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Bargain Basement

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Re: BARGAIN BASEMENT

Postby Stokey Sue » Fri Oct 04, 2019 6:17 pm

The butter is an amazing price
I just went to the market and for £1 each got a lovely bowl of mushrooms, a huge and gorgeous cauliflower, 6 big Turkish figs and 5 Romano peppers, they are huge, just over 500g in total

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Re: BARGAIN BASEMENT

Postby Sakkarin » Sun Oct 06, 2019 2:06 pm

Opposite of bargains, but I had to pass it on!

I fancied some chicken and dumpling stew, so suet was on my shopping list. I was shocked to find it was £1.60 for a 240g pack. That's £6.67 a kilo for what is basically beef fat, where the "cheap and cheerful" beef mince, actual meat, is only £2.98 a kilo. I couldn't bring myself to do it, that's more expensive than butter.

So I checked out the vegetable suet, Tesco's own brand a bit cheaper at £1.22, but the main ingredient seems to be palm oil. Isn't that the stuff that's causing much of the deforestation? Is there a good and bad palm oil? How would you tell?

So looks like it's going to be just chicken stew. Why is dripping only 65p for 250g when suet is £1.60? Can it be used for dumplings?

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Re: BARGAIN BASEMENT

Postby Sakkarin » Sun Oct 06, 2019 5:29 pm

Second hijack of this thread for OTT pricing.

As it was a nice afternoon for a cycle (my Morrisons transport), I made my monthlyish trip to Morrisons, and bit the bullet on the Little Scarlet jam, which they had in stock. £3.99, and its a small jar not a full-sized one :-(

I will be keeping it for a special occasion.

On the way I noticed that the Lidl (which has been built from scratch) has all its signage up and looks ready to roll, whereas the Aldi opposite (which is being refitted in an existing retail park unit) looks nowhere near completion.

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Re: BARGAIN BASEMENT

Postby scullion » Sun Oct 06, 2019 7:18 pm

Sakkarin wrote:So looks like it's going to be just chicken stew. Why is dripping only 65p for 250g when suet is £1.60? Can it be used for dumplings?

have you tried grating solid vegetable oil? although many of those probably contain palm oil, too.
I've just used grated butter or oil to make dumplings, they still work (and taste good).

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Re: BARGAIN BASEMENT

Postby Sakkarin » Mon Oct 07, 2019 5:00 pm

Dug my pack of Trex out of the fridge, and yes, it is mostly palm oil, however according to Tesco and Trex's websites, they both use 100% sustainable sources, although I don't understand half of Tesco's statement:

"For the 2018 calendar year reporting period, 100% of the palm oil used in our Own Brand products in the UK was certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (Segregated - 71%; Mass Balance - 26%; RSPO Credits – 2%).

We are working to transition the 2% of RSPO Credits to a physical supply chain of certified sustainable palm. This is predominantly within our non-food products range where physical supply chains for complex derivatives continue to be more challenging to establish."


I confess I didn't really know anything about palm oil, but I've learnt that its importance is that it yields 4 to 10 times the oil output per acre than any other vegetable oil, hence switching to other oils would at least quadruple the amount of land needed to produce an equivalent amount of oil.

Bottom line? Trex dumplings tonight. Or are they boiled scones?

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Re: BARGAIN BASEMENT

Postby dennispc » Mon Oct 07, 2019 5:49 pm

100% sustainable sources, although I don't understand half of Tesco's statement:


Gregg’s say the same. Jus Roll pastry also comes from sustainable sources.

I don’t understand either. All of a sudden Gregg’s et al, can increase their use of sustainable oil, it’s not only the cynic in me that is puzzled but surely logic says that’s not possible.

An apple orchard is sustainable, once planted. But the field it’s been planted in is no longer being used for, say, growing wheat.

Once planted a palm oil tree is sustainable, but a whole lot of jungle has been ripped up to do it and therefore the jungle is not sustainable.

Any explanation would help me.

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Re: BARGAIN BASEMENT

Postby Stokey Sue » Mon Oct 07, 2019 7:57 pm

James Wong (I do talk to other people online, honest) who would probably know, says sustainable palm oil really is fine, and in Malaysia much of it is grown on abandoned rubber plantations, not on newly cleared jungle

So we can breathe (and use certified palm oil)

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Re: BARGAIN BASEMENT

Postby Renee » Mon Oct 07, 2019 11:44 pm

That's good to know Sue.

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Re: BARGAIN BASEMENT

Postby scullion » Wed Oct 09, 2019 12:45 pm

morrisons have a deal on lavazza ground coffee (and, i think some other brands of ground coffee) at the moment - 2 packs for £6 - including on the decaf.

