Episode 3 Rip Off Britain: Food

There's a lot we don't know about the food on our plates,

and the shops and the labels don't always tell you the whole story.

I think they encourage you to buy more than you need.

And that causes a lot of waste.

Whether you're staying in, or going out,

you've told us you can feel ripped off by the promises

made for what you eat and what you pay for it.

It makes my blood boil, because I feel like they are tricking people.

From claims that don't stack up, to the secrets behind the packaging,

we uncovered the truth about Britain's food,

so you can be sure you are getting what you expect at the right price.

Your food, your money, this is Rip-Off Britain.

Hello, and welcome to a special series of Rip-Off Britain,

uncovering the secrets behind something that's a huge

part of every household's spending - our food.

And where would we be without it? But, for the majority of us,

food shopping equals supermarket shopping.

The days of quaint high streets with the butcher,

the baker, the candlestick maker

are, for the most part, long gone, sadly.

Instead, an astonishing three quarters of everything

we spend on groceries is handed over to the big four supermarkets.

Obviously, that gives them huge power, both over the people who

supply them and, naturally, us as consumers.

But ultimately, supermarkets are businesses

out to make as much money as they can.

So today, we'll be looking at some of the ways

they've devised to part us from our cash.

Coming up, how fresh is the fish sold in supermarkets?

We've put some to the test.

Now, there's something not quite right with this one.

There are off odours. Sorry, it's off.

And the price of convenience.

Why should the same products cost more in

the supermarket's smaller stores?

It's the same company, the same brands,

so the prices should be exactly the same.

It's often said that nowhere in Britain is more

than 70 miles from the sea and, of course, that means that

fishmongers, supermarkets and restaurants can all very easily

be stocked with fresh fish.

But the question is, just how fresh is fresh?

Well, as we found out, some of the apparently fresh fish

on sale in some of the supermarkets

have been out of the sea for longer than you might like to think.

It's a scene that's been played out for generations.

The ships may be bigger and some of the fish

we eat perhaps a little different,

but still, five mornings a week, in ports all around the coast,

fish markets like this buzz with activity

as tonnes of freshly caught fish are bought and sold.

10.20, 10.30...

Independent fishmonger Harry Bowditch has been coming

to Brixham Fish Market most of his life.

I have come down to Brixham today to buy the freshest fish possible.

Everything I buy today will be sold in the shop

within, probably, two to three hours.

He may only be 25, but the fish business is in his genes.

Coming from a family of fishmongers,

Harry knows exactly what to look out for to get the freshest fish.

This is the plaice that I've bought today.

The colour is fantastic.

You can see the spots.

It looks like it's just got out of the water, as well.

It's nice and firm

and, you can see, it's got a stiffness towards it, as well.

3.20...

I'm competing mainly against other fishmongers.

I'm competing against the supermarkets, as well.

Down here, you have probably two or three big buyers

who will supply the supermarkets.

Everyone just wants the best stuff possible, the freshest things.

As you know, buying fish that has just been landed

is a real treat -

not least because we can tell just how fresh it is.

But for most of us, I'm afraid, that is a treat

reserved for holidays by the sea, whether it's at home or abroad.

Instead, especially as more and more local fishmongers

have closed their doors in recent years,

we rely on the supermarkets for our fresh fish.

But, you know what? The journey from quayside to supermarket

can be a very long one.

Although that's not how the supermarkets would see it.

In ads like this, their fish counters come across as the

modern day equivalent of the local fishmonger's shop,

complete with expertly-trained staff.

So with their big supply chains and distribution centres,

how quickly would you think the supermarkets get their

fish from markets like Brixham

to the fish counters of stores nearby?

And just how fresh would you expect supermarket fresh fish to be?

About eight hours, I suppose.

It's got to get from the sea to the shop, I suppose.

So I'd say about eight hours.

Within two or three days max. Max!

I'd rather it be 24 hours, really.

I'd say...about a day old.

I wouldn't really want it sat there any longer than that.

