To think I might be missing something to have totally had my head turned to Aldi?!

I do think Aldi and Lidl are very good, and their fresh produce is the thing they do best.

I don’t go there because I have issues with very crowded spaces and long queues (sounds pathetic but I work around it at my own expense!) and I would only be able to on in on a weekend when the ones around here are rammed. If I could go on a weekday I would. If they delivered I’d never shop anywhere else again!

I think some stores are much better than others at sorting out the fruit and veg. I’ve found the one in my local market town where the only physical alternative is a Co op are shit hot at keeping on top of the fruit and veg. They are really competing against home deliveries from supermarkets, have a come in for the veg and stay for middle aisle / buy rest of shop kind of ethos. The busier one in the nearest city gives no shits so you have to rummage to back / underneath for decent veg as they just tip the old stuff on top.

I wonder if it varies from store to store because I've heard people say Aldi and Lidl fruit and veg are good and yet I've always found them average to poor and really quick to go off. The last bag of kale I bought in Lidl was covered in whitefly eggs and had to be binned (Brighton store)

I have to say, as well, that the staff in our local Aldi are amazing. Without exception they are polite and helpful.

I shop pretty frugally and have a large family. We have gone from spending £300-£350pw on a Tesco/Sainsbury delivery, to £250-£275pw at Aldi, plus a once a month shop from Tesco for other bits for about £60. Major savings. Aldi all the way.

We have a new aldi opened about a year. The fruit and veg last the same as Morrisons. The meat has never been questioned. No issues with the meat. The staff are really lovely too. I like the toiletries and tampons are good value.

In my town we have a large Waitrose, a Tesco, an Aldí ànd a Lidl. Aldi is pretty much opposite my pub.
Meat is good. Fish excellent. Love when they have their make up, their recent lip stain was excellent
Fruit and veg hit and miss
What I do find they lack though compared to Waitrose and even Tesco is their staffs customer service ability.
I've actually pretty much stopped shopping there even though I have to drive to Tesco because their staff are vile.
The final straw was it was busy one Sunday, they had one till open and four staff milling around trying to get people to use the self service
I had cash on me and of the 6 self serve machines only one was taking cash, despite the fact it was meant to be three of them.
I was had a go at by the girl manning the area. I explained or tried to three times I was paying cash and she got right angry at me for not having a card.
I then got some utter twat male body builder guy ram his over full trolley right into my back as he decided I was in his way. When I turned and said what the hell did you do that for he began being verbally abusive. Instead of being helped by staff, the rude one joined in. I dumped my basket and walked.
That's where they save, in Waitrose at Christmas there was a woman being pushy in the queue and she was told to behave or leave. They are friendly and helpful. Not so Aldi.

I just can't bring myself to buy meat from Aldi or Lidl
I buy this from Waitrose or m and s.

Lots of aldi and Lidls near me so do go there for other stuff. Got a melon in Lidl last week and it tasted awful.

The dog toys are awesome from Aldi - lol!! My dog thoroughly agrees with you 😁

This is an excellent point. And is very important to me - along with "buying British". Sadly most supermarkets are woeful in terms of animal welfare issues. They also treat farmers horribly - which whatever one may think of Jeremy Clarkson has been a really positive impact of his Farm show - it's underscored the horrors experienced by British farmers when dealing with the grotty supermarket demands. But of course that can be traced to all of us not being mindful when we buy our food: I would rather pay more and make sure the money is going to local farmers/British farmers who pay attention to animal welfare and take the steps necessary to make sure their animals have as decent a life as possible given the circumstances. I don't eat much meat (we tend to stick to buying from the local farmers directly because we know exactly how they treat their animals and what we are getting), but do buy cheese/butter/milk and I prefer to be able to trace where that food is coming from, and to buy organically farmed produce etc where possible. Aldi and Lidl are not terribly good at that aspect of things.

All that said: I really really hope Aldi decides to open Trader Joe's in the UK: it's by far my favorite supermarket in the US - it's sublime (and Aldi didn't ruin it too horribly when they bought the company). The sooner we get Trader Joes in the UK the better - but sadly they don't have any plans to make that happen at the moment.

