Grocery Store run-down?

hey all,
so, having returned from a week-long visit (Newbury, W. Berkshire) before our more permanent move in a couple of weeks, i was wondering what the general difference is between the grocery chains in England? I noticed Tesco, Waitrose, M&S, and others that I can't quite remember the names of at the moment.  Does one tend to have a reputation of getting more 'bang for your buck'?  Or another having more organic foods?  More international foods?  Granted, Newbury is a smaller town, but just wondering if I would be wasting money if I tended to shop at one more than the other.  I was already having a hard enough time converting apples sold at pounds/kg to dollars/lb to compare!
thanks!

Waitrose & M&S are the most upscale places to shop.  You're likely to find more organic & international foods at those - certainly more niche specialty items anyway.  People will argue they are better quality for money & maybe they are - but they are pricey, IMO.  I like them, but I tend to use them for specialty products that I can't find elsewhere.

Tesco is more the lower common denominator, all-around, monolithic evil grocery chain.

Also there's Sainsburys (somewhere in the middle) & Morrisons - closer to Tesco, and a variety of others.

Depending on your location, you might also have the opportunity to generally avoid supermarkets & shop smaller local shops like a butcher, green grocer, etc - many of us do.  A lot of places here still have home morning milk delivery too (if you want it)!  Also you can get onto home veg box subscription delivery services as well.

Tesco & Sainsburys and some others I think do home delivery in a lot of areas which helps if you aren't driving.

I think you might find that depending on where you live (and if you have a car) could determine where you shop. I didn't have a car and relied on public transportation. In Bath we had Sainsbury's, a Tesco Express, Waitrose, M&S, and Morrison's. I never stepped foot in Morrison's because it was clear on the other side of town. I did my main shop at Sainsbury's and only went to Waitrose for specialty items I couldn't find anywhere else. There was a Co-Op quite close to my house, but it was tiny and I would only go there in a pinch for milk and stuff.

Where we live now in Dublin we have a variety of grocery stores (sadly, no Sainsbury's) all within easy distance. I find I pick the store based on what I'm buying. There are some things available at Tesco that aren't available at Dunnes and vice versa. Some shops are notoriously expensive for identical items I can find a euro or two cheaper at a different shop.

Tesco is more the lower common denominator

I'd say that was Asda! 

In my opinion, top of the line supermarkets are Waitrose and M&S. Then comes Sainsbury's. Then Tesco and Morrison's. Then Co-op. Then Asda.

Others may disagree.

Personally, I prefer farm shops ... but I still have to buy my Fairy Liquid somewhere, so Tesco still gets some of my money. 

I think it depends on the branch in your area. The Co-Op that was close to me in Bath wasn't great, but the one in my friend's village is really nice.

So I shop at Waitrose/Ocado but have recently been switching my allegiance to M&S, we have a Tesco at the end of my street so I wil top up there sometimes, I get most of my produce at a Japanese supermarket around the corner or from M&S although their over packaging of fruit annoys me. I'm not finding M&S that expensive but it's possibly because I shop there really carefully, like I bought £25 worth of groceries which will last until Friday there today but I have £17 worth of savings from multi offers. As I just buy meat/veg/cheese/grains I don't have that branded sticker shock that others get.

I miss living on a street with a veg stand, a baker and a butcher, I had this in Brighton and miss it, I sometimes go down on Chiswick High street to do that kind of shopping, but don't have time day to day, it's something I'll look for when we move. I have been experimenting with boxed delivery but I just like to pick out my own stuff at the end of the day depending on how I feel at the time.

I would recommend not converting the prices of everything in your head to $/£s. That way lies madness!

http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/

That will allow you to compare and order from Asda, Tesco, Waitrose/Ocado, Sainsbury's.  I've found that whichever one you start with tends to turn out to be the cheapest.  I think it has to do with our natural tendency to look for bargains and select offers.

We like Waitrose, although we can't afford to shop exclusively from there unless we're willing to give up things like our veg box.  It is upscale, but they've tried to be more budget friendly recently.  Their own brand items are definitely of good quality. Some things are actually cheaper and nicer.  Lots of stuff is nice but very expensive.

Tesco and Asda are pretty much similar IMO.  Asda is Walmart in the UK, literally.  Tesco is the UK's answer to Walmart.  Sainsbury's is relatively good quality for most things, some things excellent quality.  Our family has shopped here more than other places just because they always seem to be local to us.  Their own brand is relatively okay, but "Basics" can be really bad sometimes.  Good thing they have a fairly good return policy.

Morrisons doesn't do online, but I find them to be of good value.  I don't like how they tend to have very little loose produce, but this has changed a bit in the past year or so.  Somerfield/Co-op tend to be small and expensive (as in low quality for the cost), but can be handy if you don't live near another big supermarket.

I've never shopped regularly at Marks and Sparks, so I can't really say whether it's worth going there.  Their ready meals are nice.

As a general rule of thumb, shops in city centres/smaller shops in a chain tend to be more expensive when you're talking about the major chains.

Then there's Aldi/Lidl/Netto/Iceland.  There's Aldi in the US, so if you've shopped there you sort of know what it's like.  Aldis here are similar, although they stock items geared towards British tastes.  Lidl is sort of like Aldi, but stocks more national brands.  Iceland is like a giant frozen food shop, although they do sell other basic stuff as well.  Quality and value is a YMMV thing.  Some things are excellent from Aldi/Lidl.  Some things are not, and sometimes you waste a lot of money figuring out which is which.

Great post by Legs

Every time I step into an M&S with hope, I walk out frustrated.  I just don't think its worth the price and the selection leaves alot to be desired.  But that is how it is in my town. 

