisps are another more expensive treat that I price watch.
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Crisps without salt; heavens to Betsy, what a terrible thought.
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>> Crisps without salt; heavens to Betsy, what a terrible thought.
>>
We have not used salt in our household for decades, way before the salt police appeared,
so it is also fish n chips without salt.
The only salt we have is for guests or for outside use in winter.
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I suppose its understandable in the present economic climate but so many people seem to buy food solely on price even if they don't have to. To me quality is as important if not more and so is the way the animal was raised in the case of meat.
We tend to use the market for fruit and vegetables, the local baker for bread and the local butcher for meat with the occasional trip to the farm shop and specialist suppliers for things like tea, coffee and bacon. Would sooner save the pennies elsewhere rather than on what I eat.
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I do most (all?) of the food shop. And I probably spend more than my wife used to. But I buy quality over quantity.
We used to have a main weekly shop (done by my wife) and she hated doing it. So we started doing an online shop. But sometimes items were past their best when we came to use them.
I then started to work from a local office or home a lot. And this coincided with a period when you couldn't know if the children wanted food tonight let alone in a few days. So I took over the food shop and shopped every day. Cost of diesel offsets the wasted food... and now I try to plan a bit better and not go so often... getting there slowly.
I like to shop for tonights meal (I also cook a lot) so don't plan too far ahead.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Thu 1 Dec 11 at 23:16
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ALDI for a lot of stuff - all the meat is British and fairly priced. The only thing I've noticed going up is bread, to the extent that I've more or less stopped buying it in loaves and now eat less, but higher quality stuff from the local deli.
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What everyday prices do you watch? - Pat
