Do you have a favourite supermarket?

[cyberknight]

Morrisons only as mrs ck work there and we get staff discount

 

[Pale Rider]

we have noticed a continually poor level of stocking

My nearest supermarket is a Sainsbury's.

For years it's had a reputation of being often out of stock for some items.

Sure, you will never starve shopping in there, but it is frustrating that one of the items you wanted is not there, or not available in your preferred size.

This being Sunderland, I can't walk around there without bumping into someone I know.

Which is good and bad, always nice to exchange a few words with an acquaintance, but it does mean shopping takes longer, and by the time I've shot the breeze with someone I've forgotten some of the things I came in for.

 

[swee'pea99]

Here in the heart of trendy north London our local choice is between Co-op - nothing special, and really expensive, Tesco Express - not too bad but small, so limited range, and Waitrose, which annoys the tits off me because they never have things like beans and peppers, unless you want to pay through the nose for Duchy Organics beans and peppers. If we had LIDL anywhere within reasonable reach we'd shop there all the time - their stuff is reliably good and cheap. Instead we tend to get Sainsbury's deliveries - on a price/convenience/range basis it's the best available option.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

The fact you save about 30% on what you would spend in Sainsbury or Tesco is a bonus.

Often selectively more, Uncle Ben's rice, £1.69 Tesco well it was when we last bought it, now appears to be 99p, but Aldi's own & I defy you to tell the difference 39p

 

[winjim]

I guess I take my supermarket cues from my mother. She won't set foot inside a Tesco due to Shirley Porter's gerrymandering. She won't shop at Asda because Wal-Mart sell guns in US supermarkets, and she very nearly had to stop shopping at Sainsbury for the same reason. But there's nothing remotely appealing or ethical about Tesco or Asda anyway.

So usually Sainsbury deliveries for us, occasional forays into Co-op or Waitrose. Local veg box once a week, staples from the zero waste shop round the corner, milk delivered twice a week, six month's worth of ethical bog roll ordered at a time, dishwasher tabs and cleaning product refills delivered as required.

 

[Accy cyclist]

I've been shopping in the local Morrisons lately as they let me take my mutt in,in his buggy.

 

[winjim]

Often selectively more, Uncle Ben's rice, £1.69 Tesco well it was when we last bought it, now appears to be 99p, but Aldi's own & I defy you to tell the difference 39p

Branded stuff is usually pretty much the same price per unit but they make smaller packs for the discount stores. Yorkshire Tea for example, I don't think you'll find in the cheapo shops because they had complaints about the pack sizing and they felt it was damaging their brand.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

Branded stuff is usually pretty much the same price per unit but they make smaller packs for the discount stores. Yorkshire Tea for example, I don't think you'll find in the cheapo shops because they had complaints about the pack sizing and they felt it was damaging their brand.

Tesco's are good at that themselves, they change the weight but make the packaging look identical, I used to drink their French ground coffee, the packet size would shrink but the price would remain the same, then they would go back to the original pack & the price would go up, spin & repeat.

 

[Brandane]

It all depends....
Just needing milk? Local Tesco express within walking distance.
Something for dinner and bits and pieces? Local Morrisons, also within walking distance.
A weekly shop? Larger Tesco, 8 miles drive away.
If we had a big Sainsbury's nearby, I would go there. Wider aisles, greater choice, and never seem too busy. A more relaxing experience which encourages some browsing.
As for Lidl/Aldi, the one major downside is they always seem to be busy and frantic. Then you have to queue forever even just to pay for 2 items, while everyone in front has a trolley overflowing with shopping.

 

[Pale Rider]

Often selectively more, Uncle Ben's rice, £1.69 Tesco well it was when we last bought it, now appears to be 99p, but Aldi's own & I defy you to tell the difference 39p

Philadelphia cream cheese close to two quid, Lidl's about 50p, and no difference I can detect.

My favourite Hereford sirloin in Lidl is just under four quid, which I think is about the same as elsewhere, maybe a little less.

Another thing I like is the own brand frozen hash browns - 79p for a reasonably sized pack.

I suspect it does even out, because if I was paying more for the other stuff I might not be so inclined to pick up the steak.

 

[Brandane]

This being Sunderland, I can't walk around there without bumping into someone I know.

This also happens in our local Morrisons, but as the aisles are so narrow all it takes is people stopping to have a blether and you are constantly having to ask people to move, either to get past them, or because they have parked themselves and their trolleys in front of the item you want to get at. Why do they ALWAYS do that?

 

[welsh dragon]

Iceland and Morrisons are my go to places. I hate the Co Op and only go there If I am desparate.

Not keen on Liddl. It seems to be a confusing place. I went Into the one in Newtown once and in the middle isle the had Kilts for sale. I must have missed something.

They are building a new Aldi in Newtown as well, so in the space of less than a mile there will be no less than 4 large supermarkets 3 of which will be only a few hundred yards apart from each other.

 

[CanucksTraveller]

Sainsbury's is the default for a weekly shop, just because it's generally just about okay for everything, i.e. price is okay, choice is wide enough, and it's not too far away. The covid controls have been pretty good. (Interestingly that's actually become a really key driver in which supermarkets I use).
The Morrison's near me is good for some things, so I go there a bit - There are big Korean and Indian diasporas around that branch and so the Asian foods bit is really good, kimchi, gojuchang chilli paste, all the spices, just things you can't get in other supermarkets, it's fab. The rest of it's a bit cheap and nasty and their covid controls have been poor, so I only go when it's quiet.
I like Waitrose and M+S sometimes, when I'm feeling flush and want to treat myself.

The Aldi and Lidl branches near me I don't quite get the love for. They don't have much choice at all, and I couldn't do a week's shopping there and not have a mutiny at home.

The two nearest Asda and Tesco branches near me are absolute magnets for mouth breathing "I'm exempt mate" types, reaching over you, eating food as they go round. Social distancing this year (at both) has been non-existent and I avoid them.

 

[MrGrumpy]

We have an Aldi, Asda, small Tesco metro and a CO-OP . There are larger stores a drive away, so Morrisons, Sainsburys big Tesco etc . Majority of my shopping is ALDI, I do use ASDA and Tesco for specific things that you may not get in ALDI . Other than that it does us fine, there used to be an uprising in here at first with ALDI , not anymore ! Morrisons gets used at Christmas every year! They sell white stilton nobody else near by does !

 

[winjim]

Since the pandemic started, our local Sainsbury has added a proper 21st century modern internet age click and collect service. It's a bloke in a van in the car park.