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Manchester Evening News

Business

Emma Gill

I did a big shop at the less talked-about supermarket families are turning to for 'unbeatable deals' - some of the prices were incredible

Farmfoods Aldi Asda Birds Eye Heinz Tesco Fish Mars

With supermarket prices still on the rise, it's not surprising people are shopping around. But there's one place that families say they're regularly finding 'unbeatable deals' - and that's Farmfoods.

You may think it's just a frozen food retailer, but like Iceland, it sells much more than that - as my big shop there this week proved.

Its packs of toilet rolls are regularly highlighted as a budget deal by savvy shoppers, but you've got to buy in bulk to get the best price, so I gave them a miss.

Families say they're regularly finding 'unbeatable deals' at Farmfoods (Manchester Family/MEN)

An 18-pack costs £6.50 for one, or you can get two for £12 or four for £20, so it's worth making space for them, or splitting them with someone else, if you can.

Elsewhere there were some big savings to be made compared with other retailers, on fresh as well as frozen goods.

A giant cucumber was just 49p for instance, whereas in Tesco and Aldi you'd pay almost double at 95p. A three-pack of peppers was 99p, compared with £1.39, and a pack of sweet peppers 79p for 150g, compared with Aldi's 190g pack for £1.29.

While slightly smaller than your typical block of 250g butter, its 227g block for £1.29 is the cheapest I've seen it for quite some time, as well as the 500g tub of Utterly Butterly for 99p. That's the price we used to pay before the cost of living crisis really took hold.

Many of the items were cheaper than you'd find elsewhere (Manchester Family/MEN)

Its own brand frozen products are cheap, like an 800g bag of hash browns for £1.29, but there are some savings to be made on well-known brands too, like a 15-pack of Young's fish fingers for £1.49, two Young's XL Chip Shop Fish Fillets for £1.99 and a three for £6 offer on Goodfella's pizzas.

I saved more than a fiver on multibuy deals overall, including offers on ham, hot dogs, chopped tomatoes and pasta sauce.

I made use of the three for £5 offer on Heinz tins, which is the same as Tesco's. Only Asda seems to beat that at the moment with four tins for £5.

A six-pack of Heinz Beanz for £5.49 isn't too bad in the current climate, but like with the toilet rolls, it pays to buy in bulk, as you can get two packs for £10, or four packs for £18, which brings it down to 75p a tin.

£1.49 for three J20 ice lollies (Manchester Family/MEN)

Some household products were cheap too, like a litre bottle of washing up liquid for 99p, 20 sponge scourers for £1 and a huge 112-wash bottle of Lenor fabric conditioner for £5.99. A smaller 83-wash bottle is £4.50 in Asda.

But overall I found the best deals were on those treat items that we've probably all been cutting back on amid soaring bills.

Cake bars have shot up in price haven't they, so I was surprised to see a 10-pack of Penguin ones for £1.49, as well as a large 210g pack of Jammie Dodgers for 99p.

Frozen treats were impressive too, a highlight being the three-pack of J20 ice lollies for just £1.49 and seven-pack of Mars Ice Creams for £2.99.

But it was probably the price of Ambrosia Devon Custard that shocked me the most. Like Heinz products, the range has increased massively in price over recent months and in many supermarkets is now almost £2 a tin.

At 99p a tin, I've not found Ambrosia Devon Custard so cheap in a long time (Manchester Family/MEN)

But in Farmfoods, it was the old school price of 99p, as was the Ambrosia Rice Pudding.

Not everything was cheaper than you can buy elsewhere - the giant 1kg block of mature cheddar cheese for £6.99 is not that great considering Aldi and Sainsbury's sell a 900g block for £4.80, but it is really tasty so perhaps you're paying for better quality there.

There wasn't much in the way of fresh meat and the frozen packs - £5.99 for 1kg of Scottish beef mince for instance - didn't stand out as a particular bargain.

I probably wouldn't do my weekly shop here all the time, but when some of the savings are so big, it's well worth calling in to grab some of those 'unbeatable deals' that shoppers are raving about.