to think Aldi and LIDL

[winkywinkola]

are not discount supermarkets as described on the radio all the time. Nor are they selling products of lower quality. I find it irritating that this image is constantly projected in the media.

I feel they are reasonably priced supermarkets instead of the hugely expensive top three. I mean, Tesco was bitching because it only made £3bn profit last year.

The products in Aldi and LIDL are just as good/flawed as in the other supermarkets.

I think it's important to get rid of the perception of 'discount' supermarkets so that better competition emerges and the consumer can have lower prices all round.

I am not a brand snob so if they tell me they are a discount supermarket I am there. Good for them.

Anyone that shops there knows the quality I wish people didn't keep saying how great they are though as I am finding the world and his wife there now.

I shop at Morrisons and find it just as cheap as Aldi if I buy the own brand products. If you buy the branded products then it does cost a fortune. I find that some things are cheaper in Morrisons than Aldi and vice versa. If I had time I would go round them all and pick the bargains but I don't. The only thing I don't like at Aldi is that the prices aren't displayed clearly or in the right place. I don't go very often but there were 2 items that I picked up that were more expensive than I thought when I checked my bill later. I had looked at the prices directly underneath the products but they must have been for something else. My fault of course but still annoying

I would love to shop in Aldi or Lidl but they don't accept credit cards and that's what we use to take advantage of cash back per month. If that ever changes I will be there like a shot. LOATHE Tesco.

I think the (lack of) customer service you get in Lidl or Aldi is why they are considered 'discount' supermarkets.

The food/products are usually just as good as anything from Tesco or Sainsburys.

sebsmummy1
Is the monthly CC cashback worth more than the saving you would make shopping at Aldi?

I have recently fallen in love with Aldi & its saving me a fortune now I shop their instead .

The food may be cheap but its bloody brilliant quality , a lot better than any super market brands & even the branded products .

I'm spending £30 a week instead of £70 .

I shop at Aldi for the weekly shop and do not look at prices in other supermarkets in order to buy, say, sugar at Morrison's and bread at Sainbury's. What you save by buying at different supermarkets is wasted in the petrol you use to get there!

Aquashiv (the world and his wife) Yes, our local Aldi is sooo busy now. It's a small one, too, so I suspect that the car park will eventually always be full and we'll drive round and round desperately waiting for someone to drive away.

I love aldi.

I've had more disappointing products from other supermarkets than from aldi.

I didn't realise how much money it saved us til we had to do a tesco order as no time to go shopping. I spent more money on four/5 bags of shopping (and my everything we needed) than we did on a whole trolly full of shopping that we normally get.

It's not the best stuff in the world, but then tesco is shit anyway.

Thiscantbetrue, £30 per week?!? I want your weeklymenu plan!

[Grin] if only I had a menu plan

LTL I am told by my partner that the saving we make through cash back is equivalent so it's not worth shopping in Aldi etc, particularly because we don't have either of those supermarkets bear us either so taking petrol into account also it's not cost effective.

I just hate spending £50 on three carrier bags of shopping. I find it shocking.

I shop in Aldi for all except a few things like branded cereal for DH and naice coffee for me. Their service is brilliant, they are always happy to let DD2 use the staff loos and no one has ever complained about me packing directly into my BIG bags in the trolley.

I think they like to be known as discount supermarkets though as they always seem to have a big advert up showing how much you can save compared to e.g. Tesco.

But they're not discount.

I really hope a shopping revolution is beginning. But I also hope farmers get reasonably paid too. I was getting so frustrated with uber greedy supermarkets

I think that some Lidl stores do accept credit cards so you should check your local one as you could save even more money!

I guess that their business model excludes the excessive choice of other supermarkets (who needs 10 different brands of everything?), the loyalty cards and vouchers (which you pay for in the shopping), the other parts of the business (insurance, electricity, home delivery) and the slebs in the adverts. Hence the reduced prices.

of course whether we can still have home grown food when (for example) we are paying £1 for 4 litres of milk is another matter, but all the supermarkets are in that together. I don't have the answer but meantime I am shopping at Aldi because the stuff is cheaper and better. Everything except meat where I am fortunate enough to have an excellent local butcher.

I urge everyone to watch their food miles and boycott out of season stuff.

I have used a credit card in lidl.

Special I totally agree. I eat quite simply and I would happily eat in season and have far less choice. I hate the massive stores with aisle upon aisle of 'stuff', I just find myself buying less weirdly as I miss out whole swathes of the store.

Roulade I will check re. Lidl and cc, thank you.

I don't get it either. I tried Aldi and spent the same I spend at Tesco's but I get a 10% discount at tesco plus free click and collect so aldi's no point in going for me.

I've just started shopping at Lidl as a new one opened near us. What would have been £70 at Tesco, was £49 with some extras that I wouldn't have forked out for at tesco, so cheaper, and some treats! We still buy our meat, fish, fruit, and veg locally though as we're lucky enough to a really good farm shop near by.

I actually prefer the reduced choice. I used to spend half my time shopping trying to figure out which product was a better deal, usually only to work out that the "offers" were more expensive.

I still only have a 50/50 hit rate with them (1/2 nice, 1/2 feels inferior and cheap).

It's still too much like ASDA used to be, with the added disadvantage of just not having everything I want.

I agree with the OP. 'Discount' has a certain connotation and suggests that the prices are temporary. I come away from Aldi not feeling ripped off but that there's been a fair transaction. I think the bigger supermarket chains are over priced and are trying to screw as much money as possible out of the shopper. The fact that they miraculously managed to reduce some of their prices to match aldi/lidl shows that they were charging what they could get away with in the past.

We have started going for what I'd call top up shops.

The DCs are happy with aldi labels but I'm a bit more fussy. There are things I like that I buy every week that they don't sell. So I will always have to go to morrisons too. I've noticed it's a bit cheaper lately. I gave up on tesco a few years ago- it is really expensive! OP you are right that tesco is a rip off and their prices should be seen as 'normal'.

I really hate the aldi checkouts though, and refuse to pay for their bags.

I spend just as much and don't like the food. I think I will stick to tesco.

There are so many tricks they use to bamboozle us that I too find food shopping the equivalent of a Maths exam. But it's the same with places like Poundland. There are few things that are good value but masses of stuff that you can find far cheaper elsewhere.

Wilkinson and Savers can be very good value for things, but again it's whether it's convenient to go there just for toiletries.