Grocery Stores...who do you use?

Tesco, Sainsburys, Asda, Aldi, Waitrose, Morrison's.......who do you use and why? Who has their food delivered? Which has the most selection? Does any carry American products? Would greatly appreciate your input? Thanks!

I use Costco for most of my shopping these days, but if I need delivery, I go to Tesco most often, because it's the most convenient for me. They deliver, they have a good selection of items, and they have wonderful customer service. Most of their big stores have American foods, but you'll likely find more in store than you will on the web site.

I used to use Asda, because of the places that deliver, their prices seem to be consistently the lowest. But be warned: they have absolutely horrendous customer service, so if anything at all goes wrong (it probably will), getting it sorted will be a nightmare.

Aldi and Lidl have excellent prices, but don't deliver, and aren't very convenient to my location, so I don't go there much. They don't have the best selection of items (though I find Aldi is better than Lidl in that regard), but you'll definitely save money.

My husband has a Sainsburys near work, so we get top-up kinds of stuff from there when he's on his way home from work, but I don't know if they deliver. It seems we generally pay more there than we would at Tesco, but do it for the convenience. Same with the Co-op, actually. There's one practically right outside our door, and not many places to shop in our neighbourhood, so we top up there as well.

I really like Morrison's, and they recently started delivering (in my area, at least; I don't know if they've rolled it out nationwide yet?), though their prices are a bit higher than Tesco on the things I want, so I haven't made the switch.

If you're after delivery, a lot of people seem to really like Ocado, which solely does deliveries. I haven't used them because I've been happy with Tesco for so long, but it's worth checking out, I hear.

I've never been in a Waitrose, so I can't speak for them, but otherwise, I hope this is helpful.

Yes, thank you very much. It's nice to have information from those in the know. I am not over there yet. My DF uses Asda and has deliveries but I was told Waitrose has a good selection too, especially for organic and they are both nearby (as are tesco and sainsburys). Morrisons in this area does not deliver yet but overall on general groceries, they had the lowest prices.  I found a website called mySupermarket (.co.uk) which I played around with. It lets you compare prices from the various grocery stores. I did one with a general list and then one with a high percentage of organics.......with regards to organics, it seems waitrose and sainsburys had the largest selection and the cheapest prices. I am a bit of a foodie so I like to see what my options are.....where I am in the US, WalMart is my nearest options and all others I have to travel 30 minutes to get to. And  WalMart has very poor quality meats.

I'm lucky to live within walking distance of 2 Aldi stores, Tesco and Morrison's, plus an excellent butcher.

I buy meat from the butcher. Maybe a bit more expensive for a few things, but the quality is so worth it. Even in a curry I can tell the difference in the taste and texture of chicken, and the steaks are outstanding. Properly hung and aged local beef. Bacon has real flavor, and isn't pumped full of water, and he makes his own sausage. Yum.

I use Aldi for most staples - milk, yogurt, flour, sugar, coffee and a few other things as well as for most produce, which I find to be far cheaper. For other things it's mostly Morrison's, with Tesco as a last resort. The local Tesco does carry some American items; I treated myself to some Paul Newman ranch dressing last week for £1.

....with regards to organics, it seems waitrose and sainsburys had the largest selection and the cheapest prices. I am a bit of a foodie so I like to see what my options are.....

If you're after organics, you should see if there are any good veg box outfits that deliver in your area. Abel and Cole seem to be the biggest one, and reach most everywhere. They have wonderful fruit and veg, and even meats, but they can be quite pricey. I used them for a while, but found a smaller group that was more local and less expensive to switch to. With Abel and Cole, we were paying almost £20 a week for veg for two of us. Now we pay £9 for only slightly less. The biggest difference is that Abel and Cole will import fruit and veg from elsewhere in Europe, so you have a bigger selection, but a smaller, local group will likely only have what is available in the area. Anyway, I find the stuff I've gotten from either company is far superior to what I've found on any supermarket shelves here. Definitely worth a look.

