To think you don't need shops like Lidl/Aldi

[PisforPeter]

If you can buy a chicken to serve 5-6 in Waitrose for £2.94??
I also get 450g minced beef for £2.20. They have lots of special offers on at the moment.
I honestly think if you take advantage of offers and cook mostly from first principals you can still be very frugal in Waitrose/Sainsburys.

Just brought some artisan bead from tesco £1.50 in aldi it's 67p

Can't do full shop in lidl, but pop in every few weeks, especially for luxury foods like Parma ham which is much cheaper

M Vegan and Aldi/Lidls products are labeled well and easy to read.

They sell a good range of Vegan products, at the lowest prices and top quality, diverse fruit/veg.

I buy my youngest Rib Eye steak and Gourmet burgers cheaper than anywhere else.

I live on a HA estate. Waitrose isn't going to be opening a store within walking distance of such estates any time soon.

Hester - Sainsburys tinned Tuna is line and pole caught.

I do get fed up of the Aldi and lidl bores who only care about price and not ethics.

I don't shop in Aldi just because of the price. As it happens I buy most of my meat from a proper butcher for ethical reasons (and also because I know it won't turn out to be some scrawny romanian cart horse instead of a cow) but I will buy the Aldi chickens because I can afford the free-range ones in there whereas I can't in other supermarkets. I have my own hens in the garden so I don't need to buy 'unethical' eggs either .

As others have said, Aldi is my first choice for shopping because I like the food and I don't have to traipse round something the size of an aircraft hangar just to grab a loaf. I'm another who is now incensed by having to wait for people to pack their bags at the till! (I still have to make the occasional foray over to Tesco the dark side as my cat is addicted to Dreamies). There is also the lack of faffing about with vouchers and loyalty cards and the like - bliss!

I can get twice as much food for the same money when I go to aldi. It's a no brainer really. They don't rely on offers but have cheap every day prices.

The quality is better too

Aldi car park full of 4x4s waitrose should be worried! I've switched to aldi no compromise on quality but wow so much cheaper. My earl grey tea bags 99p, £3.50 old supermarket taste the same. Cereal 99p same thing £2.59 in old supermarket. No brainer

Do they sell nice plump soft bog roll in Lidl? Serious.

Aldi's also sell pole and line caught tuna...

Don't know where that apostrophe came from!

I used to go to Aldi because DP was keen but you couldn't buy organic meat at Aldi when I used to go, can you now? We don't eat much meat as the ethical side is important to me so i'd rather buy it less and pay for organic, even if I'm just buying meat for the children. I also only buy organic milk and cheese and buy a swedish oat milk for my daughter who is allergic to milk- Waitrose and Sainsburys are the only ones that stock it. I just like getting everything at once, it saves on petrol and my sanity as I hate food shopping so I'd rather go somewhere I can get everything I need. I do find Sainsbirys cheaper than Waitrose though.

I used to find things like herbs seriously lacking like no fresh bay leaves or rosemary and often only dried up looking coriander left. I sometimes like to cheat by getting those fresh (?) tube herbs and they don't sell stuff like that.

I shop at aldi and waitrose but am lucky in that they are the closest supermarkets to me and only 5 minutes apart.
There are some things I prefer from waitrose (smoked salmon, 0% fat Greek yoghurt, apples, healthy 'ready meals' etc) but only tend to get then if they are on offer.

If I could only choose one it would definitely be aldi.

Waitrose, Sainsburys and M&S are extortionate! Soo expensive

Aldi has a much better selection of herbs and spices than a year or two ago and may occasionally have organic chicken, potatoes or milk, but a very limited selection.

If i were you GoldenBear I would alternate between cheap and expensive supermarkets, stocking up on non-perishables or long life fresh stuff and freezing organic meat and milk where possible.

Unless Aldi are 20 miles away or more, you can easily save the petrol cost on a normal shop.

Their range of herbs and spices (fresh and dried) are getting better.

To those complaining about the ethics of aldi meat: I consider all meat unethical so that simply does not come into my consideration. I have no reason to think aldi is any less ethical than tesco et all

OnIlkleyMoorBahTwat, that's good to know about the herbs and I know that they do have organic semi skimmed milk as DP occasionally gets it on his way home from work- this has only been available in the last 3 months or so. I think you're right about the mix and match shopping as tbh I'm finding it difficult to part with so much money- just on food. There's other stuff we need it for! I think you can do a cheaper shop in Waitrose but I 'always' buy stuff that is extortionate like 'healthy' snacks for both my DC but I still get the organix stuff for my 3 year old's nursery packed lunch i always go a bit OTT on this!

I defected to Lidl just before Christmas; it's fucking brilliant, maybe I'm lucky and our local branch is good, but the fresh fruit and vegetables are fantastic, cheap and good quality. Plenty of choice too, and the cheese and yoghurts are lovely.

Chatatouillez

Chandon unfortunately palm oil can be passed off as 'vegetable' oil now I think

I thought the change in legislation now said palm oil had to be labelled as palm oil? That's what I was told anyway

I've heard, but don't know, that Aldi and Lidil suit their stock to the area that a particular store is situated in, so the 'nicer' the area, the better the stock.

Goldenbear, Lidl do organic beef, outdoor pork, free range chicken, organic milk, eggs, carrots, onions. I think environmentally they are extremely ethical as they don't waste energy on transport, heating or cooling enormous spaces, no free bag policy. And in terms of their staff there seem to be decent wages.

Aldi do much the same stuff but I find their veg not so good and their shelves too crammed.

Lidl also do stuff like frozen wild salmon and regularly sell game and stuff like ostrich meat.

I go to Waitrose for a few things I can't get in Lidl, seasonings are atrocious from there, condiments are always too salty or over sweet so I buy fancy stuff from Waitrose.

Chopinbabe I don't think they do that at all. Their range is so small anyway they don't need to. They may order less organic, say, but they wouldn't cut it completely.

How tasty do you think a sub-£3 chicken is? Before you even get to the ethics of it.

I only buy organic meat that is free range. If I can't afford it, I do without.

I nearly got seduced into buying sprouting broccoli for £1.99 in Waitrose this evening. They are very good at getting me to part with money.

That's really good news actually cottageinthecountry and I must admit a bit surprising. Lidl is not really near me but I take my DD swimming to a town that does have one- I'm definitely checking it out. Yes, it stings a bit the 1.99 'sprouting brocoli'- least it's not £2! I don't think we're rich enough to be shopping at Waitrose fully, I'm just being a bit lazy. I probably spend £100 on five days food and think its not really necessary, especially as my 3 year old is rejecting most of my 'dishes' at the moment! That's not to say I'm not prepared to pay for organic meat. It's things like olives that are nice but I think are about £3.44. I don't need them as much as I need to lose a stone or two!