Aldi switch and save a load of crap?

[Hugsgalore]

I'm based in Ireland so figures may be different...

I've been thinking about these ads for a while and wondering if anyone has switched and has a comparable story.

An Aldi ad a while back with an elderly couple claiming to have saved more per week than I spend feeding 3 people by simply switching to Aldi. I can't remember the exact amount and the ad is no longer shown.

Just seen another ad tonight with a couple from Cavan with two small boys claiming to have saved €482 over 4 weeks by switching to Aldi.

I do my weekly shop in Tesco and spend roughly €120-140 a week feeding myself, Dh and dd who is 5. I can't get my head around how they are managing these savings. Surely these figures are bullshit. I would imagine an extra 30-40 a week max for the extra kid... so the ad seems to suggest they feed 4 people from Aldi on €40-€60 a week.

Unless you are only eating cheap pasta and sauce this seems like bullshit to me.

@Hugsgalore, I think you can save money by shopping at Aldi if you would normally buy all branded products at your usual supermarket (eg, Heinz, Persil, Fairy, Hellmans, Cadbury, Yorkshire Tea, Kenco, Pampers, etc) and you swap to their own label products instead.

If you already shop wisely for offers/bargains and mostly non-branded projects then you'll not save much, if anything.

You're also correct in saying that choice is limited, so you're likely to have to shop elsewhere to get everything you need, in which case you're more likely to impulse buy extras that you don't really need.

I don’t find the veg from Lidl goes off fast...but then again I shop weekly.

I’ve been slated on here before for this, but I really think Aldi/Lidl (and the like) are a stay at home parent’s folly. The savings are only worth it if you have no monetary value on your time.

There’s always an exception though, and in this case it goes to the family I know where both parents work at home and one of them pops in every day as a lunchtime walk (ten mins).

I’ve been a few times and found I can’t buy what I want, but can fill my trolley with £50 worth of meat, cheese and crisps I never knew I needed.

They did a recent documentary on this a while back and concluded that it was mainly down to minimum choice that enabled Aldi to be cheaper.

If you already shop wisely for offers/bargains and mostly non-branded projects then you'll not save much, if anything.

Nope. Before I started doing my weekly shop at Aldi, I used Sainsburys mostly 'Basics' and some 'own brand'. I saved about 1/3 on my weekly shop when I moved to Aldi.

@SellFridges - quite the opposite. I can nip round Aldi, and do my full shop in about 20mins - 1/2 the time it used to take me to go round Sainsburys. I just don't need an array of 72 different yoghurts to choose from - that is another bonus of Aldi, for me.

There's very little I can't get at Aldi, and I can pop in to local Sainsburys and stock up once every couple of months without it being too much of a pain. The key is, not to go looking for a brand name you recognise, but to try brands that are unknown to you, with an open mind.
The fruits and veg is fine and lasts as long as any other, and even better when you buy the 'Super Six' in terms of price. (Also makes me try different veg I might not otherwise have bought.)

@SellFridges I work and I shop at Lidl and I find EVERYTHING I need there. I shop every Sunday, I meal plan and I never buy shite from the middle aisle. I get what I need, leave my recycling behind me, and leave!! It’s great!!

Basic weekly shop for family of 3 is about £40 in Aldi for us. We top up from Tesco for bits and pieces like juice (DS dislikes Aldi orange juice), flour (Aldi flour is rubbish), onions (Aldi's tend to go off too quickly and pong the house out!) and baked goods/alcohol/other luxuries. I find Aldi fresh produce is better and lasts longer than Lidl.

Just to add, I actually like the limited choice. It makes shopping so much simpler and quicker, and I have never felt that I am missing out on anything, but maybe that is because "I am literally a communist"*. You get used to the frantic checkout pace after a while, and other shops (esp Waitrose) now seem astonishingly slow to me. I miss the Polish staff who used to race each other on the checkouts at my local branch (where'd you go? )

*With apologies to Ash Sarkar. I luv you, Ash

I used to hate Aldi because it never had what I wanted. A new one opened near us and I went out of curiosity. We have 2 children 1 baby my dh and I 2 dogs, 2 tortoises who need salad bits and chicken and a weekly shop costs £80. I cook from scratch.
Like @Miniloso we got a turkey crown because 3 Christmas guests were veggie or didnt like turkey and we all agreed that it was the best we've had and that includes fresh from a farm.
I am a total convert. I go to Lidl for Heinz beans though!

I'm really surprised at the comments for people who say they can't find everything.

I've never struggled to get everything at my local aldi.

I’d love to be able to do a full shop at Aldi but I can’t. I just can’t get everything we need plus the nearest one is a 20 mile round trip. When I pass I pop in for loo roll, washing stuff etc but I don’t rate much of their food I’m afraid. Much easier to get a Tesco delivery.

