to not understand why people go to Aldi & Lidl...

[TheBeautifulVisit]

… it's such a horrible shopping experience.

It reminded me of being in a co-op in my very small hometown circa 1977. And then when you've got a trolley full of their stuff and queue up to pay there's that humiliating bit at the end where they don't give you sufficient time to pack your groceries. They just expect you to very quickly remove your groceries and go and pack them elsewhere, with no bags.

I feel assaulted.

Can you please tell me

1. how far away is your Aldi or Lidl & why do you go?

2. what do you miss about your old supermarket? (which one was it)

3. how much do you spend there each time you go

It was cheaper than my normal shopping but actually I didn't buy my normal shopping: no fresh chives, no fresh ginger, no butternut squash, no purple sprouting broccoli, no green peppercorns, no little tubs of anchovies & olives from the Waitrose deli. I travelled much further to get there.

And there's no delivery.

Why why why?

I have never been to Aldi or Lidl. Can someone please tell me - do they sell branded stuff cheaper? Specifically, do they sell diet coke cheaper than the other supermarkets? Do they sell things like tofu, soya mince etc? Do they sell branded bread like Vogel? We spend most of our weekly shop on diet coke, vogel, tofu and soya mince and apples, if we could get them cheaper there I'd definitely look at it (since we do the bring your own box thing in the other supermarkets anyway). Then we could still buy the treat stuff in our usual supermarket. Also - do Aldi or lidl do an own brand marmite? If so, is it super strength?

I am lucky in that I don't need to consider budget when shopping. I shop in Lidl. I go there first and buy fruit, veg, dairy, fresh bread. I pick up their special bargains from time to time, I got all the ski gear for DDs there last year. Then I get rest in Tesco. Lidl fruit and veg is way superior to Tesco.

Local Lidl is 10 min drive away. I go out of peak hours.

Herc - my Aldi sell normal branded marmite.
The majority of the products is stuff where you might not recognise the brand, but don't confuse that with it being any lower quality. It's a 'brand' you might not have yet come across, rather than a kind of 'value' / 'basics' type quality.
No idea about tofu or soya mince as I've never tried to buy either.

Ooh, lynniep Aldi has the same effect on me. I went in a few weeks ago for some caster sugar and some satsumas. I came out with the caster sugar and satsumas and also managed to buy a slow cooker and a box of drill bits - they were a bargain

Also no choice can be a bloody good thing. Or at least very little choice. Because if I want pasta, I want pasta, I don't really give a stuff what brand it is as long as it tastes nice. Ditto ham, cheese etc. So I can fill a trolley with the things I want in a fraction of the time (and a fraction of the dosh) needed at the Other Supermarkets. Hurrah!

If I want particularly special stuff there are other places I can go.

The 'aisle of many things' is a truly wonderous place.
Although the other week someone on here called it 'the aisle of bad decisions' which made me chuckle.

I have no friends to lose broom.

There isn't an Aldi or Lidl near us so I rarely go. The one time I did (a few years ago) I wanted ingredients to make a cake but they didn't have all of them so I wasn't impressed. Their stock is very limited compared with the other big supermarkets.

I am sure I would go to one sometimes if there was one nearby though as they are cheap.

It was cheaper than my normal shopping but actually I didn't buy my normal shopping: no fresh chives, no fresh ginger, no butternut squash, no purple sprouting broccoli, no green peppercorns, no little tubs of anchovies & olives from the Waitrose deli. I travelled much further to get there.

All those things give me the dry boak.

A propos of nothing, does the English half term start today too?

I have the most wonderful pair of black riding style boots bought from the Aldi centre aisle. They cost £17 quid, and I have worn them to death for the last 2 winters - dressed up, or dressed down. My only regret is that I didnt buy the brown pair at the same time.

sorry, realise way off topic re the horrors of shopping somewhere cheap. or as my DDs say, "mum's best clothes come from Tescos"!!

