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?

nice try but partridge is out of season as any fule kno

Apart from the value for money, I love seeing what oddities they have in the centre aisles.

I also prefer their packing system - all on trolley, scanned, all back into trolley then off to the packing area to pack at your leisure. Much much quicker than faffing around at the checkout!

My life is not diminished by the absence of purple sprouting Broccolli !!
No, not one tiny jot

op, come back.........

its raining here and I'm bored, I could do with some more nonsense talking about purple sprouting broccoli...

come back!!

I shop in Waitrose. I am not middle class, I don't clutch my pearls or prance about feeling worthy . I also manage to shop in Lidl without feeling violated.

Ok it was guinea fowl but didn't want to give too much away. Have now I guess

Because as a family of 5 I can do my entire 10 days shop for £70.

Does preferring sainsbury's say anything about me? Although I have just done the high street for the butchers, green grocers and a spade for psycho next door!

OP

If you are the posh mum from the Catherine Tate show YADNBU. No way could she cope with Aldi or Lidl

If you are a journo then do your research accordingly please

If you are of the hirsute-toe-type then find something better to do

If you are none of the above you need to get a bit of a grip tbh

I go because I like them. The cheap stuff is nicer than the main supermarkets value ranges.

They sell lovely olives, in fact, the deli stuff in Aldi is why I go there as well as Lidl.

The last butternut squash I bought, came from Aldi.

It's vastly cheaper. I've no problem with the stock just piled on the shelves and not looking pretty. It also saves you a stack of money as there isn't a load of 'tack' that you can go and buy.

It's great for the essentials like fruit/veg/meat/washing powder. As for packing, get your bags ready in the trolly as the food goes on the belt, then load direct into bags. Simple.

Yes there are other brands I prefer, but I'll buy these elsewhere.

I don't go shopping to have a look around - nothing more boring than a supermarket. I know what I want, go in, buy it, and am out again in a whizz !

Shopping? Shopping? What is this shopping of which you speak? Don't your servants procure all of your provisions as if by magic? You mustn't be beating them hard enough, OP.

My nearest aldi is a 15min drive away, but I have 3 of the other main supermarkets much closer. I definitely prefer aldi - yes there is less choice but actually that is the attraction for me now. I can do a whole shop in about half an hour and it would take me at least double that (if not more) in a bigger shop. Not to mention the fact that it has cut my grocery bills by a third.

We have one opening here soon. My veg is from a farm shop. Cheaper than a supermarket & I move around for other stuff. Often buy meat from waitrose as cheaper & better quality than Tesco.
My reason will b cost primarily.

I see it as a personal challenge to pack my stuff as fast as they can scan, I arrange it on the conveyor belt in a particular order, have my bags open and ready in the trolley.....I have not been beaten yet...!

I shop at Sainsburys, Waitrose, The Co-Op, Lidl, Morrisons and use Ocado regularly. Its great living in London .

You know the bit where they rush you through the checkouts? That's part of why its cheaper. Hth.

because it's utterly free from snobs

I think ASDA does purple-spouting broccoli anyway... they definitely do infinite containers of horrible olives (I hate olives)...

Maybe it's a slippery slope as I pay a cleaner to come in once a week! If I feel the pull to waitrose I'll start to panick!

We shop with Ocado regularly, mainly because I work a 6 day week and really don't want to spend my non-working day traipsing around a supermarket.

However, dp is German and we do go to Aldi for some good quality German food we can't get elsewhere. Especially at Christmas, we get loads of German Christmas food much cheaper than at the over-priced Christmas markets and the quality is better too. Germans don't tend to accept poor quality food and therefore the quality at Aldi and Lidl tends to be better than Sainbury's etc for the equivalent priced products imo.

I don't care about chit chat from the cashiers. I'm there to buy food, not strike up a conversation with the check-out staff.

oh, and my ALDI has fresh herbs, and ginger, and jars of anchovies, and, when in season, purple sprouting brocolli, butternut squash and all manner of fresh fruit and veg...FWIW

You'd get the death stare from me if you were ahead of me in Aldi and tried to pack your fucking green peppercorns stuff at the till instead of moving out of the way. Play by the rules or fuck off back to Waitrose.

Oh, and they do sell butternut squash in Aldi. 69p.

They have bags too.

Their froot shoots are cheaper innit?

YABU

Its cheaper and I can stock up on spices / sauces they don't sell at the Asda which is right next door.

Quality is much better that ASDA, Sainsburys or Tesco I have found. And the shoppers are generally a much nicer sort. More efficient less, "lets take our entire family out (inc several adults) to block the aisles whilst we determine which kind of microwaveable rice we want to buy with fucking gormless looks on our faces".

The chocolate is amazing those Germans know chocolate.

Maybe it's advertising research rather than newspaper research. I can see the billboards now.

Aldi and Lidl; keeping the riff-raff out of Waitrose since 2014...

Like others, I don't tend to do my shopping in one place. I wouldn't necessarily drive especially to a Lidl or Aldi but I do pass them on the way to/from work.

I tend to visit Aldi once a week although I don't do my main shop there or Lidl. I do find stuff much better value at Aldi and just as good as main supermarkets. I tend to buy packed lunch stuff at Aldi - crisps, hams etc. plus pasta, tinned tomatoes, fizzy drinks, home cleaning stuff. Tonic water is much cheaper there, Gin is good (and cheaper than other supermarkets) and some of the wines are nice. You can buy treats there and they're cheaper than main supermarkets.

Initially I felt a bit lost about the checkout experience but it's all a matter of getting used to it. So, yes we do save money by buying stuff at Aldi. Would I purposefully drive there to shop? I'd have to say I'm not sure as I'd have to weigh up the cost of petrol with the cost of savings at the till. However, I certainly wouldn't look down my nose at anyone who shopped there. It's value for money and it has decent produce.