Which supermarket gives you the best value and why ?

The trouble with supermarkets is they all have their strengths and weaknesses.

Tesco are a class above when it comes to Customer relations while Sainsbury Have a better range of own label produce.

In the end It happens that I drive past tesco on the way to work so that's where I shop.

I think Asda are the best for value and availability.

I use Tesco's - never had any problems with it, and very good value too. On the other hand, if you're looking for deals - go to Iceland! There's always 'Buy one, get 500,000 free' there.

lol, that's very true of iceland, they are full of bargains.

We usually do our shopping at Tesco's, as we find the prices very reasonable. Christmas time we also pop into Iceland, as their prices are very good too with a lot of offers. Lisa x

I hate them all.

I shop in my local Co-op in Radcliffe on Trent and my local General Store for daily stuff.

When I was first househunting here a year ago, I found this wonderful independent supermarket in Bingham -two miles away.

It is closed this week. To be revamped as a Sainsbury.

It is now my nearest supermarket, as fortunately we live in a "MAJORSUPERMARKETFREEZONE" and until then I would have probably have had to go a much greater distance to find one - thankfully.

THere is a great farmers market though, and our local PO come general store even sells cakes and other delicacies baked locally, by anonymous housewives (and househusbands, presumably, I would hate not to be Politically Correct here)

I don't think there are any identifiable comparisons between Sainsbury/Asda/Morrison/Tesco, they are all the same and I don't like their ethics.

All they do is loss lead different products to give the customers the perception of a difference

So what that Loaves/Fishes/Baked Beans/Milk are 9p, their ethics suck.

I prefer sainsburies over any other supermarket,mainly because their produce seems to be a lot fresher and their meat seems to be better quality too.The prices also aren't too bad either and even their own brand things are really good.

I went in the newly opened sainsbury's for wine the other night. I walked out again. It was great if you like, Chardonnay, Chardonnay, Chardonnay, Chardonnay or Chardonnay. I have never seen such a poor supermarket wine collection in my life. I went next door, to oddbins.

that and the fact that most of the shelves were bare (Ok It is brand new opening, but I just did not see it as an exciting place to shop whatsoever)

Sounds like you need a visit over here Helen. Our supermarkets are overflowing with good wines and good prices.

I just noticed this thread - can I take this opportunity to say I HATE ASDA. Please don't shop there - you are being ripped off.

My loyalities will always lie with Sainsburys - my Mum's worked there pretty much since I was born, and all of the jobs I've ever had have been within a Sainsbury's store! But even so, I appreciate that they aren't the best value, escpecially for a poor student. We have an Aldi around the corner from our house and I was downright shocked the first time I shopped there. I estimated that my 8 or so items was gunna cost me around £10, and the bill was like £3.50!

Please don't beat me up when I dare to say LIDL now ;-)

At least for my daily basic shopping I prefer it to Sainbury's, Tesco etc., just because it's far cheaper and the quality is the same for most things (as many of the LIDL products are well-known brands in other packaging anyway).

OK, I'm from Germany and used to shopping in Aldi and LIDL, just because we never could afford shopping in "normal" supermarkerts, at least not over the last years.
But then again, even doctors, managers and the "richer" people of the towns are seen in those stores, in Germany you're considered clever if you do your shopping there.

I'm still shocked when I see the prices in Tesco, Sainsburies etc., the last thing that really shocked me was 100g whole hazelnuts for 1,50 GBP. In LIDL I got twice the amount for that price and already thought that was expensive (in Germany I've paid 99 Cents/about 70 pence for the same nuts).

The problem with Aldi and Lidl is that they do stock some obscure brands that are really poor quality. And you don't know until you get home and find you've bought a tin of bean juce with no baked beans!

Can I put in a plug for Morrisons - possibly more relevant if you are in the midlands or north but a cracking good supermarket with very good prices.
When I got made redundant we ditched Waitrose and switched to M'sons and it saved us a fortune. The bigger stores have plenty of choice, stock some good northern stuff that you'd otherwise only find in Asda (scumbags) such as Seabrooks crisps. And their dry cleaning and photo services are also really good.

I also like Aldi but only once every 4-6 weeks and for specific items - their smoked cod/haddock and smoked salmon are really good and low in price. Their coffee is so good that I ditched the over-priced fairtrade coffee in Waitrose (the retailers just make more money out of us for our gullability) and I increased my Oxfam standing order instead. Some of their ice cream is excellent and they do a smoothie that's almost as good as Innocent but 40% of the price.