Supermarket Chat

[mochibean]

Exactly! Asda is my nearest supermarket but it’s so stressful, especially at the moment. They’ve both been so good with social distancing and controlling numbers ever since the whole covid thing, and I just feel more comfortable there so much prefer spending a little more to avoid the stress.

I actually got sworn at in Asda the other day for asking someone to brushed against me to try and grab something in front of me to keep her distance

Yes me too! Especially as I work in a supermarket when I do my shopping I don't want to feel tense.

Oh god people are so awful!! It should be common sense at this point!

 

[WilmaHun]

You do realise that M&S food is exactly the same as Aldi.. it's all the same, comes from the same place, just in different packaging.
I worked previously preparing food for M&S, Aldi, Morrisons and Asda. Meat, ready meals, the lot. All from the same place.

I've also worked for various supermarkets and can say it is all very much the same. I used to be such a snob too until I saw where it comes from and all that. Still a snob with certain things, like beans & ketchup it HAS to be Heinz. Any cheap beans or ketchup make me ill.

I will say Aldi and Asda are my go to because they're close and I can get everything I need. I won't shop at Morrisons after seeing the behind the scenes there, especially the cafe. Save yourselves and avoid Morrisons cafe. Won't say why but honestly I've never seen anything like it!

Now I feel like I NEED to know what goes on in Morrisons cafe....


Ps, I'm the opposite. Heinz beans make me want to puke! I can only eat cheap ones.

 

[Routron]

Sorry for the random question but does anyone know if the M&S clothes stores are open if they have a food hall, or is just the food hall open inside the stores? I'm in desperate need of new bras but I don't want to voyage out only to discover I can't get them

My one has the clothing shop section open, not just the food area. But only the downstairs floor.

 

[Gym&Tonic]

I’m really lucky as within 10 minutes drive I have a Sainsbury’s, Morrison’s, Tesco, ASDA, M&S, two Aldi’s and two Lidl’s. The only thing we don’t have around here is a Waitrose! I mainly use a mixture of Sainsbury’s, Morrison’s and the two Aldi’s for convenience as they are the nearest. The Aldi’s often stock different things and one is slightly bigger than the other. ASDA is the one I’d say I use the least as it’s really rough (popular with the local druggies and drunks for some reason?) and a bit grimy inside, there was no social distancing the last time I went there and the staff are often quite rude there as well. Does the Co op count as we have a few of those as well, but they are usually quit expensive.

 

[CherryBakewell]

We’ve just started doing an Asda online shop and it’s changed our lives. We used to be terrible for just “nipping to the shop”, our nearest was a Co Op so it wasn’t cheap but now I’ve started doing online and I’m saving a small fortune! We’ll go to Lidl to stock up on nappies and baby wipes once every couple of weeks and if we need milk and bread or that type of thing we’d get that but if we don’t need Lidl, we’ll just nip to the Co Op.

 

[265]

Since the pandemic, my Brother gets the weekly shop from Sainsbury's which is quite close, it's a major branch.
My Brother also works for Sainsbury's but at a different branch so we get our weekly shop with discount plus
we get certain products when they are reduced making a bigger saving. (Coffee for example)

However, my Brother also shops at Morrisons which is quite common with other Sainsbury's staff, there a few
things he will pick up.

Going Back 20 years it was a different story, My Mother and Father would goto Asda for the main shop and
Iceland for the frozen stuff.

 

[Mamacita]

I'm like the opposite of a lot of responses on this thread - love aldi and lidl. It's genuinely all the same stuff as other shops, just in different packaging and much cheaper. I actually like the experience of it, love the fact they scan items quickly. Whenever I go to sainsbury and have to go to a normal checkout I'm always surprised how long it takes when there's only one person in front of me in the queue. And if I buy the same stuff as I would in aldi its usually like a tenner, when it would cost me half that in aldi. Plus all the middle aisle stuff in lidl and aldi is class.

