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?

With all the price matching now, there’s not much difference with most things.

No snobbery from me. I’ll buy some of their fruit and veg if I’m using it within a day or so but it just doesn’t keep any longer. Some of it is just not as good though so I’ll never buy it.

Well, I know this hence why I tried Aldi but there was nothing of their brand which matched the quality of Mitchum and didn't bring my kids out in hives.

No its not, the love of Aldi /lidl is a reverse type of snobbery, virtue signal.

Because my kids are huge, sweaty teenagers and I'd rather avoid subjecting us and their teachers to BO smells. I expect the same reason adults use deodorant 🙄

I tend to find Lidl cheaper and has a better range than Aldi. It's also closer so I can walk to it. I really like their fruit and veg and find it lasts well, comparable to Sainsbury's.

The thing that does annoy me is that I pass Waitrose on my way home and usually drop in for a free coffee and quite often find some items (or acceptable substitutes) cheaper there than Lidl, which is Not Right!

You've clearly never needed to wash a martial arts Gi. It's a finely balanced process of getting it white, without shrinking or wrecking the fibres but still getting it clean and smelling nice. We spend over £100 each on these, believe me I have it perfected to a fine art. You can't wash them too often, but leave it too long and its a hopeless cause.

Depending on the quality, weight and style of gi of course. Different arts have different styles, material etc.

I'm not sure i said anyone was making me 🤷🏻‍♀️ i said i thought id try it this month to see if it worked out cheaper compared to my usual shop, but frankly, taking into account the required items, travel, needing to get stuff from other shops as well it actually doesn't work out cheaper for us and wondered if others found the same..

Why are people getting so weirdly offended at the suggestion that someone prefers Tesco to Aldi and actually finds it cheaper and better.

I buy very few "brands". Cat food because my cats need specialist food, tea bags, fairy liquid, laundry pods/sanitiser and deodorant are the only branded stuff we buy. Everything else is own brand, cereal for example we prefer as it has less sugar than branded ones.

Standard shopping list in Tesco would be priced at just over £80. The same list (fresh veg, meat, fruit, fish, cheese etc) at Aldi's cost just over £51 this week. I've got it down to a fine art but guessing if I'd just turned up for the first time, it'd be a little harder to compare. I use Tescos for the few things I can't get at Aldi's such as Italian inspired Decaff coffee (a heart condition forced me to give up caffeine!), a larger range of cat food and sourdough bread. I think if I recall correctly, the Which monthly shopping comparison has ALDIs cheaper at around 67% of the price of the other major supermarkets for similar quality items. I only wish I'd discovered it sooner.

I think the difference is, I can buy 600g of strawberries from tesco and they last all week without going squishy. I can only buy 200g from Aldi and its rare they dont turn bad within a day or two.

Their avocado's seem nicer though.

Their yoghurts had a consistency of water though, which was gross.

I can’t even walk past Tesco without spending fifty quid. I’ve got no idea how people manage to spend so little there.

I wouldn’t mind Aldi but overwhelmingly, the food is shit. Examples ..

Rowntree watermelon lollies. Aldi version managed to get texture and taste wrong

Aldi pizzas - wrong

Aldi sandwiches - no. Wrong

Their fruit - no. Gone off by the time l’ d got it out the boot.

cat food - my cat wouldn’t touch it

I realise those examples are unique to me but it was enough to make me go back to Waitrose & sainsburys

I like the stone baked oval/square specially selected pizzas and don’t find the food shit at all
mostly I cook from scratch and I don’t find any difference between a cottage pie or lasagne or beef stew made with Aldi ingredients or Tesco or Sainsburys which is why I shop there

sometimes I read the posts about Aldi and wonder if they are really different in different places or if I’ve lost my tastebuds!

I'm an Aldi fan although most of my shopping now is online, as mobility doesn't permit anything more than a couple of under-filled carrier bags. My budget's tight and I'm a bit of a food snob - I definitely notice the price/quality ratio is best at Aldi compared to the others! No Lidl near me, though other family members tell me it's even better.

