Aldi anything to avoid?

[SweetPeaPods]

DH and I are having to make serious cut backs. One area we (or I) spend too much is on food shopping. So I’m going to start meal planning, taking a list, and start using Aldi and Lidl more. I’ve popped in to the local ones before but more for 1 or 2 things rather than a weekly shop. So hit me with your items to avoid please or anything I should really try. Anything that is the same as supermarkets or branded but repackaged would be much appreciated too! TIA

Ketchup
Kitchen roll
Oven chips (the skinny ones)
Tinned soup

Everything else I've bought from there is pretty good.

I've never had the washing powder clump in the drawer, the main thing I like about it apart from the price and it cleaning well is that it leaves virtually no trace of perfume on the clothes.

The meat. it goes rancid days before the use by date.

I shop in Aldi or Lidl every week and this has never happened to me. In fact I eat things after the use by date and it's fine.

Each week I buy some red meat, some chicken and some fish. It's all always been fine.

I find their fruit and veg totally fine too. The odd mouldy blueberry but that's the same anywhere.

The only Aldi item I've been disappointed with is their laundry detergent liquid. It has a strange smell to me.

i shop in aldi all the time and the only things i wont buy again are their basic bread its worth the extra pennies to get the better bread, their basic baked beans and spaghetti hoops as they are far too watery and sweet, like other supermarkets if you go for the mid range and some higher range items you will still save money over asda i save on average about £100 a month and i find their fresh veg, sauces especially the curry ones with the spices at the top and italian ones absolutely fine, tinned veg like peas and tomatoes are same as asdas, the cheeses and cooked meats are actually better and more choice than asda ,

I don't get these threads tbh. It's just another shop to buy food, I don't understand the suspicion

Go and have a try, it's like everywhere else. The bottom of the range with be like any other supermarket.

Re the fruit and veg. These aren't SUPPOSED to last for ages. What do you think is done to them by other places to make sure they last? Frozen, the same place who supplies Aldi also supplies Iceland. It's really funny when you get to the till and the barcode doesn't work because they've been swapped by accident on delivery.

Re the meat. When I've had meat that's gone off from other places I don't automatically write the Sainsbury's/Tesco/Asda off so why would I write all aldis off?

Go, have a try, fine out what you like/don't like. You're not handling a ruddy bomb.

First time I just did a normal shop then we figured out what was worth going back for/buying elsewhere. I didn’t like their fruit, earl grey tea, ground coffee. I found their specially selected range was good for fresh meat. Things like jam, tinned fruit, dried fruit, oils etc all great and so much cheaper.

I tried a selection of their healthy snacks last week- chickpea puffs, lentil bites etc. They were all absolutely vile especially the cheesy chickpea puffs. I rarely bin food but I truly hated them that much that I chucked them. I don’t like the ketchup (weirdly spicy in an unpleasant way) or the mayo or chilled soups. The fruit and veg seems to vary from visit to visit in terms of its lasting power.

All really helpful thank you.

I swapped to Aldi years ago now & we like everything from there except tomato sauce & cornflakes (dh will only eat Kellogg's cornflakes). Love their washing powder,wash up liquid, cleaning products.
I also shop at Home Bargains for named brands,so save money there too.

Their bin bags are shit but their frozen halloumi chips, although very salty, are immense. The box says serves two..... err.... I think not.

Their meat is really good here in Ireland anyway. I generally find the veg ok. The vast majority of their stuff is good, only things I didn't like were the soups, bin bags and their version of pringles.

Avoid their ginger but biscuits, don't taste the ginger much.

I really don't care for the place at all, and have found the fruit and veg to be very poor and quickly go off. The wash powder isnt great either, some of the specially selected stuff is ok, but i find it has gotten as expensive as the bigger supermarkets on alot of things.

Not rtft but check the dates on everything.

Aldi ketchup is yuk, Lidl ketchup is nicer than Heinz in my opinion

This is all relative though, everyone tastes are different so we'll dislike different things, eg someone said the spaghetti hoops aren't nice but both my children prefer them to the Heinz ones.

You'll really just have to try things and see how they work for your families tastes.

The fruit and veg issue seems to vary between stores, mine doesn't go off quickly at all.

Hopefully you'll find you like most things and save yourselves some money. It worked for us.

The coffee, and bin bags are a bit weak I found and I get meat from a butcher instead but great other than that.

Asian ready meals are not good.
Kids didn’t rate the deluxe curry meals but the rest of the deluxe ready meal range is good.
It’s our go to shop for Free range chicken,ribeye steak, 5% fat mince and charcuterie.

I think Lidl fruit and veg is much much better than most other supermarkets'...and they have a really good bakery. I keep trying aldi but I don't rate it like most people seem to but I will sing Lidl's praises, just seems to be a better choice of fresh stuff.

I tried a selection of their healthy snacks last week- chickpea puffs, lentil bites etc. They were all absolutely vile

I love the lentil things. We're all different, eh?

I'm trying to think what things, if any, I feel the need to go somewhere else for. I suspect I have changed my shopping habits now to 'fit' Aldi/Lidl.

The only thing I can think of that I've not found is jars of jalapeno peppers. I get them in the village shop, two for £1. I usually go through one a week.

Used to have to go to Sainbugs for risotto rice but Aldi do that now.

I've just come back and spent a fortune (well, about £12) on their copycat skin stuff - fake Pixie Glow, fake Eight Hour cream, fake Nip and Fab glycolic pads. All at least half the price of the original and they get good reviews too.

I don't eat ketchup so can't comment on that which seems universally disliked here.

I use all the cleaning and laundry products just fine.

Can't really think of anything I wouldn't buy there.

We do 95% of our shop in Lidl.

Things we buy are:

Fruit and veg - never had the 'it goes mouldy' problem and we only do a weekly shop
Bread
Milk + yoghurt, esp the big tubs of Greek yoghurt
Own brand orange juice
Ham - Lidl has much better choice than Waitrose/Tesco
Loo roll and Kitchen roll
Wine - tend to buy from the wine tour but have bought random cheap stuff and it's still good
Beer + spirits
Anything Christmas - obvs wrong time of year but Lidl Christmas is amazing
Baking ingredients
Cheap tins of tomatoes, chickpeas, butter beans, passata, bags of rice + pasta

Ultimate favourite of course is the random middle of Lidl which you have to watch for or you spend all the money you have saved, and the special weeks - Spanish week, Cornish week, Greek week etc. Our fave is Alpine week. Or possibly Taste of Poland.

Possibly I should have this as my Mastermind subject

I love Aldi but I now avoid buying their fresh fruit and veg. I find it goes off and mouldy very quickly, much more so than any we buy from elsewhere.

The only other issue I've had is with the plain wraps - the packets are meant to be resealable for freshness but our went green mouldy a month before the best before date.

We still buy them but use our own zip seal bags to store them in for freshness.

Yes the tomato ketchup is awful.

I like the mayonnaise.

All the cleaning and body care products are great.

And lidl is great but their purple wash capsules give all three of my children a rash.

I wouldn't buy meat from there. Lidl seems to have fairly good welfare standards but if you check a lot of Aldi items it is made from EU meat. That doesn't bother some people but it does me.

Not keen on the gravy granules and DS doesn't like the yoghurts - they do copies of the 'Frubes' and similar but they taste very artificial.