I do my main shop at Aldi, the prices are good, and they sell organic poultry, meat and veg. Also the shop is small so it doesn't take long to do my shop and I'm not tempted by "buy one get one free" offers.

For those items that Aldi doesn't stock I go to Tesco when I fill up on petrol.

I like sainsburys for delivery and their selection- however they are a bit pricier than tesco or asda. Waitrose is a lot more expensive....and I tend to avoid them all together. Morrisons have recently reduced their prices, our morrisons is smaller than the other stores but I do like them.

I do think it is a lot of personal choice and the particular foods you eat- I know a few things we get regularly are significantly cheaper at one store and other things at another. I personally feel the quality of sainsburys is a step up and they have a few american treats like oscar myer bacon that the others don't have locally.

We mainly shop at Sainsbury's. We used to order online but their online shopping is full of bugs and often doesn't work right - items will disappear from our online trolley at random. DH is a software tester so he really doesn't like that.

Occasionally we get deliveries from Tesco and stop in for a few things or if they've got something on offer we eat regularly (I often stock up on flour for baking).

Once in a while I go to Whole Foods for specialty items (vegetarian rennet for cheese-making or certain flours for baking). If I need something and I'm passing a Waitrose, I'll pop in but I'm more likely to go to Sainsbury's or Tesco.

We used to grab bread at the corner shop if we were out but once I went and a cat was ripping open a bag of bread and eating it. In. the. store. We don't go there anymore.

For sake of perspective:

We've got 6 stores within 25 miles (which counts as 'local' for us), and we have to use all of them at one time or another, just to find everything we need.  None of them deliver, and none of them have any 'extras' like a bakery, butcher/fish counter, deli or pharmacy (there isn't one anywhere locally).  

The closest (~3 miles) is a Co-Op, but it's a 'metro'-sized shop.  Tons of candy & booze, and basic groceries.  Produce is alright, but it's mostly pre-packaged.  It's also frequently out-of-stock on things like bread, milk and meats, especially during peak holiday times (i.e. all damned summer).  

Next-closest (~8 miles) is a local community shop, which is basically just pantry staples and baked goods, with a small selection of hardware/household items.  Very little fresh meat or veg (though what's there is often local).  We go there if the Co-Op is empty and we're desperate for bread/milk.

About 20 miles in the other direction are a couple of larger grocery stores: a Costcutter and another Co-Op.  They're still far from 'normal' supermarket-sized, smaller even than the small-town IGA I grew up with. The Costcutter is pretty useless, but they're the only place that has any selection of cake-decorating supplies, so I go there on occasion.  The other Co-Op has a decent selection, and is less likely to be out-of-stock, but the stock still rotates quite a bit, so it's hard to count on being able to get any specific, specialty item.  It also has a pretty good gluten-free section; better than a lot of larger U.S. grocery stores, but I think the U.K. is better all around for gluten-free.

5 miles beyond that (~25 miles) are two more shops.  One is another Costcutter (same owners), and is about the same, except for also having the only real selection of office supplies/stationery.  Limited, lower quality, and expensive, but if you can't wait for a delivery, it's your only shot.  The other is a Nisa that's just been remodelled.  It's a pretty good store-- still not 'full sized', but it makes the most of the space-- and has a really good, proper produce section, an international section (no specifically American stuff, but there's Polish, which is almost the same thing when you're from Wisconsin), an organic/'whole foods' section, and a decent selection of cheese.  It's generally got the most variety in just about everything (except non-processed meats, where it's pretty lacking), and is the most likely to carry premium or specialty items.  

