Many of us have bought the odd item from the bargain ranges in supermarkets and been pleasantly surprised. Consumer expert Martin Lewis has long advised shoppers to drop down a level, such as from when it comes to shopping to see if it makes a difference on taste as well as price.
So if shoppers usually go for the luxury brand such as ASDA's extra special it would mean switching to the general range. Then if you like that you could drop down another level to the stores basic range - so for ASDA that would be the Just Essentials offering.
But could you do a full shop on the store's bright yellow packaged products? Nottinghamshire Live Community Reporter Keimae Blake tried just that and was impressed with the results.
Keimae's food shop for living off the Just Essentials range for a day came in at well under a tenner - and there was food left for another day. She said: "I was only feeding myself - I understand families may have to pay more but if you haven’t tried this range before, I think it’s worth it".
She spent Wednesday, September 21, living on only the Just Essentials Range and drank tea and water in between meals. Here’s how it went…
7.30AM
Breakfast: the most important meal of the day. I always give myself half an hour to have my breakfast in the morning whilst watching Good Morning Britain or reading the news online.
This day, I had Wheat Bisks that tasted exactly the same as Wheatabix but a pack of 24 for 77p. I shall definitely be buying them again.
On my Wheat Bisks I had hot milk because I don’t like it cold and a small bowl of sultanas. For a bag weighing 500G, the sultanas were 99p.
12:20PM
Lunch time. Usually, I’m happy with a Greggs at lunch or whatever else is there when out and about, but I should get into the habit of making my own packed lunch.
With more and more people not having enough disposable income to treat themselves out for lunch, a packed lunch never goes wrong. I bought 6 white rolls for 49p and added cheese to them.
The rolls were bakery standard. Nice and crumby and smelt lovely.
2.00PM
Snack time. I love a good snack and I’m very bad for it. Whether it’s a bar of chocolate, fruit, cereal bar or a pastry, I love a good munch.
Today, whilst working away, I had a cup of tea and mini chocolate chip cookies for 39p.
These cookies are your answer to cheaper Maryland style biscuits. In Morrisons, a 200G pack of Maryland biscuits cost £1.35 and personally, I wouldn’t pay that much.
4.30PM
Dinners are usually around 4.30-5pm in my house. This day, we had pasta with chopped tomatoes and cheese.
My pasta cost 35p and the chopped tomatoes 32p.
Whilst my pasta boiled, I whisked the chopped tomatoes around a tiny bit so they weren't too lumpy whilst I waited.
The dish wasn’t too bad, I did have to add herbs and spices to the chopped tomatoes so they weren’t too bland. Overall, my dish was 7/10 I’d say.
The chopped tomatoes were quite watery but bearable, the red leicester cheese added in was the perfect finish.
7.00PM
I will take chocolate over sweets any day of the week. Whether it’s fancy chocolate or cheap chocolate, who cares?
Chocolate is chocolate and this white chocolate for only 33p was smooth, sweet and milky. I would 100% buy this again.
With many more products to be found in the ASDA just essentials range such as fruit, vegetables and cereals, when you are shopping around, if there’s an ASDA near you, the bright-yellow sticker products are very easy to find.
