FARMFOODS EQUALS GREAT VALUE

"Freezing in the Freshness" and "Great Food at Amazing Prices"

These are the slogans used by Farmfoods, a chain of shops that tend to have a bit of a stigma against them, as cheap shops selling low quality foods.

With this review I hope that I am able to prove that these facts are both wrong and that I am able introduce you to the benefits of becomming a Farmfood shopper!!

Farmfoods is a Scottish company, it started in Aberdeen in 1955 and now has around 300 shops throughout Great Britain. It is a Farmfoods is a discount supermarket chain that specialises in frozen food. They also sell a wide range of everyday items like soft drinks, toilet paper, confectionery, bread, milk, desserts, fresh fruit and vegetables all at reduced prices.

I live near to Lancaster, and one thing that attracts me to our local Farmfoods is that is outside the main city shopping area and has its own - free - car park - parking can be difficult and expensive in the city.

The store has recently changed its tell tale blue and white striped colour scheme to a pleasant countryside design. Every shop that you see has the same design and lay out. All the signs are a combination of a field scene and black background. And the staff uniforms have changed from blue to black.
The ( very high quality and free) carrier bags now have the field sceneon instead of the stripes.

My review will be with the Lancaster shop in mind - but I think that most are the same.

The shop is fairly large and has quite wide aisles ( this is an improvement from the shop in the last town I lived in), and they provide both large trolleys and baskets - but believe me - you'll want the trolley!!

The store is set out aisles with waist-height freezer cabinets running along each side and shelving above most freezers with non frozen goods on. The Lancaster branch has 2 tills with a space for the customer to place a basket onto the checkout.

The shop does not employ a lot of staff, and they do all jobs - stocking shelves, tills , store work etc - staff go to the till when needed , this is one aspect of the store where they can save money to make the prices lower.
Other ways are that the foods they sell are nearer their sell-by date than the larger supermarkets will stock and also a lot of the goods they sell are in the process of being discontinued and so they are available at a lower price.

The staff at the Lancaster shop are all extremely friendly, after you have shopped there a couple of times they get to know you and know the types of things that you like and tell you if there are any new items in that they think you would like.

All the items in Farmfoods are individually priced, but the majority of them have a multi-buy price (for example, 29p or 5 for £1) or B.O.G.O.F.

There are a lot of famous name foods sold in the shop as well as Farmfoods own and lesser known names, but everything I have bought has been of a good quality.

There is a fantastic assortment of frozen vegetables and fruits - some as little as 29p a bag.

The fish and meat selections are also very good with a good choice - I find their frozen bacon is of a very good quality as well as being almost half the price of one of the larger supermarkets, and a leg of lamb is very reasonable at around £7.

If you have children the Ice Lollies and ice sream selection is incredible and SO cheap, there is also a good selecion of sweets and chocolates available.

Our store sells Kingsmill Loaves ( 2 for £2) and it is EXTREMELY fresh, as are all the bread rools etc. Thre is not the same choice of breads and bakery goods as there are in larger supermarkets.

There is also a limited amount of greengrocery goods on offer, all bagged - usually potatoes, apples, bananas, grapes and tomatoes.

The chiller section has a selection of milk, cheese, butters, cooked meats and yogurts.

Biscuits and packaged cakes are all really good bargains - I always go for a shop before my grandkids come to stay to stock up with goodies for them!!

Toilet rolls, kitchen rolls and household cleaning items are all available at really low prices, as well as soaps,deodorants etc.

Another advantage is that local [papers usually have leaflets for Farmfoods in with several vouchers - £2.50 off £25 of shopping and £5.00 off £50 of shopping - you are also able to use two together if you buy that much.

When I go and do a 'big' shop I can fill a trolley to the brim for £50!!

The only disadvantage I find with Farmfoods is that I cannot to my complete shop there as they don't sell all the brands of things I want.

Opening hours of Farmfoods stores are standardised across the chain and fall into two categories based on location of the store itself. ).

The current opening hours for all stores classed as town centre stores are:

Mon 8:30-18:00
Tue 8:30-18:00
Wed 8:30-18:00
Thu 8:30-20:00
Fri 8:30-20:00
Sat 8:30-18:00
Sun 10:00-16:00 (9:00-18:00 in some stores)

The current opening hours for all stores classed as out of town stores are:

Mon 8:00-20:00
Tue 8:00-20:00
Wed 8:00-20:00
Thu 8:00-20:00
Fri 8:00-20:00
Sat 8:00-20:00 (8:00-18:00 in some stores)
Sun 10:00-16:00 (9:00-18:00 in some stores)

So if you havn't tried Farmfoods because you think it's cheap and nasty - please think again - cheap it certainly is but nasty - NEVER!!!

Summary: Farm foods is not a shop to be shunned but to be enjoyed