What is Aldi like really?

[Bookworm75]

There's a rumour of an Aldi store opening in our town (obvs not for a while now I imagine with everything that's going on at the moment), and I'm wondering what Aldi stores are like to shop in. Are they really much cheaper than say Morrisons? And are they like 'normal' supermarkets inside or are they more like Costco?

@EggBaconBeans 🤣

@EggBaconBeans Let me guess, no red carpet to welcome him and no samples to chomp on whilst holding his nose in the air?!

Much cheaper than even asda. I begrudge doing online asda shops when I have to, knowing how much cheaper aldi's is.

I think their range is fine too. But not a fan of their crisps/snack stuff.

Our Aldi is massive.. beautifully fresh produce .. I love it.. but I shop in several different supermarkets for my family needs.. I take the best from them all .. I've never been a one shop Gal..

I really like Aldi, but I personally couldn't get a full shop in there. I don't find a lot of the fresh fruit/veg lasts long, so I tend to buy most of that in Sainsbury's over the road. There are items in Aldi I prefer to elsewhere (their extra special chocolate mousse!) but in many cases I prefer either Sainsbury's own brand or sometimes a brand.

If you're on a budget great, and you can train yourself to only shop from their selection. Otherwise, you could do as I do, and shop there periodically for the things you like. All household bits and pieces like cling film/tin foil, bin bags etc are LOADS cheaper!

I've tried to do my shopping there, but can't get everything I need, so that puts me off. I don't have the time to go to one supermarket for meat another for veg, etc. and I never do a mid-week top up either. Items I have bought from Aldi have been fine, but the range is too narrow for me to make it my go-to supermarket.

Quality is much lower and choice is restricted. I go there only occasionally and would never do a full shop.

It’s jumble sale and we have a flagship store near us. The food isn’t great. Some of their food - well you might as well eat the packet as well. The cleaning products are worth a look especially toilet cleaning products and some of their hand washes and candles are dupes for Jo Malone and are very well presented.

The tills are always opened if required but you really need to be quick as the checkout people are timed on how quickly they serve a customer.

There is definitely a market for them but I wouldn’t give up shopping at Waitrose and M @ S myself.

Having said that it does have its followers. I heard a women in Waitrose berating the cashier saying that Aldi was exactly the same but cheaper. I had to ask her why she was there and she said she had watched a documentary on it... if that was true then there would be no M and S and Waitrose!!

Ours isn't great, limited choices, the own brand knock-off stuff invariably isn't as nice as the real thing. Fruit and veg are ok but seem to go off more quickly than from other supermarkets, also much more likely to be bruised. In general, the less processed stuff is better, cheese, meat, fruit and veg, eggs, flour, sugar, cold meat and fish are all ok. The few ready meals and curry sauces etc we've had have not been nice, nor have the cereals, biscuits and crisps. Ketchup, mayo etc are not great either. You get what you pay for IMO.

The fruit and veg quality ranges from region to region depending on the suppliers in your area. Same thing with Lidl. On that basis, I would try it out a few times to see if the produce lasts more than a couple days before rotting.

Aldi is good, like sainsburys but cheaper.
Own brand cereals are good value.
You can do a big shop there and save money compared to Tesco/Sainsburys and the quality is just as good.

I think the current situation is showing why we should be sceptical of Aldi and the like - they’re great if you can get in and are fit enough to shop unassisted. They’re not doing home deliveries to those shielding, or inventing essentials boxes, or helping the elderly with their shopping.

Tesco and Morrisons have been brilliant. Aldi and Lidl, less so.

A shithole with shit food in my experience

I was a bit of a food snob, I work in the industry and used to do all my shopping in Sainsbury’s or Waitrose. Years ago I turned my noise up at the discount stores such as Aldi and Lidl.

I now do 90% of my shop in Aldi.

It’s well documented that he store is significantly cheaper than the other retailers.

The meat is outstanding.

I actually like the fact there aren’t 15 different brands of for example corn flakes. Do we need this? No..... My weekly shop is much cheaper & quicker.

I cook from scratch. If you use a large amount of ready meals, convenience meals - they won’t be for you as the choice is limited.

