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M&S food not worth the price
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j4Rose
25-06-2011
Originally Posted by Cake_Nibbler:
“Love M & S. By far the best food chain. Everything is gorgeous. It is expensive but when it tastes that good, It is so worth it

In my experience, people who criticise it tend to be either people with no interest food and think everything tastes the same.This type of person won;t try new/foreign things and idea of a good meal out is at a pub. The other people who criticise it are people who can't afford to shop their and expres bitterness because they're jealous”

Some of the food is good, some of it simply isn't worth the price. Claiming people are jealous is just :yawn:

I would buy certain items there, but not others. Why pay more when you don't have to? That's just stupidity.
whoever,hey
25-06-2011
Originally Posted by Cake_Nibbler:
“Love M & S. By far the best food chain. Everything is gorgeous. It is expensive but when it tastes that good, It is so worth it

In my experience, people who criticise it tend to be either people with no interest food and think everything tastes the same.This type of person won;t try new/foreign things and idea of a good meal out is at a pub. The other people who criticise it are people who can't afford to shop their and expres bitterness because they're jealous”

I bet their ready meals are sugar or fat junk like every other supermarket. are you a bit precious about m&s or something?
Cstar2229
25-06-2011
Tried the peach melba cheesecake which was reduced to £2, usually £3.99 - it was gorgeous.
Muttley76
25-06-2011
I think M&S food is very good, and i don't think it's that bad in terms of being value for money. Quality is worth paying a bit more for sometimes.
Muttley76
25-06-2011
Originally Posted by whoever,hey:
“I bet their ready meals are sugar or fat junk like every other supermarket. are you a bit precious about m&s or something?”

i will say this though: their food labelling is better than any other supermarket i've seen and makes it much easier to make better choices about food.
c4rv
25-06-2011
Originally Posted by Cake_Nibbler:
“In fairness I was definitely a bit over zealous. I just get annoyed when people try and claim the food isn't better quality because it does use finer cuts of meats, more of expensive ingridients etc

I personally dont get my food from there regularly, only shopping there as a treat too. But I always appreciate it because I honestly believe it is on the whole superior food.

Sorry if I came across as massively snobby. I can't afford to shop there all the time myself so would never look down on someone who cannot justify paying their prices. I just beleive it is worth the money if you can afford it though ”

Again more rubbish, more expensive doesn't always equal better food. As I mention before Aldi and Lidl have won many blind taste tests. Just because because its waitrose or M & S does not automatically mean that every item is better.
Gaditano
25-06-2011
One area where M&S really can't be beaten is sandwiches. Luckily my local station has a small M&S, so train journeys are catered for. Their cheddar & celery is legendary!!
Cake_Nibbler
25-06-2011
Originally Posted by c4rv:
“Again more rubbish, more expensive doesn't always equal better food. As I mention before Aldi and Lidl have won many blind taste tests. Just because because its waitrose or M & S does not automatically mean that every item is better.”

Well personally I feel that Aldi and Lidl is not better food. I went to an Aldi once to do some research on the company. Everything I bought from there was either just average or really bland. Maybe some people think there food is nicer but when I taste them I find them incredibly dull. Their fruit and veg in particular was really weird.

I don't care where other people shop but I know that I dont like Aldi and I think M&S food tastes a lot nicer. I also apprecoaye not every item is automatically better but on the whole standards are higher -Sainsburys falafel is nicer than the M&S one for instance.
c4rv
25-06-2011
Originally Posted by Cake_Nibbler:
“I don't care where other people shop but I know that I dont like Aldi and I think M&S food tastes a lot nicer. I also apprecoaye not every item is automatically better but on the whole standards are higher -Sainsburys falafel is nicer than the M&S one for instance.”

While I don't care if you wish to shop there, you food snobbery is bordering on comical.
whackyracer
25-06-2011
Originally Posted by c4rv:
“While I don't care if you wish to shop there, you food snobbery is bordering on comical.”

I agree with this. I bet if cake nibbler was made to do a blind taste test, they wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a lot of m&s and aldi and lidl products. For example, I hear very high praise for their cured meats, cheeses and wines and this is from people who I would most definitely consider 'foodies' and who've dined a lot at places like the fat duck etc
duffsdad
25-06-2011
I think that buying things individually can be expensive at M&S but shopping there for food actually works out cheaper for me. The Sainsbury's, Tesco and Asda beside me all have huge clothing areas. if I go there my daughter gets jammies, DVD's etc. If I go to M&S I buy seven meals, nothing else. However, I think some of their stuff has become bland or cheap tasting and not worth the money.
c4rv
25-06-2011
Originally Posted by duffsdad:
“I think that buying things individually can be expensive at M&S but shopping there for food actually works out cheaper for me. The Sainsbury's, Tesco and Asda beside me all have huge clothing areas. if I go there my daughter gets jammies, DVD's etc. If I go to M&S I buy seven meals, nothing else. However, I think some of their stuff has become bland or cheap tasting and not worth the money.”