If I was looking at fresh fish, I'd want it to be that day.

We're not right next to the sea, but we're not far away,

so I wouldn't want it to have been hanging around

for more than, I don't know, a day, two days.

Well, we decided to put the freshness

of supermarket fish to the test.

We went shopping at one of the Taunton branches

of each of the big four supermarkets -

Tesco, ASDA

Sainsbury's and Morrisons.

We bought the same fish from the fresh fish counter in each store -

a piece of cod, a piece of haddock, and some fish pie mix.

We also popped to Harry's shop to pick up a couple of pieces

of the fish he'd bought that morning at Brixham Fish Market.

-Thank you.

-Thank you very much. Bye.

Then we rushed the whole lot on ice straight to a lab to be

tested that same afternoon by fish quality specialist Richard Chivers.

He's a renowned consultant who's been testing the standards

and freshness of fish for 25 years.

He's even done work for the supermarkets themselves.

He'll be using one of the industry-standard ways

of testing fish, grading them on what's called the Torry scale,

awarding marks out of ten based on the fish's taste and smell.

The fresher the fish, the higher the score,

so the numbers closest to ten are always the best.

This one was due to be eaten today.

Oh, dear, it's not going to be good.

So, what did Richard's highly-tuned taste buds make of our haul of fish?

First up is the haddock from Harry's family fishmongers.

There we have haddock.

I'm getting shellfish, seaweed odours from this,

bit of boiled meat, raw green plant.

So it is a good quality fish, according to the odour.

It's very good.

I'll give that eight and a half.

And what about the cod?

What we're looking at is sweet and meaty.

Yep, characteristic flavours.

OK, so we're certainly looking at a nine.

Two good scores so far,

but how will the fish pie mix fare?

Excellent texture.

As long as it's got sweetness, it's more than eight

on the Torry scoring system.

Excellent. I'll have that.

So, no big surprise there.

The independent local fishmongers supplied us with VERY fresh fish,

although they did know we were going to be testing it.

The supermarkets had no such warning.

So, how did their samples do in Richard's tests?

First up is the Sainsbury's haddock.

Bland.

Nothing special there, I'm afraid.

I'd give that seven and a half.

Next, Sainsbury's cod.

That is an excellent example

of completely no flavour.

Absolutely nothing there.

Richard gave both the Sainsbury's cod

and their fish pie mix just six each - that's the lowest score

usually given before the fish starts to go off.

According to the Torry scale,

that typically means that the fish could have been

caught as much as 11 days ago,

and won't have very much shelf life at all.

Up next, Tesco,

the store that accounts for a quarter of all

the fish sold in the UK.

Tesco's haddock. Let's see what we've got.

It's neutral.

And we're getting

a score of seven for that.

Our piece of Tesco haddock scored seven

and the cod sample scored six.

Again, still good enough for sale.

But Richard was concerned about the fish pie mix.

Oh, dear, hmm.

Yeah. Something not nice there.

This is just slightly off,

so I'm going to give it a five and a half.

In Richard's opinion,

the fish pie mix we bought at Tesco was very close to being off.

Next to be tested is Asda's cod.

It's a 6.5 or a 7 on the Torry scoring system,

and that means it's in the neutral band of flavour.

But unfortunately it was downhill from there.

So now we are going into Asda's haddock,

here we go.

HE SNIFFS

Now, there is something not quite right with this one.

There are off odours. Sorry, it's off.

Our piece of ASDA haddock scored a lowly 5.5.

As did the store's fish pie mix.

Both were considered to be off by Richard,

and the figures he gave are generally only used for fish

that either hasn't been stored well or was caught two weeks ago.

Finally, Morrisons, whose ads have boasted about their fish.

You've got your red mullets.

-Oh, right. Oh, he's nice, isn't he?

-You know all about mullets.

They were named

the Seafood Retailer of the Year in the 2013 Retail Industry Awards.

We check the quality of every piece of fish we prepare

so you know that when you come into store you get our very best.

