Shopping at Iceland

[MrCub]

Over the last few months, I've been trying out different places for food shopping. I've been a Sainsburys and Lidl customer for years. A chance trip into Iceland, expecting low-quality, mega-fatty, hideously-sugary guff, surprised me. I found all of the above but also a really good range of other things, including cooking ingredients at a fraction of the cost expected.

As a treat, their bake-at-home croissants and pastries were surprisingly excellent. So I'm asking if you have 'downgraded' your food shopping recently and been surprised at what you have found?

 

[scott118]

is that "why mum's go to Iceland?"

 

[yorksrob]

I would recommend the co-op for their excellent ready meals.

 

[Shimbleshanks]

Iceland's stuff is mostly frozen, so they shouldn't need all the preservatives and nasty chemicals. I tend not to use them much though because my Missus refuses to have a microwave in the house, which makes defrosting frozen stuff a real chore.

Me, I've been a Lidl shopper for years - better quality than Tesco and mostly lower prices. I'd also rate Lidl above Aldi for quality and choice. In fact I'm off to Lidl in Croydon now...

 

[MrCub]

There's a lovely Lidl here. The fruit and veg is great. I don't ever have ready meals so I like the variety of ingredients. Lidl also do the nicest extra mature cheese I've ever had.

 

[Calthrop]

I know this is the General Discussion forum; but on initially seeing this thread's heading, I was imagining that it would be a discussion of whether there have ever been railways in the nation of Iceland ! (I seem to recall reading that there were in the past, one or two short industrial lines there.)

 

[yorkie]

...refuses to have a microwave in the house, which makes defrosting frozen stuff a real chore. ......

Put them in the fridge a day in advance?

 

[MrCub]

Yes. I see the thread title has been changed which takes the fun out of it somewhat. Ho-hum
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
The big downside of going to Iceland supermarket though is that they have a huge selection of chocolate which is always very cheap. I love chocolate. I could eat chocolate all day every day quite happily. However, I'm diabetic. It's a dilemma.....

 

[Mojo]

I couldn't do my full shop in Iceland, but it's very good for a few bits and bobs. I did try their Kangaroo steaks the other month which were okay for a novelty food.

A few years ago I gave Lidl and Aldi a try on a few occasions, but didn't really like it, mainly down to the long queues and the other customers who weren't very nice. However in the past year or so I've really noticed how the main supermarkets seem to have been cutting back on checkout attendants and there have been really bad queues, even in Waitrose. I thought I'd give Aldi another go and was pleased to see that they had some sort of queue length promise (there were signs around the place that said something to the effect of, if the queue is past this point, we will open another checkout). Whilst there are a few essentials I usually buy but the discounters don't sell, such as clotted cream, by and large it has everything I need. I often buy items from the economy range which are more expensive in the discounters, but this is a minority of my purchases.

 

[SS4]

Iceland have some good stuff on - I like their chicken korma and it's cheap at £1.50 too. I also get my gravy granules from there. Like Mojo, I couldn't do a full shop there though.

I also visit Lidl a fair amount, usually for their bakery (their doughnuts are divine)

 

[trentside]

I've just converted from Tesco to Lidl for my main weekly shop and I'm very impressed. Even on a Sunday morning my nearest Lidl is pretty quiet and the staff are very proactive about opening more checkouts. I never thought I'd buy their meat, but a lot of it is British and of excellent quality normally. The fresh produce is also great.

I do sometimes do a top up shop at Tesco to get items Lidl don't stock, and additional trips to the local Lincolnshire Co-Op for bread and milk. The latter is something that is increasingly frustrating as my local store is not well run!

 

[507021]

I personally do a fair amount of my shopping at Iceland, with the rest at either Farmfoods or Morrisons depending what else I need. As much as I like Iceland I myself couldn't do all of my shopping there. I've always found the quality of Iceland food to be excellent, it's extremely well priced and there's usually some good deals on as well. I also find that Iceland's long life bags are much better than those on offer at other supermarkets, too.

I like Lidl for the bakery section too, especially the croissants, which are excellent.

 

[backontrack]

I know this is the General Discussion forum; but on initially seeing this thread's heading, I was imagining that it would be a discussion of whether there have ever been railways in the nation of Iceland ! (I seem to recall reading that there were in the past, one or two short industrial lines there.)

So did I! I fly to Iceland to do my shopping; there are fewer pensioners there.

We shop at both Sainsburys Local and Waitrose. Both opened quite recently near us.

At Waitrose, they have an offer where, if you have a MyWaitrose card, you get a free newspaper if you spend £5, so we'll pop in to get a few groceries and a paper. There's also a charity box thing, where there a three boxes, you get a green token thing after you pay, and you put it in one of the boxes - the totals at the end of the month are tallied up and an equivalent amount of money is paid to each charity. Unfortunately, you often see really good causes losing out because people try to support causes which might benefit themselves. Children's hospices lose out to massage treatment centres.

I guess this is because there are so many self-entitled middle-aged Tory voters down here. All the young people in the South East are either in London or Brighton.

I've never used Iceland.

 

[SS4]

I never thought I'd buy their meat, but a lot of it is British and of excellent quality normally. The fresh produce is also great.

Their meat is actually really nice, I got my Christmas chicken from Lidl.

