Usually shop in Tesco, tried Aldi this month - didn't save as much as I hoped

[MooseAndSquirrelLoveFlannel]

The cost of my shop savings over 4 weeks was £92. But, there were items I usually get in Tesco that I couldn't get in Aldi. So ended up buying these separately from amazon.

Taking into account this calculation my savings equate to £6.73 over 4 weeks with the annoyance of needing to actually shop every month rather than have it delivered to my door.

In Tesco I mainly buy store brands, and many items the Tesco stuff is preferred. For example my daughter only like the Stockwell salad cream, cereal in Tesco is better value.

Some nice stuff in aldi, crackers are nicer (I eat these often as a dodgy stomach means dry crackers and eggs are a staple) but ham worked out cheaper for smaller packets in Tesco than aldi (we dont get through larger packs).

Cat biscuit we found in the middle aisle much cheaper than Tesco, but they only had it for 2 weeks and then was gone which was annoying.

But, frankly, a lot of prices were the same or similar and sometimes aldi was more expensive in so far as items were smaller packets.

I really hoped we would save more. Maybe if you buy more branded items in Tesco, then Aldi is a saving but I didn't find that. Plus, their laundry tablets caused my daughter a nasty skin rash and roll on deodorants were useless.

Wondered if anyone else found this?

Yes, I said 'most' because when you include processed and frozen products, not just fresh meat a large portion of it does come from places like Thailand and China. Look on the back of the label. These are everyday items many people buy, and they raise real concerns about welfare standards, and the environmental impact.

It's very personal what brands you would stick with regardless and what you'd buy own brand. I split between Morrisons delivery and some targeted shops at Aldi and Home Bargains. Try to go to Home Bargains monthly after payday and stock up on cleaning and household products, snacks and the like. Aldi is great for certain things like wholemeal pasta which is cheap and you can't often get from Morrisons, and their coconut oil toilet roll is excellent 😀But I'd never buy peas other than Birds Eye petit pois 😉 and I prefer Morrisons meat, plus I read a while back that out of all the UK supermarkets they have the closest links with their farm suppliers and know more about the origins of the meat. I am managing to keep my bills under control with this.

This - definitely

Aldi is a lot cheaper. I use their own brand washing powder - gets clothes really clean/fresh smelling. Also we use their washing up liquid - I got Fairy once by accident, and was actually a lot 'thinner' and seemed pretty crap!

Occasionally will shop in Tesco just for the novelty factor of trying a few different things. Not for saving cash though

Totally agree with you OP. Who can be doing with the faff of going to 2 separate supermarkets for a few quid? I also prefer home deliveries so will keep my loyalty to Tesco.

I do most of my shop is Sainsbury as I get 3% cashback on everything including petrol and I can get pretty much everything I need there.

I have to disagree here over 4 different Aldis Within 30 mins drive of me only 1 (the one 30 mins away) has decent fruit and veg then other 3 goes iff quickly. If I shop in Aldi I only buy fruit and veg for 2 days I know I throw it out as its gone off if I buy more.

Its also something I've seen regularly mentioned here on MN so not unusual I think you have just been lucky with the shops. -likely the ones you have used have a veg fridge and the others don't.

And you have to factor in petrol.

My bill is 25% less when I shop at ALDI most days.

This thread seems like strategic misinformation being pumped by Tesco's marketing team.

I spent the same amount on my weekly online Tesco shop (including delivery) as I spent on a weekly Aldi shop.
I'm sticking with Tesco now.

And will be made in the same factory

I'm not bothered about brands, but I got fed up with the rubbish quality of meat in all supermarkets, and we now go to costco for that. I've not found a massive difference in the cost of our weekly shop regardless of where we shop. I probably spend more in aldi or lidl because of the middle aisle stuff.

To answer a few questions

I'm not an aldi virgin, we have shopped there but never tried to do a whole months worth of shopping and it wasn't possible.

We use specific brands, like Mitchum but I heard aldi has good dupes of stuff so thought what the heck. Tried a few roll ons but my sensitive daughter said they all made her feel like it was burning.

We are a large family so tend to buy large packs of some things in tesco, couldn't get the equivalent sizes in Aldi so when buying 2 or 3 of them actually ended up more expensive.

Of course some stuff was cheaper. Packs of brioche rolls my kids love, cheaper in aldi for example.

Washing up liquid was useless. A huge bottle of fairy lasts me 9 months plus , in a month we went through almost 3 bottles of their liquid. Wouldn't have tried it if the bottle I bought in December (love their festive one) wasn't running out. Won't bother again.

Laundry pods were not strong enough for washing sweaty, thick martial arts clothes (gi) and so had to use double the dosage thereby costing more.

Crackers and things like that amazing!

Low fat yoghurt, cheaper but just insipid and watery.

Quite like aldi premium loo roll, but worked out more expensive than the double length tesco packs for the amount we use and the aldi cheaper stuff was awful.

Someone asked about if amazon is cheaper than tesco. It can be, watch out for subscribe and save offers, prime days etc.

For the convenience of everything delivered to my door, I think I'll go back to mainly using tesco although there has been some aldi stuff we'll buy if we happen to do a trip there.