Went to waitrose the other day and they had some good offers on things i wanted so that was great, but the experience was awful- people walking about with zero spacial awareness and all the security starting at me like I'm stealing. I didn't even look dodgy what's that about?

 

[Tinkerbell cat]

Living in Belfast, we don't have Morrisons, Aldi, Waitrose But i live very close to a Tesco & M&S so we go there mainly. I absolutely love M&S. I am yet to have a bad meal from there, they do this chicken thing with a parmesan sauce. Their four cheese pasta is lovely and I really rate their cauliflower cheese... can you tell I like cheese? I do our weekly shop in Tesco, its one of the big super stores and its the highlight of my week now thanks to lockdown

 

[Sw4]

Aldi mainly, Sainsbury's/Tesco top ups to buy anything we can't buy from Aldi. Once every few months we will do a massive Tesco shop rather than Aldi.

We have a big Asda near us too but I literally hate it. I find fruit and veg is way worse quality than the other 3 supermarkets mentioned above, and any own brand Asda stuff tastes so cheap and sugary. Plus I find the supermarket itself looks really dirty compared to the others, might just be my branch in particular.

Oh and every once in a while eg Xmas we will treat ourselves to posh stuff from M&S or Waitrose

 

[Hodgies]

Pre covid I would go here, there and everywhere for my shopping. I'd had a Tesco delivery pass but they went through a phase of loads of things I bought weekly being unavailable so I'd cancelled it as I found I was needing to go out to the shops anyway. That backfired when I then needed my shopping delivered in March (not shielding but vulnerable and didn't want to go to any shops)! I usually went to Sainsbury's as it's closest or Marks as they did lots of things I liked. I'd also go to Aldi on occasion and stock up on things like cereal as my lot go through masses of the stuff. Also really liked a visit to Food Warehouse and Home Bargains.

Now I'm back on a delivery saver from Tesco and get a shop every week. I hate the store but for delivery they are by far the best. I occasionally get a Sainsbury's click and collect as they do some things that Tesco don't have and have had a few Iceland deliveries for a freezer stock up. I sometimes go to the local high street for bakers/butchers/fruit and veg but none of the shops are big and I feel happier about just having my shopping coming from one place.

I generally spend £100ish a week for 2 adults and 3 children, a bit less if they're at school as they have school lunches usually.

 

[SpiceWeasel]

Aldi mainly, Sainsbury's/Tesco top ups to buy anything we can't buy from Aldi. Once every few months we will do a massive Tesco shop rather than Aldi.

We have a big Asda near us too but I literally hate it. I find fruit and veg is way worse quality than the other 3 supermarkets mentioned above, and any own brand Asda stuff tastes so cheap and sugary. Plus I find the supermarket itself looks really dirty compared to the others, might just be my branch in particular.

Oh and every once in a while eg Xmas we will treat ourselves to posh stuff from M&S or Waitrose

Our local Asda is horrendous at the best of times, no natural light and really narrow aisles. Went in there a couple of weeks ago cos we went on a walk nearby and it was a total free for all going in with no limiting numbers, there were tons of people without masks, which is totally inexcusable given the fact they had boxes of them in the entrance for free I couldn’t get out of there quick enough!

 

[mochibean]

Now I feel like I NEED to know what goes on in Morrisons cafe....


Ps, I'm the opposite. Heinz beans make me want to puke! I can only eat cheap ones.

Let's just say there were 'living things' crawling around the kitchen and in the food.
They also keep the coffee in a bucket on the floor, perfect for the little critters to crawl into.

 

[emm]

I go to Morrison’s only because it’s the closest to me. We don’t have any local butchers or fruit and veg shops but people still cry about Morrison’s on the local Facebook page and moan at us to shop local. I always feel like saying shop where!? I can’t get any essentials in a takeaway or barbers.

