My Goodness

I don't have the time to shop around usually, but I do use coupons as much as possible. It sends a little shiver of glee up my spine whenever I have a coupon and I get to the store and find that it's on sale also. Don't know about in the UK, but my friend Libby was telling me about an online service (for a small fee, of course) that will tell what market to take your coupons to for a certain item, remind you that you should use the older coupon for an item, etc. She used to save a lot of money with that.

Aldi is a great place to save! I've been there a few times and have to put it at the top of my list--I haven't shopped there lately because I always forget. I usually shop at Kroger to get the ten cents per gallon gas savings but Aldi could save me more than that, I know. Do they have dog food at your Aldi?

We have a Save-A-Lot that said it supposed to give us a 40% savings on groceries over the other stores/brands. But I found that I can shop at another store called Food City and get some stuff cheaper. Also the Walmart Superstore says it saves us money but after shopping there a few time..it didn't save me any at all. I like shopping around for the best deals and sometimes I like to store hop to find them..but not if the store is out of the way..my step dad hates it though and thinks that shopping should all be done in one store..but then again..I rarely run out of groceries because of my bargain shopping. I like to hit the stores especially when they have name brand stuff as cheap or cheaper then the other brands, and stock up for a few months. The best time to shop is when the stores are having their good sales then have coupons for it. Like Grands biscuits were on sale for $.50 each and I had a coupon for $1 off two..so they were free..

We have Aldi's supermarkets here in the states and you can save lots of money there! I know a few people that are too proud to be seen shopping there and refuse to walk int he door, but I figure it's their loss! The bigger more expensive stores must be making a lot of money on the proud people....I only go to the bigger stores in an emergency. We also have a store called save-a-lot and they're comparable to Aldi's.

hi pikey I do try to figure out just how much each item is if it's being sold say for five for a dollar sale or say 4 for a dollar, just simple math, but if you dont check the daily'prive for the same item , you just might be shocked. I used to buy'Green Giant asparagus, and Green Giant peas at the usual price of twenty cents a can,back a number of years. I thought that was a really great price. then one day I came into the ' same store and there was a fantastic sale on Green Giant veggies, four cans for a dollar. one lady told me,how come you aren't buying those Green Giants today, they are on sale? I smiled well since yesterday they were selling at twenty cents a can, I will wait til the sale is over. "But she sputtered they are on sale now. I said again they were twenty cents a can,so why pay twenty five cents a can, you are paying more for them on that sale. She looked at me and put all the cans back on the shelf. Yes she said, I will wait til they go off sale too. So it pays to know what the going prices are then check against the so called sales.

i THINK THEY ARE ALL A RIPOFF.The only large store in my town as far as a chain goes is wal-mart. i think they are very high. We have another super market that's owned by local people that have quite afew store, they are high to. I usually do most of my shopping at a store that is called sav-alot that is a box store, u carry your own grocerires out, nothing fancy. They are cheaper than the other two . i usually go over across the state line to ky. & they are cheaper plus their sales tax is alot lower than ours here so i guess u would say i do shop around. I think it pays off to do that even tho it's 20 mi9le round trip.

Well P1ke I would have to drive miles to get to an Aldi so I normally go to Asda or Sainsburys By the time I count in the Petrol to get to the Aldi I might as well shop at these 2 places as they are a lot closer to me so it works out about the same I used to shop in Morrison and Asda when I lived in Doncaster which if I shopped right worked out ok but for a few things we shopped at Aldi

Unfortunately,there's no Aldi near where I Live,P1key..but we do have Lidl! I used Aldi all the time when I was in Germany,years back,but haven't been in one since they started moving into the UK. What with the UK VAT drop to 15%,and the strong Euro agains the £,the County Town near Me,Enniskilen,has Branches of Tesco and Asda on neighbouring sites,and has been doing massive trade with People coming over the ROI border nearby..going by the number plates with the county of origin displayed (Irish plates have a 2 digit Year of issue,then a 2 letter abbreviation of the County of origin,although Dublin just uses "D"..DL or CN would be Donegal or Cavan respectively,(Neighbouring counties..common sight..)but we're seeing cars from Galway,Leitrim,Wexford, a bit further afield here! (Galway's 3 hours away..) Apparently Our "Local" Asda was so busy on the runup to last Christmas,With it being owned by Walmart,"Our" Store was reportedly in the top 10 selling Walmart stores Worldwide! I do prefer to shop around,given the time,but working late as I do,and with both these stores offering 24 hour shopping,I'll go in after work to shop..as I have to pass my workplace coming from home to get to town anyway,so going in after work saves travel time,there's less pressure to shop hard and fast,the mood Muzak is off,and I can check out the offers..During the Day,as Enniskillen is on a Long Island,most shops can be visited by starting at one end and working along,but the larger stores (Tesco,Asda,Lidl,M+S)are now in "Off site" retail parks with large car parks,so with eager packs of traffic wardens roaming the Island streets freely looking for anything sitting longer than regulation stopwatch allows,many now just hit the retail parks..Shopping around is worthwhile..if you have the time!

I am really amazed by the amount that you saved that is a total of 8 dollars if you bought things from tesco.Yes i shop around in supermarkets as we are not cheated in prices like other vendors and we also make savings from it.I think it is worthwhile if we buy things in bulk because then the more quantity we will get which will last for a longer time and we will get very good savings.Recently here there was a supermarket in India they gave the best savings than all the other supermarkets but now that supermarket is closed, managing the supermarket wilh profit while keeping the customers satisfied will help the supermarket run in the long run.

