I’m an Asda girl through and through, but I’ve recently been trying out different supermarkets to see if my weekly shop ends up cheaper.
With the cost of living crisis making simple tasks such as a weekly shop increasingly more difficult, many of us are trying to find ways to bag cheaper shops. I recently did my first weekly shop in Aldi, and the outcome was pretty interesting to say the least. You can read my review here.
Now, it was time for a trip to The Food Warehouse by Iceland, a store known for its abundance of frozen foods, with fresh and dry produce also on offer. I’ve visited my local Food Warehouse a few times for bits and pieces, but I’ve never actually done a full shop there.
READ MORE: What shop would you like to open in Liverpool city centre?
READ MORE: I tried to get my full week's shop from budget store Heron Foods
My weekly shop at Asda usually ranges between £50-£70 depending on what meals I plan for the week. I, like many other shoppers, have recently noticed a drastic increase in food bills and it’s been pretty tough on my bank balance, so I was keen to see if The Food Warehouse would help me save money.
The big shop
The bakery section
I always seem to get overly excited when I visit The Food Warehouse, purely because of the sheer amount of weird and wonderful frozen foods you can get your hands on. It’s also important to note that I visited the shop on an empty stomach, which is never wise when you’re wanting to do your weekly shop.
Nevertheless, the first stop was the bakery/breads section, and I was pretty impressed with the range of different items. I got my usual loaf of brown bread which cost me £1.15, the usual Hovis Medium Wholemeal Bread I go for in Asda costs £1.20 so the price difference wasn’t huge, but a saving is a saving.
I also picked up a few goodies (it’d be rude not to) including a five pack of Mini Battenburgs for £1.25 which actually costs £2 at Tesco and £1.15 at Asda, so they’re actually a tad more expensive at The Food Warehouse than my usual supermarket.
I also grabbed a 10 pack of ‘Jolly Eggs’ for £2 which ended up being pretty good. The usual Asda ‘Happy Eggs’ cost a whopping £2.95 for 10, so this was a big saving for someone who eats a lot of eggs like myself.
The chilled section
Now, the meat section for me was the most surprising, I’ve got really mixed opinions if I’m being totally honest. I normally get a box of four chicken breasts for the whole week to last me for two or three meals and it costs me £6.10 in Asda.
The same pack of chicken at The Food Warehouse would cost me £6.90 and it actually weighed 850g instead of 1kg in Asda. It’s not all negative though, because The Food Warehouse does offer a 1.7kg box of chicken for £10 which gives you a total of seven chicken breasts.
This would be a great option for those who want to freeze chicken for the next few weeks, and actually works out at much better value as opposed to buying two separate boxes. In hindsight, I wish I’d bought that instead!
I really liked the three for £9 on meats offer at The Food Warehouse too, and decided to get two packs of mince and a pack of lamb steaks which sorted me out for three meals - all for £10. Other bits and bobs I picked up for snacks throughout the week included chicken poppers at £1.99, pimento olives at £3.85, mini savoury eggs at £2 and Mini Babybels at £2.10.
As a whole, the chilled snacks were pretty similar to Asda in terms of price, apart from the olives which usually cost me £2.50 in Asda, that were almost £4 in the Food Warehouse! Looks like I won’t be getting my olives from there in the future - maybe it’s because not many people like them anyway?
The fresh section
Once again, very mixed results in the fresh section but I’ve got to say as a whole I was pretty disappointed in the quality. Perhaps my local store was having an off day, but I bought a pack of maris piper potatoes for £2 and one was mouldy after two days.
A pack of maris piper potatoes are actually cheaper in Asda at £1.49, but the potatoes are a lot smaller as opposed to The Food Warehouse potatoes which were quite big. Bananas cost me £1.45 for eight and carrots cost me £1.85, which was pretty mind blowing considering my usual pack of carrots in Asda cost me 46p.
The frozen section
The Food Warehouse is of course known for its absolutely glorious frozen food section, so I was ecstatic to come across some naughty but nice foods including frozen potato Space Raiders and cheesy hash browns (wow!)
I ended up purchasing the Space Raiders for £1 and some Cornetto Mint Chocolate Chip ice creams, which were generally pretty good value. A quick look at the frozen chips section and their cheapest was £1, with a range of frozen meals including pizza, ready meals, fish, chicken and much more on offer.
It’s clear to see that the frozen section is where The Food Warehouse really makes their money, and rightly so, because it’s a great option for longer lasting ingredients for meals.
The verdict
I have very mixed feelings about my first shop at The Food Warehouse. As expected, it’s absolutely fantastic value for those who want to get their frozen bits and bulk buy meat. However, if you’re after a few boxes of meat here and there with only a couple of frozen items like myself, I’m not entirely sure it’s worth it.
The fresh items really varied in price, but there were definitely some good offers for meat. It’s definitely the best place to go for sweet treats including ice cream and offers some really unique food items (like the Space Raiders!) that I doubt you could get at your local Asda.
Personally, I do think I’ll be sticking to Asda, as my whole bill came to a whopping £80, but I will admit I went a little crazy in the snack department - and I think that’s where The Food Warehouse, similar to Aldi, really reels you in.
I also prefer doing an online shop because I get less tempted, and I’ll definitely be doing it when I’m not hungry next time. The experience as a whole was fairly positive though, and I’ll always love The Food Warehouse frozen section.
Receive newsletters with the latest shopping news, deals and honest opinions from the Liverpool ECHO Shopping & Reviews newsletter by signing up here
READ NEXT:
