'I've ditched budget supermarkets for M&S and I'm actually saving money'

In a surprise switch-up, a thrifty mum has turned her back on bargain supermarkets, claiming her family "save so much money" by filling their trolley at Marks and Spencer instead.

Mum-of-one Charlotte found that M&S gave her more bang for her buck, with top-notch quality to boot. The savvy Glasgow-based influencer - known for dishing out lifestyle and parenting advice on her Instagram @mamatoflow - revealed she snagged five days' worth of food for her family-of-three for just £52.

From chocs and crisps to fresh fruit and veg, pasta, cereal, spices, sauces, beans, eggs, and then some - Charlotte's haul was fit for a feast. "We decided to ditch Aldi and start shopping at M&S and not only are we saving so much money, but the quality of the food is so much better," she declared.

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The mum recently shared a video of her food shop on her page and said: "Being totally transparent, I do understand why people get a little bit of a bad reputation for themselves when they exclusively shop at M&S. We're a family-of-three, we're a relatively young couple to have had children anyway and there is also a cost of living going on at the moment. We're a single income household."

Speaking about quality comparison, she added: "One thing that really does wind me up, especially as a household which consumes so many fruits and vegetables, is just how poor the quality of [budget supermarket] produce is - more often than not."

"To be totally honest when I did that food shop last week [at M&S], I was kind of expecting it to be a little bit of novelty but as it turns out it was kind of on par with Aldi for a lot of things, but that is definitely excluding things like meat - but personally I am willing to sacrifice on those things."

The mum does not want to "ever be that person" who says you should shop at M&S instead of budget supermarkets, because she recently also shopped at Asda and Aldi, but she prefers M&S. "I'm not above shopping at those stores," she insisted.

People rushed to agree with the mum, with many pointing out the good quality at M&S. "I'm with you on this one, M&S is good quality and Sainsbury's," said one individual. One other commented: "M&S, rice, pasta, tea bags, condiments, breads and frozen sections are fantastic value. Also their Good Move clothes for exercise are quality value too."

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But some people pointed out that the mum didn't get all the items they would include in a typical weekly food shop. "I didn't see any actual dinners in that trolley, just fruit and veg," said one. Another added: "There isn't enough items here to cook a proper family meal for a week - no meat, no fish, nothing to put on a sandwich, no yogurt, no treats hardly. This is just a trolley of items not meals."

An Aldi shopper wrote: "I shop at Aldi and I just can't afford to do the same shop at M&S but if that's your weekly shop mine is twice that size. I buy the fruit and allow it to ripen as I've found in anything the fruit needs more time."

Do you agree? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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