Okay, Tesco: I Forgive You

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I have a habit of boycotting supermarkets that annoy me.  Morrisons irritated me once too often by not having goods in stock that were advertised as on offer – again.  We started shopping at Asda.  Asda gave us an undeserved parking fine: we didn’t shop there for three years, and never went back as regulars.  That was a dearly bought £20 on their part. 

I shopped online with Tesco for a while but, as I paid by credit card, I found I was spending the grocery cash on frivolous items like electricity bills (rising because I was shopping online; have you ever done a supermarket shop online? It takes three times as long as getting in the car, driving to the next town, shopping for a year, stopping for lunch, spending the night in a hotel because you had too much to drink at lunch, and driving home again next day.  Really not worth the effort), and so I went back to schlepping it in Hub’s taxi.

Tesco Online missed me after a while, even though I visited the local store, and they sent me a £10 off voucher to persuade me to shop with them again.  I thought it was worth the effort so I spent two hours finding £50’s worth of groceries, went to pay, only to be told, ‘This voucher is not valid because you are not a first-time user.’  I don’t swear often.  Tesco has been a dirty word in our house ever since.

However, I am a forgiving girl, and I accepted their recent apology: £10 off a £30 spend, times four weeks.  I may have principles but they can be bought for the price of a full freezer.  Our food budget is small but laying out £20 in actual cash is manageable.  The Hub went alone last week, and got just over £30 in food for a payment of just over £20.  He went alone because I am not allowed to go food shopping: I have a habit of filling the trolley, going over budget, and arguing with him over what is essential (Spud’s French Fancies) and what is frivolous (Hub’s Sensodyne toothpaste).

Yesterday he wasn’t having a good day so I was allowed along for the loading and unloading of groceries, with the occasional side order of whining (But we need olive oil and French Fancies).  The Hub stopped to rest in the fruit and veg section and noticed some stuff being marked down.  He put a few items in the trolley.  He stopped to rest again in the meat section and started chatting to staff member Martin (when he isn’t laying down the supermarket law, the Hub is a sociable guy).  How happy he was to have needed a rest: Martin told him that – and this is such a great tip, I’m going to highlight it in bold –  in Tesco, if you find an item on the shelf that has to be sold that day, you can ask a member of staff for a reduction.  It was like truffles to a pig: the Hub had his nose in every meat shelf and came away with a few items marked down by Martin…by 65%.

In fact, because we arrived around five-thirty on a Saturday, a lot of stuff was already marked down.  We saved – wait for it – including our £10 voucher, BOGOFs and mark downs; but excluding items reduced in price for promotion – I can hardly believe it – £152.80.  I may have wet myself in excitement.

We didn’t spend anywhere near that, though it was a little over £20.  We spent almost £50 on items [see photo] we wouldn’t normally buy, mostly because we can’t afford them.  There was a 3kg piece of silverside: we haven’t bought silverside in sixteen years, never mind three whole kilograms of it.  There was prepared fruit.  We love fruit but buy the cheapest range and prepare it ourselves.  There were luxury doughnuts.  Need I say more? 

I now have enough meat in my freezer to last for months so, even though we went over budget, we saved future grocery money.  I might use a little to buy the Hub some toothpaste.

Thanks Martin: you made a Tesco shopper out of me.  For now.

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• https://thelaughinghousewife.wordpress.com/2010/10/01/and-the-award-for-greediest-retailer-goes-to/