To swap Waitrose for Aldi?

I switched from Aldi to Waitrose- fed up with fruit &veg that goes off, not being able to buy Ecover and other green options, UPFs in abundance, too much sugar in products, crap animal
welfare….. don’t find Waitrose that pricey with offers and careful choices.

There are a few things I like from Aldi though I prefer Lidl. I go to our local Lidl occasionally but it hasn’t made me stop shopping at my usual place (Tesco), partly because they don’t deliver.

Aldi meat is OK, but limited range.
General groceries, laundry and cleaning supplies good.
I will not buy fruit and veg there because of poor quality and it goes off quickly.

I prefer to support local fish mongers, butchers and the fruit and veg shop. They are all providing excellent quality produce and their customer service is wonderful too. That said, if we didn’t have these locally, we would need to shop for these items at a supermarket so you’ll receive no judgement from me. I have heard the meat at Aldi is awful quality so bare that in mind.

I like different shops for different things. Aldi do great cheese cold meat and pate for example.

I live near one and buy plenty of stuff there, but I can't do my full shop. Not if I am to get all the things I want. If you were previously shopping at Waitrose I'd imagine you'll find similar. I'm relatively picky about my meat and will tend to buy free range if I can from Waitrose and Sainsbury's. Things like processed meats, ham etc, I'd rather buy better quality. But it's useful for top ups of milk, eggs, limited fresh veg. Not bad at all for snacks - chocolate, crisps etc.

Aldi’s fruit and veg is of a far lower quality than Waitrose. I do buy some things occasionally at Aldi but never their fruit or vegetables.

I don't understand how people notice differences between the stores. Fine, some have a wider range as a larger store, although there's fewer of those now as many of the older Aldis have relocated into larger units or been extended/rebuilt. But otherwise they're much of a muchness.

My experience of Aldi is that they are inconsistent. In terms of the shops.
The one near my late mother was really lovely. Nice staff, clean.
Other ones I have been to have had miserable staff, unclean and really really messy.
The only thing I would say compared to Waitrose is the welfare for poultry/fish/ meat will not be the same. Despite the claims made.

Me, an Asda shopper, having a look at how the other half live

Aldi is decent quality in my humble opinion op 😄

I’ve done it and never looked back.

I do both. I get what I can at Aldi and then some stuff I prefer from Waitrose (most fruit, fish) and some bits from Waitrose I can’t get in Aldi. I find the quality of the ‘specially selected’ products in Aldi is usually excellent and still very affordable, but it really does depend on the specific product.

I think it varies from store to store. My local one has brilliant fruit and veg (Lidl even better). Lots of the meat is high quality and high welfare - and their fish is particularly good for this.

Aldi is very hit and miss for me. There are some undisputed brilliant items you can stock up on which we do every month but I avoid the fruit and veg, meat etc which we get from Waitrose or Sainsbury’s (our local/online).

I don’t think Aldi fruit and veg are very good . I also wouldn’t buy their meat . I shop at Waitrose for my weekly shop but I do buy bin liners , washing powder from Aldi .

Aldi is fine for some things, not so good for others (crap for bread and bakery products in my opinion). The main reason I don't do more shopping in Aldi and Lidl is that I actually have to go there and can't shop online.

Yep. I mostly shop at Aldi and make lovely meals
I get a few things from Sainsburys, occasionally Tesco and notice no quality difference

I think our closest Waitrose is like 20 miles away so we obviously don’t shop there, it’s overpriced anyway…

We’ve shopped at Aldi for years with toiletries / cleaning products from home bargains and branded food items we can’t get in Aldi from Tesco e.g SEN DS’s safe foods are largely branded, we prefer branded coffee.

I shop at both. The Aldi closest to us is excellent. I get all my fruit, veg, pasta, milk and cleaning stuff etc basically all the basics from Aldi and then go to Waitrose to top up with stuff also don’t have or that we prefer from there. Stuff such as nicer cheeses or meats and just branded treats etc. found it had cut my shopping bill drastically by not getting everything from Waitrose.

The Co-op and Waitrose consistently rank highest among the major UK supermarkets due to their co-operative ownership, Fairtrade commitments, and strong animal welfare policies.

Also agree that the idea you have to be loyal to one supermarket is downright weird.

I shop at Tesco, Aldi, Lidl, Iceland, M&S and pop into farm foods. I'm lucky to be local or passing all of them. I'd shop at a Waitrose if we had a local one. I used to shop there when I went to Southport. Their products often come out top in taste tests. I think too many people are unnecessarily hoarding money. We have threads about having money but not wanting to spend it on food, nights out or holidays. You're a long time dead.

Assuming that Aldi quality is similar to Lidl go for it. That's the while point of a trial.

I think that Lidl quality is great. Not the same variety as bigger supermarkets but that doesn't bother me. Means I'm in and out in 20 minutes.

People who say nonsense like this just make themselves look a bit thick with all the ridiculous hyperbole.

Aldi is like any other supermarket. Some of their stuff is very good. Some of it is no better and no worse than other supermarkets. Some of it I'm not keen on. Just like Tesco, Asda, Waitrose, Lidl, Co-OP, Morrisons....

Give it a try. If you do buy cheese or washing powder or whatever and decide you don't like it, then don't buy it again. Obviously.

Lidl have a nice bread section.Aldi don't have that