Supermarket Saver Challenge...The Results Are In

Last week I blogged about supermarket prices. I had noticed that the supermarket low cost brand (I shop at Sainsbury's so used their basics range) was significantly cheaper than the brand prices and I wanted to see how much I could save if I only brought products from this range.

So yesterday I set out to see just how little I could spend on my weekly food shop. Everything I brought was in the basics range and I noted down the prices of the equivalent branded product, although I did get a few odd looks from the staff.

The results were quite frankly astonishing! Now, our weekly food bill for a family of four can vary from around £90-£140 which I feel is way too much. This is for a fairly ordinary weekly shop. We are certainly not drinking champagne and eating truffles (although that would be lovely!).
I had thought that my bill might be about £20 cheaper than usual so I was amazed to see that it came in at £38.15. If I had done the same shop buying brands it would have cost me £96.75 so that's a saving of £58.60. I was in shock and so excited with my saving that I might have kissed the checkout boy had he not looked so young and frightened!

I won't list my whole shop but some of the big differences that really stood out for me were:

basics stuffing 15p/Paxo stuffing £2.09 (I mean it all gets covered in gravy anyway)
basics tea 27p/Twinnings tea £3.55
basics jam 35p / Bonn Mamman £2.24
basics c17p/ Coca Cola £2.24

Its really quite shocking isn't it?

And how does it taste?...surprisingly fine. We had pitta breads and olives for lunch which were lovely. As I write I'm having a nice up of tea made with a low cost teabag and eating a gingerbread biscuit and I honestly couldn't tell the difference between them and the brands. However with some products you can tell the difference a little bit - the bread is definitely thinner and there are no lovely chunky strawberries in the jam. But, on the whole, its all fine and definitely worth the savings I've made.

However there were a few things that did worry me about buying in this range. Firstly the quality of the meat and eggs. I do like to buy free-range eggs and the eggs in the basics range are "barn eggs" which means the chickens get to roam around in the barn but are not let out into the fresh air. I also am not sure about the quality of life for animals that provide the meat for the low cost range. Whilst I'm sure the food tastes fine I think I would be prepared to pay a bit more to feel more sure of its provenance.

I also confess that there was one thing I couldn't face buying in the basics range and that were the nappies. They were very cheap but I was worried they wouldn't be as good quality and didn't really want my son's bottom to have to take part in my trial! However if anyone can reassure me they are fine then I am more than happy to use them.

So that's £58.60 in the bank. Even if I do that once a month it means we will save over £700 a year. Enough to pay for a holiday or to go into our children's savings fund.

But enough about me. I can't wait to hear how everyone else did so please use the linky attached or feel free to just post your results in the comments box.