But what would Richard make of the haddock we bought there?

It's in the neutral zone again. It's not lost all flavour,

not cotton woolly, I would say that is a 7.

So far so good. But what about the cod?

Now, there is a smell in there I don't like.

That strikes me as a little bit of off odour there. I wonder why.

Hmm.

It's off.

Our sample of Morrison's cod scored just five,

the lowest score so far.

But when we tried to buy fresh fish pie mix from Morrisons,

their Taunton branch had sold out,

so we picked up a pre-packed selection from the chiller.

This too, I'm afraid, managed just 5 on the Torry scale.

But Richard wasn't overly impressed with what we bought from any

of the supermarkets, and especially not with their fish pie mix.

Only the one from Sainsbury's was what he'd class as fit to be sold.

I personally would avoid the fish pieces cut for fish pies

because that's sort of like the last resting place.

And in total, Richard considered almost half of the products we

bought from the supermarkets to be well past their best, or even off.

Now, there are various factors that can affect what is,

after all, a natural product.

But low scores on the Torry Scale usually mean one of two things -

poor storage or time out of the sea.

We assessed 12 samples from the supermarkets and we found that

five of those failed, so almost 50% were sour,

which is just not acceptable.

Obviously, we only tested a few fish, bought on one particular day

from one branch of each supermarket.

So what would the stores themselves make of Richard's findings?

Sainsbury's told us that although their scores were

within acceptable guidelines, they would expect them

to be higher, given the efforts they make to supply quality fresh fish.

They stress they do hundreds of their own tests every year,

but will review these results with suppliers to ensure fish gets

to stores in the best possible condition.

Tesco said they pride themselves on the range and quality of their

fish and are disappointed that that wasn't reflected in our results.

They too will review them with suppliers.

Meanwhile, ASDA said they were shocked

at our results as, again, they pride themselves on the quality of

their fresh fish, which they stress has recently won a number of awards.

And finally, Morrisons reiterated that a number of reasons can

lead to different Torry scores,

including time out of the sea and how the fish is stored.

They said that, like most supermarkets, they stock cod and

haddock caught around Iceland and Norway, where there's more of it.

And they have a programme of measures to ensure the fish

reaches the UK in as little time as possible.

But if you want to make sure the fish you choose at the supermarket

is the freshest, Richard has advice on what to look for.

If you are looking for fish on the counter,

you look at their eyes.

See if they're glossy, they haven't sunk in.

They want to be convex, sticking out.

The skin, likewise, it doesn't want to be dried and corrugated,

If it's a fillet, it wants to look blue, translucent,

as though you can see into it.

Once it goes white,

then you are saying, "Hmm, not so much flavour in this one."

Now, how much more should you expect to pay for convenience?

I think it's rather fair to expect that your local independent

corner shop, rather like this one, might charge a bit more for

some items than the big supermarkets do, but these days many of our

neighbourhood stores are no longer independent. Very often, they are

just smaller branches of those same big name supermarkets and they're

selling exactly the same products and yet at rather higher prices.

So we've done a bit of shopping of our own to see just how big

the price difference can be

and to find out why it is that price promises of some of the

supermarkets may actually count for nothing at all on your own doorstep.

There's a new front line in the battle of the British supermarkets.

And this time, it's on your street.

In the '80s and the '90s, when the large supermarket chains

started opening their superstores in out of town shopping centres,

they were effectively turning their back on the high street.

The race for space saw humble superstores become vast

hypermarkets. Some, like Britain's biggest store in Milton Keynes,

far exceeding 100,000 square feet.

That's the same size as almost 50 single tennis courts.

But now with tighter regulations which actually regulate

the size and the number of those superstores and out of town shopping

centres, they're coming back and they're opening their convenience

stores right here in the heart of towns at the rate of one a week.

From Sainsbury's Local to Tesco Express.

Little Waitrose to Morrisons Local.

These smaller stores are leading

the supermarkets' latest push for expansion.