Im in Ireland as well,i spend about 160 a week in Aldi.But theres a tribe of us here.
I cant afford to shop in Tesco or Dunnes.Its way to expensive.

The odd time i do,we always leave saying we could have got more for less at Aldi or Lidl.

I do agree though theres no way you would save that much,especially if theres only 2 or 3 of you.

I did a comparison between a normal shop at Aldi and Morrison's and I didn't have much difference (both around £70 for 4people) but I suspect it may depend on what you buy and cook.

A totally Aldi diet would be very limited too as there’s so little choice
Really? From what I buy they have pretty much everything you might want. I cook from scratch so as long as I can get meat and vegetables that's most things covered! Sure I might need to go to waitrose for the odd weird item like sumac or kaffir lime leaves or whatever, but I wouldnt say my diet is "limited " by shopping at aldi.

A totally Aldi diet would be very limited too as there’s so little choice

They sell all the veg
Spices
Pulses/beans

Meat

You need a new cookbook

Aldi use most of the same suppliers as the other supermarkets. I can tell you for a fact they supply the same grade grapes as M&S.

What they may not have is the stock turn of larger companies.

I use Aldi but I'm in the UK I don't buy certain veg from there really. I buy a lot of basic at Aldi and then top up at Sainsbury's next door. It does come cheaper I'm not sure how much I'm saving it's not hundreds. I've long since stop thinking the Aldi packaged like other brands means it's the same quality as other brands but it's really not too bad.

The main reason why I shop at Aldi is not because of cost but because of time. it's a small supermarket with everything that I need and I can just run around and pick up one of each item without having to compare prices over different brands and different sizing. it's less confusing and makes life a lot easier

@RhymingRabbit3 exactly! Kaffir lime leaves I used to just use a dollop of lime juice. Not quite the same, but with the £50 a week saving.

I now used Morrison’s delivery though as have no time to shop, it’s definitely more expensive.

You'd have to go to the extreme to make the numbers work. In the normal supermarket that would mean buying all the top brands with no offers available and all the really expensive laundry stuff etc. So that would massively increase your starting cost as most people / even if they are into the brands, would go for the offers first I would imagine.

Then you take the cheap Aldi equivalents plus reduce a tonne of stuff that you just can't get in Aldi.

For us, Aldi works. I know what they sell and what they don't and meal plan around that. I have a separate list for a 'proper supermarket' every now and then but it's usually shelf stable stuff so can stock up once in a blue moon.

It's so much quicker to shop there too as I don't spend hours comparing the diffferent varieties / prices. Want beans? Put beans in trolley!

It also reduces the amount of highly processed convenience foods that we use because they just don't carry such an enticing range so we do more cooking from scratch.

I don’t find the veg from Lidl goes off fast...but then again I shop weekly.
Every lidl ive tried the veg goes off with a couple of days, let alone a week.

I find their bread and fruit and veg a bit hit and miss.So i just buy that elsewhere.

I also go to Iceland once a month and get my freezer filled.

We swap between Aldi and Lidl (prefer different things in each one for certain items). We also go to one of the bigger supermarkets for organic whole milk, Yeo Valley yoghurts etc. We eat very well and find our money stretches further in Lidl/Aldi, whereas just shopping in Tesco, I'm counting as we're going along, putting things back, etc.

We do a big shop in Tesco etc every so often for specific/branded stuff but in general, I prefer Lidl/Aldi. The fruit and veg lasts much longer than Tesco as well. Can't comment on meat as we use our local butcher. I definitely notice the saving though and I can whizz around Aldi for a bigger shop than I can in Tesco et al.

Do Tesco do the Clubcard Plus scheme in Ireland? That would be worthwhile for the amount the OP is spending.
Shopping at our local Aldi would be a lot better if there were more tills and more room to pack the shopping.

I've never really shopped at Lidl, but I do find Aldi excellent value for the cost. The fruit, veg and meat are all great quality and we have no issues with things not lasting. Some things in Aldi I prefer to big brands: the dishwasher tablets and washing powder, for example.

@everythingisginandroses As we live in Waitroseland (HO is about 5 miles away) , we have lots of branches we can use, and I NEVER use the conveyor belt checkout, but park my bag or bags in a small trolley and do the quick scan thing straight into my bags as I go round, then just a very quick almost never a queue to checkout and pay. As you have to sign into the Quick scan with your 'MyWaitrose' card you can get a free newspaper and pick up a free coffee (if you take in a reusable cup) on the way out. Bargain.

Do Tesco do the Clubcard Plus scheme in Ireland? That would be worthwhile for the amount the OP is spending.

Yes we have and we have Christmas savers.