A question of quality

[tagh]

A few years ago I had a fad for comparing supermarket products to try and establish whether own brands are better quality than big names. Easiest to do was soup in boxes which states the quantity of water used; the differences between own and major were very marked meaning that those who bought cheapest were buying much more water.Other products can be checked by weight but when it comes to comparing quality it is not so easy.
Which leads to the major question ; given that Lidl and Aldi are now often seen as the cheapest to shop, how can one be sure that quality is also measured in this. An example might be how many baked beans in can of cheap brand compared to say the market leader.

TV comparison programmes seldom compare quality.

Maybe we could look at pizzas and see how toppings vary in quantity and perhaps quality, as they are the national dish of France these days.

[exile]

A very good question and one that in part can be very subjective.
For example I am very happy with Lidl detergent for laundry. Everything comes out clean and the bottle does last for a lot of washes. I was not happy with their washing up liquid which seemed to lose its cleaning oomph very quickly causing me to use a lot more than the current choice of Super U own brand.

I am not sure that I could put any numbers to those observations though.

[niemeyjt]

I am not sure that I could put any numbers to those observations though.

You just need a bit of help . . .



Given that most of us only have a few things to wash up, the cheap stuff probably suffices.

[beejay]

A few years ago I had a fad for comparing supermarket products to try and establish whether own brands are better quality than big names. Easiest to do was soup in boxes which states the quantity of water used; the differences between own and major were very marked meaning that those who bought cheapest were buying much more water.Other products can be checked by weight but when it comes to comparing quality it is not so easy.
Which leads to the major question ; given that Lidl and Aldi are now often seen as the cheapest to shop, how can one be sure that quality is also measured in this. An example might be how many baked beans in can of cheap brand compared to say the market leader.

TV comparison programmes seldom compare quality.

Maybe we could look at pizzas and see how toppings vary in quantity and perhaps quality, as they are the national dish of France these days.

Food products have labels showing the contents in order of weight or volume. This enables a basic judgment as to quantity but the ingredients could be of differing quality.

Lidl's beans are 51% haricot, 34% tomato purée then water and preservatives. Their cheapest tinned tomatoes are 60% tomato and tomato juice.

I'm an life-long expert label reader much to my wife's dismay as she reads no labels and buys the first can or packet she sees of the product she requires.

[Blaze]

I'm a label reader too and I always check the salt, fat and sugar content, though we don't buy much processed food.
That said, we had a freebie from Picard the other day and delighted in its "E" rating !
As for washing up liquid, we've never found anything as good or long-lasting as Fairy liquid.

[curtis]

Maybe we could look at pizzas and see how toppings vary in quantity and perhaps quality, as they are the national dish of France these days.

There was a programme on TV recently FR2 I think looking at the production of pizzas. If I recall the summary was that you needed to be paying at least 5€ to get to the beginnings of quality.

[DominicBest]

I once bought two small booklets in Germany which listed the current Lidl/Aldi products, gave the actual manufacturer and examples of the manufacturer’s well know products. There was nothing cheap or nasty on show. It was quite an eye opener. When it comes to things like baked beans it’s all about taste and texture to me. I used to be a Heinz only sort of person but these days buy Lidl or Leclerc’s own brand by choice. Last autumn a friend who was visiting their holiday home insisted that I accepted a couple of tins of Heinz beans. I couldn’t believe how sweet they were. It’s been a long time since I bought any soup that I particularly liked but find that it’s the easiest thing to make imaginable.

[DominicBest]

I'm a label reader too and I always check the salt, fat and sugar content, though we don't buy a huge amount of processed food.
That said, we had a freebie from Picard the other day and delighted in its "E" rating !
As for washing up liquid, we've never found anything as good or long-lasting as Fairy liquid.

I was thinking about Fairy liquid the day before yesterday. I use Paic washing up liquid bought in France. A British couple who lived nearby once told me that they only used Fairy that they bought in the U.K., for 20 years I’d been using Paic while I’d lived in Germany because I’d never found a washing up liquid there that I liked despite one of the most common brands being Fairy. It made me smile to think of all the miles simple things like washing up liquid we’re doing just to keep us happy. To be fair if the UK Fairy Liquid had been available in Germany I’d have been happy with that but the German product only seemed to have the name in common.

[Blaze]

for 20 years I’d been using Paic while I’d lived in Germany

I lived in Germany years ago and can't remember what I used ! I've used Paic here but it doesn't go nearly as far as Fairy, which we buy in Jersey (we haven't been to the UK for at least 5 years ....)

[Liz]

Maybe we could look at pizzas and see how toppings vary in quantity and perhaps quality, as they are the national dish of France these days.
[/quote]

Fixit and I always say that should a Martian arrive in any art of rural France he would assume pizza is indeed the national dish