[Roxy]

until my OH stepped in that is.

We went to Morrisons tonight as usual.  Nearly at the checkout, when OH said something about the special bargain that was on offer. What bargain I said?  Something to do with a joint, and a trifle was the reply.  Oh, right.  Off he went to look, and yes, you could get two containers of soup, a pork joint, packet of veg and a trifle - all for £4.  Thats not bad, said I ....reaching out for the soup.  Just then, OH got his phone out and rang Dave his workmate.  They then had a discussion on the offer in front of us.  Apparantly Dave's mum had rung today and told them about it.  The conversation seemed to go on for ages, and the gist was that Dave did not like tomato soup, which was the offer.  In the end I got fed up and said does he or does he not want it?  Yes, he did.  That put paid to me having the stuff, as its limited to one per customer.  Suppose I can go back at weekend and get it.

Wonder if the other supermarkets will rise to the challenge and do a similar special offer?  Seemed very popular and the shelf was half empty.

[little blue]

The trick is to give OH the money (or vice-versa!) and send him to a different till, or just queue behind you.
Why do they always have to interfere and spoil a good deal?!

[sandy]

I always think that these package deals are a way of getting rid of stuff they are having a job selling?

[Roxy]

Yes, that did occur to me, Sandy!!  But it could also be a sales ploy to sell more of each of the products, and it certainly did that ........the customers had snapped the stuff up, and the shelf was about empty.

Rick came home and said Dave had given him a  fiver, so he had made a pound!!!

[gavo]

Just stop and think whose throat the supermarket is cutting to sell products at such ridiculous prices as for the life of the pig i hate to think how it was raised and in what country.

[Roxy]

Whilst in Morrisons on Satureday morning, I watched in amazement - it was like a rugby scrum as people pushed and  shoved to get the "bargain".  I saw one lady get three three lots of everything, and put it in three separate baskets for two of her daughters to go through the checkout, as it was one per customer.  I saw this happen time and time again while I was in there.  I spoke to one of the assistants, and he said  they had sold an incredible amount of food on this offer.

I don't think the people buying were bothered about where the pork had come from - as far as they were concerned, it was a bargain.  Personally, I always buy free range meat if at all possible, and from a source I know.  I am afraid, to a lot of people its how cheap they can get it, not the quality of the meat/welfare of the pig etc.

It  did make me wonder what would happen if we ever had a food shortage again  .......I could not believe how greedy people were, making sure they took as much as they wanted!!

[doganjo]

Perhaps they have no jobs and can't pay for good quality meat.  Perhaps they were desperate for food to feed their families.  They may not have been greedy.

[Roxy]

Fair point about them being desperate to feed their families, but I cannot see that being the case for everyone surely!!  The people who employ me are  millionaires and her husband was there in the scrum too .....but he was unsuccessful.

Oh yes, and I did check the pork - it was British

[gavo]

Now there's a surprise!!!

[shetlandpaul]

not really they only sell british.

[gavo]

Even so ;at that price something suffers ;and it's usually the poor animals.

[shetlandpaul]

are you saying british commerical farmed poek is bad. now your very brave.
i would say that compared to most of the woeld they are treated better than most. it very hard to convince someone on a budget to spend 2-3 times as much for fancy pork. not evey one is lucky enough to keep there own.

have a look at were lots of pork comes from even in the co-op lots and lots of dutch and danish pork packed in the uk.

[sandy]

I have never been really struggling with money but have always been on a tight budget. I had three children so there were 5 of us, I sometimes had no meat so that the family could have a decent portion, that and the price of veg makes a good home cooked meat and 2 veg meal a large part of the household budget, my grandchildren are big meat eaters and would soon polish off an expensive joint of anything. I can taste the difference of good quality stuff but when it comes to feeding a hungry bunch, cost is priority!!!

[chickenfeed]

  when it comes down to offers like these someone usually looses out this time i would put my money on the farmer its a shame realy as pig farmers have only just seen prices rise after many years of little or no profit many commercial pig farms have closed, buying a british produce is good for the farmers but not at knock down prices, yes i understand anyone trying to bag a bargain.

i spend a lot of time trying to get the british public aware of british pork both commercial and rare breed any so long as its british we started keeping our own pigs after we found it harder and harder to get a british product that was 100% british then i joined ladies in pigs that work with bpex highlighting british pork of all types.

we have enjoyed our own pork so much we have also strted doing our own table birds and buying our lamb and beef straight from the farm gate and no its not much more expensive but the money does go to the farmer rather than the supermarkets, but the quality is outstanding and you get to see the animals.

its strange most people join forums like this because they want to have a more ethical natural life some going down the route of keeping animals some by growing veg some living on small holdings some wanting to go down that route but put a bargain infront of them and its hard to resist.

[gavo]

I can honestly say i don't ever buy bargain meat. As for criticising British pork yes our welfare standards are the best about;but still the vast majority of our pork is still reared in large scale indoor production units [yes i know that things are changing as more customers realise how animals are farmed] but offers like this make the industry take a step or two backwards not forwards. Now a few years ago the largest part of a household budget was spent on food nowadays it's the smallest part . I just think the supermarkets are taking us all for a ride. Whatever happened to a fair price for a fair product? the supermarkets that's what.They sell us these deals as though they are doing us a favour but if all the food was sensibly priced in the first place these wouldn't be necessary. Have you ever noticed that when these offers are on; that other products you might have bought last week costing X now have gone up and cost Y. SO NO MATTER WHAT THEY WIN.As for "fancy pork" in a sensible society this should be the norm .Anyway free range pork is not often dearer when bought direct from the producer; and you don't end up paying for water as you routinely do with a supermarket product; therefore you can buy a smaller joint to feed the same amount as you would when buying a larger supermarket joint.The other difficulty the public  have with buying British is the labelling laws;so vague that a pig from anywhere can be sold as British;as long as it's processed here;if your lucky and can read tiny print you may find hidden away somewhere on the packet a label stating it's true origins.