I loved Ocado then the fruit went rubbish, I then went to Tesco which was excellent

the fruit I got from Tesco then went nasty. Went off quickly and all the hard bits

I went ti Aldi for the first time coming back from the dentist, the fruit is amazing, so fresh and so cheap

I’m converted. It’s not so much about the price but how much fresher the fruit is from Aldi

I live next door to Aldi!
..it’s a good one with an excellent ‘aisle of style’
Have to limit my visits, I have literally gone in for beers & come out with a heated clothes horse, gone in for cheese & come out with giant flowerpots, new pillows & some cactus shaped serving platters.

Top 3 amazing things I always buy:
Handsoap, Malbec & Dog toys!

The fruit, veg and chicken in Aldi is rotten even before best before date. Biscuits, crisps, suncream all good though.

I shop at Waitrose & Ocado because their food imo is much fresher. Yes, it’s expensive but I don’t have to chuck food and buy again.

They are small

I prefer Lidl , our local Aldi is quite small and they have so much variety in the fresh meat section / dips etc that it really is a sensory overload and I will go in to get something as a main for dinner and just end up without. Lidl has fantastic dairy produce and their fruit and veg last longer too

The better question is: why haven't you tried it before? They've been around long enough.

As with most things they are good for some stuff and not for others. The fresh produce is often either lousy quality or near the end of its shelf life. Which is fine if you are going to use it the same day, but not if you aren't. There are also oftentimes fewer options if you wish to buy produce that is grown in the UK - which is incredibly important these days as our farmers need our support.
Aldi also doesn't have any kind of loyalty program/vouchers etc etc - which can add up to enough money to make the savings a wash.

The main benefit to other supermarkets these days is the hand-held scanners: they make life a heck of a lot easier and reduce queuing and shopping time by an amount that, for me, makes up for any savings I might get at Aldi - time is one of, if not the most precious thing we all have - and I prefer not to waste it waiting in line at check outs, especially at Aldi where their self-service check outs often aren't all that great and aren't calibrated terribly well. They often don't have enough staff on hand to sort out the "unexpected item in bagging area" situations, which is frustrating when you have to ask 5 times just to be able to buy stuff.

I have saved £1000s shopping at Aldi, at least £50 to £100 a week for 20 years ( family of 6) instead of Tesco's. We currently have 3 athletic teens and 3 adults. So over that time possibly £100,000. That is quite amazing. Also because it is small I can shop in about 30 mins. I do go twice a week to make sure nothing goes off.
I also do get occasional Tesco/M&s shops to get discounted stuff or some gf stuff Aldi doesn't have. It always makes me realise how much I save when I do though.

I don't know why people say fruit and veg don't last. IME it lasts too long. Some stuff from Aldi just doesn't seem to go off like it should. Lasts and lasts. Suspicious.

I like limited choice and I'm not bothered about brands. I mainly buy whole foods so the ready meals are not for me anyway.

I rate the meat over sainsbury's but I prefer sainsbury's veg by a long way. I think sainsbury's meat is really poor quality for the price.

M&s veg and meat is lovely but really goes off quickly. Probably not packed with preservatives.

I like food shopping and there are plenty of options near me
We tend to do an Aldi shop first then go to Tesco to get what we couldn’t get in Aldi
Following week we do Lidl and then Sainsburys

One of the reasons shops like Aldi are cheaper is because they don’t much care about animal welfare. On the whole, the more expensive the supermarket, the higher their standards in that regard.

https://www.four-paws.org.uk/our-stories/blog-news/truth-in-your-trolley

https://www.ciwf.org.uk/media/5161418/shoppingguide.pdf

https://www.thecattlesite.com/news/20713/supermarkets-awarded-for-animal-welfare-2

I like Lid slightly better than Aldi, because Aldi ((or at least my nearest two Aldis) don't have a fresh bakery section. But I do like Aldi too. There's no Waitrose near me but on the few occasions I have been to one I've found it to be ridiculously expensive (worse than M&S).

Lidl will blow your mind great deli stuff and nice bakery.

When I used to work in supply chain for various supermarkets and wholesale suppliers I found Aldi had the strictest quality control of the lot.

Disclaimer - I'm a Waitrose or M&S shopper. I don't trust meat & other fresh items from anyone other than those two. The horsemeat scandal of long ago taught me to pay extra for quality. The customer service from Waitrose and Ocado is excellent. However, my children love Aldi & Lidl. We've got both nearby and I've never set foot in them.

Yes!

I actually went to <stage whisper> Aldi (tinkly
little laugh).

To be fair to Aldi’s marketing team - well played 👏 They’ve made the middle classes want to spend money in their shop. Higher spend per customer? Absolutely.