For me, Its between Tesco's, Morrison's, and ASDA, for anything I can't get from the local farmer or Butcher. (or when I'm just lazy and don't want to schlep around bags since we don't have a car.)  I have rarely been let down, quality wise between any of these.

We also have a Netto, I've seen an Aldi in the next town and there's an Iceland.  I've been told by my husband the best thing is to avoid Netto and Aldi.  But Iceland DOES have some great sales for things like kids cereals, icecream, squash drinks.  Heck, they even had my favorite flavour of Nom yogurt that I can't find anywhere else...and for less.

In either case, explore and try what's near and convenient, then branch out.  You will know what works best for you

I would recommend not converting the prices of everything in your head to $/£s. That way lies madness!

I will agree with that one. I would try to convert everything to the US dollar equivalent to decide if it was a good buy. Add that to trying to figure out weight conversions, all the while wondering 'why can't these people just weigh everything in ounces and pounds like normal people', and a shopping trip was taking far too long and giving me a headache every time. I've found listening to the locals is the best indicator of value for money. If everyone is standing around the tomatoes/dish liquid/frozen pizza/etc clucking about how pricey something is, I know it is expensive. Then again, sometimes I think something is a good value because it is 'only 39p' (or whatever low price it is) and others find it outrageous for them to be charging that much for the item.

Overall, you do get a general idea of what is good value relatively quickly, but even after nearly two years, some things are still guess work.

My MIL and I do our main weekly food shopping together for the most part. We can take the train from our side of town (suburb typ area) into the main part of town where all the shops are, for next to nothing. Then we share a taxi home because they don't live too far from us and it is the same cost for a drop off as it would be to come straight to my house. Even with the train and taxi, we save quite a bit each over going to the smaller shop a two minute walk from my house.

Since I still havent got the hang of the weights - I use the app on my iphone My convert ;-)..

Since I still havent got the hang of the weights - I use the app on my iphone My convert ;-)..

Oof...I hear ya.  This was really hard for me in judging meat items.  I just stick to my 500g = 1 pound rule and apply accordingly   Most other things I measure by the package size if I can and then I look at how many grams it is.  Next time, if its in a different package, I know if its enough.

I admit though...I still do the $/£s conversion to give myself a rough estimate. But I do listen to what other people have to say about items.   My bills go down when I stock up on fresh produce, instead of packaged things. It behooves me to cook from scratch (which I've taken to with gusto, admittedly.).

I also do the conversion to help explain to my family and friends the difference in food cost in my city.  They don't really get when I say I bought 10 bananas, 8 peaches, two pineapples and a pound of cherries for 5 quid.  They do understand when I say I bought all of that for $7.50, give or take a dime or two.

CheeB- What area of Brighton did you live in?  We're looking for a new place now, and I miss having my butcher and green grocer close by!  Hove seems to have more to offer, but the prices.   

This may be slightly off topic, but I find some things to be cheaper here than in the US.  I was shocked to find that decent loaf of bread at Safeway in the SF Bay was nearly $5 and an onion was $1.80!!!  You can get really nice quality fruit and veg (and bread) for less here than in the States. IMHO.

This may be slightly off topic, but I find some things to be cheaper here than in the US.  I was shocked to find that decent loaf of bread at Safeway in the SF Bay was nearly $5 and an onion was $1.80!!!  You can get really nice quality fruit and veg (and bread) for less here than in the States. IMHO.

I totally agree with this.  I'm not sure if it was where I lived in the US or what, but I find a lot of the food to be cheaper here.  I don't think I could have found a bunch of 6 bananas for 24¢ or a package of basic crackers for 50¢ like I can find here in pence!

As for the topic.  I agree with chary that ASDA feels like the bottom of the barrel to me.  We usually end up at Tesco because that's closest to us and has better produce and a better selection than the ASDA anyway.  If I didn't have to worry about money, I'd probably go to Waitrose, but there aren't that many of them up here to tempt me, which is good!   

Though, that's all about to change for us, so I'm interested to see how our shopping process will change.  The village we're moving to only has a small-ish Co-op, but also has a butcher, a baker, and a green grocer.  I'm hoping there is a cheesemonger as well, but I didn't see one.  I like to think that we'll probably utilize those places more so than the Co-op (which I don't really like to begin with), and we'll have to drive a bit of a distance to go to a bigger supermarket.

CheeB- What area of Brighton did you live in?  We're looking for a new place now, and I miss having my butcher and green grocer close by!  Hove seems to have more to offer, but the prices.   

This may be slightly off topic, but I find some things to be cheaper here than in the US.  I was shocked to find that decent loaf of bread at Safeway in the SF Bay was nearly $5 and an onion was $1.80!!!  You can get really nice quality fruit and veg (and bread) for less here than in the States. IMHO.

I lived in Old College House on the Level for 2 lovely years, it's the old techincal college converted into flats, my bedroom was on a mezzanine over the amazing living room, I miss that flat everyday!
I did most of my shopping at the nice butchers on London Road (not the discount butchers  ) and in the Open Market, I'd get pulses and stuff from Pulse, Veggies from Organic Shamanic and everything else from Funky Thai. I would also get stuff at Bill's produce store, zomg I miss Bill's breakfasts.

Then I lived off Western Road on Lansdowne place, I'd do most of the stuff from Taj and the greengrocers, and I'd do meat at the Farmer's market in Palmeira square on a saturday.

the BEST place for food was when I lived on College Place in Kemptown and had a plethora of places to buy stuff from, my local butchers was - http://www.bramptonsbutchers.co.uk/  which is AMAZING. There was also a great fish shop but it closed down. If you're looking for somewhere cheap to live, consider Kemptown, I loved the vibe and atmosphere and you're so close to town

We should meet up for a drink sometime lady seeing as you're always down south x