To think that Aldi/Lidl are just not that cheap?

[Pyjamaramadrama]

I'm always hearing people rave about how cheap these supermarkets are.

I've given them a try over the last couple of weeks, and yes some things are cheaper, and some things were just really nice but a bit more expensive.

I did an online shop and then when directly to Aldi/Lidl to price compare and there was nothing that was a lot cheaper, some of their stuff was a complete rip off. I only buy a lot of things such as cheese and beans when they're on offer anyway.

Are people just kidding themselves? I'd go again as I say some of their items were just really good quality but I wouldn't go out of my way as the few pence I save would be swallowed in petrol.

I love Aldi, but don't like Lidl or Tesco at all.

I found I was spending 50% less in Aldi than Sainsbury's. Yes, 50%!

Today I did a weeks shopping at Aldi, and it came to £100. I expected it to be only £70 I know it would have been £150 at Sainsbury's.....will do a price comparison to see what it would be elsewhere.

One of the things I like about shopping at Aldi is you don't have to look for the offer and compare prices. There is one cheddar cheese, at one price and you either buy it, or you don't.

I shop mainly in Lidl , I find it about 25% cheaper than asda/Morrissons and 50% cheaper than sainsburys. I won't darken the doors of the big T. This week I have been to M's and Lidl so some direct comparisions:
2 pints organic milk £1.12 vs 89p
Creme fraiche 89p vs 52p
Free Range Chicken £7.50 vs £4.33
Bottle of presseco £5.99 vs £4.29

Worth remembering also that the big supermarkets have introduced basics/value items which they've price matched to Aldi and Lidl so stands to reason that the saving difference is no longer as high as in the past. Off the top of my head items like tinned kidney beans, chickpeas, chopped tomatoes, mozzarella. Aldi and Lidl have forced them to fight for customers which is no bad thing.

Of course IMO Tesco in particular seem to jack up the price of other items randomly so Ill continue to shop mainly in Aldi as I know the prices don't fluctuate.

One of the things I dislike about shopping at Aldi is you don't have to look for the offer and compare prices. There is one cheddar cheese, at one price and you either buy it, or you don't. they either have it or they don't

Or maybe that's just my local store. I find them marginally cheaper but not enough to offset the fact that 9 times out of 10 I can't get everything I need and very limited gf stuff.

I go to Aldi and Lidl for specific things that are better and/or cheaper than other supermarkets: Aldi's fruit and barley squash, greek yoghurt and incomparable nappies (when dd needed them), Lidl's crunchy nut cornflakes, shredded wheat, crusti-croc crisps and some half price offers. On brands, it's generally cheaper to go to Home Bargains.

But every supermarket has things cheaper or better value than others; I regularly shop in Tesco, Asda and M&S as well for their offers and bargains. Never Sainsbury's though - they are ridiculously expensive!

I do the Asda Price Guarantee on a roughly £50 a week shop (top up at Lidl), and usually Tesco is a good £8-10 more.

Lidl is very cheap. The meat, the staples, the fruit and veg, frozen potato type stuff, cleaning products, beer. I could go on.
Trophy Basmati Rice is very cheap and as good as Tilda.
I only don't do my full shop at Lidl as the range is narrower.

We find Lidl lots cheaper. I used to buy everything from Sainsburys, but now get most things from Lidl. I like the quality of their stuff too. Sainsburys is going downhill a bit.

I've shopped at Lidl for years because it's our nearest shop and I like having no choice.

What I have noticed in the past year is the introduction of greater choice in their luxury and specialist ranges, which means it's easy to spend more (the tempura prawns are lovely ...). Still cheaper than anywhere else for the basics though and on the whole the quality is far better than the mainstream supermarket "budget" ranges.

I do think that the big supermarkets force you to buy more to make the savings. Packs of 4 or 2 for £1. So I guess if you're only buying exactly what you need week on week Aldi would be cheaper.

Your cathedral city is only 350g.

Used to be 400g but they shaved a bit of a couple of years ago.