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Re: BARGAIN BASEMENT

Postby Sakkarin » Sun Nov 10, 2019 6:41 pm

That offer applies to the beans too.

Bit of a moan, I think I've said it before - Lavazza bags are 250g, most house brands are 227g, Costa/Starbucks and a couple of others are only 200g, all seemingly the same size on the shelves.

This price of £3 for a 250g Lavazza pack equates to just £2.40 if it were a 200g pack.

200g:
Starbucks
Costa
Aldi own brand
Change Please** (Sainos)

227g:
Sainsburys own brand
Tesco own brand
Asda own brand
Morrisons own brand
Taylors
Modern Standard (Sainos)
Grumpy Mule (Asda)

250g:
Lavazza
Illy
Cru Cafe (Tesco)

**Change please:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MP3U0lNLh4o

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Re: BARGAIN BASEMENT

Postby Sakkarin » Sun Nov 10, 2019 7:27 pm

I just had to post a piccy of this! From the Gino Campo aisle (is it new or just moved) in Iceland, the packaging pic looked too good to be true, so that was my excuse for getting it to see how it compared. It is the first time what's inside the pizza box has ever matched what's inside!! The best frozen pizza I've had, on a par with good restaurant pizzas.

At £3 it's three times the price of their budget range, however the mid-price BBQ Meat Feast one I tried a while back at £1.59 was very good too.

EDIT: P.S. That's an actual pic I took of the packaging alongside my cooked pizza as it came out of the oven, not adjusted in any way - my worktop is white -

and I fancy another one now...

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Re: BARGAIN BASEMENT

Postby Meganthemog » Mon Nov 11, 2019 6:23 pm

That looks like a good pizza to have in the freezer. I've seen his range in Iceland and been tempted to try some of his seafood pasta - maybe I will now!

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Re: BARGAIN BASEMENT

Postby Sakkarin » Mon Nov 11, 2019 7:06 pm

Just had the "Super Spicy" and it was very good too. Get someone to knock on the door and pretend to be a delivery guy, and I'd fob them off as restaurant ones.

Oh well, that's my pizza ration for the rest of the month used up...

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Re: BARGAIN BASEMENT

Postby Sakkarin » Thu Nov 21, 2019 6:49 pm

Gressingham Duck Breasts "half price" in Tesco, £4.25 for 2, although I don't believe they were ever £8.50.

Tempted to buy some to freeze for Christmas, but I've never bought Christmas stuff this far ahead!

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Re: BARGAIN BASEMENT

Postby jeral » Fri Nov 22, 2019 11:56 am

The new Curry's advert is a hoot. £hundreds off previous price, where each item is dated in the small print to have been at that price only recently. The suspense is killing me as to the price in October before the apparently artificial hike. Beware Black Friday sales methinks.

My freezer is currently clogged up with twofers, which is daft when variety and less usual things will soon need the space. Is there a cookery book titled "How to eat the Freezer -Fast"?

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Re: BARGAIN BASEMENT

Postby Sakkarin » Fri Nov 22, 2019 1:30 pm

I've been trying to "eat-down" the freezer to defrost it, but keep forgetting and buying frozen stuff when it's on offer :-(

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Re: BARGAIN BASEMENT

Postby Stokey Sue » Fri Nov 22, 2019 2:41 pm

I cleaned out the fridge and freezer yesterday, it’s frost free so I can get away with clearing out one drawer at a time

Didn’t really find any nice surprises :( but did chuck out the saved duck fat from last Christmas, it was an interesting colour :o

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Re: BARGAIN BASEMENT

Postby Sakkarin » Fri Nov 22, 2019 2:48 pm

I've still got several ancient tins of goose and duck fat on top of my fridge freezer.

They'll probably still be there when I pass away :-(

EDIT: Three tins of duck fat, best before 2012.
Goose fat x 2, 2015.

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Re: BARGAIN BASEMENT

Postby Badger's Mate » Fri Nov 22, 2019 3:02 pm

I've got a plastic pot of goose grease in the freezer somewhere, 'spose that should go as there will be some more to go in next month. Iirc, there's a Christmas pud in there too. The freezer was meant to be cleared for defrosting last Spring. It needs replacing, it was inherited from my late father in 1990. It's something of an old friend now, but I worry it will fail at an inconvenient time.

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Re: BARGAIN BASEMENT

Postby Stokey Sue » Fri Nov 22, 2019 4:47 pm

Mine was the drippings in a marmalade jar, every year I say I’ll freezer it in but never do. It actually smelled ok but didn’t really look the part

Must go shopping, there are gaps in the fridge

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