How good is Lidl.

[Noidea2114]

We need to tighten our belts so I'm thinking of trying Lidl.
Is there anything that you could recommend.
We normally use Asda or Morrisons.

Their beef is always good but their chicken is hot and miss.

Bakery, cheese and other deli stuff excellent, frozen food good esp their pizzas and tinned and dried stuff mainly good quality.. and the theses the chocolate aisle

Toiletries and household stuff are all ok and their extra storage bin bags are the best I've ever found.

Basically I like Lidl.

It's significantly cheaper than Tesco or Sainsbury's (I did a price match before switching). But might not be much cheaper than Asda if you usually get Asda own brand. We don't have Asda near us so I can't shop there regularly. I like the themed food - got nice dim sum last week, few weeks before lots of tasty Polish dumplings etc.

I shop in Lidl from choice not just economy as I find the quality of their food better. I am gluten intolerant and they do so many gluten free foods I only have to pop into Sainsbury's every couple of months or so for a handful of things.
However, we eat a low carb diet and I cook from scratch pretty much every day. I love their themed weeks and stock up on things as they're available.

I love Lidl, do my big shop there (except for coleslaw which is always dreadful). Fruit, veg, bread & bakery, meat, fish, dairy & frozen fruit and veg. Ours is a good mix of brands & own (but they are very good & I've bought them in Lidl France and Spain). I have noticed in lockdown that the queues are not as bad as Sainsbury's, Tesco or Asda & it's a lot better controlled.

Prefer aldi.. do about 50% there and 50% at tesco.

Tbh there is a few things that are ok but not enough to do a decent shop. The meat tastes weird and the fruit and veg goes off super quick ime.

Packets seem weirdly foggy/cloudy so you cant see the veg properly to make sure you arent buying ones that are going off.

You will spend less yes. But then you will be spending double replacing stuff that hasnt lasted.

Prefer Aldi more choice, love their flowers.
Lidl is ok tho.
You’ll find diary good in Lidl, is cheeses, household stuff, peanut butter and coffee

I hate it! I'm not sure what it is but everything tastes a bit weird from there, in my opinion Aldi is so much better!

I go to aldi and our one was closed for a month for refurb and I went to lidl and didn't get half as much shopping in there as I do at aldis, I was so glad aldi reopened haven't been in lidl since

They have a good app showing weekly specials and seasonal offers so it might give you an idea before you go. There are certain basics there that are massive savings - I try to shop UK and seasonal but for EUR foods (olive oil, specific cheeses, German sausage) they do good basics . A pp said the lack of choice is helpful...I agree. The cold meats and snacks are very good prices as those things are expensive at any shop - scratch cooking is cheaper so I don't feel so guilty buying at Lidl. But as others have said ALDI feels slightly better in a lot of lines.

I do my weekly shop at Aldi and I'd go sometimes to Lidl but not sure I could shop every week three

Prefer Aldi. No limit on budget and used to shop at Waitrose but a friend put me on to the local Aldi as not so crowded. Am a convert now! Less expensive than Waitrose and the Hortus gin is amazing. Also like the veg, nice big shallots and lovely peppers. Great cooked meats. They don't have everything I need but I shop for my mum in Sainsbury which she prefers so I can catch up on those items then.

Forgot to mention that I shop there once a month only because that's where I stock up on own brand laundry liquids, cleaning sprays, dishwasher salt, 50 tablets and rinse, food bin liners, bin bags - £20 total vs £35-40 branded or own brand in big name supermarket. That alone is worth a quick trip.

I love Lidl, there are some things I can't get there though. The bakery is great, most of the fruit and veg is good, the meat is variable ( had some dreadful steak from there a few days ago).

It completely depends on the area.

The Aldi here is shit, Lidl awesome.

Prefer Lidl to Aldi esp fruit & veg.
Lidl favourites steak, mozzarella, plain choc ginger biscuits, sweet chilli lentil curls, black pepper kettle type crisps, own brand thousand island sauce, blueberries, dried mango. Agree check out which national week it is. Just finished some lovely thin almond biscuits from Spanish week.