In the last financial year, market leader Tesco cut the ribbon

on 144 new Tesco Expresses, but just 20 larger stores.

Sainsbury's opened 87 of its Local stores last year,

and soon they'll have more convenience stores

than supermarkets.

But while it may be a familiar name above the door, and the stores

will sell the same products as they do in their bigger branches,

there can be one key difference when you shop in these smaller outlets.

And that's the amount you'll pay.

Which is perhaps a surprise

because the big supermarkets have all made a commitment to

charge exactly the same price for their goods wherever you

are in the country - a policy often referred to as uniform pricing.

What it means is that if you buy a can of beans

and a packet of frozen peas, in Newcastle,

you'll pay exactly the same in Newquay.

The catch is that you have to be buying them

from exactly the same sized store.

The same doesn't apply when shopping in the smaller local stores.

So whilst supermarket ads like these may talk about their price

promise and great offers, you may end up paying

more for shopping here...

than here.

To test out exactly how much more, we went shopping for 25 typical

convenience store items - from bread and milk, to tea bags and fruit.

We started in convenience stores run by Sainsbury's, M&S

and Tesco in and around Manchester.

Then we headed to the same chain's nearest big

supermarket to see how the prices compared.

So, right in the centre of Manchester is

one of the largest Marks and Spencer's in the country,

And just half a mile up the hill is this M&S Simply Food.

M&S was the first big chain to introduce smaller convenience

stores, opening their first Simply Food in 2001.

But certainly, on our shopping trip, that convenience had a price.

Of the items in our basket sold in both stores,

one product - these M&S own label tea bags -

was actually a penny cheaper in the smaller store than the main one.

But for most other items, we paid more.

This M&S Cheddar cheese was 15 pence pricier in the smaller store.

This minced beef was 20p more,

and we paid 26 pence more in the smaller store for this pizza.

In total, our shopping bag cost us £1.67 more than in the bigger store

just half a mile away.

So is that a premium that shoppers are happy to pay?

Yeah, I would say it matters to me.

I would go the extra length to go to the cheaper M&S

down the street to save a bit of money. Every little helps.

Yeah, I don't know why they have to make it more expensive,

just to be, like, 10 minutes down the road. It's just a bit greedy.

For our next price check, we headed to Sale,

about six miles from Manchester city centre.

On the main road is this Sainsbury's Local, but less than half

a mile along the same road is this bigger, fully fledged Sainsbury's.

This time, only seven of the items on sale in both stores were

the same price.

The stores are barely any distance apart but you'll pay more to

shop local - with higher prices for identical packs of Sainsbury's

eggs, cheese, orange juice, pizza, pasta, baked beans and more.

And it's the same story when it comes to branded goods.

This jar of coffee cost us 31p more in the smaller store.

Overall, our basket was a total of £1.87 more in the Local store

than it was in the main Sainsbury's.

I think it's appalling.

I think it's taking advantage of people, the fact that they can't go

and travel, shop around, even.

So what about market leader, Tesco?

There are now 1,547 Tesco Express stores across the UK.

This is Didsbury, six miles south of Manchester city centre.

It's home to this Tesco.

And, just a mile up the road, is this Tesco Express.

18 of the 25 items in our shopping were more

expensive in the Tesco Express.

The rest, staples like milk, own label bread

and this bag of apples, cost exactly the same.

But overall, our shopping cost £2.49 more than in Tesco's main store.

And it was in the Tesco Express that we found the biggest single

differences in price.

If the Didsbury locals fancy a cooked breakfast one morning,

both this pack of bacon and these six eggs each cost 44p more

than they did in the big shop up the road.

When these mini versions of the big supermarkets started opening up,

they were certainly quite a novelty and they did give consumers

a choice alongside the traditional corner shop.

But as these big names have tightened their grip

on the high street, shouldn't consumers expect to be able

to pay exactly the same price for the goods

when they see a familiar name, regardless of the size of the shop?

