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Bargain Basement

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Re: BARGAIN BASEMENT

Postby Pampy » Sun Jun 02, 2019 1:55 pm

Tesco's £4 a tray (1 kg) cherries are back.

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Re: BARGAIN BASEMENT

Postby jeral » Mon Jun 03, 2019 12:37 am

Can I take a paper clip with me? I've always wanted to find out if inserting the loop, doing a twist and pull, actually works to hull them. How else do you hull a trayful, or just spit stones out?

Must confess, I love (deep) cherry pie over any other fruit pie. Mmm Pie...

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Re: BARGAIN BASEMENT

Postby Stokey Sue » Mon Jun 03, 2019 9:45 am

Cherries

https://www.amazon.co.uk/OXO-Good-Grips-Pitter-Cherry/dp/B000NQ925K/ref=asc_df_B000NQ925K/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=232028567160&hvpos=1o2&hvnetw=g&hvrand=5514477499030997342&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=t&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9046004&hvtargid=pla-384640892101&psc=1&th=1&psc=1

Strawberries
https://www.amazon.co.uk/OXO-Good-Grips-Strawberry-Huller/dp/B00I3W2RJO/ref=sr_1_3?crid=T4W0YU5EPFLF&keywords=oxo+strawberry+huller&qid=1559547368&s=kitchen&sprefix=Oxo+strawberry+huller%2Ckitchen%2C148&sr=1-3-catcorr

I have both, they work. And before anyone says you don’t need a strawberry huller I’m with Nigella - not strictly necessary, but easier and more fun and good if you want to slice them for decoration. I’m working my way through a kilo of Malling Centenary and getting the hulls out of them would be hard work without it.

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Re: BARGAIN BASEMENT

Postby jeral » Mon Jun 03, 2019 5:52 pm

Stokey Sue, I'm collecting a list of "to order soon" and Dammit! you've just given me another two items that both look good. Doh! *east wing, sob, east wing*

Have you tried the stone pitter on dates (blanched/softened or not) by any chance as that would definitely be a bonus? Ta.

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Re: BARGAIN BASEMENT

Postby Stokey Sue » Mon Jun 03, 2019 7:33 pm

I haven't tried it on dates, it works well on both cherries and olives, think most dates would be too big, but worth a try

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Re: BARGAIN BASEMENT

Postby Sakkarin » Sat Jun 08, 2019 4:55 pm

No cherries in my Tesco :-(

Well not the cheap ones, only horrifically expensive ones.

Mangoes 39p though, I got a ripe one for now and a green one to make some salad with.

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Re: BARGAIN BASEMENT

Postby Renee » Sat Jun 08, 2019 7:57 pm

Sakkarin, do you use the green mango before it ripens for salad?

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Re: BARGAIN BASEMENT

Postby Sakkarin » Sat Jun 08, 2019 11:34 pm

I was going to, but I don't expect it to be quite the same as a proper green mango, either Thai or Indian style!

Now there's a thought, if it's very raw, maybe chango mutney...

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Re: BARGAIN BASEMENT

Postby Renee » Sun Jun 09, 2019 12:08 am

Maybe it will work, but probably won't have the same depth of flavour. I used to make chutney with green tomatoes which worked well because I added lemon juice which gave it a nice flavour.

Update:

Yes it can!

https://www.easycookingwithmolly.com/20 ... ey-recipe/

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Re: BARGAIN BASEMENT

Postby Stokey Sue » Sat Jul 13, 2019 8:31 pm

I went into Whole Foods Market just now, they are having their summer sale. Worth having a look if you are near one.

I bought 3 litres of Cretan Olive Oil, marked down from £23.99 to £14.99 - a good saving. Or marked down to £11.99 for Amazon Prime members, first time I've seen the link to Amazon made explicit - though I did meet a charming gent from Amazon doing time and motion in the store a while back.

The oil is Odysea brand and is packed in a metal jerry can, good for keeping and for recycling

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Re: BARGAIN BASEMENT

Postby Pampy » Mon Jul 15, 2019 1:48 pm

Not sure if this is a bargain but today and tomorrow are Amazon Prime days - an Instant Pot is £79.99. The RRP is £169.99, although I got mine from Amazon in 2016 for £99.99. If you're not a Prime member, you can take a 30-day free trial, buy the pot, then cancel the trial.
(This isn't an ad for Amazon - but there's been a few posts about the Instant Pot/slow-cookers/pressure cookers recently!)