If only because my daughter insists on tesco salad cream, their cheap as chips frozen mac & cheese and their own brand cereal is much nicer.

Luckily, we can afford to pay more here and there for better products, or products we prefer. I just thought I'd trial it and as I say, for less then £7 a month of savings across the shopping board it didn't feel worth the hassle.

It's interesting, isn't it. When I hit hard times 3 months ago I made myself follow rules - weekly meal plan and make a list; only shop at Aldi; no impulse buys, if it's not on the list, I don't get it that week; no "popping to the shop" which is a local Sainbury's. I saved and continue to save I would say about 50%. And I went vegetarian, batch cooked and was able to freeze.

There was a comparison on one of the morning tv shows a couple of weeks ago showing the same shop done at all supermarkets, from Aldi to Waitrose (included club card discounts etc) and while Aldi was cheapest, the difference between the top and bottom was literally a couple of pounds and less than a pound between Aldi, Tesco, Asda etc.

I do save if I shop at Aldi. But I'd rather do it online and get it delivered.

I love Amazon fresh as it gets delivered same day for free over £40 and they have some premium products I can't get elsewhere.

Tesco now price match to Aldi on their own brand range.

If you buy no brands it should cost the same in both stores

Same here. I go occasionally and get things that I know are cheaper than in Tesco, but I could not do the regular shop there.

I used to always do my weekly shop in Aldi and used to feel like I’d made a fair saving/got value for money but now I’ve switched to Sainsbury which is slightly further away.
I had popped in there to grab something Aldi didn’t stock and got a £6 off a £60 shop nectar voucher, so I did my weekly shop the next week there instead.
By the time I had picked up my usual items that had already been price matched to Aldi, plus the nectar card prices on other things and the £6 off I felt that I actually got a really good shop for a fair amount of money.
The veg and fruit seemed to last longer and when I paid I got a £9 off £80 shop for next time, so I went back the next week.
I think it probably depends on how good your local Aldi is, but at ours you have to wait ages for them to staff a check out that they’ve asked you to load up on, the staff openly discuss customers that they’ve had an issue with as I’ve overheard several conversations when I’ve been at the check outs and last time on the shop floor 3 colleagues were stood around chatting and bemoaning management 🤦‍♀️😂
Going to Sainsburys has been super refreshing the last couple of weeks, friendly checkout staff, helpful floor staff when I couldn’t find something and just a nicer atmosphere.
I always take a list and make sure I use the nectar app now to make use of any vouchers etc
I may spend an extra £ or so in there, but I would rather that then go back to Aldi for main shop.

I switched from Tesco to Aldi and the saving was minimal, once I included the cost of petrol vs having it delivered it wasn’t worth it.
I don’t ever buy extras unless it’s a special occasion and only buy own brand. I have my weekly shops saved and just add them straight to my basket and checkout. I think those that notice the biggest difference must be people who have swapped branded items to Aldi/lidl own brands.

I don't find aldi much cheaper either. I do spend less when I shop there, but that's because they don't have everything I want so I buy less.
If I do shop at aldi, then top up at tesco I save about £5 a week and that's not worth the hassle to me.
I do like an occasional trip to aldi and lidl though, just for a change.

We have all the major supermarkets within 4 miles, and Booths (you don’t go to Booths to save money).

I used to regularly shop at Aldi and then Lidl as the nearest pre-Covid. With both, I would still need to go to a different shop to pick up specific items (both are near other supermarkets, literally around the corner) They still sell some good stuff and I’m obsessed with Lidl cheese coleslaw.

Covid started me off regularly shopping online and I now have a Tesco delivery saver. I find shopping online really helps budgeting and finding cheapest options. It’s not perfect (Tesco randomly takes things off sale that you can still buy in the shop, or they will discontinue items then bring them back as new, usually to raise prices)but it does reduce spontaneous shops. Still use Aldi and Lidl occasionally but only for top up shops.

Which? costs a standard basket across all supermarkets and Aldi is nearly always the cheapest although Lidl was slightly cheaper over the summer for a couple of weeks. However, that doesn’t mean it’s going to be the same for everyone as we all buy different things. Over recent years, I’ve found Asda to be much less cheaper than it used to be so I don’t go there very much.

I'm local to 4 different chains and each has its own set of things which are cheapest there. So I go to all four over the course of the month. Milk is £1.40 for 4 pints in Aldi. It's £2 for 8 pints in Farmfoods.

When I first started shopping to budget I partially bought goods from both Aldi and my regular supermarket. Trying different items in Aldi for taste etc. As time has gone on I am buying much more from Aldi and the savings are staggering.

You can pick up those items more cheaply in home bargains than you can in Tesco.

I think the debate around things like washing up liquid, dishwasher tabs and laundry powder/tabs is very dependent on your water hardness. We live in an area with very soft water and own brand or budget products from Aldi or Lidl are fine. We have whatever is cheapest - I buy washing up liquid refills in bulk from Bower or Splosh, but dishwasher tablets are Aldi and washing machine tablets are too. I don't buy fabric conditioner, sanitiser, scent boosters and the rest of the nonsense products people don't need.