Basics/Value branded products?

[tw_uk]

Bacon. Usually only something I buy from my butchers as I find supermarket packs are full of water, expensive and tasteless.

Stumbled across Sainsburys 'basics' bacon yesterday and was very impressed! Vacuum packed in the basics packaging they have both smoked and non-smoked. Look at the underside of the pack and pick one with little fat and your onto a winner. It has less water, more flavour, thicker cuts and is much cheaper than the usual rubbish (although does taste a little more salty).

Anyone else have any other bugdet brand recommendations, products you find better than the standard or premium alternative?

[loltolhurst]

sainsburys curry sauce 9p - all natural ingredients - add a few fresh things to it and you have a nice cheap meal

[TubbyRutter]

Sainsbury's basics chopped toms are 100times better than their Tesco equivalent, much more tomato and hardly any juice.

[Alex]

TubbyRutter said:

Sainsbury's basics chopped toms are 100times better than their Tesco equivalent, much more tomato and hardly any juice.

Most Sainsbury's stuff is better than Tesco's.

[TubbyRutter]

Alex said:

TubbyRutter said:

Sainsbury's basics chopped toms are 100times better than their Tesco equivalent, much more tomato and hardly any juice.

Most Sainsbury's stuff is better than Tesco's.

Agreed, hence my recent switch, i pay slightly more but find the quality of the fresh fruit and veg much higher, same can be said for their meat and fish.

[Cotty]

tw_uk said:

Anyone else have any other bugdet brand recommendations, products you find better than the standard or premium alternative?

Sainsburys peppers. I think the EU relaxed the rules regarding shape and size of fruit and veg. So you can buy a big pack of odd shaped peppers for less than the small regular shaped stuff.

[Goughie]

All Value/Basic etc fresh produce is just stuff with a wider spec for size, shape, etc. All grown on the same farms as the regular stuff. You can save a fortune buying Value produce.

[Mobile Chicane]

You can easily make your own bacon: Just buy a piece of cheap pork belly, rub it with salt, garlic and spices, and keep it in the bottom of the fridge for a few days.

The results are more like pancetta than grilling bacon, however very tasty nonetheless.

[Lefty Two Drams]

Mobile Chicane said:

You can easily make your own bacon: Just buy a piece of cheap pork belly, rub it with salt, garlic and spices, and keep it in the bottom of the fridge for a few days.

The results are more like pancetta than grilling bacon, however very tasty nonetheless.

Now there's a cracking idea!

I'm gonna try this.

[Papoo]

Mobile Chicane said:

You can easily make your own bacon: Just buy a piece of cheap pork belly, rub it with salt, garlic and spices, and keep it in the bottom of the fridge for a few days.

The results are more like pancetta than grilling bacon, however very tasty nonetheless.

Absolutely!

Dry rub, as described, yields a more cured pancetta-like product. Eggs benedict goes to a whole new level on this one.

For a more 'bacony' product, buy some belly pork and brine it. The brine consists of water, tenderquick cure, salt, spices etc, and will yield bacon as you know it. Do the same thing with a nice big pork tenderloin, and you have what's called Canadian bacon. I know out here, you can buy it as an off-the-shelf brine. Hopefully you can do the same. If you want a 'recipe', let me know. Or if you can't find tenderquick, I can send you some

Once it's all cured in the brine (anywhere up to 10 days), I soak it in iced water for about 8 hours, to remove some of the excessive saltiness. Every 2-3 hours I cut off a little slither, fry it and taste to judge if it needs more time.

Cold-smoke it for a few hours if you can! I've about 25lbs of the stuff in my freezer after going on a bacon-kick at the end of last year.

[davidspooner]

Waitrose basics are great... but they cost the same as a normal supermarket

[dougc]

Mobile Chicane said:

You can easily make your own bacon: Just buy a piece of cheap pork belly, rub it with salt, garlic and spices, and keep it in the bottom of the fridge for a few days.

The results are more like pancetta than grilling bacon, however very tasty nonetheless.

Good idea! Presumably cutting it thick makes great lardons?

[condor]

Cotty said:

tw_uk said:

Anyone else have any other bugdet brand recommendations, products you find better than the standard or premium alternative?

Sainsburys peppers. I think the EU relaxed the rules regarding shape and size of fruit and veg. So you can buy a big pack of odd shaped peppers for less than the small regular shaped stuff.

It's still £1.28 for 5 green and only the one red pepper...and they are smaller than the normal ones.

[Mobile Chicane]

dougc said:

Mobile Chicane said:

You can easily make your own bacon: Just buy a piece of cheap pork belly, rub it with salt, garlic and spices, and keep it in the bottom of the fridge for a few days.

The results are more like pancetta than grilling bacon, however very tasty nonetheless.

Good idea! Presumably cutting it thick makes great lardons?

It does, however it would be very difficult to slice it thin unless you have a bacon slicer. It is what it is though, and a great way of making lardons at a 1/4 of the price you'd otherwise pay.

I rub mine with coarse salt, black pepper, garlic, ground bay leaves and a splash of red wine.

Edited by Mobile Chicane on Wednesday 24th February 21:57