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 didn't get past "assaulted".

The English language is rich enough to make it unnecessary to use this word, which carries such weight of meaning, in the context of being unable to buy purple sprouting broccoli in a supermarket.

I use a mix of supermarkets including Lidl and Aldi. It's easy to get round, cheap, good quality. Also, Lidl has great small trolleys with seats which I wish all supermarkets had!

About 10 minutes walk, 7 if the traffic lights are in my favour.

I go there if I want something that I know they do well, and don't also need things that they do poorly.

I have never felt "assaulted" at the checkout, and think you need to:
a- get a grip
b - be more careful with your language.

Do you also claim that you've been "raped" if you leave your Facebook logged on and someone posts something stupid as you?

(agree with Pinky)

I love the peach juice and salmon en croute is lovely

and the vodka is nice too

Different strokes & all that. Also varies by location; I remember shuddering at the Aldi in Loughborough.

15 minute walk away; we pop in a few times a week, it's used locally like a corner shop. Sainsbury's is also 15 minutes & Waitrose about 25 minutes walk.

I still shop in Sainsbury's & Waitrose, too.

Probably spend £4-£24 per visit.

And there's no delivery.

I hate delivery; piles of plastic bags, having to wait in, weird substitutions, yuck.

isn't it smashing that we're all different?

If you google blind taste tests , you will see that Aldi and Lidl are consistently the highest performers -Usually beating sainsbo and M&S.They are cheaper , have better quality products (except their bread which i am not keen on)and I quite like the fact they carry a smaller range and you can whizz round them in less than half the time of a normal supermarket shop

Our aldi is next door to waitrose. Its dead posh. I shop in both but prefer aldi for most veg, ham, cheese, tinned stuff. I find if you go in the evening it is really quiet and quite pleasant.

It is also much cheaper then other supermarkets. Sadly not everyone can afford to make a choice.

Tbf I think it depends what you have locally as much as anything.

Our nearest Aldi is not bad but it's a grotty 16 mile round trip away. Lidl is about 3 miles away, but it's awful - not a great selection of fresh food and really dingy. I might pop in if I was stocking up on snacks for a kids party or Christmas, or saw something specific advertised but couldn't do a decent food shop there.

For me Asda is the best all rounder - our local one is quite small but I can get a full weeks shop done for less than elsewhere with minimal extra temptations.

I'm quite of all the Mumsnetters who have Lidl/Aldi stores with all the bells & whistles tbh. And I love Waitrose but it's definitely special occasion territory.

Like aldi. Lidl ok too & ours has great bakery now too.

Upsides, takes a lot less time. Don't feel ripped off or irritated by having to work out 'offers' so not ripped off. Like chucking all stuff back in trolley then packing at leisure. Like not massive choice so don't over spend. No downsides here really.

Started really disliking all big supermarkets when do venture in. Hate how long it takes, hate packing at checkout, hate multi buy offers & rip off prices for fruit /veg. Oh and bloomin daft price of beer! Do like kids clothes& flowers/cards & some branded stuff so still go occasionally.

We don't have an Aldi but I went to Lidl just before Christmas. One of the glossy magazines said that their mince pies were excellent and being stupid gullible I thought I'd give them a go.

The mince pies were horrible and Lidl itself was a shithole.

Did get some nice Proseco in there though!

Last time I went to Aldi, I bought:

Potato dauphinoise
Magret de canard
Foie gras

And, if I want an 'experience' I can go to lunch at a Michelin-starred restaurant.

Just down the road
Can get round and out with all the basics in 20 minutes, home in 5, cheap drinkable wine, loads of savings.
You can't guarantee that they'll have everything, but at least they don't reorganise it every flipping week.
Yes, the checkout experience is not as nice as waitrose and the temptation to become bloodymindedly slow as a resistance is sometimes overwhelming. Having your bags ready open in the trolley helps.
Can then spend a few quid on stuff they don't stock (like kids bubble bath, oddly) and get my free paper in waitrose, and stroll round the market getting locally grown purple sprouted if i feel like it.
Big supermarkets freak me out, sorry.

The fruit and veg at my Lidl and Aldi is half the price of Tesco, and better quality.
The meat is better quality, and cheaper.
The fake Pringles at Lidl, parika flavour, are ADDICTIVE.
The jarred fruit is awesome, at either. The sliced hams, meats, and deli are amazing. The selction of dairy is fab. And I can manage to do ALL my shopping there. Their prices are amazing, so much so that sometimes, they are less expensive than the wholesaler I have access to through my other half's work. About the only things I now order from them monthly are tuna, washing powder and conditioner, and a mega box of Quavers for my own consumption.
People are really up their own bums about it. It's a supermarket. It's not a "shopping experience". I don't think I want to be the sort of person who lives wanting a "shopping experience" anyway. I'm in, out, with a list in 30 minutes. Life is my experience, not shopping, and Lidl / Aldi / Bookers let me have a bit more cash spare to live it.

I go to Aldi as it's cheap, really good quality, and it;s NOT TESCO or ASDA. Thieving bastards.

I shop in both.

Close to us, cheaper. I spend about £70 in there a week. I used to waste £600 a month in Tesco.

I'm surprised you couldn't get s butternut squash as my Lidl and Aldi both had them. Can't comment on purple sprouting broccoli

I love all the continental foods, as I was brought up on them having foreign dps.

Oh, and I've shopped there for at least the past 15 years.

I live 15 minutes walk away from both an Aldi and a Waitrose. I do the bulk of my shopping at Aldi (when I was there earlier today I noticed butternut squash, anchovies and olives although not really nice ones, but there was no purple sprouting broccoli. There were tins of really nice cassoulet, though.

I go to Waitrose and/ or Morrisons for a few other things like brown basmati rice, squash and organic carrots. I also have to go to smaller shops in town for things like herbal tea, coffee beans and lip balm.

It saves me money
They are quick
They treat their staff well

Sadly no Lidl in Australia, but we do have Aldi. They are all clean and well laid out, and all in less well-heeled areas. Yes, they do have the taint of being a poor person's shop, though that is fading rapidly.

We shop there because we wouldn't dream of spending money on things we can buy cheaply. Just why would you?

Their hot cross buns are fab.

It's a drive away, but then most things are here.

Surely the OP's a wind up.

Impatient I hope they matched! You sound like a classy sort of girl so I'm assuming they did!

They used to match until the bra ended up in the wash with a red sock!
Dead classy me, just like all the onesie wearing aldi shoppers that OP thinks exist

I should point out that I don't see the demographic of ALDI as a taint, but the expression and polite oh really? of some Aussies we know, says it all.

Silly sods.

Chunderella - You should read the thread. Lots of people have shared my dislike of the checkout at Aldi.

The best thing about Aldi is they sell those chocolate curls that Cadbury used to make.

The choc-orange ones are to die for