Where do I begin with Asda?......Well,I swear by Asda. I think they have done an amazing job of providing good quality, often low priced food , household goods and clothes.

Especially with these days of non stop cut backs, low wage increases (or none at all or even decreases!) a supermarket like Asda is a must for consumers like myself.

I didn't realise until today that Asda was actually founded in 1949 in Leeds, England. . The Asda name came about in 1965 and in 1999 Asda was bought by Wal-mart.

Ever since I started shopping at Asda I have not been disappointed. Well the only thing that has occasionally disappointed me is that they don't always have a huge range of frozen foods. In saying that I have been to some other well known supermarkets where I have been very disappointed with their frozen food selection.

Most Asda stores are huge, with some being better than others. I am perfectly happy with my local Asda which is only up the road from me in Southgate, London. Its easy to get there and is only a bus ride away. What I like about my local Asda is that things are not moved around. You know what its like when you go to your regular supermarket and all of a sudden everything has been moved and you then have to try to find the food you are looking for as it has been put in a different location. I get very annoyed when supermarkets do this. In all the years that I have been shopping at my local Asda, nothing has been moved.

What do Asda sell?
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The question is...... what don't they sell!!

George Clothes;
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Women's
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Good quality fashionable clothes for women and children in particular; George at Asda have some great clothes and so many to choose from. At the moment they have all their summer things out. They have a really good selection for women and they are all at good prices. I often buy my own clothes from George. Its not that often that they don't have what I want in stock either. On the down side, they don't have much of a range when it comes to women's nightwear.

Men
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I have to say (as I have said before when speaking about their mens range of clothing); they don't seem to have much and it doesn't seem very fashionable to me. Luckily this range doesn't apply to me though!

Children
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George at Asda have some lovely clothes for smaller children in particular both for girls and for boys. All the prices are very reasonable and they do an excellent range of School wear at what I would call Rock bottom prices. They have plenty of things in the underwear department for both girls and boys and a nice range of shoes, sandals etc.


Food;
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Fresh fruit & Vegetables
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I'm happy with Asda's fresh fruit & Vegetables. They almost always have what I want here. Admittedly I find their potatoes to be a bit expensive but they are the same all over now.. Potatoes have gone up tremendously in price and its hard to get them cheap anywhere. I havn't had any problems with vegetables or fruit going off or looking rotten! I have been to many other supermarkets where I simply refuse to buy some of their so called fresh produce, especially tomatoes which have been too soft.

I have noticed that Asda do some really lovely salads. They do small ones for only a £1.00 (Tuna, prawn cheese); possibly more and also larger ones that can be shared by two people. I recently bought a Tuna salad with pasta and it really filled me up.

Ready Meals (Fresh);
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They do an amazing variety of ready meals, most are at great prices. I certainly havn't tried them all and some are not to my taste, but to be honest the list is almost endless. For example, I have been buying a new ready meal they do called Meal for One 'Chicken Byriani'. It only costs £2.00. It has a lot of chicken breast in it with rice and vegetables and only takes about 5 minutes to cook in the microwave. This is now one of my favourite meals!! I am hoping to be able to write a review on it sometimes in the near future!

Non perishable foods;
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You will find plenty of tinned foods, pasta and rice products in Asda with most being very reasonably priced. It is sometimes the case that certain food remain expensive. As I have mentioned with potatoes. This also seems to be the case lately with Tuna fish. I have discovered that this has gone up a tremendous amount; occasionally being on special offer (even then I think it's a bit pricey).


Crisps/Snacks/Drinks (Soft & Alcohol) ;
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Asda do some great range drinks especially for kids at fantastically low prices; there are plenty of soft drinks to choose from and often once again great savings to be made.

There are plenty of Alcoholic drinks to choose from at Asda. You will often get good prices on these.

Asda do a good range of crisps and snacks. Actually I have just bought a 6 pack of crisps with a flavour of theirs I havn't tried before (until today) called Salt & Pepper. Its really tasty an I recommend people trying this new flavour out. They have a lot of Indian type snacks too.

You can get a wide variety of chocolate snack bars with well known brands and Asda own name brands which again are good value for money.


Bakery/Bread/cakes/Biscuits etc;
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Asda have a great bakery!! I simply love some of their fresh bread and they have a huge variety. I often buy their Tiger loaf bread which comes in a choice of 2 sizes, small and large. If you buy the small loaf it only costs £1.00 for two loaves. If you have never tried it then I highly recommend you do!

