O/T Whats in Jazz's trolley

I know this is motoring and I apologise but I am really curious about what jazz buys at the supermarket each week that makes his shopping at Countdown so much cheaper than P'nS.

Sauerkraut, Pizza, Olives.

Yum, I love sauerkraut. Goes nice with pork and mashed potato.

sushi, rice, salmon, squid, octopus, tempura batter, teriyaki sauce, soy sauce, wagyu beef, dim sims, kim-chee

Probably buys 6 kilos of 'what i say goes'. 10 bottles of 'up the police no matter what'. Couple of sacks of 'what i sell is the best'. Couple packets of 'jap is crap'. The rest of the trolley would be made up of sauerkraut as cowlover says.

LOL, I am tempted not to post to see what other replies roll in! I have really enjoyed reading what's been posted so far.

Anyhow eagles, if those in motoring don't mind the tangent I am happy to discuss this. It sounds like what I said in the other thread was not clear enough.

Basically, its not what we buy (at least I don't think it is) its HOW we buy.
Its about utilising how Countdown works to your advantage.

Basically, with a few exceptions I am not a brand snob, I don't tend to buy "house brand" stuff (because that too is often not the best value, there are also quality issues with a few of these products). Instead I will just quickly do the math in my head on each of the items of the type I want that are offered on special. I will cull out some poor quality brands from my selection but will always consider and do the math on the "top shelf" stuff as often the value is there when on special.

So, if I am buying liquid soap is likely going to be Palmolive or some other well known brand I end up with but I choose by doing a quick mental squiz on which of the specials is the cheapest per 100ml. Sometimes the tags work this out for me sometimes they don't. This may sound tedious but its actually quite quick once you are in the habit and its good for the brain.

IF an item is a particularly good special, say half off (some classics are meat deals and dishwash powder) I will stock up. Hang, if the deal is particularly good and its not something I see regularly I will buy their entire shelf stock if it makes sense to do so.

What I find is that with Countdown, is that at the end of the shop there are very few items in my trolly that I have not managed to purchase on some sort of decent special.

With Pak N Save while they have specials they don't tend to be as good across the board and this is how the price comparison scam works.

If you make a very specific list, say, Palmolive soap 350ml, hubbards fruitifull breakfast, mainland cheese 350gm etc and stick to that list religiously. Then you will tend to find Pak N Save is cheaper as their "everyday" prices are lower. This I believe is how the comparisons the paper and Pak N Save them selves work.

However, if you shop like I do with a bit of brand flexibility, at least on the two occasions I have compared my "real world" shopping worked out cheaper. I also ended up with some better quality products.

Why not try it yourself and see what you find! It does take some time to do unfortunately and unless you want double everything you are going to look a bit of a dork with your pad and pencil and no groceries. But hey, if you do the "pretend" shop at Pak N Save you are not going to look as silly as the person next to you in their Pajamas.

I would be genuinely interested to hear how you get on, its been a couple of years at least since I have done a comparison.

The only think I can think of with regard to specifics we buy which may have a bearing on things is the meat and possibly Alcohol. We have an extra chest freezer (which costs me pretty much bang on $6 a month to run) which we utilise for the bulk buys. Meat is often where we save the most on our shop, and the Te Puke Countdown which is out closest can actually have some really good meat specials.Our general rule of thumb for buying meat is it needs to be under $6 a meal (for two people) and reasonable quality (Lamb not mutton etc). We will usually buy one "treat" meat per shop which will also be a special but will break the $6 rule, say a rack of lamb for $10 or some such.

Since I have been unwell I haven't been able to really have any alcohol as it can tip the balance and make me tired for a few days. Other than that we probably buy fairly similar stuff to everyone else.

Hopefully that has answered some questions for people!

Just a couple of extra little things that may be of interest.

With Bacon at the moment, I am finding that big 1KG packs of premium dry cured stuff can sometimes be the best value (despite the initially scary looking pricetag). My test for value in bacon is not price per 100gms because many brands seem to be making up their weight with lots of water.

So, I compare on a per slice basis (within reason, they have to be somewhat similar sized slices). This is far more reflective of my actual costs, as I use bacon on a "per slice" not weight basis i.e one slice on by breakfast muffin.

