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?

Ah, but if you’re all out of the house Monday to Friday, you’d get through a lot less. I know if it was just me, I’d be well below average as I drink black coffee mostly but a fair amount of tea, albeit with not a lot of milk. Our intake has reduced since DD went to uni like I said and some weeks, I cancel our milk order for one day if we are building a backlog. (We get 4 pints delivered 3 days a week.) The men of the house definitely up the average! Even DS WFH 2 days a week.

Farmfoods!! Revelation. Super cheap, they have everything I need but it's hard to find due to the way they arrange the shop.

Don't buy it from Amazon, they're always going to be more expensive. Somewhere like Boots or Superdrug will probably be best, so have a look on their website instead. There can't be many items that you couldn't get, and I honestly save at least 20% when I shop at Aldi, so I'm not sure why you've only saved £6 - unless you already made a solid effort to buy own brand at Tesco.

Well 3 are at school but 2 WFH full time!

I was also disappointed when I tried both Aldi and Lidl. The Lidl premium ice-cream was not nice at all. For the first time ever ice-cream was binned uneaten!

And, for me, the fruit and veg didn't seem to last as well as my usual stuff from Sainsbury's (closest big SM) and M&S (a little further away).

This issue is probably very supermarket site-specific though!

I wish I had stronger will power to avoid Tesco. I hate their self-check out approach and the fact that it only takes bank card transactions, not proper money. I have to wait for the attendant to walk to the manned (it's never manned, always have to wait or shout for service) till to pay with cash. The problem is, they dominate the High Street with their Express stores.

I used ALDI a couple of times, years ago. Some of the staff were great, others spoke to me like a bossy lunch lady, insisting I line the trolley precisely with the checkout. I bought a pack of tomatoes from there that had the worst taste I've ever experienced with fruit. It put me off tomatoes for a while and I usually love them. It's not somewhere I have been able to visit often with them having no stores near to me and them not offering a delivery service. With my children and husband's children from a previous relationship and juggling all that comes with it, it's hard to find time to visit stores a little further afield, though I'm sure it can be good to shop around.

I do most of the grocery shopping with OCADO, which has a great range, though if I want something exotic such as ground Egusi, I have to have that shipped separately from an independent retailer. It also hacks me off when I place an order weeks ahead and then at the last minute, it's out of stock - not as if I hadn't given them enough notice. If I make a recipe and want for example to put cumin in it, then it spoils the whole recipe when my order is delivered without cumin, makes all the other ingredients rather pointless.

I refuse to shop at Sainsbury's since they asked me for ID when I was 27!! And then I read the article about the poor 37 YEAR OLD man who they wouldn't delivery groceries to, despite being middle aged and not having any age restricted items in his order anyway!

I'd love to be a Waitrose customer but there aren't any stores near to us. I used to shop there many moons ago and found the service, product range and overall experience impeccable.

There is a huge ASDA that's open 24/7 and I go there for things such as duvets and pillows and also disposable cutlery and tableware as OCADO are really not up to scratch when it comes to things like that.

Shops such as Iceland are no good to me, as I like to make my own recipes and cook from scratch. I did briefly use them in my late teens and found all of the food had a weird taste. The staff there seemed to have an attitude problem too.

ive done this experiment. When factoring in having to drive to shop myself etc, tbe savings didnt seem worth it.

Try Dove maximum protection.
Its really good, and gentler on the skin.

Similar username! I agree on Aldi deodorant being good.
I actually recently had a painful underarm reaction to branded Mitchum powder fresh rollerball; they were all recalled due to "a chemical", depite apparently no change in ingredients. 😬 It has put me off the brand tbh!

I'm lucky that I have Tesco, Sainsbury, Aldi, M&S Food, Asda, Waitrose, Lidl, Morrisons and Coop all within 10miles, so I can shop around.

Over the last week/10 days I've noticed:
Tesco have more offers on stuff I want.
Morrisons quality has dropped and their prices have increased (by more than others).
Sainsbury have some gaps on shelves (and don't have the bread I like any more).

There are also waaay too many tubs of chocolate.

The point of Lidl/Aldi is that you do not buy brands but switch to their own brands.

I made a thread on Morrison's a while back. They are more expensive than any other supermarket I've used, the quality is poor and their delivery staff are the rudest. I used a More card that they offered me and found that I wasn't really making any significant Sainsbury's. I refuse to get a Tesco Clubcard because of the aggressive way they pressure you in to having one, obviously very desperate to snoop on customers and who knows where the data is going. I'd rather pay full price than bow to a Clubcard.