I've never shopped at either but I do know that one of them was advertising how cheap their own brand nappies were in comparison to Sainsbury's a few months ago. Except they were comparing own brand to branded (Pampers). If they'd compared Sainsbury's own brand they would have been the same price (and when I've shopped at Tesco their own brand nappies are also the same price), the basics nappies are even cheaper. So that made me slightly suspicious. Ever since I've checked out the own brand prices at Sainsbury's when I've seen an advert and there usually isn't a difference. Which isn't surprising because there will be a minimum price for these products and since it's a competitive market I'm sure all supermarkets will be as close as possible with their own brand stuff. I suspect a lot of savings people make might be thanks to changing from branded to own brand, a change that can be made in any supermarket.

Ah you're right it is, the Tesco 2 for £5 cheddar is 450g but works out 50p more. Although we struggle to finish the Cathedral city packs within a week.

Blue their own brand stuff is better quality than tesco/sainsburys own brand that's the point the advert is making. I didn't like aldi nappies though. I don't like any supermarket own brand ones.

The comparison I put on up thread is stuff I never buy brands on. I get my branded stuff from tesco as it's cheaper (on offer) than lidl.

Can't say I noticed any difference in nappies except Pampers a) stank and b) had expensive copyrighted images on them. Which is irrelevant when full of poo.

I find the food all tastes washed out and cheap you'd have to be kidding your wallet and taste buds thinking your better off in those places plus the ethical side of it if it's that cheap someone somewhere is being ripped off. we shop at tesco loads of deals and offers on every week we do a £200 a month shop for 2 adults and the dog lots of heinz etc so not cheap things split over 4 weeks its only £50 a week which is great we eat fresh meat for every meal too 1 whole chicken for 2 meals and things like that

Lidl is way cheaper than Tesco. I started shopping in lidl when my weekly Tesco shop hit £120 a week despite me shopping carefully. In Lidl I struggle to spend over £75 and that literally throwing in absolutely everything I like the look of.

I like shopping at Aldi - not exclusively because I basically shop all over the place but they are definitely cheaper consistently. I'm hardly the value shopper either - butter croissants, brioche burger buns, Aberdeen Angus beef burgers and I go there specifically for steaks when we have a steak meal. I've even bought their Wagyu beef when they had it on special offer week and it flew off their shelves and were sold out before 10.30am! I mean even the 95% pork sausages are always £1.99 as a normal price. The decent cold hams are definitely cheaper and I always buy my belly pork there. Maris Piper potatoes are cheaper per kg as are most of the fruit and veg. My fussy cat likes their premium cat food which is better quality and cheaper than her usual Felix (which looks similar in texture to Aldi's value range). I've basically upgraded her cat food and saved myself some money at the same time.

I started shopping at Aldi four years ago. Our typically £100 shop at the main supermarkets cost £60 in Aldi. Lately I have noticed it creeping up a bit, Aldi has upgraded all it's fridges and now takes credit cards, so I expect it's passing on the bill to customers! It's still good value though.

You don't seriously believe Tesco are more ethical than Aldi myusername??

We switched from Tesco to Lidl about 6 months ago. I used to buy Tesco's basic range and our shopping bills now are about 30% cheaper in Lidl...don't know how it's possible that people don't find them cheaper tbh.

I do nip to Tesco every few weeks for things that Lidl don't sell - decent kids toothpaste and vitamins, tortellini and egg noodles - that's actually all I can think of. But most of it is Lidl.

I dont think they are cheaper they just don't have all the lovely luxery things that tempt me in the bigge supermarkets

Well, a couple of years back, Aldi were on the list of places to avoid buying Milk from whilst Tesco were not.

Well no but the food costs more so there for is better for the farmers cheap food is also cheap for a reason it isn't to be kind or give you and your family help it's because its much lower quality and pumped full of god knows what

Oh and I need to get cat food in Tesco - Lidl cat biscuits are okay (my cats eat them anyway) - but the cat food is awful. You've never seen any animal give such a human-esque withering look as dcat when I last tried her on it!