On another note, the stubborn mule in my will deliberately avoid a "fake" special (even if it is the cheapest) as a small protest. Occasionally you will get a special that is something absurd like 1% or less off, I find that insulting. Just like I find the "Big Tickets" which look like specials but are not in some stores (not necessarily supermarkets) insulting.

Additionally, and I think everyone knows this, be wary of the "Bulk Special" that is dearer than buying several smaller packs. This is another trick I find repugnant. I appreciate that all supermarkets (and chain stores) use a whole play book of psychological tricks. I can actually appreciate a lot of the "cleverness" but some things I find insulting and will go out of my way to avoid rewarding.

At the end of the day, like most things my personal rules are:
1. Don't assume
2. Do the math
3. Be VERY suspicious of advertising/media.

Lastly, one other little thing, and this is a saving due to psychological means not necessarily store value, but a saving for us none the less. Periodically when we have a good stock of meat we will shop online. We find that avoiding the psychological temptations for impulse buys that you get from actually being in store usually translates to a significant saving on our grocery shop. Not to mention it saves a LOT of time, my Wife has a store accross the road from where she works and just picks up our online shopping on the way home.

jazz does try to give a proper answer & fully explain where hes coming from

Thanks!
I do try.

What!

No glossy pictured mutipla magazines!

Aye Carumba there IS a God- LOL

No, sadly I have to order those from the U.K.

BTW, it goes without saying, groceries always taste better when they have been transported by Alfa Romeo.

I would have thought you would have lemons in your trolley for sure!

Aye Carumba there IS a God- LOL

No, sadly I have to order those from the U.K.

Quote

thejazzpianoma (167 )4:22 pm, Thu 7 Feb #11

Good Gravy, Jazz, even 'Top Gear' pokes the borax at their reliability .

Use the pennies you save at the s/mkt, and buy something else.

That's what the Alfa is for .

LOL, not quite, I think Jesus was the pioneer of the multinational chain, with a local branch in your neighborhood. Not to mention, home delivery, 24/7 access and a dedicated T.V channel.

Funny, never had a breakdown in an Alfa yet. Everyone says they are unreliable, but I am yet to see it in any of ours.

We maintain ours properly though, and I think that is what is key.

I have bought them with scary looking electrical problems on the cheap before (including the current 156 JTS) but these are usually simple to fix if you approach it logically and don't just run around with your arms in the air. I find fixing the sort of problems you get with an Alfa is often far easier than the problems you get with other makes, even mainstream common stuff.

Thanks, but I am quite happy enjoying thoroughly enjoyable motoring on a budget.

Op: a VW Combi and a bag of herb.

we love you jazzpianoma, thanks for the tips, haven't been back to te puke for years, used to live in makatu , where the good pies come from, just loved the place but wasto far from family for my girl
miss the kaituna cut , thats how we survived fish glorious fish

Thanks!
We are quite new here, had to sell the fancy house at Papamoa beach when I got crook. Have bought an old cheap mortgagee house here which I pick away at fixing up on my good days.
Really enjoying it though, lovely big section, nice village, and when the new motorway goes in it will be very handy to the Mt/Tauranga. Plenty of room for more sheds as I get better too!

ha ha yes we always find room for another shed, or project , good onya, hope you just keep getting better
my wife keeps feeding me round up but i've told her you can't kill a weed baby
enjoy life cause it's a long time lookin up

LOL, cheers!

I see where jazz is coming from now.He is not necessarily geting a cheap shop at Countdown, but he is getting what he buys at a better price than P&S.That I can understand and yes I think he is right that the "standard" shop is specific items.We simply buy the cheapest at P&S and like Jazz do the maths to get the best price per 100mil or 100gm etc.We don't buy some things like the budget toilet roll (3 grades of TP, Luxuary, Rough and Oooh).

I think but could be wrong that New World on Jazz's system would be cheaper than Countdown though.

And if you hapen to get 40 cents off your gas well thats a bonus.(there made it motoring)

Steady guys; this is a motoring thread, think about your reputations. The only time a straight guy should be seen in a supermarket is when he??