I think it will only be a short time before we will be able to buy a family car or even a house with our weekly shopping from Tesco because at the moment they seem to sell absolutely everything else.
The products are good and if you go to the larger stores like the Tesco Extras then the ranges the have are much wider. I know there are many surveys that say that the likes of Aldi or Lidl are cheaper and to some extent they are right, but it depends on what items you buy from Tescos and in my experience if you shop right, Tescos can be cheaper than the other two.
To shop right I suppose you need to understand how supermarkets operate. Their profitable products are set at eye level so most people will grab those products. You also have the so called “bargains” on the ends of the aisles to catch people as they slow down to go round the corner. But is you look around eleswhere down the aisles you may find a better bargain.
Take time to look around and you may suddenly find the cheaper items on the bottom shelf out of the eye line which many people miss. Select those and you save money. Also don’t ignore their value ranges either because some of those items are exceptional value.

I love Wagamama because it is dining with a difference. The restaurants are apparently modelled on the Ramen bars that have been very popular in Japan for many years where everything is very cleanly presented and basic and the customers sit on benches with long tables.
The cuisine is very oriental with loads of side dishes and noodles and rice with everything. Service is quick because they take your order electronically which is then beamed to the kitchen and they almost begin cooking your meal before the waitress has finished taking your order.
The can also serve a variety of drinks with your meal but it can be really good value to just drink the endless supply of green tea that they offer because it is free.

Primark have has some bad press recently over so called slave labour. But it is difficult to compare our values and cultures with those of an eastern country without being bias.
So keeping the politics aside with the sometimes bias reporting, basically the items that Primark sell are amazingly cheap, so cheap that it is often easier to thrown the item away and get a new one from Primark rather than getting it repaired. The quality is not brilliant but you definitely get what you pay for and if they are so bad there are still plenty of people who will shop there because it saves you money and who wants to pay a fortune for a top or outfit when you can get it here for a few quid.
They specialise in kids and women’s clothing and the clothing is practical and in some ways fashionable as well. They also sell household items like towels and things really cheaply.

Marks and Spencers seemed to jump onto the bandwagon after Tesco Metros and Expresses to try and take on the local convenience store market with their smaller local stores that specialise only in Marks and Spencer’s food, hence the name.
The items they sell are a more limited edition of what you would find in the food sections of their larger stores and seemed to be mainly aimed at the quick meal type market or lunchtime food type articles. It is not really the place to go if you were doing a full weekly shop but it is ideal if you just wanted a few items or to grab some lunch or a quick meal.
A further point to note is that even though they sell the same items as they would in their main stores, the prices of the items in these sub braches is slightly more than those found in the main branches.

This place is hidden way down a track off the main road and would be difficult to find normally because it isn’t well signposted from the road. But once there it is a really nice place next to a river.
What makes it really appealing is that it also has a running stream and waterfall which goes down one side of the building and underneath before running into the river and it is all viewed through specially placed windows inside the pub.
It does have a good reputation for pub food which seems to be it’s main source of business since most of the space around the various oak beam lined alcoves and different floor levels is dedicated to tables for diners.
The food is good and well presented and very tasty. The place also seems to be very popular with families, especially at lunchtimes at the weekends when many go here for the lunchtime menus.

If you have not been in to a Frankie and Bennys before it is basically an american and italian themed diner which is styled from the 1950s. Think of The Fonz for those of you that are old enough to remember and you’ll get roughly what I mean.
The emphasis is basically on having a fun time, especially with families and young children, with upbeat music playing in the background and many things to do for the kids to keep them occupied.
I’ve been in 3 of these restaurants now and never really had anything bad about them. Service is fast and the staff are very friendly. The only point I would say is that if you are planning to go for a meal then don’t plan to eat beforehand on the day because the portions are huge. Personal favourite is the Frankie and Bennys New York Chicken, but there are many other fantastic dishes to choose from.

This is a large branch of the Asda stores and hence has all the extra sections like the pharmacy, opticians, home electricals and clothing.
Besides the fantastic food and all the other homeware items and electricals that they sell, Asda also have a fantastic clothing line under their George label which was probably the
When the kids need to go back to school this is really the place to go to kit them out with shirts, shoes, trousers and skirts because their pricing is really realistic and cheap which is great value when your kids outgrow your new purchases within 6 months and you have to go out and buy again.
For the price the quality is fantastic and they wash really well, especially the jumpers which don’t really shrink as you often find with most cheap woollen items.

I used to think that I could get all my toiletry bits and pieces from the supermarket during my weekly shop, but I found that they never really had the range of items that I wanted.
I now tend to do all that sort of shopping at Boots because they do have the ranges of products especially in the vitamins and health supplements and the shampoo areas, and their prices are good and comparable to those in the supermarkets.
I always find that Christmas time is also good to shop for presents here because they do their 3 for 2 ranges which do have some really good items, but you need to get in early because these offers are really popular and sell out fast.
Also worthwhile collecting the Advantage points that they give away, rather like loyalty points for shopping at Boots. They build up really quickly to give you money off your future purchases.

Went in here yesterday on the way back from friends and managed to get the vouchers from their current £30 worth of freebies from their website.
Between Burger King and McDonalds I think I always prefer Burger King because their burgers taste so much better. I think it might have something to do with the flame grilled taste or something, but they are just better.
I took advantage of the buy 1 get 1 free offer on the Angus Burger which was huge when it came and wasn’t dripping in fat that I have found with Big Macs before. Cost is perhaps more in Burger Kings, especially if you stop at the motorway services branches, but you do get larger portions and a better quality meal in return.

This is one of the larger McDonalds in the area with two floors of seating. The place is generally clean and the service is fast. As always the food is very cheap and the meal deals can work out to be good value.
Right that’s the positive bits out of the way. The main issue I have with McDonalds is the actual food. Yes I know it is bad for you and somehow I tend to agree.
For some reason every time I’ve eaten one of their burger meals I have always felt really bloated afterwards even though the meal itself was not really that large. Not really sure why but my opinion says it may be something to do with all the junk and additives I suspect that they add to their burgers. Originally I thought it was just me, but when I go to other burger places I don’t get the same problem.