So, we asked M&S, Tesco and Sainsbury's just that.

They all said pretty much the same thing, that smaller stores

have bigger operating costs and longer opening hours.

So they couldn't offer the convenience of these

locations without adding a small premium.

They insist the differences are minimal and some reiterated

the cost of most staples would be the same in any sized store.

Shopping expert, John Powell, says that

while the stores take care not to make the discrepancies too big,

they can justify the differences in price.

The reason the big supermarkets charge different prices at different

sorts of stores is because they can and they can make more money.

The high street location per square foot will be a lot more expensive.

It's harder to run a shop like that, it's harder to get deliveries in,

it might be more difficult to get staff to come and work short term shifts.

There's a whole number of different variables, so what the retailer

does is they balance their costs across the business.

But that's not quite the end of the supermarket story.

Later in the programme we'll be proving it's possible to shop

locally without paying the premium.

And we'll reveal the secret behind one increasingly common

convenience store which isn't all that it seems.

When a product is marketed as being a cut above the rest there's usually

a bigger pricetag and that applies to food as much as anything else.

In recent years, all the big supermarket chains have tried to bring us

a taste of affordable luxury by launching deluxe premium brands,

a little more costly than the economy alternatives,

but why not when you're getting something a little bit special?

Or, that's what you think.

But are those top-end ranges always quite as good as they seem?

To paraphrase one famous store's old ads,

"this isn't just a lasagne, this is a premium lasagne."

"This isn't just a bottle of orange juice, it's a premium bottle of orange juice."

"And these..." well, you get the picture?

Whether it's Finest, Taste the Difference,

Extra Special or any number of other exclusive-sounding brands,

when you buy from a supermarket premium range, you feel you're

treating yourself to the very best as ads like these love to suggest.

Go on, Taste the Difference. Here you go, mate.

Hm...what's the occasion?

Dinner with you. Isn't that occasion enough?

Supermarkets have premium ranges

because it's their fightback against the national brands.

They want to occupy as much of their shelf space with products

which give them the most amount of profit as opposed to manufacturers

and brands for which they get less profit.

And that's been quite a revolution.

Because it's really not so long ago that supermarket own label

products was seen as the cheap alternative to the big-name brands.

Indeed, in 1993, Tesco seemed to embrace that reputation

when it launched its value range with ads like this.

So in the true spirit of the 90s,

Tesco now have a range of 100 quality family essentials with

the meanest, tiddliest, most tight-fisted prices possible.

Tesco...every little helps.

Hot on the heels of Value, Tesco was then the first supermarket to spot

the potential of premium products too and launched its finest range.

Soon, other supermarkets followed suit

and that meant the own label range now had three distinct levels.

The budget one, the regular one and the posh one.

And almost two decades later, they're such an important

part of the supermarket's business, that Asda even called in the skills

of a big-name cookery school to help formulate their Extra Special range.

But what do shoppers make of all that choice?

It looks better, the packaging is better so we're kidded into thinking it is better.

The cheap ones, we don't like to buy the cheaper ones.

The two dear ones, price-wise we'd rather go for the middle range.

Yeah, we would, wouldn't we?

Quality's probably about the same I would say, as well.

You don't choose the value because you think it looks a bit dodgy,

but then you choose the mid-range but probably if you got them both

out the box and tasted them both they probably taste the same anyway.

I would go for posh, purely because I think if it's ready meal,

it's going to have a better quality product inside it.

And the cheaper one, I would imagine is probably...

Well, you don't know where it's come from, really.

If you bought a value cottage pie, and you bought

a top-of-the-range cottage pie, you can see the difference.

Never the value.

Maybe the posh, you just get what you pay for, don't you?

While the supermarkets now have a choice of own label meals to

suit every shopper, marketing experts said they're using all sorts

of clever techniques to make sure it's the premium one we want to buy.

Some of the techniques retailers use is to put those premium brands

right at eye level on the shelf.

