Every customer wants the best possible deal on their weekly grocery shop, especially amid the rising cost of oil, gas and general cost of living.
And while discount supermarkets such as Lidl and Aldi are especially popular if you’re keen to cut costs on basic items, Poundland is another option worth considering, reports MyLondon.
Though the days of everything only costing £1 are long gone, you can still find a more than decent range of foodstuff items - including many name brands - for significantly cheaper prices than at Tesco, Sainsbury’s or M&S.
But just how easy is it to do your week’s grocery shopping there?
Armed with a list of my usual recurring grocery shop items, I headed down to my local Poundland to find out.
What I found?
I entered Poundland with purpose, expecting to zip right through with ease. But I quickly found the speed of my shop impeded by the shop’s other customers, who flocked down the aisles more than I’ve usually seen - especially for 11.50am.
The first things I attempted to track down were what I’d consider the most basic items: eggs, bread and milk. Helpfully, the eggs and bread were located near to each other in the same section of the main food aisle.
I was pleased to spot an 800g loaf of one of my favourite bread types, Kingsmill Toastie. At £1, this wasn’t an enormous saving compared to the usual £1.10 or so I generally pay, but I appreciated the 10p reduction nonetheless.
As for the eggs, there was less of a selection here and no-name brands that I could spot. But I was impressed to get a pack of ten medium eggs for £1.
This is an item I often upgrade on to ease any guilt over how the hens have lived, so my usual eggs are more like £3.30. (Unfortunately, the back of Poundland’s egg packet does confirm that these particular hens are caged.)
The milk was located not too far away in a tiny fridge section by the checkouts. I prefer milk alternatives where possible but will settle for cow’s milk if need be.
That was required in this case, since there were only three milk options to choose from - whole, semi-skimmed and skimmed.
This one definitely felt like a big win price-wise though, since I’d usually pay around 95p for two pints of milk (roughly 1.1 litres) - or £1.90 for oat milk. And this one was £1 for two whole litres.
Next, it was onto some additional basic items: pasta, tomato sauce, cheese, soup and cereal bars. Soup, cheese and cereal bars I found no problem, though all three required sacrifices - grated cheddar for my preferred mozzarella, tinned Heinz tomato soup instead of fresh, chocolate cereal bars over the plain ones I usually like.
I’d definitely been expecting a better array of cereal bars and wasn’t hugely impressed with the trio on offer at Poundland, none of which seemed super appropriate for eating at 8am.
I was more surprised at the difficulty I had finding pasta and tomato sauce. At the likes of Tesco, you’ll find an overwhelming choice of tomato-based sauces, from plain to fancy. Here, I only had Lloyd Grossman and Dolmio's bolognese sauces to choose from.
I initially dismissed these thinking they might have traces of meat in, which I wasn’t after, but luckily after examining the back and found it was basically your classic tomato, basil and onion in disguise.
Pasta I had less luck with. It seemed Poundland only had one type of dry pasta to start with (fusilli) and there were none left on the shelf. In fact, the only pasta item I could find was a pre-mixed sauce and pasta pack - but the only flavour (cheese and broccoli) made me gag so I opted for no pasta.
Sadly, this wasn’t the last item that I was to have trouble. Salad leaves and peppers of some sort are always on my list, but I quickly realised that there was next to no chance of acquiring them here. There were only two tiny fridge sections in the entire shop, mostly stocked with cold drinks, plus a few milk, butter, cheese and meat options (no chicken though).
The only vaguely leafy green thing I could find was a pre-packaged pasta salad for £1.25. So, not quite the versatile weekly grocery shop filler item I’d been looking for.
Shocked at the lack of fresh items, I asked one of the staff members if this was all there was. She apologetically confirmed and recommended trying Iceland down the street for a better selection.
Guacamole is normally on my shopping list too, since it doubles as a dip and addition to a wrap or sandwich. But alas, there was no hope for that.
As for other snacks, Poundland did come into its own here. Pretty much the entire length of one of the aisles is chock-full of crisps, from Walkers to Cheetos. I picked up a 180g bag of Chilli Heatwave Doritos and my favourite Haribo Goldbears for £1.50 and £1 respectively.
These both proved decent savings compared to the £2.10 and £1.85 I’d typically spend on similar flavoured tortilla chips and the exact same packet of Haribo gummies.
The verdict
All in all, it was a mixed bag, but erred more on the side of positive.
I’d expected to make sacrifices for savings but the lack of fresh basic ingredients like salad leaves and other vegetables - or really, any and all vegetables - was unexpected.
The lack of pasta is also, honestly, a little dumbfounding. Pasta’s pretty much as basic as it comes, yet Poundland only seems to stock one type and it was out of stock.
That said, I was seriously impressed with the value for money when it came to the items I did manage to either find or substitute sufficiently.
My nine items - bread, milk, eggs, cheese, soup, tomato sauce, tortilla chips, cereal bars and gummy bears - cost a grand total of £10, whereas similar ones would usually end up being more like £20.75. (This actually makes me feel a bit sick to realise.)
So, while some of the items wouldn’t normally be my first choice, I’d be willing to make the switch on most of them given these savings. And I’ll definitely be going back for future shops. Not my full weekly shop, but at least a part of it.
Price comparison
Usual grocery shop
Items bought: bread (£1.10), oat milk (£1.90), eggs (£3.30), soup (£2.90), tomato sauce (£3), grated mozzarella (£2.10), salad leaves (£1.85), red peppers (£1.80), dried pasta (75p), guacamole (£2.50), cereal bars (£2.50), flavoured tortilla chips (£2.10), Haribo Goldbears (£1.85)
Total: £27.65
Poundland grocery shop
Items bought: bread (£1), milk (£1), eggs (£1), soup (£1), tomato sauce (£1), grated cheddar (£1.50), cereal bars (£1), Doritos (£1.50), Haribo Goldbears (£1)
Missing items: salad leaves, red peppers, dried pasta, guacamole
Total: £10
