Will Aldi and Lidl really help me cut my shopping bill?

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I’ve just budgeted based on last months spending which the groceries were excessive

I don’t waste food and do online shopping so not tempted by extras when wandering around the isles but I still need to cut back

Will Aldi and Lidl really save me much money over Sainsbury’s / Tesco’s shopping?

I’ve tried Asda but the quality of most of the fresh food was so poor a lot got wasted so wasn’t any better going there

I find going to Aldi cheaper than buying the equivalent items in Tesco, but I spend less doing an online Tesco shop than I do if I go into Aldi as I buy more than I intend to. I probably do Tesco online 3 out of 4 weeks and go to Aldi the 4th week, as I do really like some of their stuff. Agree the fruit and veg is hit and miss though.

If you buy a lot of branded stuff from sainsbury's then you'll save a lot, if you buy own brand basics range at as da you won't save anything. I find Aldi's fresh food to be very hit and miss, you can get some lettuce that will last a fortnight then some tomatoes that barely last 2 days. Their flowers are incredibly good. I use a mixture of Aldi, as da and the occasional Lidl.

Not for me, most of their comparisons are misleading, comparing brands with own brands instead of like for like. I find he range available elsewhere is also of a better quality and there is more available for a lower price. Obviously it will differ depending what things you regularly buy.

Not sure where the info about lower welfare comes from- obviously if you buy imported meat the standards will be lower, and there will be more of that in a 'foreign' supermarket but the red tractor/RSPCA standards etc are universal across all supermarkets as they're tested on-farm. It's up to the consumer to check the labels whichever shop they are using. www.thelondoneconomic.com/news/supermarkets-food-chains-rank-highest-animal-welfare/02/06/

I think I must be lucky in that our Lidl has fresh fruit and veg far better than any of local mid-range supermarkets, I'd probably be less enthusiastic about them if it wasn't. The Aldi stuff is generally half dead, though.

I love them both but find the mince in lidl doesnt last long at all. Never survives to the use by date. We regularly have to pop back in for a fresh one

Without a doubt OP!

My typical trolley in Aldi is about £80

If I go to Tesco, Sainsburys or Morrisons I always spend well over £100

Some things are much cheaper; not the branded items. I go to Lidl every 2-3 weeks to stock up on cleaning and dishwasher and laundry products, loo roll, chocolate, cheese, fish fingers, and chips (also all Sainsburys chips now contain sugar). The fruit and veg is a saving if you are going to eat it that day or next, or if it's odd sizes - you may notice that Waitrose and M&S all have perfectly shaped fruit the same size, while Tesco/Sainsburys have more variation. Lidl and aldi take the fruit that the others refuse so it's big or small. If it's the same size as Waitrose, it's likely from a glut that Waitrose or similar sent back - so if you are happy with the shorter shelf life, you've saved money at Lidl. If you want it to keep, go for the odd sizes.

Tend to save about 40%, but then have to go to Sainsburys for specific items.

In Lidl the fresh chicken breasts and the beef mince are the nicest (no water coming out etc), I tried quite a few, better than ocado, waitrose and sainsburys.

You will save money if you stick to your list. Also they sell the best creme fresh potato salad in the whole world

Meal plan. Stick to the list. It’s cheaper and there ‘s far less choice. Fruit and veg can go off swiftly, buts lasts long enough if stored well. Our weekly shop averages out at about £1 per item. We don’t eat much meat though. I personally prefer Lidl (I’m not sure why -maybe because of the bakery)

The only drawback is if I go shopping anywhere else, I tend to get a bit overexcited around the fruit and veg aisle.

Home bargains is great for buying toiletries, cleaning products etc. Far cheaper imo.

Lidl's bakery sells really yummy stuff. Too yummy! Their big fat jam doughnuts are full of jam, their cheese topped rolls go beautifully with soup, their Portuguese custard tarts are delicious and 25p cheaper than Tesco's.

I don't find it a good way to save but I buy own brand asda stuff anyway. Some bits I will pay more for the brand so don't want the aldi version of anyway (ie aldi norpack vs lurpak).

Also I find if I go with a list, rather than just wandering round to see what's good, I can only ever find about 80% of what I need so then I have to rethink and end up panic buying random stuff instead which makes it more expensive.

Cheapest way I can shop is asda online. I can keep an eye on the total, remove stuff if it's getting too much. Buy own brand (with a couple of 'it really does taste different' exceptions). The monthly delivery cost is less than I'd spend in diesel driving to aldi and back once. I spend about 50 quid a week, including toiletries, household stuff like dishwasher tablets, nappies and wipes, in asda and then about 15 in fresh top ups / late night "I want cookies" moments.

Plus, the middle aisle is dangerous.

I sometimes go to Lidl but after many disappointing purchases I only buy things I know are OK.

If you like cheese with flavour don't buy cheese, it tastes like soap, pastrami is rank.Fruit & veg goes off quickly and the bakery is near the door in all the ones I have been to and often has flies around it, also all uncovered so people sneezing and coughing on it and not always using the tongs.

I buy the large tubs of yogurt although often find them cheaper in Asda or Morrisons. Bleach and washing powder are OK, kitchen rolls but not the toilet rolls any more as they stopped selling the 4 ply ones and now they are very thin and poor quality, better to pay more and use less, also save on soap and nail brushes for when your fingers go through.

I no longer buy the body lotion or face cream since they added perfumed allergens, it used to be nice but not any more. I didn't know it has changed until I had applied and had to quickly run another bath and wash it all off.

Ice creams, bleeuurggghh.

We save money by knowing what we can buy cheaper at Lidl and Aldi, and what we like.