There are plenty of yummy cakes and puddings etc available. They do an amazing deal the like of which I have never seen before in any other supermarket. You get about 15 choccolate chip cookies for only £2.00!!

Frozen Food
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I don't rate Asda that highly when it comes some of their frozen foods. They don't seem to have enough choice. In saying hat they often have some great deals and offers on a regular if not, permanent basis. One good thing is that Asda do have a great range of ice creams, frozen lollies, puddings etc and you are quite spoilt for choice here. However, in my view they do not do nearly enough frozen meat.

Toiletries/Bathroom;

Asda have a wide range of all toiletry and bathrooms items; loads of different soap powders/liquids and fabric conditioners which are regularly on special offers. They have plenty of deodorants, women's products etc etc also.

Home, Bedroom, Kitchen & Bathroom;
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I am impressed by what Asda have in this department and even more impressed at their prices. For example my partner has just moved into a new flat and I wanted to get him a gift for his new place. I spotted 2 lovely red chenille pillows which only cost £8.00 for two. Actually he is lucky cos I wanted to keep them for myself! He loves them though. I will probably go back and buy myself some of these.

You can buy bedding, towels, pillows and plenty of smaller household products . You can also get microwaves, Irons and televisions in Asda at really good value prices. My mum bought me a microwave from Asda for about £35.00 about 18 months ago and it works like a treat.

Cards/Stationery items;
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Asda have a wide range of celebration cards to choose from as well as their own selections which are all low priced. I just bought a new home card for my partner which only cost me £1.50. They have plenty of choice re writing paper, pads, A4 paper, printing paper , pens etc etc.

Toys;
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When my children were younger I would often get them toys from Asda; at the moment they have some great summer toys such as tennis sets/badminton sets, garden toys etc. At the moment Asda have set up a trampoline outside the shop, which is on sale for the really low price of £99.00. I only wish I had a garden!!!! They also sell plenty of other toys with many at reasonable prices for kids, including good party selections

DVD's, CD's, Computer games/X box, PSP, PS2 games etc;
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Asda have a pretty good selection here too. If you are lucky you can sometimes get newer games for slightly les than elsewhere. They often have games on special offers too.

Pharmacy;
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Oddly enough I have never used the Pharmacy at Asda in Southgate. However, this is a great Service to have available.

Newspapers/sweets/Cigarettes/Tobacco;
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Here you can take about 7 items to the till whilst you are buying your confectionary, cigarettes and Lottery tickets for example, You can get sandwiches and drinks and snacks here. Unfortunately quite often there is a bit of a queue here.

Customer Service
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As with the tobacconist/Confectionary part, there is sometimes a queue here. I suppose it is to be expected as Asda sell so many products that there are times when people need to return items.

Self service;
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My partner does not like the self- service tills! I usually rush to get to these if I only have about 10 items. Sometimes there are queues and sometimes the tills don't seem to work properly or the till speaks to you informing you that 'there is an unexpected item in the bagging area'!! You then have to wait for an employee to come and sort of reset the till!! However, I have found this problem to be the case in all other supermarkets too! In saying that, I still find these self service tills handy at times.

Normal queuing;
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When the store is busy which usually seems to be on Fridays, Mondays and Saturdays mostly, the queues can be very long! Which does get frustrating or as I often say " I always pick the wrong queue"!! However, whilst frustrating, this is usual in large supermarkets.

Parking & Other facilities;
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There is parking space on the ground level but also a large parking area on the lower ground level. The Ground level parking gets filled up pretty quick on busy days; but Asda have a travelator that goes up and down to the Store from the lower level Car park.

Just outside of the supermarket near the front entrance there are 3 cash point machines; one of which is a Natwest one and another Nationwide. I have forgotten which Bank the other machine is from, but I think it is Lloyds. Either way, these are very useful and there are no charges for use.

Summary
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Asda is an all round great place to buy almost all of your shopping. You can be guaranteed to find some good bargains in many things they sell. As far as I am concerned Asda is the best supermarket around when it comes to value for money. You would be surprised at just how much you really can save by buying not only your food, but also clothes, children's school uniforms and household goods from Asda.

For all the reasons I have mentioned, I have no hesitation whatsoever in awarding Asda the full 5 Dooyoo stars.