Claims that Sainsburys are more expensive than Waitrose

Alice75 The 'Which' survey is very narrowly and strictly defined as We track the prices of up to 200 branded and own-label products every day over the course of a month to work out the average cost per item. The contents vary from month to month and might include anything from Andrex toilet paper and Lurpak butter to own-label bread and Heinz baked beans.

To be comparable a survey has to standard from survey to survey and year to year. Personal decisions of what supermarket to use will be governed by other factors, but distance from a shop, for example, is personal to every household. My convenient store may be very inconvenient for you and household sizes vary.

But as a broad brush national survey of prices for comparable products the 'Which survey is as good as any, and armed with that you can then incorporate it with all your personal factors to make the best decision for you.

I, for example, do all my shopping in Waitrose. It has in the past been considered expensive, but local Waitrose is a reasonable size, not too large, and is in the town centre, so any extra price I pay I consider worthwhile for being able to shop quickly and also be able to access all the other town centre facilities from shops, Bulding Society, hair dresser and even the local museum, while I am parked for free in the Waitrose car park.

But those other factors are personal to me and, even my next door neighbour may shop elsewhere for equally valid and different reasons.

I think comparison of prices in different supermarket can obviously be broadly useful - but there are other factors too. Whether the shop will deliver and for how much and / or how near the shop is and whether there is a car park / bus route. Some larger packets of items are often cheaper, but may not be cost effective for just one or two people. The range of - for example - vegetarian or organic foods may vary in different supermarkets.

I’ve felt that Sainsbury’s is expensive for some time now.
I shop at Ocado /Lidl /Aldi , occasionally Tesco or Asda, usually online for the majority of the time as I hate shopping.
I cancelled my Which subscription Quokka, I only had it when I needed to make some big purchases.

I do a mixture of shopping between Morrisons and Sainsburys. It is well worth subscribing to their loyalty cards for the best discounts.
The figures quoted seem very high - what is a "big" shop? That would be more than I would spend in a month?

Quite Lots of items have been the result of stealth packaging this past month the cat treats that I buy for my Oliver has been reduced from 5 packets per box to 4 and still the same price so many crafty things to look out for out there when shopping.

I always use Sainsburys and my Nectar card I am fortunate to have a family discount card so even when I get Nectar discount I then get 20% discount for having a family card I would be stupid to shop anywhere else .

I tend to divide my shopping between Lidl & Sainsbury's but I am finding quite often that Sainsbury's is no dearer. The price rises by stealth have really taken off in a big way post Covid, two examples that immediately spring to mind are tissues, 3ply at Lidl during Covid, 79p for 100, now £1.29 for 72, Sainsbury's Double pack of 3p £2 (£1 per box), Activia small fruit yogurts that I buy for Mr T used to contain 125g, now contain 115g. Prices rising for far less product. I feel really sorry for busy mums who realistically don't have the time (or energy) to read every label, not just for price but for size & content quantities.

It’s possible they’re still selling older stock, but I’d check the size if I were you Molly.

Thanks for that maddyone. I hadn’t noticed. What’s even worse, our local supermarket is still charging £3.75!

Mollygo

Lidl have offers if you have their card. Sainsburys definitely do, although when I was there yesterday, their Lurpack was £2.50, price matched with Aldi whether you had a card or not.

The problem with Lurpak is that they have reduced the size of a packet from 250 grams to 200 grams.
Price rises by stealth, wherever you buy it.
I like Lurpak but have refused to buy it since this happened.

Thank you M0nica. I’m thinking of cancelling my subscription to Which. I bought a new TV recently after looking at their Best Buy guide. It’s not all they cracked it up to be and looking at other reviews (which I ought to have done I know) the problems were highlighted on other sites but not on Which.

And something else I bought on their recommendation last year but damned if I can remember what (memory thread!) was also not that good.

Yes, I did have a look.
I thought it said '4' which isn't necessarily a typical family. However it's arrived at, it's only a guide - and I can't help feeling that they should exclude alcohol anyway.
But it has been an interesting thread.

Nowhere on the Which site does it say anything about the figures they produce being a family shopping list. It isn't.

It is, and I quote
We track the prices of up to 200 branded and own-label products every day over the course of a month to work out the average cost per item. We then add those averages up to get a trolley total for each retailer. We include special offers, but not multibuys.

The contents vary from month to month and might include anything from Andrex toilet paper and Lurpak butter to own-label bread and Heinz baked beans.

We rotate the products in the trolley to ensure we're comparing as many branded products as possible. This means the totals aren't comparable between months or years.

So: Quokka, Nannarose this price comparison has nothing to do with what a family spends each week.

The full reference to the Which site can be found in my post on the first page of this thread. This contains much more detail about the sample.

I think the £300 is for 4, but even so!