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Re: BARGAIN BASEMENT

Postby Stokey Sue » Mon Jul 15, 2019 5:02 pm

I am tempted Pampy - currently at £69.99

The big advantage (apart from the reputation) would seem to be the stainless steel inner pot, rather than the flimsy looking non-stick one on some other brands

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Re: BARGAIN BASEMENT

Postby Pampy » Tue Jul 16, 2019 12:19 am

I have to say that I do like mine. One feature that I really like is that you're able to pre-cook or brown food (using one of the three saute settings) in the pot before slow-cooking - saves on washing up!

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Re: BARGAIN BASEMENT

Postby Stokey Sue » Tue Jul 16, 2019 1:04 pm

Had another look at the kitchen, and decided I really don’t have room at the moment. Something to bear in mind

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Cheaty Aldi Ad

Postby Sakkarin » Sun Jul 28, 2019 6:04 pm

What an utterly misleading ad. Aldi's current TV ad purports to show a huge difference in Tesco versus Aldi prices, but if you read the text and look at the image, you realise that it's BRANDED products from Tesco compared with Aldi's "own brand" prices.

Given that Tesco do own brand versions of everything on that shopping trolleyful, I consider that a complete swiz.

Aldi very conveniently allow you to download a list from their website to prove the maths, and on first glance, it looks as if Tesco are actually cheaper, for instance Aldi's orange juice is 89p, I just bought Tesco's economy orange juice for 55p; and they claim a price of £3 a kilo for Tesco chicken thighs, when Tesco actually do a 750g pack for 1.24, which gives a per kilo price of 1.66 compared to Aldi's 1.79.

Tempted to do a full workout.

Image

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Re: BARGAIN BASEMENT

Postby Stokey Sue » Sun Jul 28, 2019 7:54 pm

But Aldi have been running a campaign for years to suggest that their own brand products are as good as the leading brands though cheaper, implying that other own brands aren’t

So the comparison is always with the branded product, not the rival own brand

You know - the families who equally like the leading brand of squash or biscuits and the Aldi version

So the basket wouldn’t follow on from that if they compared to Tesco own

Though I agree, if all the products are brands available from multiple retailers, it seems oddly skewed to focus on Tesco rather than on the brands, and you’d think Tesco might have reason to object

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Re: BARGAIN BASEMENT

Postby jeral » Sun Jul 28, 2019 8:16 pm

At one time it was not allowed to say "better than Mr X's" only "better" or "best". I'm sure there are all sorts of price wheezes that can be done e.g. temporary reductions while an advert will be broadcast, then a reversion after hopefully converting a good few people. The main message though is that Aldi is cheaper and, considering how much market share has gone to Aldi and Lidl, it's working. Indeed a Waitrose is closing in Bromley (London outskirts) already taken up by Lidl.

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Re: BARGAIN BASEMENT

Postby Amyw » Sun Aug 04, 2019 7:17 pm

I’m sure I read recently that in order to advertise a price reduction on an item , the higher marked price”before” has to be sold as that for thirty days prior to the reduction.

I think that stemmed from supermarkets saying so and so we’re dold 50p cheaper than previous price , whereas say packet of biscuits had only had the price hiked up for a couple of days before the so called reduction

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Re: BARGAIN BASEMENT

Postby dennispc » Sun Aug 04, 2019 10:09 pm

That's my understanding, but for the big chains it could be that item being sold at the higher store at one price, say in Scotland, not in its Devon branch where the item is on offer.

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Re: BARGAIN BASEMENT

Postby Sakkarin » Mon Aug 05, 2019 11:47 am

That "30 days" issue is a complete swiz. There is always a hugely overpriced product lurking in some dark corner of Tescos awaiting its "half price" offer. With 7,000 stores, that would be 7,000 products with bogus full prices with only one product per store fictitiously priced.

I had a eureka moment on that when I was considering buying a "Half Price" DFS sofa. I happened to visit the store the day after the 6 month offer ran out, and they already had the replacement sofa in place, which was virtually identical but with only very slight design differences. The one I wanted had gone back to "full price", but was demoted to the back of the warehouse. There's basically a rota, with the offer sofa on display at "half price" with its virtually identical partner in storage at a fictitious "full price".

EDIT: And as for Sports Direct, their offers are entirely fabricated.

What annoys me even more is that they buy up respected brands that have fallen on hard times, and sell substandard imported sweatshop junk under the brand name.

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