As one poster said, if you choose , I personally only use eco cleaning stuff, stocking up on cleaning stuff is a good idea, tho aldi have a better choice.
Own brands still cheaper than the big 4, and well reviewed

Tbh a lot of people are snobby about lidl without trying it properly .'just about bearable fodder' really well it's way better than tesco r asda for a start and has some really good items.

I would challenge these supermarket snobs to even be able to taste'any different.

I used to be really snobby with regards to Lidl but now we shop there all the time. Well, at least we did until they decided to stop the social distancing and we’ve switched back to Aldi. It’s a new one and tonnes better and nicer than our Asda or Morrison’s. I lose the will to live in our massive Sainsbury’s.
It’s good for free range chicken, low fat mince, steak, cold meats, fruit n veg. The wine is fantastic - look for the points allocated and yes the hortus gin is good. We’re not keen on the ready meals and salad pots/soups .

The bakery is great. It's generally good for basics such as flour, sugar, coffee, olive oil, cheeses, cold meats, fruit and veg (pick carefully, the quality is hit and miss), fruit is sometimes a bit tasteless. Cleaning products are good. Meat is a bit hit and miss too. I think the main things to avoid are the own branded processed stuff, cereals, biscuits, ketchup etc are not great, but we do tend to stick with branded varieties of those in the big supermarkets too, you really can tell the difference. We haven't had much ready meal type stuff from there.

I don't think you will find quality dropping from Asda or Morrison's .there is less choice . I find the fruit and veg difficult there as it doesn't always last well and I have to build my meals around what is available. I scrutinise the fish and meat hard as well but for that matter I do the same in Morrison's. As everyone has said bread, cheeses, prepackaged cold meat are good to excellent. I always buy their washing powder and other cleaning stuff and basic toiletries are perfectly fine. I haven't bought wine there so can't comment on that but know lots who do. Jarred and packaged goods are also fine there.

I did my first ever Lidl shop last week and will definitely be going back this week. I would say I got 90% of the stuff I needed. The English strawberries I bought were delicious and had no issues with any of the fruit and veg being past its best. I got some lovely fresh rolls from the bakery, kids liked the mini cucumbers for novelty value and the wine was really nice. It worked out about 10-20 cheaper than Waitrose (I'm not a regular Waitroser but have been getting click & collect from there during lockdown) and I would say comparable to Aldi price wise. It got a thumbs up from me

I would challenge these supermarket snobs to even be able to taste'any different

Do you really think we havent actually tried it?

I dont give a crap where food comes from of I like it I like it if I dont I dont.

Theres stuff in Tesco i dont like either . It's over priced for what it is so I dont shop there. Plenty of stuff in other supermarkets I dont like too. Difference is in iryer supermarkets if you dont like one version theres a other to try. The choice allows you to do that.

Other supermarkets in my experience ( might not be yours obviously) are also better at keeping the food sorted a bit . Theres always far more mouldy stuff left on the shelves at lidl and aldi when I've been there than at any other supermarket.

You will also see how ths standards vary alot. Some have amazing big stores with a good selection. Others have bored so good stores ours must be one of the not so good ones cos its messy and the fruit and veg is vile and they leave all the stuff on the shelf even when its growing it's own friends .

Personal favourite shop here is morrisons and I dont really buy that many big brands So we are hardly waitrose snobs...

I must say it does sound like lidl varies wildly from store to store. ..personally I love it. ..

DH wont come to Tesco with me anymore. On the rare occasions I find myself there instead of Lidl, I walk round going "How Much?!"

IMO Lidl own brand stuff is comparable to the other supermarkets' Deluxe ranges in quality but priced similarly to their economy range. Also, many of their own brand imitations are much closer to the branded products we're used to than the other supermarkets' own brands are.

The only word of caution is that fresh fruit and veg doesn't keep as well, which makes me wonder what the other supermarkets do to it, but you need to be careful to use the most perishable stuff first if you only shop weekly.