We do most of our shopping between the two Co-Ops and the Nisa (since it's on my way to/from work), and we make do with what we can get.  There's very little question of which is cheaper, because they're all expensive.  It's not just that the prices are higher to begin with (they swear this isn't because of the transport costs, but because it just 'costs more' to operate these stores), but because the selection is limited, there are fewer basic/value range items; even the store-brand stuff tends to be from the 'premium' range.  And it's harder to take advantage of multi-buys, because they don't usually have all the items that are on offer (i.e. 3 for 2 on any of these six flavours of Dolmio-- but we only carry two flavours, and they're sold out.)

We used to supplement that every 6 weeks or so with deliveries from an ASDA in Glasgow, but that ended just before Thanksgiving, when the guy wrecked his refrigerated van, so I had to improvise quite a bit.  Someone else is now doing runs to Tesco in Inverness, but we haven't tried that yet.

We figured out once that if someone went across to Oban as a foot passenger about once a fortnight and did a big shop at Aldi, plus a bit from Tesco, and came back the same day, they'd still save at least £20, after the cost of the ferry.  But there's no way to do it from here, because there aren't any round-trip sailings (never mind dragging 30 lbs of shopping onto the boat).

We're car-less so everything has to be within walking distance.  (DH is not keen on online delivery).  There's a Sainsbury's and a Morrison's in one direction but they're not very big and fairly student oriented.  In the other direction there is a Waitrose and I would shop there if I had my druthers.  They have a reputation for being pricey but we often find offers and reduced items that make it more economical.  The quality is good and the staff are helpful and pleasant.  There's an Aldi nearby as well but to be honest I've never done any serious shopping there.  We get our bread from an 'artisan' baker and frequent a health food shop.  Once upon a time there were many more specialist shops like greengrocers and butchers but you have to go a bit further for anything like that.  We also used to get milk and juice delivered but haven't seen a milk float in these parts lately.

My house tries not to shop at Tesco if we can help it, we view it as the evil empire. I tend to shop at Sainsbury's if I'm on my own (though if I am baking, it's easier sometimes to find things at Waitrose), my husband mostly shops at Waitrose. Sainsbury's is closest to my house (10-15 minute walk) and it's cheap with a decent selection, though this can change drastically depending where you live. I've gone to poorer areas where the Sainsbury's had a shameful selection, but the one in my uni area was massive.

My husband likes Waitrose because his parents shop there, and the meat, world food and bread selection are very good, as well as the drinks selection. It's also quite close to the house, a 15-20 minute walk. We also shop at a local massive Middle Eastern supermarket that's open 24-7, it has amazing and cheap vegetables, and the best olive and houmus selection in West London (I imagine, I mean, I have no way of verifying that). If we are travelling, we like going to Waitrose or Morrisons, which has a ridiculous selection of veg, and is really reasonable. If there was a large Morrisons nearby, I'd probably go there.

My housemates shop at Lidl's (5 minutes away), which has a good veg selection and great German Christmas cookies, and Waitrose or Marks and Spencer, which I think is a waste, but you can get nice lunch and picnic items from there. None of us get food delivered, we shop on a as needed basis, since 4 of us are sharing a small kitchen and it would be incredibly rude to take up more space than is needed. We also tend to just share basics if we run out of something.

If you move in an area with lots of Americans, the supermarkets will cater to you. Ealing has a large American population. The Waitrose in West Ealing has a lot of American goods, especially around Thanksgiving, and the Tesco in Northfields (which I used to go to because it was close to my office) has a huge selection, including overpriced candy and snacks. The longer I've lived here, though, the less I bother with those products, you can still make American food from scratch using cheaper British products. There are also two Chinese supermarkets that are a half-hour away by car (near Wembley), 2 butchers in the area (one halal, one fancy) that we use during bbq season, and a farmer's market. If you can, find your local food market and 'ethnic' supermarkets/shops, they have good fruit and veg for next to nothing, and usually have ingredients for Asian, Indian and other non-Western foods that may strike your fancy.