Costco was bad news for me as I used to buy crap that I didn't need. I will say that Costco properly has some of the best meat outside of a butchers, especially their steaks and burgers.
Tiggergirl
25-06-2011
Originally Posted by c4rv:
“Costco was bad news for me as I used to buy crap that I didn't need. I will say that Costco properly has some of the best meat outside of a butchers, especially their steaks and burgers.”

Staying out of Costco is essential for my budget I used to spend an absolute fortune in there again on mostly stuff I didn't really need but just had to have.

I really rate their cakes though especially the chocolate fudge one and the muffins.

If I go to M&S for treats it will be stuff like the mini seeded rolls and some of the desserts. Although for a while the various crispbakes were quite good value although the quality of them deterioated so I stopped buying them.
c4rv
25-06-2011
Originally Posted by Tiggergirl:
“Staying out of Costco is essential for my budget I used to spend an absolute fortune in there again on mostly stuff I didn't really need but just had to have.

I really rate their cakes though especially the chocolate fudge one and the muffins.

If I go to M&S for treats it will be stuff like the mini seeded rolls and some of the desserts. Although for a while the various crispbakes were quite good value although the quality of them deterioated so I stopped buying them.”

I do like costco muffins, but its not the price that worries me we looked it up one time and I think there was close to 1,500 calories in each one !! My mate got some last week and they do seem to be smaller these days with more on the tray.
ramraideruk
25-06-2011
When I was working in Belgium, I used to raid the M&S Simply food at ST Pancras for my weeks provisions. The food wasn't that expensive (£2-4 per meal) and it was very high quality.
Their 'Wise buys' line is good VFM IMHO (id that too many abbreviations?).
LemonGrove
27-06-2011
I used to regularly buy some 'Super Soft White Rolls' at the 'bakery special' price of 2 packs for £1.50 recently, now they are on a 'summer deals' offer of 2 packs for £2. Clearly M&S are no better than the big names when it comes to tricking you.
LittleTinker
21-07-2011
I have worked in the food industry for a lot of my life and one place I worked for produced food for several chains of supermarkets plus Harrods, F&M's, M&S and local corner shop brands.

The food itself was exactly the same. It was all processed exactly the same, cooked the same and treated the same.......the only difference was packaging.

We had different boxes and jars for different shops. Different labels etc.

People are so easily duped into believing that what they buy is the best because thats what they want to believe yet so many experiments and processing facts tell us different. In fact most people (in testing) either cannot determin the 'expensive' brand or they prefer the cheaper ones.
(One classic case was one where Rick Stein had to contain his shame that 30 diners preferred an Aldi chicken to any other)

M&S strawberries, for example, are picked by the same people who pick strawberries for cheaper shops and markets and they come from the exact same fields.

These supermarkets do far too much to con us into believing we are buying something of quality when we are not.

How many people here buy M&S Oakham chicken? A chicken designed to 'sound' decent, posh, good quality etc etc. It isnt. Its just a bog standard cheap chicken that doesnt even come from anywhere called Oakham.

Supermarket tactics are very precise and their marketing ploys are, of course, designed to have us believe that we are getting the best.
Its all a bit 'Emperors New Clothes'.....we believe it because we want to believe it otherwise we would all look very stupid for choosing expensive over cheaper when there is no difference.........and no-one wants to be the first one to stand out and say......"Errrr actually........".
Cake_Nibbler
21-07-2011
Originally Posted by LittleTinker:
“I have worked in the food industry for a lot of my life and one place I worked for produced food for several chains of supermarkets plus Harrods, F&M's, M&S and local corner shop brands.

The food itself was exactly the same. It was all processed exactly the same, cooked the same and treated the same.......the only difference was packaging.

We had different boxes and jars for different shops. Different labels etc.

People are so easily duped into believing that what they buy is the best because thats what they want to believe yet so many experiments and processing facts tell us different. In fact most people (in testing) either cannot determin the 'expensive' brand or they prefer the cheaper ones.
(One classic case was one where Rick Stein had to contain his shame that 30 diners preferred an Aldi chicken to any other)

M&S strawberries, for example, are picked by the same people who pick strawberries for cheaper shops and markets and they come from the exact same fields.

