Supermarkets discussion

[SuspectUsual]

But when you have a hundred different products and you produce an extra bit, that's satisfying choice over the environment, resource scarcity, and overall prices. It doesn't stop it being overproduction, it's just a way of excusing it.

Customers expect choice and they vote with their feet. That's how the world is, and it isn't going to change any time soon

Yes it is difficult and there will always be some wastage, but the scale of it is borderline criminal.

How much do you think it is? What constitutes "borderline criminal"?

 

[Russel]

Car park marshals are quite common in large supermarket car parks during Christmas week.

First time I've noticed them, but I generally try to avoid supermarket the week before the big day.

 

[Forty29]

Yes first time at our Tesco store as well. Next door their is a well known Shopping Outlet and customer's from there at this time of year use the supermarket car park though they have ample spaces themselves including a multistorey one. Tesco's car park therefore is rammed and with a McDonald's and petrol station too its best avoided.

 

[Trainlog]

I haven't seen this, I live by one the bigger Sainsbury's and the car park is a free for all

The bakery produce didn't seem too bad, they probably overdo the pastries as they are always reduced in the evenings

I'm not too surprised regarding the pastries/bakery items from Sainsbury's. I have found things such as the bags of bakery cookies to be really dry and bitter-tasting compared to other supermarkets such as ASDA, Tesco, Morrisons, CO-OP and Lidl.

Granted, it's a bit more random, but Home Bargains does a rather good bakery section in terms of cakes and cookies.

 

[Buzby]

Granted, it's a bit more random, but Home Bargains does a rather good bakery section in terms of cakes and cookies.

The sections may look good but the quality is suspect. Look at hoe far ahead the Use By date is. Formulated for longer shelf life, I stopped buying there because of the inferior taste.

 

[philjo]

The supermarkets have been crazy today. I went to Waitrose this morning and you can barely move inside the shop. It is like a crowded train station. I had to queue up for almost twenty minutes to pay. The shops are only closed for two days but yet every Christmas it is like this.

I went into Waitrose yesterday. There was a large queue for entering the car park, but I had gone by train from the next town & walked from the station so not an issue for me.

I found it fairly easy to walk round the store and they had everything I wanted. A lot of people appeared to be using the self-scan for their trolleys so when I took my basket to the checkout there was only 1 person in front of me.
A large difference to my visit to Morrisons on Saturday afternoon- a lot of empty spaces especially in the fruit&veg section,and a queue to get out. Most of my Waitrose purchases yesterday were items Morrisons did not have on Saturday or no longer stock in our local store.

 

[Russel]

The sections may look good but the quality is suspect. Look at hoe far ahead the Use By date is. Formulated for longer shelf life, I stopped buying there because of the inferior taste.

Agreed, the quality is dubious and usually over-cooked, it's cheap for a reason.

 

[317 forever]

As Sainsbury's had all those bonus points promos before Christmas I stocked up quite a bit on dry foods where I already qualified for bonus points.

As a result, my 2 most recent shops have been noticeably cheaper than usual. Next week I should manage to go later in the week than otherwise. Admittedly, last week and this week I deliberately went early in the week, in time for Christmas and New Year respectively.

 

[SuspectUsual]

As Sainsbury's had all those bonus points promos before Christmas I stocked up quite a bit on dry foods where I already qualified for bonus points.

As a result, my 2 most recent shops have been noticeably cheaper than usual. Next week I should manage to go later in the week than otherwise. Admittedly, last week and this week I deliberately went early in the week, in time for Christmas and New Year respectively.

And the added bonus from that is that the Sainsbury's / Nectar algorithm doesn't often seem to recognise what you've done, only sees the reduced spend, and dishes out some bigger offer to tempt you back

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Sainsbury's often try to tempt me with Triple Nectar Points on instore spends totalling over £30. Great offer that! Must be worth something like an additional thirty pence "saving"! Woo-hoo!

 

[Hadders]

Sainsbury's often try to tempt me with Triple Nectar Points on instore spends totalling over £30. Great offer that! Must be worth something like an additional thirty pence "saving"! Woo-hoo!

Most weeks I earn between 800 and 1,000 Nectar points at Sainsbury's buying stuff I normally buy. Useful to convert to Avios when they have bonus rate on conversions.

 

[Kite159]

I purchased some drain cleaner in November time to get rid of a partly blocked drain in the kitchen, and now the nectar algorithm seems to throw up either the same product or another drain cleaner every week, either as bonus points or as a personalised nectar price.

Not like it's a product I have any need to buying again in a hurry

 

[DM352]

The sections may look good but the quality is suspect. Look at hoe far ahead the Use By date is. Formulated for longer shelf life, I stopped buying there because of the inferior taste.

Had similar situation buying croissants from the Canada Loblaws chain bakery area which is one of the cheaper chains like Walmart. Croissants were a great price for 6 but once home could not get through one as it was more bland than the school canteen shortbread back in the day. Then from reading the packet, it had margarine instead of butter listed so not doing that again. Will stick with Costco (crowds permitting) or Coop next time as they use butter.

 

[Mojo]

lf anyone has the Nectar app, your annual summary became available today. l’m the 9th most popular purchaser of lemon dishwasher tablets in my area

 

[Russel]

lf anyone has the Nectar app, your annual summary became available today. l’m the 9th most popular purchaser of lemon dishwasher tablets in my area

I'm the number 1 purchaser of Sainsburys Garlic Sauce in my area...

I'll put this down to the wife buying about 15 bottles in July when they were reduced to 45p with long dates, we still have about 10 left to use in the cupboard, which I could have predicted, but what do I know.

