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?

Aldi prices have really gone up over the last couple of years. I know everything has increased, but it seems like the cheapest shops have risen more than the others to the point of there not being as much difference in price as there used to be. It's the same with Home Bargains and B&M, the difference in price between there and supermarkets/toy shops used to be huge but now some items are more expensive in the bargain stores.

Dh uses 3 litres (6 pints) a week. That’s just him and cups of tea with the occasional glass of milk.
(wfh but still)
When my 2 dcs were at home, we’d go through 12 pints if not more.

We spend considerably less in ALDI than we do if we shop anywhere else. The only things I can't get there are Diet Coke (they have it sometimes but it's cheaper elsewhere) and proper oreos. Otherwise all their food is just as good (or better) than other stores. We've never had any issues with their fruit and veg either.

We do buy pet food online but always have done - same with cat litter.

I dont have one locally, nor B&M..I have to drive to other side of our city for them and once petrol is factored in probably isn't worth while.

Also never ceases to amaze me what complete twaddle people believe.

"Aldi's chicken is all from Thailand" despite almost every chicken product on this page having the union flag on it and Red Tractor labels.

https://www.aldi.co.uk/products/fresh-food/poultry/k/1588161416978050004

"You don't pay VAT at Lidl" - how does that work then?

It is a lot isn’t it! I drink a lot of tea. My children have cereal for breakfast most days, or porridge, my 6 year old only drinks milk or water and my 8 year old has at least 2 glasses of milk a day.
I also use it in cooking

We easily do 9-12 pints a week (2 adults, 3 teenagers). When the kids were little we did 24 a week, I used to joke that I needed my own cow.

It's only tea, hot chocolate and cereal its really used for but my son likes a bowl of milk with a splash of cereal 🤣

That's not true.

See l just don’t get this.

I’ve tried both Aldi and Lidl and have found their fresh produce absolute crap. Goes off the day after. I’ve tried time and time again. Binned it 2 years ago as strawberries and blueberries both went off day after buying. They were in the fridge too.

Theres currently a week old box of Sainsbury blueberries in the fridge. No squishiness.

I don’t find this with the bigger supermarkets.

I do a mix of both as there are certain products which are false economy at Aldi as they're not great.
Good things are: balsamic vinegar, hand cream, beer, wine, cheapo peanuts, moist toilet paper, minestrone cup a soups, orange juice, tomato paste (mainly because it's always in stock when Tesco is really hit and miss), brioche buns with the custard in, cheapo lemonade, thick sliced white plastic bread.
Don't bother: tomato ketchup, washing up sponges, DH doesn't like their apple juice (he is fussy though), soy milk (seems to go off really quickly), fruit is always a bit under par, spuds are cheap but always seem to be on the turn.
Most other things are pretty comparable price and quality wise. I agree with OP though that if you get mainly own brand stuff at Tesco, you won't save a huge amount at Aldi.

I don't think Amazon is good value. The best way to shop to save money at smaller shops is work out what's good / cheaper there vs your regular shop and alternate between the two (agree aldi Crackers are great)

We get through 12 pints a week, although not every week now DD is at uni and she now drinks more black coffee when she’s at home. DH drinks milky coffees every day (he WFHs 4 days a week) and has porridge most days. I drink milk in tea, and have the odd porridge and DS often drinks milk plus cooking. It’s not that hard to reach 12 pints, really.

Yeah, I didn't save much by switching to the cheaper shops and it certainly wasn't worth the extra trips I had to add in the week to plug the gaps were supply issues meant to you couldn't reliably put the basics into your trolley.

I am with you OP tried aldi and lidl in the last month - it wasn’t much cheaper and the quality of the veg/ fruit wasn’t as good! Home shop stops me looking at the shelves and buying stuff I don’t need, back to tesco for me.

We’re a family of 5 and I thought our 4 pints of milk a week was excessive 😁

Aldi chops and changes the vegan products it has in ..so for us it is impossible to do a weekly shop in there ,as stuff comes and goes all the time ,and there's not enough vegan basics to warrant a trip there

Family of five and we get through about 12 pints but I make my own yoghurt, add it to the 2-3 loaves of gluten free bread I make each week and my kids drink heaps - I don't suppose my milky coffee habit helps either.

I also agree that 5-10 years ago you could make significant savings shopping at Aldi/Lidl rather than Asda/Tesco/Morrisons. But the traditional supermarkets have been forced to respond to the challenge of the discounters and have sharpened up their act. As others have said, the savings are not what they were and you have to question whether it's worth your time, effort and petrol to schlepp between two shops to save a couple of quid.

Even my local Co-Op, which is on the pricier side, is price matching Aldi on things like 0% far Greek yoghurt for members (95p in both) and the Co-Op version is loads better.

I made a special trip to Aldi to get their Almat laundry liquid, after checking out old mumsnet reviews and Good Housekeeping tests

Bloody rubbish. Had to wash it all again with Persil small and mighty.

I get M and S Rose washing up liquid delivered by Ocado, as it does everything without losing soapiness towards the end. All other WUL has been rubiish lately, especially Fairy.

Also get fruit and veg from Ocado, as it lasts all week and consistently good. Even the vagaries of satsumas are covered: if they are rubbish, we email and get an instant refund.

I prefer Tesco too as I find Aldi fresh fruit and veg tends to go off much more quickly. I always buy own brands and find Tesco pretty good value for money

mine is brilliant, always has the special buys and well stocked. The usual women on the checkout said I looked tired the other week and asked if I was ok

said I had been made redundant and as I was leaving she shoved a bunch of lovely flowers at me and said good luck

I go to Sainsburys for gherkins and Tesco for umami paste but everything else is Aldi

Yes I found the same, and I didn't think much of their fruit and veg (went off quite quickly). I now have it delivered because I don't want to physically get 2 shops a week.

I think if you’re discerning and like certain brands and a level of quality it’s no cheaper. For basics maybe - kitchen roll or foil for example it’s fine. But if you want nice stuff with a long shelf life then it’s no different and you may as well not bother buggering about and just go and do the lot at Tesco.

Friends we know rave about things like wine, snacks and meat at Aldi but personally I don’t rate them. The only thing I go in for is the cheap coffee pods (which actually aren’t that nice but they’re cheap to get a caffeine fix), the nocerella olives and a cheap bunch of fair trade flowers now and again.

Does aldi have an app? Lidl has one and they've got coupons on different items each week. You can also get points