I think waitrose is great for the adventurous cook. They have a wide selection of exotic food items from all over the world like ingredients for sushi, curries, Mexican food etc. I love that if I want to make a curry I can find everything I need in one place. I just love that they have Authentic ingredients. And of course you just can't beat the quality of their fruit and veg and fish counter. Their fruits in particular are always amazing!
A really cool thing I found was a spice mix to make a curry without having to buy a whole jar of every spice you need. It's great if you're still experimenting with flavours
Ocado: Kitchen Guru Chicken Jalfrezi (Product Information)
Thought I make curries so often now that I just buy the whole jars lol
I haven't really shopped at other supermarkets so Waitrose may not have anything unique for all I know but the things I buy from them that may not be mainstream are;
Palm sugar
Tinned cherry tomatoes (amazing for pasta sauce!)
Cinnamon sticks
Dried porcini mushrooms
Porridge with bran (you don't need to add scan bran to this, 1 oz is a full HEX)
Thai curry paste (free!)
Ocado: Thai Taste Green Curry Paste (Product Information)
Black beans
Amazing bagged salads with unusual salad leaves like radicchio, oriental leaves, soya beans, alfalfa sprouts etc
Belazu balsamic vinegar (BEST EVER!! Just a tiny drizzle on salads!)
I also love their
love life range. Its a range of wholesome foods like beans, pulses, rice etc. You can find just about every pulse and beans in the world within the range and weird things like camargue red rice! Great if you like cooking from scratch! Their soup mix is a must, add it to any soup base and it makes it rich and thick and hearty and filling!
Ocado: Soup Mix Waitrose Love Life (Product Information)
Oh another thing I love is their liquid egg whites! I know it sounds weird but I like to add it to whole eggs when I make an omelette just to keep the richness down a little. I only need to use 2 whole eggs and then 1/2 cup of whites for a BIG omelette instead of using say 5 eggs
lol and no wasted egg yolks from separating eggs!
Ocado: Two Chicks Liquid Egg White (Product Information)
Those are my favourites
I think it's worth trying them for one order, especially if you've got a money off voucher. You don't have to spend more than you usually would and you can decide then whether you like them or not. Or you could shop there for more obscure ingredients and use your normal supermarket for everyday things. Either way you can't go wrong with Waitrose! Oh also, if you have a John Lewis partnership card and shop on it, you get vouchers! Every couple of months I get a £50 voucher which I can spend in Waitrose of John Lewis and at Christmas time I get up to £150!!