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?

We do our main shop there - The Aisle of Doom has all sorts of wonder. This week caravan whitening agent that is doing wonders for my uPVC door & windows.

Fruit & Vege - depends on where in the delivery cycle you go and what their turnover is like. They get the super 6 every 2 weeks - with additional deliveries during the fortnight. If you go on the Saturday before the new version is due the offerings can be a little sad. The Sunday of the new and all is good. Our local one also has a midweek top up of vege because the turnover is high. It all lasts really well. I have been to other ALDI where the fruit & vege is almost compost, but I have seen the same in other supermarkets.

For meat - it is more variable. Chicken much the same as other supermarkets 9but cheaper), some of the steaks are good, lamb is good and mince much of a muchness. For roasting joints (except lamb), odd cuts, sausages and fish I go to Morrisons.

Charcuterie - really good value and quality.
Cheese - small selection but what they have is good
Dry goods - find them fine. I prefer not having eleventy billion versions of the same thing to trundle through. Spices and specialty ingredients are the exception - I have to go to other shops for them (Chinese supermarket, Indian / Pakistani supermarket and the Lebanese supermarket).
Cleaning / hygiene products - all good. A lot of what looks like rip offs, but I am not sure of what.

I tried it a few years ago to see what the fuss was about. I only got a few things, mainly fruit - which I found tasteless. According to friends though it's luck of the draw and some stores are much better than others. The only thing I did rate was the flowers, they were cheap but looked lovely and lasted a while. I won't go again which is no loss to me as it's probably the furthest supermarket from the house. I use Waitrose as it's the local shop but do find the experience more pleasant in terms of no huge queues and your shopping not thrown around whilst the cashier tries to break some sort of speed record.

Fantastic, we have saved an absolute fortune since we switched to Aldi. You can go in another supermarket and easily spend double on the same stuff. Aldi’s version of branded items are almost always great too, they don’t taste cheap and nasty like other supermarkets own brands.

I love Aldi.

You have to get used to it - I hated it the first couple of times, but once I knew what I was doing & got past my snobbery (because that’s what it is when people say they don’t like it!) I was a convert.

It is definitely a lot cheaper than Sainsburys which is our other closest supermarket, and I love that I can do a full shop in half an hour because you’re not choosing between 10 of each product - there is one type of everything.

For the checkout you need big bags (blue Ikea ones or I have trolley bags) then you can just pack quickly at the till. It’s fine once you realise you can’t take your time over the packing at the till (but can go to the shelf if you want). Nowadays I hate how slow other supermarket checkouts are!

Our fresh fruit, veg & meat all lasts much longer than from other supermarkets - we must be at a good place in the supply chain.

In short, give it a few visits before you make your mind up. It is a different shopping experience & you need to get used to it.

There are a few bits we get from other places but not every week, and fewer & fewer things - Aldi’s range improves all the time. We don’t eat ready meals so I can’t comment on those.

And M&S is still nice for the odd luxury trip 😉

Our Aldi isn’t allowing packing at the till atm - you have to go to the shelf.

To a PP who said that it's for people who live off crap and ready meals...
Typical meals for us are
Greek yogurt with fresh/frozen fruit & nuts
100% peanut butter on toast
Muesli or porridge with fruit
Granola

Salads/soup/sandwiches, fruit, etc for lunch

Spaghetti Bolognese, curry, chilli con carne, pasta and sauce, homemade pizzas, fish with potatoes and vegetables type meals for dinner

Olives, cheese & crackers, dark chocolate and so on for snacks for me

Yes we buy fish & chips, garlic bread, crisps, biscuits as we have little ones, but our meals above are all made from scratch, including pizza based and sauces. Mostly from Aldi, except for meat which comes from our local butchers. Yes, we have such awful diets

It's awesome. We get everything we need. All sorts of cheeses, i get my halloumi and mozzarella, my vegetarian items and all that I need. There is much more choice than people think and the stores aren't as small as people think either. I like it and I also like lidl.

I love aldi their muffins croissants biscuits etc are equal to asda, their versions of branded chocolates (snickers mars etc) pasta sauces passata curry sauces with the spice on top, tinned veg, angus beefburgers, sausages, bacon , deli stuff, I prefer their mayo to hellmans, cheeses the caledonian cheddar is fab, cleaning products, they do some lovely chutneys in flavours that are very different, I find the veg in our one lasts for ages toilet rolls in the big pack are 1/2 the price of asdas I shop once a month for two adults and it usually comes to around £120 for the whole month, I get frozen from Iceland as I prefer thiers, which is usually around £80 only things I have to buy the rest of the month is potatoes, milk bread and butter, the same shopping in asda would cost me nearer £350

Its a bit scruffy or jumble sale like as pp said!
I cant do a full shop there as they dont have everything i need but it is cheaper for a lot of things and usually they are just as good. Checkout process is stressful,they basically scan at lightening speed, think staff are timed/ have targets, and you have to put it back in your trolly and pack your bags at a shelf that runs along the back wall behind checkout ( took me a while to figure that out!) conveyor belts are very short too so if you're doing a weekly shop for a large family its particularly stressful.
All in all takes more time as have to visit two supermarkets rather than one .

