Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

Is Aldi really all that?

153 replies

LOALM · 09/12/2019 13:39

New Aldi has quite recently opened up in town. DH wants us to switch to doing our weekly shop there. I'm reluctant. I find the whole till set up stressful - I'm used to the scan and shop and I don't really want to triple handle my food in and out of the trolley like the blooming hokey cokey (especially with young child with me)! I've also had some fresh produce from there that did not last well. He says we can do two smaller shops and would still save money, I just don't know if I can be bothered with the extra hassle/till stress/food going off. Is it worth it?

OP posts:
Craftycorvid · 09/12/2019 18:16

I love Aldi for posh chocolate, naice coffee, smoked salmon and their Lacura Caviar face cream. I do also love a bit of a browse in the aisle of random shite. Otherwise, as PP have said, it’s not great for fresh produce, spices and bread/bakery products. We use it for specific things (often at this time of year) and otherwise go elsewhere.

incognitomum · 09/12/2019 18:18

No.

Dh decided to shop mainly there as a big one opened near us. Never more than 2 tills open if you're lucky. Chill is often pretty bare. And I hate all that crap in the middle.

So we're back at Morrisons and can get the majority of things we need. Plus use the local butcher as much as possible.

Original poster
LOALM · 09/12/2019 18:27

Love how much attention an Aldi thread gets! Grin it's funny how we get so set in our ways - much like me preferring to do the shopping myself (bonus of this is, DH cleans the house from top to bottom while I'm out doing it - I feel like he's definitely drawn the short straw on chore division!)

Sounds like I should give it a go on weekdays to not immediately hate the experience if its super busy and see how the food quality is. Like I say, I buy probably 90% own brand stuff anyway (although normally the mid range items, not blue stripe), so if it doesn't make a difference either way I can stick to the ease of scan and shop/click and collect. Worth a try eh!

OP posts:
coffeeforone · 09/12/2019 18:36

I hate Aldi! Have tried it a good few times and I really wanted to like it but I just couldn't work out what was so great about it! The fresh stuff didn't last and the shelf stuff wasn't to my taste!

NemophilistRebel · 09/12/2019 18:39

No

The amount of money I’ve wasted to come home and find shockingly poor quality fresh produce I can’t be bothered with it anymore

Notopel · 09/12/2019 18:43

I was on UC for a month over the summer when out of work, and switched to Aldi to help with the reduced shopping budget. Back in work now, but still using it (supplemented with ASDA/ Sainsbury’s) as some stuff is so much cheaper. Good buys include own brand wheatabix, milk, pizza, cheese, fromage frais kids yoghurts, crisps, Pesto, biscuits/chocolate, dishwasher tablets, bread, chicken, salmon, and some beauty products including the toner. Also picked up some good special buys including Mario bedsheets, Harry Potter pyjamas and Top Trumps cards.
Tend to go to Aldi first and then top up at ASDA. Fruit can be a bit hit and miss - bananas are fine, grapes are often so-so, and not much choice on veg. Salad stuff is fine I.e pre-packaged lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, peppers.

PleasantVille · 09/12/2019 18:53

I don't get this, Aldi is just a shop, why on here is some kind of special place that can't be visited without asking strangers what to buy there or whether you can try it

I find it really odd, if a new supermarket opened near me I'd go and try it, I wouldn't buy things based on what other people like to eat.

Put your big girls pants on and go and do a shopp then make a decision based on your own actual preference, you don't need the approval of the internet.

Whathappenedtothelego · 09/12/2019 18:54

I go there sometimes. Some things are a lot cheaper, so I stock up on those. But plenty of things cost the same as, or more than my local supermarket, so I don't really get the hype.
I was in there this weekend, couldn't buy any fruit or veg as they all looked a bit manky, lots of things more expensive than equivalent in other shops. Though I did pick up a nice pair of slippers as I was passing.

SpaceCadet4000 · 09/12/2019 18:57

DH and I love Aldi. When we needed to start saving for a house it enabled us to maintain our diet whilst saving money- I liked not having to compromise on smoked salmon, organic stuff, coffee beans and my cheeses! I'm in the US though so but used to shop at UK Lidl and the quality is comparable. We buy produce from the farmers market so I don't buy the veg much.

This comment makes me sound like a middle-class parody...

BlouseAndSkirt · 09/12/2019 19:00
  1. Not as cheap as it used to be. European products, £ down toilet because Brexit
  2. Patchy stock: what you want isn’t always there
  3. Some I the things you want are never there. It is ‘lowest common denominator ‘ stock. Basic range of herbs and spices, ours never had custard powder (not a German thing, it seems)
  4. Low quality ‘ready made’ such as quiche. Their ‘lookalike ‘ ice creams are soapy, sickly and sticky.
  5. Not good for the time poor. Big queues, crappy self service tills, inevitably have to go elsewhere to complete the shop.

