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 don't understand why people start threads about not understanding why people make different choices from them.

Our Aldi has by far the best and most fresh fruit and veg. And we certainly can buy ginger, herbs and purple sprouting stuff.

Like others, we go to different shops for different things. Aldi for fruit and veg, continental meats and hams, breads and washing things. I did a like for like comparison with our local Co-op, and it is a solid 30% cheaper. I don't plan to just piss money away. We eat meat quite rarely so I go to the butcher for that. We get organic milk from Morrisons. Treaty eats from M&S.

I'm not keen on lidl, I think its expensive for what it is. If I'm shopping that local to home I will go to waitrose which is in the same carpark area.

I like aldi as I find it good value for money. Large free range chicken for £4.99 which does actually do 2 meals for my family of 5 (1 adult, 2 teens and 2 younger dc), a roast for one day and added to a stir fry or make a chicken leek and ham pie.

fruit and veg is much cheaper, there isn't as much choice as the bigger supermarkets admittedly and I often top at sainsburys or waitrose on my way home to get things I can't get at Aldi, like Organic dairy, and branded toiletries, but most things I can get from Aldi and I'm happy enough with them. I spend a lot lot less than I do at the main supermarkets by about half the £

Damn I'll have to looking for a Gregg's bashing post now!

not the lovely Shizz Moans?

if you are 'humiliated' so easily and worry about your shopping 'experience' (AKA buying food) then I think you should be grateful for how very lucky you are to have no problems.

My 10 minute walk away Aldi is where a Waitrose used to be mwhahahaha (that was supposed to be an evil laugh).

I bought 4 trays of very healthy bedding plants for the equivalent of 17p each and 2 under £2 fruit bushes only yesterday. The woman on the till even wished me a happy afternoon planting out.

I can't wait for our proposed local Aldi to open later this year. Proper competition to Tesco in our area at long last. They have had a near monopoly for far too long, and I want to be able to save some money.

ps they sell anchovies and olives. Much cheaper than Waitrose and in recyclable tins/glass jars.

No Lidl near me but Aldi is next door to Asda and about a 10 minute drive from me

I love Aldi because it's so cheap especially for basics like fruit/veg, tins of tomatoes, biscuits, jam/marmalade, porride oats, museli, DH likes their salami and we like the cheeses.

What I can't get in Aldi I pop next door to Asda for

I don't mind the packing - take my own jute bags wherever I go and take time to pack things in the bags in order.

Saves me loads going to Aldi xx

Oh, tbh I don't care about the experience. I want my groceries. I don't want to pay 30% more for them somewhere else. I only started shopping at Aldi properly about a month ago, the difference money-wise in what I had in my purse at the end of the month was a bit of a revelation.

About four miles I think. It's right next to a couple I would probably use instead.

Spend about fifty quid a week I think.

I prefer the experience there- less choice- shopping bores me, milk is milk, who wants to think about it for more than two seconds?, I can get round it quicker, the checkouts are fine when you are used to them. The generic food is all fine for my purposes and I don't buy much processed food but what I do but is just as nice as other places.

I miss nothing about the old place. It gives me the rage- too big, too much choice, too expensive, checkouts too slow.

HOW can you not find butternut squash at Lidl? I go to Lidl specifically for the butternut squash - there are always loads to choose from & much healthier specimens than elsewhere .

To answer your homework questions for you;

1. They are both in my nearest town - Lidl 5 minutes away, Aldi 8-10 minutes away. I go because the food is much cheaper & of a superior quality to Tesco & Asda (the main alternatives here).

1. Nothing. Asda or Tesco or even Iceland . I don't miss them because they still exist and nothing is stopping me popping in there at another time.

1. A lot less than the same size of shop at Tesco.

Personally, I feel assaulted when I go to Waitrose. I have a problem with people constantly looking down their noses at me & being charged £30 for a hand basket of shopping .

I love the cheesy flips & "Crownfield" branflakes.

It's a combination of distance and cheapness. It's the only way I can afford to eat every day. I don't go for the experience I go so I can eat.

I live in a fairly rural area. My choices are: small local shop 5min walk away, very expensive and not really any choice, small. Coop 25min walk away fairly expensive and small so not much choice. Then Lidl is a 35min walk away is cheap and actually has more choice than my other two options.

Nearest Asda, Tesco and Sainsbury's are about 3hrs walk away or 8.50 on the bus. I work long hours so can't afford to spend more than 6hrs doing my shopping. They're also more expensive so even if I took the bus the bus fare plus the dearer shop would make it pretty much impossible to eat properly every day.

As for the nearest Waitrose, it's about 7hrs walk away. It's very expensive and I very much doubt people like me would be welcome there.

What?!? When I go into tesco or waitrose ( not often) it takes every ounce if my patience not to scream at the cashier "will you just hurry the fuck uuuupppp!!!" :) I love aldi saves me a fortune and I can get the children lots of lovely veg and fruit for half the price.

I have recently discovered Aldi and I love it!

Have spent £90 this morning and that is a massive saving on my usual Asda shop.

stick to Waitrose.....

Oh and the nearest Aldi is about 3hours away as well.

at purple sprouting broccoli.

coruskate I choked on a bit of aldi pot noodle at that

1. I have several aldi's and one lidl within a 3 mile radius from where I live.
2. I don't miss much about my old supermarket because I still go there for a few things.
3. I spend around £60 each week in aldi and I still get things at other supermarkets and I am saving £150 per month.

I have added some extra points because I didn't think your questions were enough to provide a thorough overview of my aldi shopping habits.

1. I like shopping there because the packing area means I can get through the till quickly and the staff don't sit chatting to their mates in the neighbouring tills.
2. I like the fact that there is less additives in lots of the food and people with allergies can eat a lot of the normal (and normally priced) goods.
3. I like the fact that I don't have to put up with waitrose snobs getting in my way.

I went to Lidl for the first time last week, I usually shop in waitrose.

I found it a really positive experience. My trolly looked very smiiar to my waitrose one, except it cost a lot less.

Free range chicken (£4.50!)Purple sprouting broccoli, free range eggs, Italian hams, avocados, peppers stuffed with cheese, "posh" crisps, bacon - just some of the things we ate this weekend, we couldn't believe the quality of the stuff we were eating and DH is rather particular. It was about half the price of waitrose.

I'll be going back. They can keep their free coffeee and newspaper

I like the way some people on this thread assume well off people aren't bothered about saving money. Most wealthy people I know are quite exercised about cutting their outgoings. To the point of joylessness.

Nice, cheap, close to home, products that other supermarkets don't have :)

Oh and to add:
My aldi sells butternut squash, fresh ginger, fresh chives and olives. My aldi is obviously better than yours. I must live in a posher town; ner ner ner ner ner!