Tesco/Sainsburys are not cheaper than Aldi

I’ve switch to Aldi as both girls have started their own meal planning and like to come with me.

I spend around £80 a week - this week they chose;

chicken korma with naan - made with a jar of sauce
fish cakes with new potatoes and broccoli
pasta bake
cauliflower cheese (I’ll make it from scratch)
roast dinner ( have extra in freezer)
chicken Kiev
one ready meal lasagna

plus snacks, cheese, butter, milk, bread, tampons, shower gel, ‘Fanta’, ’ eggs, crumpets, frozen pancakes (don’t ask),

i still use Morrisons online - coming today with cat food, steak bakes (Aldi had none!) laundry stuff, £30

it does work out cheaper for us.

Definitely not for me, I find Lidl cheapest then Aldi then Tesco. I think it depends a little on what you buy but I can’t see how Tesco is cheaper unless they’re only buying value brands and clubcard deals.

I do my main shop online at Sainsbury's for the same reasons others have mentioned - they offer me good deals on the products I like and as these are products I get often and I shop around when I can, I know these products are cheaper at Sainsbury's then they are anywhere else. The quality of the Sainsbury's own items is generally great.

It's quite far away, but sometimes I go to M&S because their fruit and veg quality is superb and some of their own brand staples are tasty and reasonably priced e.g baked beans at 45p or peanut butter at £1.70. I was thinking of trying Ocado one time.

I pop into Aldi and Lidl now and then, usually for a calorific baked item at the latter, but the days of them being much cheaper than other supermarkets are long gone. They're also not nice experiences to shop in - long queues, too many people and the aisles aren't spacious enough for me.

It depends on so many things though - like what you buy, in what quantities, how often you shop and how you travel to the shop.

I always remember buying some potatoes in Aldi and I spent absolutely ages cutting out black and green bits and about 50% went in the bin. I bought my next lot in Waitrose, which arguably were cheaper because there was no wastage and they took seconds to prepare.

Similarly, I remember buying some very cheap loo rolls in Tesco but they were so flimsy that I got through about a roll a day, so I think they ended up being expensive.

There are items sold in Lidl which we much prefer such as their cured meats and cheese, and these do come in much cheaper than Tesco. However, we don't buy these weekly - I have switched from Lidl to Tesco again because I started doing direct comparisons of my Lidl receipt to an online Tesco basket and the difference was coming in at around £5 a shop, and that really fluctuates. This week Tesco has broccoli at 62p, its 90p in Lidl. Also like Lidls seeded sourdough bloomer, and their copies of popular lagers and ciders. Herbs and spices cheaper there too. I use it as a once in a while shop now - it's near to the office so good for calling in on a Friday lunchtime if we want something for the weekend, rather than for the everyday.

I mainly shop at Aldi, but I also take advantage of the Lidl offers, so I'll get their free coupon products on the app and when I get to £250 I get the 10% off voucher. So I then go back to Aldi and Sainsbury to get the things Lidl don't sell, build up a list of things I need from Lidl again, and get my 10% off from there. Then start again the next month.

I normally shop at Aldi but don’t buy meat or fish there unless I’m using it the same day. A big shop comes to about £90 (not including alcohol).

The last two weeks I’ve done an Ocado shop. Pro’s - much nicer fruit, veg and fish and meat quality. Loads of choice but tempting to put too much in the basket (maybe that’s novelty value). Love the delivery at convenient times for me instead of the hell that is a Saturday visit to Aldi. Cons - obviously the cost. Things like basmati rice and olive oil are double the price. Spent £107 with delivery and will probably need to spend an additional £20 this week on top up shopping. Really liked the Ocado experience though and will probably do it more often for the convenience.

We don’t have an Aldi nearby but we have a Lidl. As a meat and dairy free household we eat a lot of lentils and beans. Lidl does not have the variety at all. What it does have are price matched with Sainsbury’s.

We find other things very similar on price with Sainsbury’s. We mostly buy budget range except preserved tomatoes. Rice and pasta often work out cheaper. Tofu always works out cheaper, if lidl even have it. We just go to Lidl for nappies, which are definitely cheaper and also fit better. I think their produce is good quality too, but we go to the grocer for that and seasonal things are definitely cheaper there.