This means it's the first thing the consumer sees

and if they want to search for something else,

then they have to spend extra valuable seconds to find that.

But, there's a secret snob inside all of us

and the stores can use other tactics to bring it out,

even when it's the cheaper product we think we want to buy.

Now, in austerity Britain, sure, many of us,

we have to buy and we're happy to buy the value product.

But on the other hand, they might be doing very little trick, it's called decoy pricing.

And decoy pricing is this,

I'll put a lower price of a very similar product up on the shelf

and people will look at that product and think,

"Ah, there's a premium one right next to it,

surely my family's worth a few extra pence?" And get the premium one.

And if that still doesn't convince you to buy premium,

or at least the mid-range option, well take a look at how the cheaper range is often packaged.

With some value products, the design or the packaging is really quite garish.

You might think it's to show you, the consumer that it is indeed

a value products so you can go straight for it.

The other way of looking at it, is that

when you put a value product in your shopping trolley or basket,

and the other consumers can see that, it kind of says, "they can't afford the better product."

From a psychological point of view, that may be just enough to tip you over to buy the premium version.

But if it's not, the design of the premium packaging might help make up your mind.

Regardless of what's actually in the product the packaging

or silent salesperson, as we sometimes call it, communicates quality,

food sophistication and stimulates the senses often by using dark,

rich, luxurious colours, sensual, visual images

and very alluring ways of describing the food.

But once you've got behind the posh packaging, are you actually

getting a posher product to make it worth paying the higher price?

Particularly with the luxury brands, people expect a luxury feel,

so quite often manufacturers will add extra cream, extra butter,

extra salts, extra sugar to them to get those rich tastes.

Fat ads something called mouth feel, it gives you a very creamy,

very rich taste and texture to that food.

So adding lots of fat, people will perceive that as very

luxurious when they take a mouthful.

In terms of sugar, what the manufacturers are looking for is something called the bliss point.

So, something where you pick up a sugary product

and it's not too sweet, but it's just sweet enough for you to

say, that really hits the spot, that's really good.

Those richer tastes give your ready meal a touch of class,

but the flipside of that is it mean some of them

come with higher levels of salts, sugar and fat.

So, the cheaper, economy range, while maybe more basic,

could in some cases, be considered slightly healthier.

But how many of us would realise that and how many might assume

it's the classier products that would have less sugar, salt and fat?

I went to Birmingham's Bullring Market to find out.

Which was the healthiest one in terms of saturated fat?

I'd probably go for these ones because they look a bit more healthier than those two.

-Here we go, I feel like I'm facing an expert.

-I'd have the everyday one.

Yes, well... You've chosen right. They are in fact the healthy ones.

You'd go with the most expensive one, wouldn't you really?

Looking at the packaging, the words "Extra Special" and "Finest"

allure you that it's better ingredients.

So do these better ingredients always mean that the premium products

taste better than their cheaper counterparts?

Well, in the past taste test comparisons have come up with some interesting results.

For example, when Good Housekeeping magazine tested various types of Christmas pudding,

Sainsbury's more basic own brand version came out better than its Taste the Difference pud.

And in 2011, the consumer group Which? found it hard to spot

the difference between premium and budget versions of plain yoghurt

and vegetables, some of which could even have come from the same farm.

We asked Sainsbury's, Asda, Morrison's

and Tesco about their premium and value ranges.

And they told us similar things.

They said all the own brand ranges give customers

choice for different occasions and budgets.

Their premium ranges feature specially chosen quality

ingredients and all of their products are labelled with

clear, nutritional information so customers can make informed choices.

Sainsbury's also told us that all their products whatever

the range maintain the same standards.

We all need the occasional treat.

Which is why these more expensive meals have become so popular.

But if they don't always guarantee a better taste and

they certainly don't offer a better price perhaps you shouldn't be

so quick to rule out buying the cheaper alternatives you'll

find on the same supermarket shelf.

When you go for a premium product versus a value product,

my tip is this.

Look out for the price difference.

