Lidl/Aldi- a false economy?

[Anonykunt]

Was away from home for a fortnight, I left two unopened Aldi yogurts with a long use by date and opened one for breakfast. It had a spot of green mould on it! My fridge was cold and it still had a week to go. The other one was fine. I open a cottage cheese with also a week to go and it's funky tasting.

Feeling the pinch from my time away, I do a shop at Lidl. That was on Saturday. Milk has gone cheesy. The mince I cooked yesterday was going brown despite being well within date. The cream turned two days after opening.

I bought dairy in the past from these shops and don't recall problems.

I'll be doing my shop at Sainsbury today. Anyone else noticed this?

Lidl chicken goes off quickly, I can open a pack that’s got a few days left on it and it smells.

I've never had this problem with Aldi or Lidl, and I shop in both frequently. Mind you, I never leave fresh food for two weeks so I haven't tested it to that extent. I think there is a problem with your fridge - could it be overheating, shutting down, then switching back on later?

M&S is the one I've had problems with.

I do most of my shopping in Aldi and still find I save a lot in comparison to Tesco or sainsburys. The only produce I don’t rate from them is fruit, I tend to get this elsewhere. The veg I find is fine

Never had a problem. Milk from before my holiday is still fine 5 days out of date. Ditto fruit. I would suggest checking your fridge temperature if milk goes off that quick

I gave up buying Aldi bananas years ago as they tend to be bruised and turn rapidly. I wonder if the shelf stacking/ till system can result in foods being bashed around and potentially left out at busy times.

It seems to vary from branch to branch too.

Generally I like Aldi and Lidl and they're good for basics and I top up other items every few weeks at a larger supermarket.

No, never had a problem with Aldi or Lidl dairy produce - as others have said, fruit and veg doesn't always last as long as other supermarkets, but even then, I haven't noticed a marked difference.

For me, definitely not a false economy. Just the lack of choice makes a shop quicker and cheaper. I'd rather just pick up some tins of tomatoes from a shelf and not have to scan half an aisle just to find them.

veg does tend to go off quicker for sure. but in the scheme of things it still works out cheaper.

No, definitely not a false economy.

Why I switched from Sainsbury's and Tesco was that I was fed up with paying a third more for my shopping and constantly throwing meat/fish away before the use by date as it had gone off. They have so much stock and don't always control it properly.

Aldi and Lidl's stock is much smaller and fresher - but these things do vary between stores.

How long are people expecting berries to last?

I'd expect to have to eat raspberries from any shop on the same day, following day thy'd still be OK but not as good and any longer than that forget it.

I also love the lack of choice. No picking between 8 different tins of tomatoes, just pick them up and move on.

The veg lasts longer if you take it out of the wrapper straight away or buy loose where possible. The only thing that annoys me about Aldi is all the plastic on the veg, but I'm sure they'll get rid of it at some point.

I've noticed the celery doesn't last as long at the moment - but perhaps it is only just coming into the best season for it.

I’ve also had issues with aldi dairy products being mouldy when opened. Never from any other shop. Also weird stuff like I bought some aldi multipack crisps and none of them had had any flavour added. I do shop there but accept there’s a higher failure rate than other shops!

I won't buy fruit or vegetables from Lidl or Aldi as I find that they go off very quickly, and even so don't taste as good anyway. They are excellent for tinned beans and jars of sauce and olives but that is about it. Clearly a range of experiences if this thread but I have found this across multiple shops in different locations. So for me, fresh products don't taste as good and go off quickly.

As someone who is generally skint, I tried really hard to like Aldi but after doing my weekly shop there a couple of times realised that for cooking meals from basic ingredients it does work out to be a false economy. The processed stuff like cereal, chocolate etc. compares well enough to other supermarkets though so there are proper savings to be made there.

The first meal I cooked from the Aldi shop was chilli. I watched the volume of meat half in the pan as it cooked and a huge amount of liquid came out of it. The saving on the price of the meat wasn't enough to make up for the loss in quantity, plus the faff of having to drain off all that liquid. It was grim!

Veg that would normally last the week without perishing (carrots, cauliflower etc). didn't last so I ended up having to go out to buy more.

Aldi is a 20 mile round trip for me so all in all it definitely isn't worth shopping there to save money for me. If I lived within walking distance and could just pop in and buy food for a day or two I'd probably do that for some things.

Was there a power cut whilst you were away ?

We had this recently and it turned out that there were warm spots on the fridge that weren’t cooling properly; the repair guy said that the high temperatures we had over the summer can actually cause the fridge condenser to overheat and become faulty so that it doesn’t work properly. Defrosted and turned it off for 24hrs an thankfully it worked fine again when restarted.

*warm spots in the fridge

All the supermarkets are doing it, I’m not sure what’s going on. We buy mostly from Ocado but also Sainsburys Waitrose and M&S. Am having problems with food going (or arriving!) mouldy with all of them.

Wonder if it’s anything to do with the famine in Africa.

No, I shop at Aldi and regularly eat yogurt, fruit and veg that has passed its use by or best before but is still absolutely fine. Some soft fruits do need eating quickly but I have a bag of apples in the fridge with a July date on them and they are still fine.

interesting thread, i'm not usually a Lidl shopper but was going to start as a new local store has just opened. Having said that, my last experience was buying a loaf of bread & it being mouldy the next day

We shop at Lidl and haven’t experienced that. I’ve had a run of natural yogurt open for a about a week and it’s fine. Blueberries bought on Saturday all still fine, and veg bought lasts the the week. Always have a bag of carrots in the fridge for a couple of weeks at a time, and haven’t noticed a difference in them going bad vs other supermarkets.

I hardly ever buy meat from Tesco, usually get it delivered by Sainsbury, but bought some chicken thighs last week, when I opened them they were two or three days before use by date but smelt so awful I had to throw them away.

Do you work for Sainsbury's, op?

@Anonykunt sounds like you need a new fridge.

Been shopping at Aldi for years. Never had a single problem.

Totally agree OP, I really don’t get the hype around them. Whenever I’ve been at friends and they serve snacks from there I always find they taste ‘different’, I can’t explain what it is but I can tell straightaway. I don’t enjoy the shopping experiences either which is a major turn off for me, my local Aldi is always packed and chaotically busy. I’m a stickler for bargains and saving money by nature but I just can’t get my head around them.