Well, we currently have fruit and veg in the fridge from an Aldi shop on Wednesday - all fine, none of it squishy or off. We have apples, cucumber, red peppers, potatoes, tomatoes and berries.

Yeah we have no issues with Aldi fruit or veg either.

I shop in Lidl and Tesco for food. Lidl large vine tomatoes are superb. Tesco tinned soups are better than Heinz (eg Broccoli and Stilton 😋)
B&M and Home Bargains for pop/dog food, Laundry stuff.

I save Amazon for bigger or specialist items ( technology, luggage, Vitamins etc)

I don't like Aldi at all.

My local one is pokey, overcrowded and with multiple stock cages left unattended in the Aisles all day.
There is sometimes a little fracas that lives up proceedings though 🍿 and the shoplifters are so brazen, they don't even bother with a trolley.
Watched a young woman in a gym kit fill her arms and backpack all around the store and simply saunter out.
The ever-present security guard clearly spotted her and shrugged 😬

Exactly this. I couldn't imagine going there expecting anything else. At one time it was only their own make, now they do have some brands in as well. We go mainly to Lidl for our main shop, with odd bits from other supermarkets if needed. I have noticed Aldi is pretty much a repeat of Lidl in different packaging, although haven't tried everything there.

I find that some items are the same if not better than branded; I am not a huge fan of the big brands which I find overrated and losing quality over the years e.g Kelloggs, diarylea, Lurpak, Elmlea, Cadbury, etc etc. For example I prefer different supermarket own brands of certain items better than others. However, it is subjective, and if you don't like it op don't go there. Not sure what the issue is. Nobody is making you shop there. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Lidl do large bottles of fairy! I get my dog/cat food from Jolleyes far more choice! Why are you using deodorant on children particularly with the bad press it has currently!

laundry sanitiser liquid (we do a lot of sports, so vital)

The only reason anyone should need laundry sanitiser liquid is if they are washing cloth nappies or incontinence pads. Honestly, just do your washing at a proper temperature, minumum 40% and a long enough cycle. There should be no reason why laundry should not come out completely clean and fresh if you are washing it hot enough and for long enough. Even sweaty sportswear.

Branded foods are often more expensive in Aldi and Lidl. They rely on people going there to buy their (usually excellent) own brand stuff, then impulsively picking up the odd big brand item rather than schlepping to Tesco or Sainsburys for it, which is a pain if you only want two or three things. So they get away with charging more because they know you don't want to do that, and you'll still see shopping at Aldi/Lidl as a saving overall. Plus because they don't buy huge amounts of the branded items they can't get such favourable margins on them so have to charge a bit more.

I refuse to get a Tesco Clubcard because of the aggressive way they pressure you in to having one, obviously very desperate to snoop on customers and who knows where the data is going. I'd rather pay full price than bow to a Clubcard.

then you shouldn't be shopping in Tesco at all. Their non-club card prices are ridiculous. It's become more like a private members cash and carry than a regular supermarket. I don't love Tesco and only ever go in for a few bits if I'm passing and it's convenient. But no way am I paying their non-club card prices.

Lots of people were very enthusiastic about the film Everything Everywhere All at Once and the Thursday Murder Club books. I tried both to see what all the fuss was about. And they were OK, but, not really for me!

Aldi and Lidl were the same, I was expecting far too much!

I think the best approach to Supermarket shopping, if you have the time, is to cherry-pick from several. Once every 2 months I take a long not-very scenic walk to my nearest big Tesco just to stock up on their Spiced Stem Ginger Cookies (200g, 10 for £1.30) and Plant Chef Frozen Vegetarian Sausage Rolls (600g for £2.75).

The Tesco Frozen Veggie Sausages Rolls are amazing. A dab of butter and light sprinkle of sea salt before baking. They are always a huge hit with vegetarians at parties!

From your original post Aldi superior dry cat food has the same ingredients and nutritional breakdown as Purina One ( the bag looks the same) and ours loves the pouches too. Both are always in stock .
Their own superior brand washing up liquid is Good housekeeping recommended.
Their own non bio washing liquid is on a par with Persil and you can use less a pod so it’s much cheaper.
Not sure what laundry disinfectant is. Both mine were sporty before uni and never needed it.

Agreed. IMHO it is psychological with some people and certain products; they think a large brand must be better, therefore it is. I suspect a blind test would surprise them, and the cat! 😂

It's just MN snobbery.

On those "Eat well for Less" type shows they've done blind tests of food from high brands, average brands and "cheap" brands the cheap brand often comes out on top, or at least second. The market leader often comes last.

Branding is SO effective when it comes to people buying and liking things.