Has any one else noticed the massive price differential price difference for essentially the same product within the same supermarket? Yesterday doing my weekend shop I took three common items to compare prices.

Red Kidney Beans were 32p in the Indian section, 47p in the Caribbean and 70p in the English row.

Chick Peas were 31p in the Indian up to 79p in the 'English.'

Coconut Milk went from 57p in the Caribbean to 59p in the Indian to a massive ?1.59 in the 'Oriental.'

All the tins were the same size and contents, admittedly with different branding but I can't believe having a great difference in quality.

Yes been seeing this for years now... even the very same item (not differing in any way) will be priced up differently..

You might find lets say "200g mixed nuts" in the healthy snack options at ?2.39 but further around in the shop in the baking section the exact same packets might be priced as 2 for ?2 or one for ?1.50...

I've even seen things "on offer" where they are saying something like "rolled back prices, was 2:50 each now get 2 for ?4" yet on another section they are priced individually at ?1.50 !!

Steve

I must take a look, just as soon as get over the jet-lag. This is so naughty of the supermarkets. I am surprised they are allowed!

Welcome home Mamta!

This was really just a tip for readers that if shopping in a large supermarket with different 'ethnic' sections much the same product can be bought for a big price difference if you shop between different continents!

Winton

Thanks, Winton: I'll look out for this here in the French supermarkets. I'd really love to boycott supermarkets altogether, especialy since I live in a culture with good weekly markets, and where there are still butchers, fishmongers, bakers and grocery stores in abundance (one of my brothers in Edinburgh tells me that there are hardly any butchers left there, except for Halal butchers, which is where he often goes for his meat).

Roll on retirement: I'll be buying my food on a daily basis then!

Phil

Where I live and within less than 15mins. drive.

Tescons: 2 ordinary large stores and 1 giant "Extra".

Asda: 1 V.Large, 1 normal.

Aldi: 2.

Lidl: 2.

Sainsbury: 1.

Real Butchers left in that area: 2

Wet Fish Shop: None but one of the two Butchers has a limited amount of local caught.

Says it all really. As the song goes, "You don't know what you've got 'till it's gone" :-(

its a real shame that the local shops are going/gone... but the pace of life is getting faster and faster people don't seem to want to go browsing in several shops anymore...

Steve

Or as in the lyrics of Cyndi Thomson:

"I'm gone And I'm taking all my good stuff, Gone,gone, You'll never get it back

I'm gone,gone, Been a long time coming -Bet you're gonna miss me bad"

What saddens me is when these independent shops close the craft of butchery and fishmongery ends with them. The supermarkets seem to love dressing up school leavers in butchers' and fishmongers' uniforms and stick them behind a counter. It would be absolutely useless to ask them any thing about the provenance of the food, cooking information, yet alone get them to fillet or descale a fish when they barely can tell its head from its tail!

I'll get off my soap box now!

Winton

I will get on the box now Winton ;-)!

Quite a while back one day, I was buying fish at Sainsbury's. I asked the fishmonger about a new fish that I hadn't had before, what it was like and how was it best cooked. His reply, "I hate fish, have never eaten it except as fish and chips!" he was not a young boy from school, he was a trained fishmonger, head of his section!!

Most supermarket personnel these days can not give you much information about the product they are selling. How many times you see people on fruit and vegetable section who have no idea what they are selling. Try asking them about Cape Gooseberries or Passion fruit or Pomegranate. Many haven't even eaten mango, ever! Many checkout personnel do not know the names of fruits/vegetables you are buying and ask you what they are. I am sure they could be given a couple of lessons.

They should at least know the name of the produce don't you feel?

I find it amusing but shouldn't really its actually a crying shame... when you you go through the check out with fruit and veg and they have a crib sheet so they can tell what it is.. !

Steve

I have been SO tempted on occasions to give the name of a much cheaper product/variety when the cashier asks me what something is! I assume the lack of training is why the supermarkets feel the need to label every single apple, pear etc. or use excessive packaging.

Also their Head Offices seem none more the wiser.I have a running correspondence with the 'Product Quality Team' of a leading supermarket. When the meat/fish is weighed, cooking instructions are included on the price label. I realise they want to cover their backs by customers not undercooking their food but the times are as such for cremation to the point of the food becoming carcinogenic.

For instance I recently bought some (small) scallops with a recommended grilling time of fifteen minutes! I would have though one minute a side would be enough.

Winton

That is interesting Winton, I neve look at their cooking times.

exactly, like sell by and use by dates they are covering their backs !

Steve

Actually got asked at a checkout by the operator what our Peas in the Pod were and then "I've never seen them before, how do you cook them? Whole or do you have to cut them up?

Now she was not some young slip, straight from school but mid 20's at least.

What chance??????????

Last week I bought a 1k bag of bananas, because the loose ones weren't very nice. When I got home I realised that they had been weighed and I had been charge charged for loose ones. I wasn't really bothered about the 19p that I had been overcharged but the the man on the checkout, aged about 50, has obviously never even been grocery shopping. The training is obviously sadly lacking

I suppose its all down to us! If we didn't shop in the supermarkets and went to places where specia lists were skilled in the growing, cooking and sales of a product then the supermarkets wouldn't be around with their stack them high sell them cheap ways.

Steve

I make a point of using our local grocery stores (?piceries, in French), and I try to buy local produce. The great thing about one of our local grocery shops is that the origin of all the fruit and veg is marked on a little blackboard: if it says 'pays', that means 'local', but often they will say exactly which local town the produce comes from.

Root ginger is sold in French supermarkets, but I've often come across supermarket checkout people asking me what it is. I, too, am tempted to lie about the price when the checkout person has no idea what the thing is, especially when it comes to really expensive mushrooms such as chanterelles.