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Daily Record

Lifestyle

Emma Gill & Rachel Williams

The £72.43 Tesco shop that one mum says was like 'going back to the 80s'

Tesco Hearty Food Co Aldi

As the cost of living crisis continues to grip the nation, many households across the country will be forced to choose between heating and food.

As prices continue to soar, many families will be looking for the easiest ways to save some of their hard-earned cash.

One area that many families look to cut back on is with the weekly grocery shopping - whether it be cutting back on things they don't need, or looking for budget priced versions of their usual orders.

And while shopping at the likes of Lidl and Aldi for low prices has become increasingly popular, many other supermarkets do offer their own budget ranges that can help shoppers save some money.

Which is exactly why one reporter from The Manchester Evening News decided to shop around Tesco's budget brands and their Aldi price matches to see where savings could be made.

Emma Gill was left impressed by her shop and found that the budget haul was like "being back in the 80s". Here is how she got on...

Unlike other budget ranges - which tend to have nothing more than the words and if you're lucky a picture on an otherwise plain white label - Tesco's merge in with the rest of its products. It's pretty much been that way since the scrapping of its old 'Everyday Value' branding and while yes, it might make the items trickier to find, if you've got children or another half who might turn their nose up at cheaper brands, chances are they might not notice.

Although that largely depends on the taste doesn't it. So what about that?

They did find that Tesco's budget brands are not the easiest to spot (MEN)

Well, with some of the products I knew what to expect as they're a regular feature of my Tesco big shop - like the chicken goujons, cheese pizza and tortilla wraps for instance. I mean, why would I pay £1.35 for a pack of branded wraps, when you can get the eight-pack of Nevill's ones for 75p? It's not like there's a huge difference in taste, as it's more about what you fill it with after all.

There were lots we hadn't tried before though and it was like taking a trip back to the 80s with some of the budget products - refreshingly with prices as well as the food. With our chicken kievs, £1.65 for two, and potato croquettes, just 61p for 700g, all we needed was the Blockbusters theme tune and I would have been right back there eating my tea after school and mithering about what's for afters.

And some of those were a blast from the past too. I think I was a bit over excited at the prospect of Angel Delight, 49p a pack, as the reaction from my children was one of pure underwhelm - followed by 'I don't like the texture'. Who even are they?

But there were lots of treats they did like from Tesco's Ms Molly's range, with everything from flapjack traybake and ice cream roll, to milk lollies and trifle. She might not have the status of Mr Kipling, but I'll take Ms Molly's prices over his any day of the week.

The tray of flapjack for instance was just 80p for 360g. That's less than half the price of Tesco's £2 pack of flapjack bites (two for £3 with Clubcard) and there's really no hardship in chopping it up yourself.

Aside from the sweet stuff, there's plenty to make substantial meals from in its budget ranges, helped by the Aldi Price Matches on some meat and fruit and its cheap as chips frozen vegetables, like the 900g bag of broccoli and cauliflower florets for 80p and the 900g bag of Grower's Harvest garden peas for just 55p.

Some of the products and prices reminded the reporter of the 80s (MEN)

Talking of chips, I'd challenge anyone to make a tastier fish, chips and mushy peas any cheaper. With the 1.5kg of Hearty Food Co straight cut for 90p, Growers Harvest British mushy peas 300G for 25p and the Hearty Food Co four breaded fish fillets 600G for £2.39, the meal worked out at around 90p a head.

The Willow Farm whole chicken, a bargain at £2.89, was enough for a Sunday dinner, and we still had some meat leftover to stick in a curry afterwards. Not all of the products went down well.

My Heinz beans loving kids were quick to spot the 22p Stockwell & Co baked beans and there's nothing savvy about chucking away something they won't eat. I couldn't persuade them to even try a chicken paste butty and while it's not something I've eaten since, oh here we are with the 80s again, it was actually OK.

This fish supper worked out at around 90p per head (MEN)

And there were some pleasant surprises too - like the Stockwell & Co teabags, at just 55p for 60, less than half what you'd pay for Tetley or a similar brand. Having been disappointed with Asda's Smart Price teabags (28p for 40) a few weeks back, I wasn't holding out much hope, but they actually made a pretty decent brew. And that's coming from a proper tea belly.

At £72.43 for our haul of budget shopping, I think you could call that a success against today's prices. Now can we just rewind with our other bills too?!

Our full Tesco budget shopping list