We are like you with Sainsbury's. The Nectar prices and deals are definitely worth taking in to account and often are targeted at the things you buy often. Also I am now so used to Smart shop that I couldn't be doing with anything else for my big shop. On one occasion when Sainsbury's Smart shop system was down we just turned straight around and went to Tesco instead so that we could use their equivalent. We do have a Tesco club card too but don't shop there as often so probably don't see the same benefits.

A while back we decided to try Aldi to see if we made significant savings. We usually found that, although the price at the Aldi till looked less, there were always a small number of items on our list that they didn't have. By the time we had called at Sainsbury's to get those items then the final total wasn't much different.

I generally shop at Sainsbury’s via delivery. I can’t be doing with Aldi / Lidl on a weekend and sadly I work full time.

I’ve done a bit of research via those comparison sites and I don’t think the difference in price is significant now. Most of the supermarkets do price match on certain things. I have a friend who works for Sainsbos and although she can’t give me a discount obviously she has advised me re how to optimise what you buy to save money.

I agree with this. I visit Lidl from time to time as there is one in my road so will drop in for milk etc but I can't do a whole shop there as they just don't have anything. I'd say they really only have basics mainly.

But you can't be pricing up branded goods because Aldi don't sell many, therefore isn't the comparison pointless?

It’s hard to compare anyway because so often it’s not like for like. A product may contain more or less of a certain ingredient or be a slightly different sized packet.

All the grapes I get from Aldi I wash and bag them up and put in the freezer so they don't spoil. I agree with a PP that the quality isn't as good for fresh produce but I won't be wasting fuel to shop around to buy things like grapes, instead I make sure to freeze the produce so I can still enjoy it. Saving money and saving the limited quality of the fruit at the same time.

Yes but the cost to you in time and resources is also relevant I think.

And yes you can get milk and veg but the rest of it isn't predictable. I need a very predictable shop so I can cook the meals that are planned. I haven't got headspace around work to come up with other meals last minute. Maybe our Aldi is a small one? Because it never has half of what we need, even fresh food is often limited. They didn't have lettuce last time I went in for example.

But they may buy products you don’t want or need so its of no use to you. If you’re interested, type your shopping into Tesco etc and see how it compares. Unless you’re going to buy random products just because they’re cheaper then someone else’s weekly shopping will be of no use to you, which leads me to believe you are just one of those people desperate to prove Aldi is great to justify shopping there when you don’t have to and no one cares.

Tesco clubcard offers and clubcard points can be great for money saving though. I’ve got hundreds of pounds in clubcard points. We used to use them on days out when the kids were little but now I mainly just spend them on weekly shops.

Apart from the obvious outliers such as Waitrose, I have found over the years the prices don’t vary that much across a whole trolley load. Prices / offers are always changing. Unless you are on the bones of your arse financially, it’s better to focus on the quality of the food you’re buying.

I shop around and price compare online before going to the shop - usually Tesco and Aldi. So I know what items are cheaper at Aldi and what are either the same price or cheaper at Tesco. If they are the same price it is better to buy at Tesco as you get Clubcard points which add up over the year.

Aldi used to be significantly cheaper (about 30%) than Tesco or Asda. Now its negliable each week - a couple of £ overall. But it does add up if you save that every week over the month and year.

If you're buying fruitv, veg, milk etc etc they'll always have that in. Aldi seem to have a perfectly good range of spices and you surely don't need to buy those every week. We don't have any allergies so can't comment there.
Aldi had Davidstow cheese a few weeks ago. Very small packets. Waitrose had the same cheese in larger packs that were on offer and were cheaper by weight than Aldi. Stockpiled it from Waitrose.

I'm only cooking for one but prefer Lidl to Aldi - our local Aldi store always felt dirty and grubby even though it wasn't and their 'fresh' fruit and veg was never that good. I mix between Lidl and Waitrose as for one person, Waitrose isn't much more expensive and the quality is definitely better.
Like a PP I despise the Cllubcard and Nectar price discounts on display - have no issue with people getting the discount at the till but to outright charge such hugely different prices is very wrong. Except on chocolate and biscuits as the increased prices definitely stop me buyingthem

I cost my time in too. I work full time so I apply my hourly rate to the supermarket shop. I can do the Tesco shop online in 15 mins from my desk. To go to Aldi takes an hour (driving across town and back again) and then on to another shop to pick up all the stuff Aldi didn't have in takes another hour. On that basis Tesco is significantly cheaper.