Monday 10 March 2014

Sunday Bargains

I always check for reductions when I go shopping, but yesterday, Mick was the one doing the shopping. I'm pleased to say that my habits have rubbed off on him as he came home with some bargains.


I absolutely love this tenderstem broccoli, but I refuse to pay £2 for a pack of it. This was reduced to 60p so it will go very nicely with the beef casserole I'm making for tea tonight.


These miniature potatoes should have been £1.50. They'd previously been reduced to £1.04 and then finally, down to 68p. Something else which we'll eat tonight.


I wouldn't usually buy things like these crispy potato slices. They should be £1.70 a pack, goodness me, it would only cost pence to make them yourself. We very rarely have a Sunday roast, preferring to have one usually on a Monday, but if not, midweek. Yesterday, we'd planned to have lamb chops and chips for tea, but as the crispy potatoes were reduced to 51p, Mick thought we might like them instead of the chips. They were very nice.


I haven't found any bargains for a while, I think I'll have to send Mick more often.

34 comments:

  1. What great bargains, Mike would get lost, Rob has started shopping at the co op near to where he goes to Uni & gets some lovely bargains. He always phones up when he gets something good.

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    1. Mick does quite a bit of shopping, he doesn't mind it whereas I really have to be in the mood. Does Rob know that students get 10% discount at the Coop with their student card? Every little helps.

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  2. Great reductions Jo, I'm well impressed with your hubby, you are obviously doing a good job. My hubby would take a list and get the first brand he sees, after 43 years of shopping with me you would think something would have rubbed off but its sad to say I dont think it has! Maybe one day i will send him as a test :-)

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    1. I have to admit that Mick's better at shopping than I am. He'll shop around for the cheapest price and knows prices from one supermarket to another.

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  3. Good work Mick. We're avid checkers of the reduced section too, and have had some great bits from there over the years - but like you said, sometimes there's just nothing.

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    1. I did really well with meat just before Christmas, there seemed to be some in the reduced section each time I went shopping, though I still couldn't beat Mick. He came home one day with some organic stewing beef for 25p. Needless to say, he bought both the packets that were there.

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  4. Sounds as though he has been paying very good attention during shopping school lessons!! xx

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    1. He's actually very good at sniffing out bargains. It should really be me taking a leaf out of his book.

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  5. I nearly always forget to check out the bargains! Flighty xx

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    1. It's usually the first place I head for in our local supermarket.

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  6. Can he come and shop for me?
    Love from Mum
    xx

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    1. I think he gets fed up shopping for me.

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  7. I have managed to get my elderly neighbour Neville to check for RTC and to compare price per 100g, he is now carrying a calculator with him for shopping. It is lovely when he comes back and proudly tells me that he is having sausages 2 days running as they were reduced.

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    1. You can save so much money by buying reduced items. It does make you wonder how much the supermarkets are making on each item if they can afford to reduce them so much.

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  8. I think he needs to go and do my shopping! My hubby tries to sneak things in the basket when I'm not looking!

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    1. It's the other way around with us. I do like a bargain but I just can't resist some things as I pass them in the aisles.

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  9. I too like bargains and quite often change the menu to suit something I'll use that's been reduced. I make out a menu each week and a shopping list and try to stick to it, which I've done for 40+ years. Take care.

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    1. I've never done a menu plan and I never make shopping lists either. I keep saying that I must give it a try, but I haven't got round to it yet.

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  10. Well done that man! I've never tried that type of broccoli before, although broccoli is one of the very few veg I do like, it has to be cooked until quite soft though, I don't do crunchy veg!
    Lisa x

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    1. I don't do crunchy veg either. You must try tenderstem broccoli or purple sprouting broccoli, it's absolutely delicious.

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  11. Douglas takes his mum shopping every week these days and he's always asking me how much I pay for various things. Sometimes I know the answer, sometimes I don't. Most times she's paying more than we are for the same food. Doesn't seem right that she has to pay more just because she lives in a small village!

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    1. That's usually the case, isn't it? Smaller stores charge higher prices, that's one of the benefits of having a few supermarkets within a close distance, they all compete with each other.

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  12. Oh a girl after my own heart I do like a bargain. I bet it was like ready steady cook in your house with Mick providing the bag of surprise goodies:-)

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    1. Ha ha, I'd be under too much pressure to come up with a recipe based just on a bag of food. I used to love watching that programme though.

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  13. Good for him! He got some great deals. You've trained him well, Jo. :)

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    1. It's just a case of looking really. The reduced cabinet is often empty but sometimes we can call at just the right time and get some great bargains.

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  14. Replies
    1. Me too. It makes my day when I come home with reduced items.

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  15. Well done to Mick, every penny counts, great to come home with a bargain, too much gets wasted by the supermarkets. They don't reduce anything over here very often, the last thing we saw was just after Christmas the turkeys were reduced but not by much, but they are extremely tasty (different to the big plump ones in the UK) so were worth buying. Occasionally fresh salmon will be on offer at about 5e rather than 12e/kg Maybe the supermarkets here have a different buying strategy, but it would be nice to sometimes get a good deal. They never do buy one get one free either.

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    1. It's scandalous how much food is wasted by supermarkets. I saw turkeys reduced in our local store after Christmas. They'd been on sale for £50 and the prices had been slashed to £12.50. I didn't have room for one in the freezer otherwise I'd have jumped at it, it would have made many meals. It's a shame you don't get many bargains over there, perhaps the prices are cheaper to start off with so they don't need to use gimmicks to get people to buy.

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  16. I must go shopping at the wrong time of day Jo because I rarely seem to drop on any bargains like that.

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    1. I've tried to work out the times when there'll be bargains to be had but it seems they put them out at different times of the day. I think you just have to be lucky to drop on them.

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  17. It is so satisfying to get great reductions like those! Well done Mick, and well done Jo for getting him so well trained!
    We do the same!
    Gill xx

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    1. I think most people must look out for bargains these days, food prices have increased so much over the last few years that peoples shopping habits have changed.

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