Thanks everyone for the replies.  I love having all the preferences and the whys. I will be in the East Midlands so will have access to almost all of the stores I listed. He says he thinks we will end up using Asda and Waitrose most likely, but I have been an Aldi fan here in the US for basics and produce but I heard Waitrose has a good selection of produce. I guess I will wait and see once I get there after I try them all out. I think it will come down to selection, price and store layout.  You all are just great for sharing your stories. Much appreciated.

There's a Little Waitrose just a few blocks from my house, so I shop there all the time. But I really love it. The Tesco Metro that's also nearby is super cluttered and caters to students, it seems. I don't have a car so I tried out grocery delivery this week to stock the pantry. Waitrose has free delivery for orders over 60 pounds and Sainsbury's charged 3.99. But I had coupons for both so I made two orders. It was nice for the staples that I don't want to carry (bags of flour, cans of tomatoes, etc) but I prefer to do my shopping in person.

Another good thing about Waitrose is their MyWaitrose loyalty card.  With it you can get a daily cup of coffee (regular) or tea at the store (even Little Waitrose) for FREE!!
Also if you spend over 5 pounds per shop (10 at the weekend) you can get a free newspaper (e.g Guardian, Times)

I was a bit annoyed with them recently because they stopped carrying Tropicana OJ with calcium but I see it has reappeared in the store    Maybe all my haranguing emails got through to the decision-makers.

Thanks everyone for the replies.  I love having all the preferences and the whys. I will be in the East Midlands so will have access to almost all of the stores I listed. He says he thinks we will end up using Asda and Waitrose most likely, but I have been an Aldi fan here in the US for basics and produce but I heard Waitrose has a good selection of produce. I guess I will wait and see once I get there after I try them all out. I think it will come down to selection, price and store layout.  You all are just great for sharing your stories. Much appreciated.

Asda and Waitrose are essentially on opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of prices and thus, clientele.  Not sure where you'll be in the East Midlands, or whether you'll have access to a car, but my first step into the Leicester Morrisons felt like I was back in the US.  Massive carpark, big trolleys, wide aisles, layout similar to what I would expect of a grocery store. 

Before going there, I had only ever lived in city centres without a car-- so was stuck with the variety of Tesco Express/Tesco Metro/Sainsbury's Local/Little Waitrose-- which are essentially smaller versions of the parent stores, but carry a limited selection of products.

One thing I hate about the big, most prevalent stores (Tesco, Sainsbury's) is that they 1) Catch on to new food trends 2) Set the brand name stuff at super high prices, 3) Bring in their own brand, then 4) Undercut the competition, and 5) gradually remove the original brand name product.  I've watched this happen with the readymade soups and pastas in the refrigerated section, innocent veg pots, dried pasta, heck-- even Milk!  We've come to a point now where we purposely purchase the brand name stuff, so that these places don't monopolize the entire food chain---because that's what appears to be happening!

When it comes to grocery shopping these days, we do a big online shop via Ocado every few months, to stock up on heavy/bulky items that would be annoying to lug home on the bus/train-- bottled drinks, canned foods, lots of loo-roll, etc.

The majority (90%) of our fruit/vegetables come from the fantastic veg shop around the corner, which we are so lucky to have.  There's no wasteful packaging, most items are organic, and you can buy exactly the amount that you want, for far less than what I would pay at the normal stores.  They have a fantastic selection, and I would much rather my money go towards this family-owned local business than the giant corporations.  I would certainly suggest finding one in your local area if you can!

We go to an average sized Sainsbury's about once/week to pick up meats/cheese/milk/etc, but I do find it unnecessarily stressful.  I live in a very popular area of North London, and I have two options-- Both ~10 minutes away either by bus of overground train-- And both are always filled to the brim on any day of the week, even at around 8pm when I do my shopping (Don't even get me started on weekends!!). So even just "popping into the shop to grab XYZ" quickly turns into an event.  To me it's almost become more hassle than it's worth, and I'm now considering boycotting grocery stores altogether if i can.  There's an overpriced butchers and fishmonger a bus ride away, which I plan to gradually start using.