Is it worth shopping in Aldi?

[ImFree2doasiwant]

I previously shopped in Aldi all the time, but then had 2 children in quick sucession and hated going with 2 babies, and no toilet or changing facility.

Started a regular online sainsbury shop, and also separated from husband so food bill dropped a lot. I've noticed prices are increasing and wonder if its worth switching again.

I am on a budget. I work 2 full days and 3 school hour days. DC have activities 3 evenings (my shorter work days)

They go to their dad's Sundays.

My main issue is just not wanting to take the DC shopping, and not wanting to give up 2-3 hours of my child free Sunday to shopping. I know, there are worse problems to have.

It's a30 minute drive to the nearest aldi. I can have my sainsbury delivery and have it put away by 7.30am

I spend around £70 a week on average. 1 adult, 2 DC and a cat.

HOW??

I went to my local Aldi today, half sized trolley, no meat except sausage and bacon (i have hello fresh for evening meals), no alcohol, just some cleaning things, fruit, water and stuff for snacks and lunches and it was £91!!

I like Aldi and Lidl but then have to go somewhere else to get the stuff I can’t get there, which makes it pointless. One of my DC is dairy free and they just don’t cater for that.

I would suggest doing a periodic Aldi shop - monthly or even bimonthly if you have the cash flow, for household items like loo rolls, bleach etc. long life things like tins, oil, pasta, plus stock the freezer and buy cheese . You need to be savvy because not everything has cost savings, and mainstream supermarkets do have good specials. Luckily my nearest supermarket is Lidl so I don't have the same dilemma, I walk there 2-3 times a week, I find weekly shopping stressful

@SophSoSo

How did you spend that much? I spent £82 earlier today on food for the next few days (I'll go again on Wednesday) for 3 adults including evening meals and alcohol. Lidl not Aldi but they cost similar. I do cook from scratch mostly but I cheated and bought some of the Italian specials too

With a 30 min drive to Aldi I’d say you’d spend that extra in petrol with the crazy fuel prices now. If you can get Asda delivery it’s much cheaper than Sainsbury’s. I do find Sainsbury’s quite pricey and avoid it unless it’s the only convenient option!
Other option is to do a big shop in Aldi for certain stuff once a month or so and top up with deliveries of fresh stuff.

I can believe they did spend that much.
My Aldi shop last week was £130odd!
No extras, no alcohol, no pet food, no special buys.

Veg box from Lidl for £1.50 this week and only absolute bare minimum I think.

Online shopping is useful for budgeting but I always find we need a topup during the week so not saving in the end.

I always find Sainsbury's more expensive than Waitrose.
Tesco is OK and Morrisons slightly more expensive than Tesco.
Never tried Asda so can't compare.
Aldi is not as cheap as it used to be. And a 2h round trip wouldn't help at all.

I am wracking my brains to see why it cost so much but can’t find my bloody receipt so I’ve just gone through my cupboards

5 bananas
punnet of grapes
punnet of strawberries
punnet of blackberries
pack of childrens apples
one Chinese stir fry pack
Pack of pork sausages
Packet of bacon
Cherry Yoghurt
Greek style yoghurt
block or mature cheddar
packet of honey roast ham
meat feast pizza
packet of dough balls
4 packs of basmati rice
one of their curry sauce jars with the spices on top
packet of prawns (not king)
pack of two salmon fillets
four packets of biscuits (custard cremes, bourbons etc)
packet of cookies
bleach
disposable razors
Fabulous anti back spray
packet of dishcloths
own brand wash powder
sure deodorant
Bag of croissants
loaf of bread
2 pints of milk
Own brand ice lollies
Own brand cornettos
Sticky toffee pudding
candle - medium sized, £3 approx
12 bottles of water
bottle of dilute orange, own brand
Own brand pepperamis

I may have missed a couple of things but £91 total.

I find I value my time and diesel too much to swap over to Aldi/Lidl. I have a weekly Sainsbury's shop delivered to my door, I can plan all meals and snacks with no temptation by special offers or all the naughty food. I may be able to save £10 a week shopping elsewhere but I value my time higher, whether that's putting an extra couple of hours work in or gardening/housework. It's not always about money.

Eggs and a packet of childrens smoothies, that’s what I missed! Actually took a photo of my trolly to sent to my mum because I was so surprised.

Why does it take 2-3 hours to go aldi? Even with my 2 year old I'm out in 45 mins.

Yes and no - they price match about 300 things I think (& make a big song and dance about those) but the rest of their stock, not so much.
My prime example of this recently was sun dried tomatoes - 99p in Aldi, £2.40 in Tesco. Savings like that mount up!
Definitely worth having a monthly store cupboard stock-up trip to Aldi IMO. Even where Tesco do pricematch, Aldi’s quality is often better (eg Tesco value matches Aldi regular)

With traveling time (rural) for me I wouldn't do it in under 2 hours for sure.