E.g Lidl premium jams, honey, pasta, granola, shower gel, sensitive deodorant, toilet roll, various items.

But they are hopeless for the time poor. You can’t rely on getting everything you might want. Tofu, lots of spices and herbs, good Indian pickles, tinned raspberries, trifle sponge, muscovado sugar, frozen leaf spinach are all things I have had to go elsewhere for.

Fresh fruit and veg can be very unreliable and poor. Ready meals: terrible.

I like Greek Week.

We get on well with Aldi. It saves us some money, but the biggest draw for us is it makes shopping so quick. It's significantly quicker for us to go through 4 aisles at Aldi than bigger supermarkets IRL, or navigate the menus or typing in search terms in online shopping.

We save a fortune shopping at Aldi. Fruit, veg and meat quality is fine, not sure why other people have had a problem. I stopped using Tesco 7 years ago and haven’t gone there since.
Weekly shop is usually £80 for me, DP, DS1 who is 11 and eats like a horse and DS2 who is a toddler and eats even more 😂 that’s inclusive of cleaning products, nappies, wipes, toiletries. At Tesco we were easily spending £140-150 a week and in my opinion we eat better now than we ever have, never scrimp on anything, loads of treats and lovely fresh food every day. It also covers packed lunches for me and DS1.

Definitely! we did the change to Aldi a few years back and our bill dropped dramatically. Our store is being refurbished at the moment though so I am having to shop at Lidl and I am finding the own brand stuff isn't as good quality so I'm having to buy certain brands (still cheaper than Tesco). I can't wait til I can get back to shopping at Aldi again

I really only now shop in Lidl and Aldi!! But that’s because I have two nice new one ones with the full range near my house. Some of the older stores don’t have the full range and aren’t that big and bright. I now find the big Tesco’s and Asda’s just to big and more expensive.

Didn't for me, as I don't buy much in the way of branded goods and we turned out to be allergic to their laundry products - except for DTwatCat, who was allergic to the cat food instead. I did like the Lidl Parma Ham and Nuremberg (sp?) sausages that were cheap for the quality, but that wasn't enough to do the weekly shop in there. In any case, every time I have gone in the hope of being proven wrong, the things I've actually wanted have been out of stock, especially in terms of meat.

I would think that if you usually buy big brands of processed meals, cereals, bread, biscuits, pizzas and snacks, you would save. If you only ever buy Value brands or don't get those sort of things, I don't think it will help.

My go to place for ingredients is a Turkish Food Centre. Good quality and a wide variety of veggies and fruit, fresh herbs, nuts, pasta, rice, grains, oils, dairy, spices, olives, tomato products, bread/flour/baking goods - and the best Baklava for miles. I get a bag of GF TwatCat food from the Waitrose on the way home and eggs/milk/etc from the Co-op round the corner plus any pork products requested by DP.

I'm not convinced about the scale of savings, many things are the same price or very similar. I prefer to shop savvy. We do get some things from Aldi, but generally just stick with Sainsbury's.

We tried, but got bored of eating the same things week in, week out. There was limited choice in Aldi/Lidl. We do go on occasion, but are happy with Asda so stick with there. We also found that if we went to Aldi/Lidl there would be something else that we would need so then have to go to Sainsburys (as that's closer) to top up. We ended up spending the same as buying it all at Asda.

Then again MIL doesn't rate the meat at her Asda (she lives in a different town) so shops at Tesco.

I already buy a lot of supermarket own brand products so don't find aldi or lidl that much cheaper. I find the quality of the fruit and veg isn't as good and they don't sell it loose which I prefer. I get frustrated because of lack of choice and they might not have everything no need. So for me the little that I might save isn't worth it.

Family of 4 here and I shop in lidl and spend anywhere between 60-80 on my weekly shopping (and that’s €) it’s waaaay cheaper!!

We have a lidl in walking distance that I try to make a point of using, occasionally. Both of the boys have ASD and there are non-negotiables that we always have in the house for them. For DS1, "deluxe" sausages cost a little less than our usual brands and he liked them. Deluxe bacon shrunk to nothing. Both of them have a hot cross bun with their breakfast, every day. Their deluxe ones were all full of orange infused raisins and fruit flavour bits that you get in really cheap stuff (and Greggs) so I didn't bother. I fancied some fish and they didn't really have much of a selection but they had MSC certified cod at a really good price and it was lovely and fresh tasting. I got a few nice bits of fruit and veg there, but nothing that would have lasted more than a day or two. The deluxe butter with seasalt was nice, a little cheaper than the sainsburys equivalent, but harder to spread, even at room temperature. I might stock up on that if we have another proper hot summer.

So it's a mixed bag. For more processed stuff like bread, jam and so on, it's worth reading the label rather than just chucking it in the trolley, if you're particular about ingredients, because sometimes things are cheaper because corners have been cut or glucose-fructose syrup has been used instead of cane sugar, for example.

I'm a Lidl convert since a new one opened nearby. Used to shop Waitrose/Ocado. 'Price-checked' my first 5 shops against same or similar products and had saved a whopping £297! No brainer. Our Lidl has a huge range of stuff, including a very big selection of their Deluxe range, I think because it has competition from a big Waitrose just 5mins walk away and a Sainsbury's and M&S within 10mins drive. My daughter has a Lidl near her, but it's quite small and dark and doesn't stock anywhere near the range of my local one, so I wouldn't choose to shop there. I find the quality of fruit and veg perfectly ok; top tip - check on-line for weekly food/veg offers and plan meals around that. I love their special promotions on different cuisines, eg Spanish, Greek, Bavarian, etc. We came back from holiday recently and because I knew I wouldn't be up to going to the supermarket I ordered an Ocado shop for our return - so little shopping for so much money!