Dave Thorp's Blog

Just watched a programme on channel 4 highlighting the truth about economy food which was certainly interesting in the ways supermarket’s make their food simpler and more cheaply and how for just a few pence more, they can make the food taste a bit better. This programme touched upon something about economy food and it’s something I’ve also touched upon before on this blog here.

We actually do buy some economy food from the supermarkets, the trick is knowing what best to buy where there simply cannot be much difference between the economy product and the dearer alternatives. I’m going to talk about some of these products now

Sausages

The programme actually went into this and how some supermarket’s value sausages which cost approximately 50p contain just 40% pork (actually in our experience this figure is nearer to 32%). We actually very rarely purchase the economy sausages for this reason. However in the supermarkets the next level up for £1 contain about 60% and the level above that at £1.64 contain about 80%.

We however go to M&S which is normally associated with more expensive food but can actually contain some bargains and the sausages at 99p for 80% pork sausages are one area where they excel.

Eggs

I went into this in my last post in some brief detail however ultimately it comes down to your moral code. The economy eggs are generally half the price of the normal range but come from caged hens. However a lot of the normal range also do with it getting even more expensive to get a free range egg.

So what is the difference between a value egg from a caged hen and a normal egg from a caged hen. Answers on a post card please

Beans/Spaghetti

Very little difference between the economy range and the normal range with any differences being nothing that some worcester sauce, tomato sauce or other further seasoning wont sort out.

Pies

Another area we avoid the economy ranges simply because in our experience, a value chicken pie will contain about two pieces of chicken

Flour

How on earth can there be a difference between value flour and normal flour… it’s flour for fucks sake!

Peas

Tinned value peas are generally very good, the only exception being Asda’s which for some reason are grey rather than green

Tinned Tomatoes

They are tomatoes…… in a tin. Which to quote the ronseal adverts, does exactly what it says on the tin

Baby Wipes

Avoid the value ranges here unless you want your child screaming all day with nappy rash. And the least said about the value nappies the better

Bread

In this day and age, value bread is about 3 times more expensive than it was a couple of years ago, with standard bread being twice as much. The only exception is Asda which has a standard loaf for 2p more than the value equivalent and is worth the extra cost. Otherwise stick with the value or buy a breadmaker and bake it yourself like we have started to do

Tuna

It’s tuna, its bloody expensive unless you go value, do the maths!

Toilet Roll

This may go down to personal preference, but end of day when you can pay 40p per 4 rolls of something you are only going to wipe your arse with, and when the non value equivalent is 4 times more expensive than this it’s not a hard choice

Chicken fillets

Again the show touched on this, showing that value fillets only contain about 85% chicken. However as the value fillets are about half the cost of the normal ones that’s a hit I’m prepared to take

Tea Bags

Finally we’ll have a quick look at tea bags. 30p for 80 bags that end of day are going to be chucked in boiling water, mixed with milk and sugar. Or you could pay £2 for exactly the same thing. Tricky one!