These supermarkets do far too much to con us into believing we are buying something of quality when we are not.

How many people here buy M&S Oakham chicken? A chicken designed to 'sound' decent, posh, good quality etc etc. It isnt. Its just a bog standard cheap chicken that doesnt even come from anywhere called Oakham.

Its all nonsense.”

Not true in the slightest. Stawberries for instance might be picked in the same place by the same people, but M&S get the first choice and so has the nicest plumpest, juiciest, biggest ones.

Ones that are deformed, bruised, slightly mashed etc go the cheap places.
LittleTinker
21-07-2011
Originally Posted by Cake_Nibbler:
“Not true in the slightest. Stawberries for instance might be picked in the same place by the same people, but M&S get the first choice and so has the nicest plumpest, juiciest, biggest ones.

Ones that are deformed, bruised, slightly mashed etc go the cheap places.”

As I say.....you believe that because you want to believe it. Even so, the biggest strawberries and the plumpest are not always the best. No matter how they are sorted they are still grown by the same farmer, picked by the same people, transported by the same company etc etc.
You also cant expect anyone to believe that ALL other supermarkets sell naff strawberries other than M&S. That is rather blinkered in your view.

To say the rest of my post is not true is kind of silly. Many of the food factories all work the same way. Do you honestly think that they cook up different products with different ingredients for each and every supermarket? No, they dont.

As I say, its only the packaging that is different for most things.
And I will not start on M&S sandwiches.
Cake_Nibbler
21-07-2011
Originally Posted by LittleTinker:
“As I say.....you believe that because you want to believe it. Even so, the biggest strawberries and the plumpest are not always the best. No matter how they are sorted they are still grown by the same farmer, picked by the same people, transported by the same company etc etc.
You also cant expect anyone to believe that ALL other supermarkets sell naff strawberries other than M&S. That is rather blinkered in your view.

To say the rest of my post is not true is kind of silly. Many of the food factories all work the same way. Do you honestly think that they cook up different products with different ingredients for each and every supermarket? No, they dont.

As I say, its only the packaging that is different for most things.
And I will not start on M&S sandwiches.”

For one thing M&S use free range eggs in all the products. If a lemon drizzle cake from M&S uses a free range egg and the Tesco one doesn't - that's a difference in the fundamentals right there. A chocolate cake from M&S might use a higher percentage of cocoa. These ingridients cost more because they are better.
queenshaks
21-07-2011
I buy from Asda, Tesco, Sainsburys, Morrisons and Marks. I love shopping for food.

Marks is by far the superior of the lot, regardless of what factory they may be done in, my taste buds don't lie. No one can ever tell me differently.
LemonGrove
21-07-2011
I recently tried some M&S pizzas, absolute barf. Possible the worst pizzas I've ever ate. Won't be buying them again!
Porcupine
22-07-2011
I used to live in the M&S foodhall when i worked in London. I was always picking up some tasty morsel for tea. But then I moved away and i hadn't been in M&S for over 6yrs ..... until a fortnight ago.

I was in Ipswich, and i wanted to have a wander around. Whilst there i bought some biscuits, cakes, some steak pasties and cornish pasties (nice healthy stuff I am sure you will agree)

They were all delish and much better quality than Tescos. The pastry was nicer, there was more meat in the filling, the cakes were lighter.

If i could I would start using M&S again. They are superior (IMO) to other supermarkets. Still, Im sure i will try their food again in another 6yrs
guernseysnail
22-07-2011
My local M&S USED to be the best place to shop for quality but recently I found it has gone down-hill rapidly.Also they seem to be stocking a lot of other branded stuff, bit odd to put their competion on their own shelves.My one indulgence is their Deli range Coronation chicken, it's very good, but their other Coronation chicken in the flatter oval pack is rubbish!
Inkblot
22-07-2011
Originally Posted by LemonGrove:
“I recently tried some M&S pizzas, absolute barf. Possible the worst pizzas I've ever ate. Won't be buying them again!”

The vegetarian ones are quite bad and I'm sure they have got worse over the years because they used to do some tasty ones with mushrooms on. Generally M&S is fine if you treat it as a supermarket and buy things like fruit and veg, cheese, tinned tomatoes, yoghurts, juice etc; but their much-vaunted ready meals are poor, for vegetarians anyway.
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