Their sweets are also excellent (too excellent for my waistline!)

 

[telstarbox]

For us it's a mixture of the fruit and veg market, Sainsbury's and Aldi.

 

[krus_aragon]

So did I! I fly to Iceland to do my shopping; there are less pensioners there.

Fewer pensioners, but more grammar pedants. :P

If saying a few X makes sense, then it's fewer. If not, it's less.
e.g.: A few pensioners -> fewer pensioners. Similarly, a few salt -> less salt.

 

[backontrack]

By a massive coincidence, I was looking at telstarbox's reply, I scrolled up, realised my mistake and went to edit it. But it was loading really slowly, so I refreshed and ended up at your post! hock:

 

[GatwickDepress]

Tesco purely because I work there. Lidl is a lovely place. Aldis and Morrisons tend to vary considerably on management and morale. I dislike Asda; every large one I've been to feels too much like a warehouse and finding staff can be a pain - Costco is excepted because it is essentially a warehouse.

I don't usually shop at Waitrose as they're too dear for me, same with the Co-op.

I'm a little proud of my Tesco to be honest. We have very proactive checkout managers too, so there's always a good flow going on in the main checkouts and the self-serve ones.

 

[Domh245]

I do my weekly shops at Tesco for a few different reasons: It is easy to walk to for me, It has all of the things that I need, I find that generally the stuff there is better quality than Lidl, and the checkout there is good, particularly with the scan as you shop. I find Lidl quite dreary, and usually when I go it takes a lot longer to checkout than at most supermarkets. One person on checkouts in the middle of a weekday with a queue stretching back into the aisles was not acceptable, nor was the time it took to get a second one open.

 

[Butts]

One good thing about Iceland is their charges for a container with One or Two Pints of Milk.

Last time I was there it was 25p for the former and 50p for the latter.

I know the big 4 pint jobs are £1 or less , but if you don't use much milk and only want a smallish amount they are much cheaper than anyone else. Tesco for example charge 45p for a pint one.

 

[scott118]

One good thing about Iceland is their charges for a container with One or Two Pints of Milk.

Last time I was there it was 25p for the former and 50p for the latter.

I know the big 4 pint jobs are £1 or less , but if you don't use much milk and only want a smallish amount they are much cheaper than anyone else. Tesco for example charge 45p for a pint one.

Thankfully, I'm not a dairy farmer..hock:

 

[Butts]

Thankfully, I'm not a dairy farmer..hock:

Or a Milkman

 

[scott118]

Or a Milkman

seriously, I've not seen one of those in about 10 years, that said i do live in a Norfolk hamlet..

 

[Liam]

I do my shopping at Tesco mainly because I don't drive and its less than 10 minutes walk. The queue's in Tesco always seem much shorter than in Morrison's (which is the other option). The Tesco also has a cat . There's a Coop on the way home from work that I often nip in to to pick up a few things.

 

[TheEdge]

I shop at Aldi, far prefer it to Lidl, seemingly against the crowd on that one. Though I do agree that individual stores can vary in quality for both chains.

 

[Butts]

I do my shopping at Tesco mainly because I don't drive and its less than 10 minutes walk. The queue's in Tesco always seem much shorter than in Morrison's (which is the other option). The Tesco also has a cat . There's a Coop on the way home from work that I often nip in to to pick up a few things.

Of the Feline variety ? - please elaborate.

 

[scott118]

Of the Feline variety ? - please elaborate.

must be a 'trend' - http://www.standard.co.uk/news/lond...d-becomes-an-internet-celebrity-a3150716.html

 

[Butts]

must be a 'trend' - http://www.standard.co.uk/news/lond...d-becomes-an-internet-celebrity-a3150716.html

Very Good - "Olly" seems quite a character

 

[MikeWh]

I split my shopping between Sainsbury's and Iceland. My favourite Iceland offering is the £1 pizza. They also do some stunning bulk-buy discounts if you keep your eyes open.

 

[David]

I never thought I'd buy their meat, but a lot of it is British and of excellent quality normally.

I'll comment on the poultry side of things here, seeing as I work in a poultry processing factory ....

Chicken wise, the factory I work at supplies Tesco, Asda, Morrisons, Sainsburys, Co-op, Aldi and Lidl, plus various wholesale outlets. The chickens used for the Co-op Extra Tasty cook in a bag (for example) could easily be used for either Lidl or Aldi, as they all use the same specs. It's just the coating used varies slightly (depending on when the supermarket wants).

It's the same for Tesco's Extra Large chickens. The same birds could easily be used for Morrisons, Sainsburys or Asda, as once again they all have a very similar spec.

It's not just the whole birds either, as we also do ready meals and various portions for the same customers. The main difference is the packaging, but ready meals have very similar specs from all the supermarkets. Again the only difference is the other ingredients used (such as the stuffing used in some meals) differ slightly according to the specifications supplied by our customers, IE, the supermarkets.

On a further note, most poultry supplied to the supermarkets tends to originate at something like 8-10 different factories nationally, of which at least 6 are owned by the same company.

Anyway, don't believe the mantra that the discount supermarkets are demanding better quality than the 'big 4', becasue, as far as I'm concerned, from the factory I work at at least, our customers all get equally good chickens and ready meals.