 

[jon81uk]

lf anyone has the Nectar app, your annual summary became available today. l’m the 9th most popular purchaser of lemon dishwasher tablets in my area

Number one purchaser of Bonne Maman caramel apple spread in my Sainsbury’s. Unsurprisingly my most purchased item is filtered milk.

 

[SuspectUsual]

lf anyone has the Nectar app, your annual summary became available today. l’m the 9th most popular purchaser of lemon dishwasher tablets in my area

Nobody bought more jars of reduced salt Marmite in Sainsburys in Northallerton than me last year

Niche

 

[Peter Sarf]

I might often be the number one purchaser of Marstons Pedigree in Morrison Croydon - I aim to clear the shelf out when it is on offer !.
Often with a sholf life of up to 12 months !.

 

[Baxenden Bank]

Easter Eggs, now available in the major supermarkets. Don't all rush at once, leave some for other people.

 

[Harpo]

lf anyone has the Nectar app, your annual summary became available today. l’m the 9th most popular purchaser of lemon dishwasher tablets in my area

Number 1 for whole unpackaged sweetcorn. Still got a few in the freezer.

 

[jon0844]

Easter Eggs, now available in the major supermarkets. Don't all rush at once, leave some for other people.

Like Christmas, they introduce items early - often discounted - to get people to buy things they'll eat long before the time comes, so then go and buy more. There will be promotions at set times, and massive discounts after on any stock left unsold.

It's the same every year. I think the dates for the promotions at Tesco have been published online already for anyone who cares to know when there will be special offers.

At least with the chocolate eggs, they don't go out of date before Easter as with a lot of the stuff sold for Christmas early!

 

[Harpo]

At least with the chocolate eggs

Given the current race to the bottom on chocolate items, I wonder if any are avoiding the word chocolate?

 

[jon0844]

Given the current race to the bottom on chocolate items, I wonder if any are avoiding the word chocolate?

Good point. I wonder how long until half the chocolates on sale won't legally be able to say chocolate?

I recently bought Cadbury chocolate capsules for my Tassimo coffee machine. They're now HALF the thickness they were, and now say something along the lines of 'chocolate taste'. They taste okay, but are nowhere near as creamy as they were because if you're mixing less powder with water (instead of milk) it's going to be more watery.

The price is of course the same, perhaps even more!

 

[jon81uk]

Good point. I wonder how long until half the chocolates on sale won't legally be able to say chocolate?

I think very little confectionery will go down the chocolate flavour route. But biscuits (as has already happened with Penguins) likely will continue to switch to flavoured coatings.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

I wonder how long until half the chocolates on sale won't legally be able to say chocolate?

Is the threshold something like when the "chocolate" flavoured product in question contains less than 20% cocoa solids?

 

[jon81uk]

Is the threshold something like when the "chocolate" flavoured product in question contains less than 20% cocoa solids?

Yes, as defined in The Cocoa and Chocolate Products (England) Regulations 2003 https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2003/1659/schedule/1

4.—(a) Milk chocolate

(a) The product obtained from cocoa products, sugars and milk or milk products which, subject to item 4(b), contains— — not less than 25 per cent total dry cocoa solids; — not less than 14 per cent dry milk solids obtained by partly or wholly dehydrating whole milk, semi-skimmed or skimmed milk, cream, or from partly or wholly dehydrated cream, butter or milk fat; — not less than 2.5 per cent dry non-fat cocoa solids; — not less than 3.5 per cent milk fat; — not less than 25 per cent total fat (cocoa butter and milk fat).

or

5. Family milk chocolate or Milk chocolate

The product obtained from cocoa products, sugars and milk or milk products which contains— — not less than 20 per cent total dry cocoa solids; — not less than 20 per cent dry milk solids obtained by partly or wholly dehydrating whole milk, semi-skimmed or skimmed milk, cream, or from partly or wholly dehydrated cream, butter or milk fat; — not less than 2.5 per cent dry non-fat cocoa solids; — not less than 5 per cent milk fat; — not less than 25 per cent total fat (cocoa butter and milk fat).

 

[Broucek]

Is the threshold something like when the "chocolate" flavoured product in question contains less than 20% cocoa solids?

What a time to be alive

 

[SuspectUsual]

Is the threshold something like when the "chocolate" flavoured product in question contains less than 20% cocoa solids?

To clarify, yes as per the regulations quoted above, but obviously that’s only applicable to the chocolate part of the product, not the overall thing.

 

[styles]

I think very little confectionery will go down the chocolate flavour route. But biscuits (as has already happened with Penguins) likely will continue to switch to flavoured coatings.

Perhaps the confec won't go down so far as to not be allowed to be called chocolate any more, but there does seem to be a trend of adding palm oil and removing milk and cocoa from chocolate.

It's a big factor in me having gone off a lot of chocolate as it often feels quite greasy from the oil. I know what their justification is, but I don't particularly like it.

 

[Peter Sarf]

Perhaps the confec won't go down so far as to not be allowed to be called chocolate any more, but there does seem to be a trend of adding palm oil and removing milk and cocoa from chocolate.

It's a big factor in me having gone off a lot of chocolate as it often feels quite greasy from the oil. I know what their justification is, but I don't particularly like it.

Ah, its not just me then. I have found recently that certain chocolates just leave me a bit nauseated. OK I probably have eaten more chocolate than I usually do because it is Christmas but some things are really quite easily turning me off. I thought it was cheaper supermarket own brand chocolate but now the Galaxy in the celebrations tins/tubs are no longer the highlight !.

Of course, I am led to believe, for many years (decades ?) UK chocolate has been rather less chocolate than what our European neighbours are accustomed to !.