Hi pikey As you know I work in a cheap supermarket so i do most of my shopping there. Also so that Im not spending my day off at another supermarket as that is the last place I want to be on my day off. I like to go to Tesco sometimes just for a change as we don't always supply everything, also its nice being able to compare the prices. I also find that although the prices are cheaper, the quality isn't always as good. Its not the amount that your paying but what your paying for I think. Come to my supermarket, Im sure you will find a bargain lol

Hi ya p1kef1sh My friend did the same as you but she shops at Sainsbury's so it is no surprise when she saved herself some money by shopping for fruit and veg at Aldi! That really is a ridiculous saving though p1kef1sh!! I can honestly say though that I don't shop around though I know I really should. The trouble is that Tesco and Aldi are about 20 minutes drive from my house and I have to be back midday to pick up one son and by 3pm to pick up the others so I only have the time to go in one shop and then rush home to pick kids up!!

Good for You P1key! Not many people, especially men, will take the time out once in a while and comparison shop! Of Course all of those big stores are trying to pull the wool over the consumers eyes and are succeeding, (except with smart shoppers like you of course), how else could they afford all of those very expensive commercials on during prime time television telling you how cheap they are??? I have many times taken the time to comparison shop and it has paid off tremendously for me. It took me a long time when I moved to Holland to figure out what types of stores have which items for the cheapest prices but once I found out my "general" information I can only imagine the amount of money that I have saved in the last 15 years...just by doing a bit of work in the beginning. Recently I moved to a different village and I took the time out yet again to find which "general" supermarket offers me the best prices as a whole...but I still always go back to my old, 15 year old stand bys when it comes to things like fruits and vegetables, chicken, bread and a few other items. But all in all I am satisfied that I am getting good quality for good prices for that early work I did! NOW!!! Some May Say...that YOU have too much time on your hands if you have time to piddle around comparison shopping...maybe you should think of adding some to your House Husband chores during the day so you Won't have all that spare time, you know what they say about idle hands!!!

The US has Aldi's too and that is the only place I will shop! I used to go to the 'big' 'cheep' stores, but it really is a joke! Now, I only drop in for a special item if I HAVE to have it. I even went to another 'cheap' small store in my town called 'Save-a Lot' with a name like that you have to save, right? Not really! I feel so ashamed of how much I spent there. And I will only be shopping at Aldi's from here on out. They do have VERY good deals.

Well, I'm not in UK, and over here, we do not have both supermarkets chains. However, we do have a few supermarket chains as well in my country, as well as those small grocery stores in the neighborhood. For us, we do sometimes compare prices among the different supermarkets, but usually, we just buy groceries in 1 of the supermarket chains because they offer a 4% rebate, in addition to points. Besides, we do know that they are usually cheaper than the other 2 supermarket chains nearby my house. There's another supermarket chain in my country of which I heard that they are cheaper than the one I'm going, but the nearest one is around a 20-minutes car ride. It's too much a hassle to go there to shop for groceries... Besides, I'm also not sure if the savings are worth the gas as I don't usually go to that area to shop.

Here where I am, there is one supermarket, 45 minutes away that is expensive (no competition) and just over an hour away are 2 major supermarkets who keep tabs on each other and keep their prices fairly even and higher than they are elsewhere. We can't win. I imagine tesco wouldn't have too many customers with comparisons like those?

I always shop around and I use coupons...Hey there how you doing? Have missed you my friend. Thankfully where I live there are many places to go and China Town is the cheapest to shop at and some of the best fresh food comes from there here in NYC. Hugs, Ainge

Hi p1ke, I normally shop at Tesco's when I can and it is a darn site cheaper than Budgens down the village, yet my daughter did an online shop at Asda, bear in mind at the time she had hardly any food, so she did a big shop there and had it delivered to her home..which was about 7miles from Asda all included it came to £68 that filled her fridge and fridge freezer up (am not sure how much that is in dollars) but for her money she noow has enough food to live on for the next month, apart from the basics. Whereas at Tesco's it definitley would of been a lot more. Hugs Loloxxx

We have the Big Two in Australia, Coles and Woolworths, and I have to admit feeling guilty every time I shop at one of them because their near monopoly puts so many small shops, and now small petrol stations, out of business. But the prices are so much lower than our local Independent Grocers Association store that it is better value to spend money on 90 kms worth of petrol to shop at one of them. However, our shopping town also has an Aldi, and I have been wondering lately whether it mightn't be a good idea to check them out. If they are as good here as you have found there, the extra 5 kms might be worth it. I just wonder whether they will have the same stock coverage. Lash

I know aldi and supermarkets like that are cheaper and I can well understand why people shop there.I shop at sainsburys for several reasons the stuff lasts till the next shop.We buy a lot of fresh veg and one week we went to Asda and by the wednesday we were throwing stuff away as it had gone off some of the meat as well.So that is why we shop at sainsburys we waste to much stuff going elsewhere.It may be cheaper elsewhere but there is a reason for it.It is different if you can walk to the supermarket,but we live six mile away from the nearest supermarket.So we spend more but waste less.

Hi plkeflsh, I'm lucky to have an almost photographic memory where prices are concerned so I know exactly which shop to use for different things. I drive once a week for an hour to town as refuse on prinicpal now to shop locally due to the outrageous prices and poor quality of fresh produce. If I haven't got chance to go to the large fruit and vegetable maket which is open two mornings a week then I move between three supermarkets for my purchases as I know the difference in prices. Amazingly the drive to town saves me far far more than the petrol costs, as well as allowing for coffee and ice cream or bogatsa in town. If I run out of fresh fruit or vegetables during the week then I'm given them by the local fishermen.