OK for the things they do well.

BlouseAndSkirt · 09/12/2019 19:02

Their coffee, ground and beans, is horrible! Tasteless and weak.

topcat2014 · 09/12/2019 19:18

I love Aldi and do full shops each week. Mind you I don't have any packing 'rules', so am fine with the tills.

Megan2018 · 09/12/2019 19:22

I like Aldi for some things but definitely couldn’t do a full shop. We do Ocado plus Aldi with a bit of the farm shop. All the bulky/heavy online. I have a 12 week old and Aldi tills are awful if I have more than a basket

SweetNorthernRose · 09/12/2019 19:34

I've used scan and shop 5 times - twice at asda and 3 at tesco. Had a right faff every single time with scanners not working, not transferring the basket to the till, having to wait round for a staff member to check your bag. Could have done an aldi shop AND got through their tills in the same amount of time!
We meal plan so know exactly what we're buying and aldi is minimal fuss for us, definitely less expensive and comparable quality to the big 4. It can get stressful on a weekend afternoon though and I wouldn't like to go with no plan for what I'm going to buy...would end up spending a fortune on tat from those middle aisles!

OlaEliza · 09/12/2019 19:59

Till stress?  Scan and shop has been around for only a couple of years, what did you do before then? You stick your stuff on the conveyor and pick it up at the other end. Not exactly torture is it.

This. Imagine if people still had to go to separate counters for everything and speak to people at all of those! And with their children in tow too!!

ChaiNashta · 09/12/2019 20:03

Their version of Pom Bear crisps are quite good Bear.

I normally get pasatta, blueberries and avocados from there. They used to stock a really nice watermelon, coconut and white tea drink but have discontinued it.

Pinkblueberry · 09/12/2019 20:24

I don't get this, Aldi is just a shop, why on here is some kind of special place that can't be visited without asking strangers what to buy there or whether you can try it

Yep. I have lived in Germany and have German family and all these ALDI debates are a bit bemusing. It’s just a supermarket... the own brand items aren’t actually that much cheaper than other supermarket own brands. The shop is smaller, there’s less choice to distract you and they don’t do BOGOF offers that lead you to buy more than you need - that’s where you save money (unless you get distracted by the inflatable unicorn float or crocheting kit for biginners as you walk down the middle aisle).

Pinkblueberry · 09/12/2019 20:28

Till stress?  Scan and shop has been around for only a couple of years, what did you do before then? You stick your stuff on the conveyor and pick it up at the other end. Not exactly torture is it.

I thought this was still very common place. OP sounds like she’s posting from the future, maybe the year 2045, where these stressful conveyor belts have long been discontinued.

BettyJean · 09/12/2019 20:29

You can’t buy everything there.

As others have said, check fresh produce carefully. Sometimes they are fine, not always. Bitter tomatoes for example.

Fresh flowers seem to be great though.

Tins of pulses and cleaning products are cheaper and just as good.

Some of their deli stuff is nice too, as are their ready made pizzas. Don’t have a great range of spices.

Do have nice candles and Reed diffusers.

BlouseAndSkirt · 09/12/2019 20:37

But "till stress" is because they only have a tiny space on the 'paid'side of the till, and no conveyor belt. The idea is that you park your trolley through the till, put everything back in the trolley and then take it to a small overcrowded bench to unpack the trolley, again, into your bags.

LazyFace · 09/12/2019 20:51

I never managed to make myself to buy anything in Aldi. Walked around 3 different ones and all the packaging looks just wrong somehow.
I used to be okay with Lidl but stopped going because of their overpackaged groceries.

Original poster
LOALM · 09/12/2019 20:59

pleasant oh come on, it's a light hearted question. I'm not seeking approval, asking permission to go or trying to find out what other people buy there! I know I can just try it, but there just seems to be a 'thing' about Aldi which is quite unique compared to any other new supermarkets opening so I asked. No big deal, surely.

OP posts:
Original poster
LOALM · 09/12/2019 21:01

Ola I know. It would be awful wouldn't it 😏

OP posts:
lynsey91 · 09/12/2019 21:02

I am not keen on Aldi at all. I definitely can't do a full shop there and their fruit and veg is absolutely disgusting. Before anyone disagrees, I am sure not all stores are the same but I have tried 3 stores in Essex, 1 in Nottinghamshire and 2 in Lincolnshire and they have all been the same.

PickAChew · 09/12/2019 21:10

I used to get the odd thing there but the bread was dire. Lidl, OTOH, seems better than it used to be but I still couldn't do a week's shop there.

Swipe left for the next trending thread