I am interested in the 'own brand' issue. We have a large food factory near here, and I am amused at the different 'brands' that end up at the local food bank / homeless shelter when there is a production blip (Harrods coffee with lop-sided labels!)

Although I see that stuff like baked beans / mincemeat / jam etc. may be much of a muchness ( I don't really know myself) and may depend on personal taste.
But if I ever buy cheap tinned tomatoes, I have to reduce them so much I can't see much saving. Does anyone have any examples?

Of course I know that some folk have little choice, but I think this thread has been more about 'value for money' than absolute cheapness.

Interesting LovesBach, I do the same every now and then when we are entertaining large numbers and I have found that Tesco works out cheaper than Asda! Our local Asda frequently has empty shelves so I tend to go to Tesco or Sainsbury’s. I have found that the discount supermarkets are not as cheap as they used to be, usually only a couple of pence difference so I don’t bother with them anymore.

£300+ for weekly shop? Is that ‘typical’?

There is only a Waitrose where I live so no choice, though I suppose families with cars drive to Aldi or Lidl.
Waitrose is not a local Fortnum & Mason, selling only gourmet foods at ridiculous prices. Their Essential range and Special Offers are cheaper options and I spend only what I can afford.
If you buy mostly basic ingredients and ignore the luxuries you won’t starve even at Waitrose prices.

Long after posting, I remember how D1 “berated” me once for complaining about the price of my weekly shop. It was in the days when Ocado and Waitrose were in partnership before Ocado teamed up with M&S.
She said it was my own fault for shopping with expensive suppliers so I took my printed Ocado receipt and used it as a shopping list in Sainsburys.
As I recall, a handful of items were cheaper, a handful dearer , occasionally I had to go for a close equivalent as there was no exact match and in the end there was a difference of only a couple of pounds. . These days petrol costs would add on a
£ or two plus my time. I remained happy with Ocado but am a little less so because their M&S link means some of my “favourites” aren’t available.

Horses for courses?

Katie59 You clearly shop in a different Waitrose to the one I use. The only difference I notice is that it stocks far fewer readymeals than other supermarkets, but at the till, other baskets and trolleys are like mine, full of their own brands. As for alcohol, I would say less not more. No trolley loads of cans of beer.

Mind you I did have a £99 bottle of wine turn up on my till slip recently. It seemed that there was a miscoding on a bottle of washing machine cleaner

The reason I started shopping in Waitrose is that its stores are in town centres, so that I can do a whole lot of other shopping in other shops at the same time, plus get my hair done, go to the Building Society, buy fruit and veg in the market. The stores are also a reasonable size so that I can get round to do the shopping in a short time.

The only alternative is a huge Tesco or a Lidl, both a mile out of town and with no other services I can use while I am there.

Heaven knows how you would get a trolley so full of shopping through our local Sainsburys nowadays.
There is only one check out now, ( which when I went into the shop last week was closed) the rest are all self serve, nowhere to put your trolley whilst you unpack it and then nowhere to put your shopping except onto the floor in the bags until the trolley is empty, all the while others are trying to get past your trolley to get into the small spaces to pay for their shopping, then wave your receipt around to get out through the barrier. 4 staff there helping people whose items refused to go through.
That will be fun at Christmas won’t it?
I’ll stick to my online shopping, it seems I’m not missing out.

I have no loyalty to any supermarket, but as I don’t drive and Tesco’s is a five minute walk away I use Tesco’s

I wasted half an hour of my life a few months back by filling a basket (online grocery shopping) from Waitrose, Asda, Sainsbury's and Tesco. To my surprise Tesco was the most expensive, Sainsbury's the second most expensive, then Waitrose, then Asda. No doubt these prices fluctuate week by week; the difference between the least and most expensive was less than three pounds.

I remember Sainsbugs, Maw. I loves Sarah!

I know what you mean Visgirl. Some Lidl veg I only buy to to use within 2-3 days. But I find some, e.g. Bobby Beans, Pak Choi or Celery last over a week.

I have tried and still occasionally shop at Lidl, just for a few things.
My 31 Yr old daughter shops there for her young family weekly, but she has stopped buying her Fruit and veg from them.
I gave up buying Fruit and veg from them too, it goes off so quickly, so I don't bother with the shop anymore .

I go each week to M&S to buy mine, she too gets hers there as well . It just appears fresher and lasts longer tad more expensive but at least , 50% doesn't go in the bin.

I also have a biweekly shop from Waitrose tbh I don't find them any more expensive than other other supermarkets that deliver and their F&V is always fine too.

A lot of people I know say “Sainsbugs” Rosiesmaw, I don’t really know why! Morrisons is our neared store, it has an excellent pharmacy and I sometimes stop in for bits and pieces when collecting prescriptions. We shop in Lidl and a couple of small independent shops. Asda, Sainsbury and Waitrose are much further away so we don’t bother.