Haven't fact checked this, but there was an article that someone bought a prepared roast veg in Waitrose - the ones you get in the produce section with the onions, peppers, courgette all ready in the tin tray.

When putting it in the oven, one of the labels showed, 'Made for Aldi...'

Conveyor belts at ours are longer than supermarket ones.

Put all your shopping on in the right order, pack straight back into the trolley.

I've tried both aldi and lidl from time to time. In the main the ones we have anyway are pretty shit. Fresh stuff isn't really any cheaper or better quality and you struggle for store cupboard stuff. I'd pop in if passing and only wanted some chicken or a couple of bottles of beer or something, but I've no patience for having to do multiple shops even in normal circumstances.

I like our aldi, I think the fresh meat selection is great and quantity is better than a lot of other big name shops.
I don't use the toiletries really as I prefer branded ones cause I'm fussy. But everything else really can't complain about. As others have said it's great for cooking from scratch, not so much for ready meals etc.
And the isle in the middle is alright too, always have a mooch what's on offer.

It's easy to do a big shop as long as you are prepared.
Load the stuff onto the conveyer in the order to be packed.
So cans, bottles, potoatoes , heavy stuff go on first, finishing with eggs, soft fruit, cakes etc.
Arrive at the till with all your bags open inside the trolley.
You don't hold up the till, and no need to use packing shelves.

Aldi lover here too. Pasta sauce only 49p and prefer to other brands. Meat is good quality. The puddings are lovely, our favourite is the sticky toffee pudding. Had a couple of misses, a tin of beans.. with no beans just sauce and a lasagne with so little meat it sprawled flat across the plate like soup! But on the whole good.

@ilovemydogandMrObama
Haven't fact checked this, but there was an article that someone bought a prepared roast veg in Waitrose - the ones you get in the produce section with the onions, peppers, courgette all ready in the tin tray.
When putting it in the oven, one of the labels showed, 'Made for Aldi...'

It’s true, I remember seeing pictures.
The Aldi one was about half the price of the identical Waitrose one, & purchaser was furious, but I’m not sure it was the price or knowing they’ve been eating Aldi food

Oh and the packing can be a bit tense.. You get better with practise!

Outraged in metro

“The husband, who wanted to remain anonymous, said: ‘I was really disappointed. I use Waitrose and Ocado for good reasons – reputation and home delivery.
‘And I pay for the privilege.
‘No disrespect to Aldi or their customers but if I wanted their products I’d go to one of their stores.’”

Missing the point much?

Disappointed in Independent

I like the fact Aldi has few choices. I don't need five different choices for ketchup and ten different kinds of toilet paper. Shopping is boring. Less choice means I get it done quickly and with the minimum amount of thought. Honestly, one of the main reasons (other than price) I like to go there, is because the simplicity of choice means I get my weekly food shop done in twenty minutes rather than an hour. Also here in the US at least, their vegetables and fruits are good quality.

Sadly, I can't access Aldi now, but when I could, the charcuterie was just what i wanted, ditto the booze
The centre aisles of Wondrous Stuff was just that....wondrous
Flowers always fresh too.
I miss it.

Falafellygood, the poster you quote was saying it isn't for people who eat crap/ready meals. "It does sell both but a very limited range [...] But if you're into cooking with fresh ingredients it's fab."

Today I got a bag of compost for something like £2.79, a clematis for £1.69, and a bottle of excellent red wine for little more than £5. I spent £90 on a full trolley piled with enough food for five people for a week (3 adults, 2 teens) and random crap from the middle isles. In contrast the same type of who in Sainsbury'sast week cost me £280. I did swear at the checkout. This is why I love Aldi. I felt very happy at the check out. DD was not happy when I got home because there was no popcorn in Aldi. My next shop is not soon, so she's quite cross, but that the downside of Aldi.

@ThatLibraryMiss

Oops!! You're right. I read it wrong because of a misplaced full stop and took it the wrong way. Also, I didn't read the last bit 🤦 in my defense, I've had 5 hours sleep since Sunday as my daughter isn't well.

Sorry PP!!

We only ever shop in Aldi now, the odd times I’ve just killed into say Tesco to grab a few bits I really notice the difference in cost! I come out with literally nothing compared to the trolley load I could get in Aldi.

Trial and error I think with finding stuff you like, they have a pretty decent range of everything though and i especially love the special buy isle, all though be warned you will come out with something random not on your shopping list!

Newsflash
www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/business/aldi-limiting-customers-to-one-fluorescent-ski-suit-or-two-water-resistant-cuckoo-clocks-per-person-20200414195467