It might not be as steep as you think. Check it.

Just take a little bit of time, look at the ingredients, look

at something on the packaging that substantiates that price difference.

Because if it isn't there then you could be losing out on money,

quality and quite frankly the brand that you would have preferred

to have bought in the first place.

Now earlier in the programme we revealed just how much more

it can cost you

if you're shopping in the smaller branches of Sainsbury's,

Marks and Spencer's and Tesco's than it would be in their bigger supermarkets.

They all charge more in their convenience stores for exactly

the same items and as they like to tell us, "Every little helps",

so are those extra pennies that we lose

when we are shopping local a price really worth paying?

Our shopping experiment saw us

buy the same 25 staple foods first of all in big supermarkets.

Then in the same chains' smaller local branches.

And every time overall, our basket cost us

more in the convenience stores.

It's great that they're there for convenience,

but ideally it could be cheaper for the consumer.

No. It's not fair, it should be one price right across the board

It's the same company, the same brands,

so the prices should be exactly the same

If they could just make things

a bit more reasonably priced then I think they could probably benefit.

The big stores told us the higher prices are necessary

because it costs more to run smaller shops.

But it seems you don't agree.

We've done a quick

and very unscientific straw poll amongst shoppers in Manchester,

the city where earlier we compared all those prices.

Of the 50 people we spoke to,

only five said they were happy to pay a bit more for convenience.

The other 45 all thought that identical products should

have identical prices in shops belonging to the same store

regardless of their size.

They're buying in bulk.

The same warehouse supplies the major and the minor stores

so why have two different prices?

Maybe their rates or overheads are more expensive in some stores

and that's why they charge more, I don't know,

but obviously it's not good, and we as consumers don't like it.

That means I have to go the extra mile just to go somewhere

that's cheaper, but I would definitely be willing to do it.

Now of course it's to be expected that consumers will always say

they want to pay less.

But our shoppers' outrage didn't mean they'd be prepared to

stop buying at the smaller stores.

When we asked how far they'd be willing to walk to get

cheaper prices from a supermarket's bigger store rather than pay

more at a local branch, they were much more divided.

A quarter of the people we asked said they would only be

prepared to walk for a maximum of three minutes to pay less.

They really wouldn't go the extra mile to save some pennies.

It's just reality really isn't it?

If you want convenience you're going to have to pay for it.

And that's the attitude driving the explosion of the convenience store market.

The supermarkets know that in the end we will pay extra.

In 2012, the number of planning applications

for supermarket-owned convenience stores was double that of 2010.

Sainsbury's Tesco and M&S were joined by latecomers to the

party, Waitrose and Morrisons, keen to cash in on a market that's

likely to be worth £40 billion pounds by 2015.

And it did initially seem as if one of those stores was going to do

things differently.

This was the chief executive of Morrisons when they

opened their first M Local store in Ilkley, West Yorkshire in 2011.

Customers today are time pressed,

the cost of fuel is very high so people can get in here

conveniently, they can get dinner tonight and then they can get home.

He went on to pledge that all fresh food in their convenience

stores would cost the same as in their main shops, making

the smaller stores were up to 11 per cent cheaper than their rivals.

Is that a promise that they've kept?

The company will have opened more than 200 M Locals by 2015.

But when we asked Morrisons Head Office if they were still committed

to offering all their fresh products at the same price in bigger

and smaller stores, they could only say that "many" of their prices are the same.

Meanwhile if you're shopping for a bargain, keep in mind that

market leaders Tesco and Sainsbury's specifically exclude

their smaller, local branches from some of their best deals.

Look carefully at the small print in TV ads for price promises

and brand matches and you'll see that in their convenience

stores those offers don't always apply.

If they're offering a price promise

it should be across all stores. It's a bit misleading really.

So it's clear all supermarkets are not necessarily equal.

Even if they share the same name.

But when we were checking out those convenience stores,

we also discovered a couple of rather surprising

things about another local shop.

One that's opening up new branches right across the UK.