I love Morrisons, there isn't one where I live now (sadly) but I always found their fish counter good. In contrast, the nearest big supermarket to me with a fish counter now is Waitrose (which I go to occasionallly) and despite being vastly more expensive the fish counter fish is mostly frozen and thawed

I'm like the opposite of a lot of responses on this thread - love aldi and lidl. It's genuinely all the same stuff as other shops, just in different packaging and much cheaper. I actually like the experience of it, love the fact they scan items quickly. Whenever I go to sainsbury and have to go to a normal checkout I'm always surprised how long it takes when there's only one person in front of me in the queue. And if I buy the same stuff as I would in aldi its usually like a tenner, when it would cost me half that in aldi. Plus all the middle aisle stuff in lidl and aldi is class.

Went to waitrose the other day and they had some good offers on things i wanted so that was great, but the experience was awful- people walking about with zero spacial awareness and all the security starting at me like I'm stealing. I didn't even look dodgy what's that about?

exactly my experience of waitrose, the one near me is huge yet even staff aren't distancing. I have given up going and thinking of making a complaint as it was so stressful

 

[Frensham90]

I prefer to shop at lidl and Aldi because of the size of the shops. Having a chronic medical condition it’s harder to shop in a larger supermarket and push a heavy trolley round all those isles. Although I do find Asda better value for money. I go to home bargains once a month usually for toiletries and cleaning bits. Maybe 2/3 times a year go to Iceland to do a bigger freezer stock up.

 

[coconochanel]

Yeah I get this, I find M&S and Waitrose quite relaxing! My closest Waitrose is so big but always so empty and it's just nice to walk around.

I find Sainsburys relaxing and couldnt put my finger on why until I realised they dont have any music or radio playing.

 

[GlitteryKitten]

I do my weekly shop at Aldi. £30-£50 for two adults

 

[TJ90]

I used to be an aldi snob and wouldn’t go but then our shopping bill got ridiculous so I started to go and I have to say I’m impressed. It’s not a pleasant shopping experience but is anywhere these days?
I’d say 80% of my weekly shop is Aldi and 20% Morrison’s. Every few months we normally go to Iceland and get stuff for the freezer, Holland’s pies, frozen veg (normally have fresh but great to always have frozen in) potato waffles, pizzas that kind of thing. Every so often we will have a treat from M&S or Booths but this isn’t regularly at all. There’s a big Tesco near me but I never shop there and I think all Asda stores are quite dingy. We don’t have Sainsbury’s and I went to Lidl once but never again.

 

[TravellingPants]

Big Lidl fan, I get all my basics and fruit/veg from there. I mainly cook from fresh and don’t buy branded goods generally so it does me fine. Also have a bad habit of being drawn in by the Middle of Lidl and come out with some very random kitchen gadgets and home bits! Probably spend around £20 a week as someone living solo.

I also have an ongoing separate list for the big Sainsbury’s for bits that aren’t stocked in Lidl, but I probably only need to pop in there every other week... and also have a bit of a love affair with their homewares and Tu clothing so I try to limit my visits My local one also gets some cracking yellow sticker bargains, especially on meat, so I stock my freezer that way too.

 

[bolimepipi]

living outside of the uk, we don't have most of the shops mentioned on here
we do our weekly shop in lidl and usually it's about £ 80 for 2 adults and 1 cat
for meat, fruit and veg we go to a local supermarket, it's all from local farms
and there's also a random local shop just under out flat so we go there for small things in between the big shops

 

[Jennyie]

I was a loyal Lidl-er before lockdown. I started doing scan and go at Sainsbury’s at the start (), then swapped to Asda scan and go and did one or two at Tesco. I then did months of click and collect at Asda. I found with click and collect that I spent more time online adding to my shop than I actually would doing a old fashioned physical shop. I do highly rate the scan and go though, you can do it on your phone too. Mainly because the shopping is packed.

I went back to Lidl over Xmas and last week. I do love it, but the shopping, packing onto conveyer belt, chucking it at breakneck speed back into the trolley, packing it at the car (I’m too hot and bothered to do it at the packing shelf), then unpacking at home is putting me off. This week I did actually spend more in Lidl than I would have done online at Asda. But, it was very very quiet.

I’m so torn!