Does anyone have issues with fresh meat at all? We converted to aldi and it does save us lots of money but one thing we keep finding is if we buy fresh meat and put in the fridge, even if the best before date is like a week away, it goes off before we use it. I think we need to freeze it on the day we buy it but just annoying it won't stay good in the fridge. We have ended up chucking out quite a lot of meat that smells funky recently. Anyone else found this?

I love Aldi. We don't really eat branded products so it isn't a problem going to Aldi over a bigger supermarket. We can easily do a big shop there and alternate between Aldi and a bigger superstore depending on whether we need extras.

The quality of the ranges stocked varies by location though. There's several Aldis within reasonable distance from home and one has almost no cured meats, limited cheese selection and none of their Aldi finest range.

I think the fruit and veg can be hit and miss in terms of how long it lasts.

• Stock is still in the box with the lid partially off, or on the pallet in some cases- not neatly stacked on a shelf. I'm happy to pay less though for this.

• I never buy their bread which isn't packaged. They do have tongs, which aren't always used. There was a pile of fresh rolls once and a man dropped one on the floor. Instead of leaving it there, or putting it at the side, he put it right in the middle of fresh stack!!!

• Has all the basics, but may not have specific things. My local has fresh basil, parsley, rosemary, but doesn't sell fresh dill.

• Has a limited choice of each item. Tesco might have 20 types of pasta, whereas aldi might have 2-3. Certainly adequate, unless you need/want a specific or specialist version of something.

• It can be trial and error to see if you do indeed like 'their' version of Weetabix, cheese, snickers bars etc. Some items I'm happy to do the swap, for others, I just don't like the taste.

• Each week they have a 'theme' for their food. It might be Bavarian week, Italian, Spanish or Eastern European week, and you will see items vaguely like you'd get in those places. IMO, they are mixed, with some people a very poor version, whereas others are tasty and ok.

• Each week they also have random non-food items in their central aisle in themes. Again, this might be gardening week, craft week, baby, garage, DIY etc with products from those ranges. I recommend checking online to compare if you do see something though, and don't assume it will be the cheapest or best mixer, drill, tent etc.

• you can sign up for their weekly email, and check prices before you go.

• I personally have seen their prices go up over the years, and no longer feel the savings are as good as they used to be. A year ago I did a comparison with asda and buying the same items at aldi. Overall, I found there was no difference, as both shops have weekly specials. One week might be slightly cheaper as asda, another week might be slightly cheaper at lidl. It obviously depends what you are buying.

I also need to shop elsewhere, because I cant get everything I need at aldi or lidl. I therefore usually order from asda now. If there was an aldi nearby, I'd love it for a top up or basics, but I've never done ALL my shop there. (sorry this was SO long!)

Very good. I get a discount at my own store anyway but I still go to Aldo to stock up on some things that I really like from there.

Ours is brilliant weekly shop easily done. But at the moment large queues so out of the question and am being forced to use ASDA. Seems about the same but £40 more expensive

We have a massive Aldi local to us and I cant complain. Fresh veg/fruit doesn't seem to go off any quicker than other supermarkets. Good selection of meats too.

Thank you everyone for the feedback 🙂 Except coconuttelegraph - seemed a bit rude to be honest and not sure why you bothered to post but there we are

I love Aldi. We can't get certain things there (brown bread flour, organic whole milk, specific snacks for my toddler, etc) but in general, I love it and am a saddo who's mission doing the weekly shop there.

I love the cheese, fruit & veg, Greek yogurt, olives, chocolate, wraps, bagels, curry sauces, nappies and so on. The staff are lovely and one in particular always fusses my youngest. I like the fact that I can whip around in half an hour because I'm not looking at 58693 types of beans.

Personally for me, the quality is better than Tesco for less money.

I’m not a fan yet really love Lidl , Aldi seems to be more processed food etc so if you buy ready meals etc a lot of people prefer it

We always shop there out of choice. Their stuff is fine and we have no problems with any of it.

Oh yes the cleaning products are good too, would avoid the cheaper type crisps I find them a bit tasteless.