Now that's a sign that you can see all over the country.

In fact there are some 600 of them nationwide.

Which means that there are now more One Stop local shops than

there are Sainsbury's Locals, Morrisons Locals

and Little Waitroses all put together.

But how many of us know the name of the major supermarket chain

that lies behind the logo?

-I can't say that I do no.

-No.

I don't know, I have no idea.

This red, white and blue logo is actually owned by that other

and much more well known red, white and blue logo - Tesco.

But I do wonder how many of One Stop's regular customers

realise that Britain's biggest retailer actually took over

the One Stop chain over a decade ago in 2003.

But you know Tesco are not usually very shy about flying

the company flag so how come there isn't a single sign on the

One Stop shop front that indicates that it's part of the Tesco family?

I wonder could it have anything at all to do with the price

tags on the One Stop shelves?

Earlier when we compared prices we paid £2.49 more for a

basket of identical goods in Tesco Express than in a main Tesco store.

But when we checked the same goods in One Stop

overall our basket didn't cost as much as in Tesco Express.

Some items were the same price in One Stop and the big

and small Tescos - things like milk, apples and bananas.

And while some things did cost us more, there were other goods

that cost us less in One Stop than in Tesco Express.

This jar of coffee, for example, was the same

price in One Stop as at the big Tesco.

And this pasta sauce was a little bit cheaper at One Stop than

it was at Tesco Express.

Better still - this packet of biscuits cost us

less at One Stop than it did not just at the Express store

but at the main Tesco shop too.

So just how can Tesco, who'd earlier told us that there

were higher costs involved in running their smaller stores,

charge less in their seemingly "hidden" convenience brand One Stop?

Well they told us that, quite simply,

One Stop is a "separate business" to Tesco.

And that its different distribution networks

and different cost bases account for the difference in prices.

You might have thought that if both companies were

separate it would be Tesco, the one with bigger muscle

and buying power, that was better able to negotiate lower prices.

Not the smaller store with fewer branches.

But it seems that's not always the case.

And meanwhile we're still left with a variety of different

prices between shops that share the same name.

Back in 2008, all the big supermarkets assured

the Competition Commission that they operate a national pricing

policy and do charge consumers the same

prices for products in stores that are the same size.

So why can't we have a national pricing policy for the

convenience stores in the same way as we do for the large stores?

Certainly many of the consumers that we spoke to said that was

exactly what they did want.

But so far none of the industry bodies or the regulators

are looking into it and they're certainly not pushing for it.

So the best advice, for the time being at least, is to remember

that handy though it undoubtedly is, sometimes convenience costs.

Here at Rip-Off Britain we're always ready to investigate

'more of your stories and not just about food.

'Are you confused over your bills or just trying to wade your way

'through never-ending small print?'

When they sit you down to sign up, they don't really give you

the chance or the time to read through all of that small print.

'Maybe you're unsure what to do when you discover that you've lost out

'and that great deal has ended up costing you money.'

These people have ripped me off, well and truly.

' Or you might have a cautionary tale of your own

'and want to share the mistakes you made with us.'

You can always write to us at:

Or you can send us an e-mail to:

'The Rip-Off team is ready, willing and waiting to investigate your stories.

Clearly most of us rely on the big supermarkets

and their smaller offshoots

for the speed and convenience they offer.

And with the major chains engaged in what seems like a never-ending price

war, that can undoubtedly have real benefits for all of us as consumers.

But in all the talk of price promises

and great value it is easy to forget that just

because something says it is a special deal doesn't mean it is.

So don't be dazzled by all those offers,

however fabulous they may appear.

I promise I'm not going to be dazzled by any of it.

But do make sure you take a really good look at what you're

getting before being tempted to part with your cash.

And on that note that's where we have to leave it for today.

We will be back though very soon investigating more of your stories.

But until then, happy shopping...

Happy Eating!

-Indeed, so from all of us at the Rip-Off team, bye-bye.

-Bye.