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?

Apart from the price.. I love the efficiency :)

Are you one of those people trying to pack your shopping at the till? You're holding us up! You swipe it all in the trolley then pack it after (or throw it into a big cardboard box in your boot)

No fannying about working out which "offer" is cheaper, no bollocking with clubcards etc...

In and out. Love it!

*some to the point of joylessness.

Excuse typos - interesting.

Oh and I also got an enormous bunch of asparagus for about £2.50. It's massive!!

Aldi is right next to sainsburys where I am so I use both. They had manuka honey for £3 a jar the other week. As opposed to £8+ in sainsbury

Does anybody else like shopping at aldi because they can avoid the sort of person that can't imagine shopping anywhere except waitrose?

I prefer Aldi but only have a Lidl now we moved. I tend to get essentials from there and top up with a delivery from Tesco.

No it's not a great shopping experience, and this Sat it was awful, half the shelves were empty as their deliveries hadn't arrived. So i left without half of what i wanted. Some things are not cheaper and tesco value stuff is often better i find. (Cheapest honey in Lidl was £1.50 and cheapest in tesco is £1. Chorizo is usually cheaper in tesco). But i am on a tight budget so i tend to make do and often find the less choice is better, as we just go without, and actually manage fine without purple sprouting broccoli or lovely deli bits from waitrose .

There is a Waitrose near too and i had been advised by MNers to go before closing for good discounts. So i went yesterday and hung around like a poor loser for an hour 3-4pm waiting for this deluge of reductions i had been promised and all they did was reduce some loaves from £1.45 to 79p. and £2 strawberries tp £1.50 - hardly the savings of the century! And tbh that was quite a humiliating shopping experience - hanging round subtly trying to watch the staff with the reduction guns, while pretending to be reading the back of packets. Still! Scored a 79p loaf

I like that it isn't pretending to be some sort of enjoyable "experience" with atmosphere.

It's a shop where go in, buy your stuff and get the hell out

I do think I must have gone to a very poor specimen. Maybe I'll try a different one.

Our Lidl sells butternut squash, ginger, anchovies and olives and our town isn't remotely posh. Little bit of stretch to call it a town actually.

It would have been a horrible experience if you went in expecting to be treated like a Waitrose customer. It's down the road from the dc's school, I wouldn't go to a different town just to shop there. I go for the fresh produce - bread, cheese, fruit and veg. Then I go to Waitrose for my coffee.

I don't think Waitrose has a door policy btw. I grew up I suppose what people charmingly call a "pleb" background. About as "plebby" as you can get actually. I don't feel judged in Waitrose though? I don't think I notice anyone else that much tbh. I'm too busy looking at the food. Plus I don't really give a shit.

I grew up with shit food bought cos it was cheap. That was my dad's motto. Wouldn't even entertain spending money on food because it was just food to him. Spent money on other things though.

I have different priorities, I like food, food is my luxury so I shop at Waitrose or wherever does good quality food. Sometimes that's Lidl. I don't drive so I prefer places that deliver because I have a toddler and supermarket shopping is a bloody nightmare. Waitrose do free delivery so that's great. People who won't even entertain shopping in Waitrose are just being snobs of a different variety IMO.

All that can be had in my Aldi, apart from the sprouting brocolli.

Yes the end of till experience is a little different but no different if you get a stroppy checkout person in Sainsburys. and it is possible to train Aldi checkout people

Three supermarkets in my town within walking distance, we use them all at different times

I'm a single parent living on disability benefits so money is extremely tight, and I hate both Aldi and Lidl.

I think the Lidl thing comes from having to go with XH years ago, and anything to do with him brings me out in a panic.

I have just never liked Aldi at all, it just isn't nice.

I get my groceries delivered from Asda mostly, but from time to time I like to go and have a look round.

I've never been to a Waitrose because we don't have them here (NE Scotland)

GoldenGytha - Thanks for responding. Sorry about your XH.

I do think I must have gone to a very poor specimen. Maybe I'll try a different one.

Please don't do that. It would be unfair to inflict more aldi shoppers with your judgy pants presence and it won't have a waitrose deli so you would be wasting you time.

Well, to be honest, DH did the Aldi shop today and came home after ages saying he had met 5 separate people that we know pretty well. NONE of them are struggling financially. Indeed..... a couple of them can be termed as pretty well-off. But for me it boils down to why on earth pay a shitload more for the same things? Why? To say you shop at a named supermarket? I's buying the same items, alot cheaper. Money is not that easy to come by, why fritter it needlessly?

I have a DAunt who is VERY into named brands. She stayed with us quite recently and bought an item of jewellery online from a named brand store that I FOUND FOR HER CHEAPER BUYING THROUGH AMAZON. When I pointed out that it was cheaper her response was that this was fine, she wanted to get it from the actual store. It was the SAME bleeding necklace.

Like I said up thread, why just piss money away? I've got better things I want to spend my money on.

I have a co-op, Asda, Sainsburys, Morrison's and waitrose within a 20 min drive.

I choose to shop at aldi because its good value, nice food, and award winning wine under a fiver

In comparison I find the others overpriced

I think shopping at aldi dies have a down side. I'm In and out in 20~30 minutes with a full trolley. I feel real rage in supermarkets.. too slow.. too much choice.. too many ditherers and slow at the till. I come out wanting to punch something and stressed.

I don't want a shopping experience.. I want to be in and out as quick as possible.

My last post made me sound like a coupon-clipping obsessive. I'm not really!!!!

BeautifulVisit

Thanks for your kind words

You are being disingenous. You know perfectly well why people go to Aldi and Lidl.

It's nothing to do with money now but at one point tescos basics had to do, and it was horrible! But we survived just didn't enjoy meals very much! If aldi helps make nicer meals on a low budget good on them I wish we had one five years ago!

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

15 minutes away, I go because its cheaper and Im not caught up in the misinformed food snobbery of actually believing a brand name & fancy packaging definetely = quality.

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

Tesco - I shop between there and Aldi. Anyway whats to miss about a supermarket? Its not a fun activity, its a necessity activity

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

Nearly enough to feed us all, then I top up with a few bits at Tesco

ummmm....I buy Linseed when I go to Aldi, does that count?

My Aldi is 20 mins away from me, so I can do my shop in a 1 hour round trip.

I miss nothing from my local Tesco. Especially not being ripped off! The only things I can think of from the top of my head that I can't get at Aldi are alternative milks and the odd condiment, no big deal.

I spent £57 last time. This will last me all month other than the odd top up for fresh veg, apples, etc at the local market supermarket. So maybe £70 for the month.

FWIW i was spending £30 a week in shitty Tesco.

It's cheaper. Much much cheaper.

If they raised the prices I wouldn't shop there.

In a nutshell.