For a 30 minute drive, you'd probably negate any savings in petrol (especially with the current petrol prices!!).

I also don't find Aldi that much cheaper tbh, and quality/freshness hit and miss. We can't use Aldi or Lidl for a full shop (intolerances and dietary requirements in our house to consider) so we use Tesco. We buy imperfect/wonky f&v a lot, plus with clubcard prices, it's not too bad

Iceland?

Yes its the drive thats really inconvenient, also the tiny car park (often have wait fir a space) abd the huge queues at the checkout.

I also value my time, which is why I'm wondering if its worth it. I've used morrisons but found them very unreliable. I'll try tesco this think.
Sainsbury are always spot on with their timing, rarely substitute.

I'm rural so any of the supermarkets are a similar distance. I get a delivery pass for sainsbury.

I save £100 a week for our family of 5 (2 adults and 3 x17/18 year olds switching from Sainsbury to Aldi/ Lidl. We were spending £240 a week. It’s now £140. Some of the savings are nuts. I don’t get how Sainsbury justifies it tbh.

All 3 are v close and on the loop home so no extra petrol.

What is the £20 off £100 code? I must investigate!

I've been doing a weekly online Tesco shop and topping up with Ocado. More special offers at Tesco. I've found in the last few weeks though that anything fresh from Tesco has arrived either just before the "best before" date or already rotten. It's a real pfaff to claim it back from Tesco. With Ocado the fruit and veg is generally fresher and if it's not it's super easy to claim a refund for it.

Just google codes and you'll find some...ocado also offering a third off recently

@SophSoSo
Broccoli, carrots, rocket, cucumber, apples, bananas, pears, spinach (we grow our own other salad leaves, we have tons at present).
2 x bread
2 x 4 litres of milk
aftersun
2 x boxes of 12 pouches of cat food
frozen sweetcorn, skin on fries, frozen crispy chicken burgers
900 grams of chicken thighs, jar of curry sauce
Macaroni
cooked ham
sliced cheese and bag of mozzarella
jar of pickle
smoked bacon
pain au chocolat
box of cornflakes
10 eggs
fairy liquid (actual fairy not Aldi)
Tub of Greek yoghurt
shampoo and conditioner
crisps
twix bars x 2 (Aldi own)
2 x sugar
2 x pork steaks
coleslaw
basmati rice
2 x frozen garlic breads
2 x chicken, ham hock pies
Bag of maris piper potatoes
2 x beans
That’s what I remember, think there were possibly other things too.

Meal plan
Sat - chicken and spinach curry and rice
Sun - pork steaks, fries, coleslaw, salad
Mon - spag bol (batch cooked in freezer) and garlic bread
Tuesday - pie, mash, veg
Wed - jacket spuds, cheese, tuna and salad
Thursday - crispy chicken burgers, wedges and beans
Friday - Macaroni cheese with smoked bacon in it, broccoli
Breakfasts - cereal, fruit/yoghurt, pain au chocolat ( a mixture of this)
Lunches - ham, cheese, pickle sandwiches, crisps or eggy bread

I put my weekly shop for breakfast and lunches (didn’t add dinners) into aldi and Tesco websites. £11.94 at Aldi and £12.04 at Tescos. Tesco price match loads of the basics to Aldi and have more offers that make some things cheaper than Aldi, balancing out the things that are more expensive. Not worth the hassle of Aldi for me.

A 30 minute drive takes away any benefit of going there regularly, especially as you probably won’t get everything you want there and would have to do a top up shop.

I only go occasionally, but stock up on cleaning supplies, bottled water and a few other things, and that seems to be worth it.

I’d look at swapping to a cheaper supermarket as I find sainsburys quite expensive but I recently tried Aldi over tesco and found it didn’t make the much difference and I still had to go to tesco too and it took my whole morning.
im think a monthly trip to Aldi to buy stuff that is cheaper there - baby wipes, freezer stuff, biscuits and tinned stuff

The fresh food in our local Aldi doesn't last very long so I only get things like coffee beans and olive oil which I know are a good chunk cheaper than Tesco when I'm passing. This isn't the same for everyone though, I've heard other posters rave about the quality of the veg and meat, so I think there must be huge variability between the shops.

I recently tried Aldi over tesco and found it didn’t make the much difference and I still had to go to tesco too and it took my whole morning

Yeah, I tried to switch to Lidl but hit the wall with the amount of effort involved going to multiple shops to fill in all the gaps from missing stock - basics like tomato puree and rice that you think will just be there.