The fresh produce at my local Aldi was awful several years ago - I'm talking a decade or more. Don't know whether the change reflected local management or an overall improvement in supply & distribution flow. Some of their fruit & veg are close to immortal; they last way longer than most from my deliveries.

Moser-Roth chocolate's so good, you'd have to pay four times the price to match its quality. Aldi deli's brilliant, as well. My brother, who only shops at Waitrose and fashionable independents, couldn't stop marvelling at it 😁

While we're looking at downmarket supermarkets: I revisited Iceland last month, as they've finally started delivering to my postcode. Wow! It's not all nuggets and twizzlers; they sell fresh meat and veg (and 'fresh frozen').

They also have prepared dishes the same as similar to Taste The Difference &co. I found several with no unwelcome ingredients and they were great. My fresh meat was both better and cheaper than Sainsbury's and Morrisons. The website's a bit of a bastard to navigate, though I suppose you'd get used to it, and the range is limited if you aren't shopping for kid-friendly beige food.

Iceland's currently offering a £20 bonus if you commit to a £100 spend by Christmas. I'm dithering but only because I have limited freezer space.

We don't have aldi in NI but I do shop for most of my groceries in lidl. £30-£50 can get me a week's top up of work lunches and weeknight dinners which I'd not get in tesco for anywhere near the price. I know some people don't like that there's no online option but I'd rather pick my own fruit, veg and bread.
I do cook my meals from scratch to be fair though, so I suppose it depends on what you're shopping for. What I will say is there's definitely less variety than Tesco or Sainsburys.

Like others , my issue with Aldi is that I genuinely struggle to find the same range of goods as I’d buy in Tesco or Sainsurys, it’s personal preference but for me Aldi just doesn’t work

I agree (re Sainsbury's).

I think it depends what you cook, i do fairly.. plain/basic I guess so need meat, veg, herbs, pasta, potatoes etc
every so often I’ll go to Tesco for umami and chipotle paste and gherkins from Sainsburys. No real unusual/fancy ingredients!
usually I can do 95% of my shop at Aldi

washing powder I still stick with persil from Amazon and toilet rolls from there too

I do the majority of my shopping at Aldi or Lidl. I cook from scratch. I pop into Asda around the corner for certain items I know are cheaper or I can't get in Asda. I pretty much know which items work out more expensive where now and shop accordingly.

I also do a midweek walk to the supermarket to the local Sainsbury's for extra bread / milk and sometimes pick up one or two other things. The walking bit is important so that I only buy essentials and keep my spending to what I need. It stops me driving to the supermarket and doing a second bigger shop, so if I pay a little more at Sainsbury's for a few items I don't mind as it works out cheaper overall.

I loathe the shopping experience of Tesco. It's just awful. Too big. Too much choice. Too many offers which are confusing and often something of a scam. Slightly smaller portion sizes don't actually bother me - it's only value for money if you don't waste it and you don't over eat...

My teens couldn't stand the Aldi "weetabix" and fishfingers. I went back to sainsburys own brand.
Aldi doesn't work with our food allergies either, sainsburys is much easier to navigate.

Iceland do really nice food and Im not sure why they have such a bad reputation. I dont eat ready meals personally but am always looking at stuff and their luxury range was very good a couple of years ago when I saw them in there and bought a few then. They also sell the big tubs of Lancashire farms yoghurt. They are also dementia aware and were the first to be palm oil free and thats really important.
However they certainly are not cheaper for lots of things, Ive been stung a few times thinking they were very cheap but they're not. You have to check your prices.

Food inflation is a major issue atm. It doesn't show much sign of stopping. It was 5.1% in August the highest since Jan 2024.

Im so glad you’ve says this. A poster above said they feed their cat and dog on the ‘cheapest from Aldi’. You shouldn’t have pets if you’re going to care for them so poorly.

I’d also say farmfoods too . I drive past one and have noticed milk there is cheaper than anywhere else. Biscuits too. Kitchen roll/ toilet paper. I’m definitely going to do a proper freezer shop at some point.

@notnorman

it might be the only one they can afford. The animal is still getting fed so what’s the issue?