Ours has expanded it's veggie range - but mostly quorn rather than soya - sausages, mince, burgers, nut cutlets, beanburgers. Never seen tofu there.

Boschy everyone is off topic you can tell it's raining, on the bright side my kitchen is clean in between posts!

herc they don't sell vogel bread they do asell good apples not sure about tofu as never buy it anywhere, the diet coke is not branded

They must vary, regionally.

I can buy all the "posh" veg that has been mentioned and herbs etc.

I like Lidl, better, but Aldi's themed events are really good.

I'm Vegan, Aldi is really thorough in their labelling of food.

I have picked up a four pack of Wild Rice for £4.99 and Extra Virgin Rape Oil from Yorkshire for £1.99.

They would normally be triple the price in other Supermarkets.

I eat really well, so do my Non Vege teens, for what I spend.

I am luckily to live 10 mins in the middle of both.

Their electrical, camping etc goods are top quality and dirt cheap for what they are.

I went to aldi last week as id seen it had won awards and thought lets give it a try.

it was a nightmare! Just felt like everything had been chucked into random places and was very unorganised.
walked out with some strawberries amd they were horrible!
Would much rather travel a little more and go asda!

Useless, that is terrible if I lived near you could join our sod the housework lets grab a fry up club on a Monday!

I live in Australia and WA is the only state not to have an Aldi yet. I cannot wait for one to open as we only have 2 supermarkets which are eye watering expensive, funnily enough the local government are slowing this down, something to do with backhanders I'm sure.

I do miss Waitrose though.

They don't sell Tofu etc unless it is a themed event.

You can find out what the following weeks are online.

All those things you've named in your last para of your op are available at our Lidl. Fresh chives, butternut squash, green peppercorns (and pink ones), fresh ginger, purple sprouting broccoli, tubs of anchovies and olives (tubs of olives and sweet peppers are also delicious, and many others they have); they also have much nicer salami and some truly gorgeous bresaola, not bad caviar, lovely camembert and brie, I could go on.

We go there because it has good food which is cheaper and often nicer. They have more interesting things too.

Also, got all dd's skiing clobber there for next to nothing, good quality. I get quite a lot of my gardening things there too - it's a lot better than much of the similar things I get elsewhere, including Amazon and specialist shops, and just as good at a fraction of the price.

We used to shop in Sainsbury's, Waitrose and Safeway's. I don't miss them at all, really.

You "feel assaulted"? What a pathetic thing to say. I guess you are very lucky in that you haven't ever actually been assaulted.

Trying to be cool, were you? .

I've recently swapped from shopping exclusively at Tesco to shopping at Lidl and Waitrose (dropping Tesco). About the same spend but the basics from Lidl are much cheaper than Tesco and the "nice" stuff is much nicer at Waitrose.

And, yes, there is some nice stuff at Lidl too.

I have gone in there on the odd occasion and find it ok but nothing to rave about. I buy a lot of supermarket own brand products already so don't really save much when I go to there.

Just back from Aldi (with a stop off at my old supermarket Tesco). Spent £83 (inc £13 at Tesco) rather than £130+ at Tesco alone.

I used to shop like a total nob in tesco though, I think I thought I was loaded. Finest everything, brands galore plus little tubs of anchovies & olives from the deli

Now I make a list and buy what's on it in Aldi. There is no difference in quality of the things that I buy. I have to psyche myself up to go to the till but it is a small price to pay for a £2K+ annual saving.

I am a recent convert to Aldi and pound shops, primarily because I have plenty of time to visit them rather than relying on Tesco or Budgens. Last week I got a large pot of natural yoghurt in Aldi for 55p. In Budgens - 1.70. That's why I go to Aldi. I got some fab leggings from Aldi as well - 1.99, nice quality, just what I wanted for the gym. I try to get what I can from Aldi then go to Tesco or Budgens for what I can't get there.

They sell nice chocolate. That's all you need to know.