Bit of a silly question about shopping

Hello! I am going to ignore the nightmare that is my Visa application for a few moments and just prepare for the future .
Here is my question. I'm going to be studying for a year in Ormskirk, Lancashire and I am going to be on a poor student budget. There are a few stores there, but I'm unfamiliar with British chains. There is a Tescos and a Morrisons, and I've...no idea what those are .
Can anyone tell me about the stores/best places/worst places...general advice?

Tesco is the biggest chain in the UK probably, however I don't rate it. IMO Morrisons is the best supermarket chain in the UK. Tesco is the kind of place that opens HUGE supermarkets on the outskirts of town and they are very much everywhere, they don't have any really good instore features (in my opinion) and Morrisons has a fantastic baker, amazing fishmonger and butcher. I rate Morrisions very highly for the quality of their produce. I also shop at Asda for good prices. There are a few Tesco near me, but I don't shop there.

I think you'll find Tesco and Morrison's are both run-of-the-mill supermarkets. You'll generally be able to find anything you're looking for at either of them. In time, you'll have your own preferences, but in the meantime, don't worry! You'll be fine! Personally, I prefer small greengrocers or farm shops but, again, that's something you'll figure out in time if you want. 

I shop at Tesco - mostly because it's the only supermarket in our town and is the easiest to get to (I can drive there in 3 minutes or walk to it in 15-20 minutes), but I will also buy certain things from other supermarkets when I'm near them (for example, my favourite cheddar cheese is from Sainsbury's).

I haven't shopped in Morrison's all that much, although we had a Safeway store in my town for several years before the Tesco was built and we shopped there often (Safeway was taken over by Morrison's a few years ago).

ASDA (owned by Walmart) is good for prices, although I don't go very often because the nearest is one of those big out-of-town supercentres about 10 miles from where I live.

I second ASDA for veg and "cupboard foods", you can save quite a bit there and their own brands are really good and taste just as good as named brands ( except their baked beans! )  We often make a joke when we are on a budget because the OH likes Jaffa Cakes but asks for "Jiffer Cakes" when we are tight on cash! lol!  But I do find their meat is really fatty and covered with a green sheen of preservatives ( not nice ) so I buy meat from Sainsburys.

Lidl is also very cheap.

What University are you going to in Ormskirk? Because im about 15-20 miles from Ormskirk.   

We do most of our shopping at Morrisons because its cheapest and right near our house, but Im not really happy with the quality of meat and fruit from my local morrisons so we tend to go to a local farm shop for that stuff. Morrisons always has tons of offers on though which i love. Once in a while you can get good offers at Sainsburys but its too expensive there for me to do shopping there every week- but quality wise i think its best.  The first year i was here as a student with no car the only place within walking distance was Aldi... which is good for some things but i really hated having to get EVERYTHING from there.  My advice, make friends with someone with a car! haha

I loathe Morrisons, tolerate Tesco and Asda, wish I could shop at Sainsburys or Waitrose regularly, and dream of shopping at quality butchers, fishmongers, green grocers all the time!

You'll do fine at either Morrisons or Tesco on a student budget but if food is really important to you, you'll soon find other places (markets, etc) to supplement that!

I had no idea that the quality of Morrisons vary so widely! I have 2 Morrisons near me and they both the most fantastic quality meat and fish!!!

Both Morrisons I've been 2 have been mediocre at best - though they are small ones. And I can't stand how they shrink wrap so much of their produce.

Both Morrisons I've been 2 have been mediocre at best - though they are small ones. And I can't stand how they shrink wrap so much of their produce.

Yeah, I am with you on that one. I try to buy my produce at other places, I have a small Morrisons near me, and their meat is still fantastic, however I drive about 10 miles to get to a big Morrisons where the butcher is fantastic.

Yeah, the shrink wrap is the only thing I have found to not like about Morrisons other than there's not one near us.

I supplement our once a week trip to either Morrisons or Sainsbury's with trips to green grocers, local butchers, and halal markets.  I find if I don't go to a big market more than once a week, we save money because I don't pick up things we don't need.  I'd definitely do the same if I were on a college budget.

We had no idea that Sainsbury's was more expensive than the other supermarkets while we were in London.  Is it true for all neighborhoods?  If so I now see why everything seemed so much more expensive (£->$ counted for) than in the US.  We thought that Waitrose was the most expensive and than Sainsbury's was one of the less expensive ones.  We've never even seen a Robinsons, although someone did direct us to cut through the "Robinson's parking lot" one day while giving us directions --- so I guess we were in fact right near one.    Oh well. 

We had no idea that Sainsbury's was more expensive than the other supermarkets while we were in London.  Is it true for all neighborhoods?  If so I now see why everything seemed so much more expensive (£->$ counted for) than in the US.  We thought that Waitrose was the most expensive and than Sainsbury's was one of the less expensive ones.

I've always been under the impression that Sainsbury's was the next expensive supermarket after Waitrose (across the UK), so I generally think of them as -

More expensive: Marks and Spencer food, Waitrose, Sainsbury's,
Average: Tesco, Morrison's, ASDA (possibly counted as value too depending on product)
Cheap/Value: Somerfield, ALDI, LIDL etc.

I can shop as cheaply at Sainsbury as at Tesco.  Maybe it requires more looking around, I'm not sure, but basic stuff (fruit, veg, bread, flour) seems to be the same to me.

Vicky

I don't find sainsburys that expensive, it seems comparable to Tesco and the meat from their butcher is really really good.
I get all my veg locally so don't really know about that.
The best way of food shopping on a budget for me is internet shopping, I make a list then do a shop of the things on the list, then I only get what I need and dont get tempted by offers or things that look good in the store.