To think Aldi isn't actually that much cheaper?

[Allhallowseve]

I've been an Aldi convert for a while now .
However today I need to pick things up and was close by a Sainsbury's so decided to go there instead of across town to Aldi.
I was shocked that there was hardly any difference in price .
Plus it was a much nicer experience. I always feel like an inconvenience to the staff in Aldi .... either in their way while they are trying to stack shelves or not quick enough at checkout.
I also picked up some pretty good deals in Sainsbury's with meat etc that had been marked down.
So aibu or is it really not that cheap anymore?
Has anyone gone back after being an Aldi convert?

Ok well you must have a crap local branch then. I do my whole weekly shop at mine and the only thing I regularly buy that they occasionally run out of is maple syrup. All staple stuff is always plentiful. And well within date.

ifailed so glad to see your post. I got accused of lying on a similar thread because I said how quickly the fruit and veg went off and that's if there was any at all. And how our store always smelt bad and often the neat they had pulled off the shelves that wasn't just out of date but actually going green was just dumped on the floor.

And how often basics woukd he unavailable. I blamed myself at first and thought itbwas picking bad times to go or picking the stuff wrong so I tried alternate times and spent longer looking for better stuff but all to no avail it still went off super quick and things like raspberries and strawberries barely make it through the door in my house before little fingers are wanting to eat them .

Eolian my experience is the same as yours, meat, fruit, veg all of excellent quality and lasts as long as it seems to from anywhere else. Whenever there are Aldi threads there always seem to be people who have had much worse Aldi experiences than I ever have so I can only assume that there are significant variations in the quality of the individual stores. The only stuff I get elsewhere are baby snacks! (Our Aldi do them too but DS is particularly fond of yogurt covered rice cakes!)

There must be a lot of variation, because I don't find fruit and veg going off and the staff at mine are very pleasant.

I love the quick no jabber checkout. How long do you want to spend shopping?

Of course it's not cheaper. You have to go elsewhere to buy half a shop anyway. The only way it costs less is if you're ok with eating out of tins and packets.

Bollocks, frankly. Veg is cheaper, fruit is cheaper, ingredients are cheaper.

They might be a bit low on the high food miles paltrow fodder but i don't eat that.

That really isn't my experience at all! We eat almost nothing out of tins or packets unless you count chopped tomatoes and kidney beans! We cook from scratch and our local Aldi has everything we need for a full shop.

Ours is a new branch so you'd think it would be good but it's not, the fruit and veg are really pretty poor quality, the queues are long and not particularly fast, things are badly arranged and hard to find. Every time I go there I find myself wishing I hadn't bothered, the car park is a nightmare too.

There isn't anything organic, is there? I realised now that I actually went to a Lidl. There isn't either an Aldi or a Lidl close to us but it was not a nice experience and I wouldn't go back. I don't have a problem with Ocado not stocking their sale items, I rarely ever have substitutes or missed items unless we are outside of London on holiday, then it gets worse.

I also do a spreadsheet for my monthly shop across all the major storees using my supermarket website. Am on strict budget of £100 per calendar month for 2 adults to include cleaning products as well. I use aldi for about 50% of my shop including top up shops. A lot of items i know will be cheaper at aldi, other branded stuff varies between main stores.

The fruit and veg at ours is decent quality and I don't recognise this rots in seconds thing people are talking about, but they do have a stocking problem. If I don't go early in the morning, half the stuff I need isn't there. Once when I went in just after New Year it looked like there'd been a siege.

Our Aldi stocks organic fruit and veg and has a small organic range.

It would appear that there is a huge variance in Aldi stores, some are brilliant, others frankly are a bit shit. It is an odd business model for sure, but one that seems to work. I wonder if they do the same in all countries, or just the UK for some reason?

I agree that it's a very odd way of doing things. If you can do things so well in some places why not do it everywhere?

Ifailed but I find it is the same with Ocado - it is excellent here in Central London, no substitutes, no non-stocked items, etc.

But outside of London it is crap, less selection, missing items, substitutions, etc.

I can only assume that it is economies of scale, a higher stock turnover in a dense urban area versus lowers turnover and narrower product range in less populated areas. I wonder if there is a similar force behind the variances in Aldis and Lidls?

i have a Lidl and an Aldi nearby. Definitely prefer Lidl.

in Aldi they are usually to wrapped up in shelf stacking and when I am in a hurry it is just inconvenient. I have left my shopping on the conveyor belt before now. Also their product range is very limited for what I buy.

Lidl has amazing tomatoes on the vine and I really like their fruit and veg. Their bakery section (not that I am eating bread atm as I am the LCBC) is fantastic. I spend about £35-40 each week and come away with 90% of my shopping. If they just did a few more Quorn products I wouldn't have to go Tesco.

I do tend to mostly cook from scratch and not much frozen stuff . I use their nappies and wipes for my youngest and some fruit pouches . I have a feeling they might not compare .
But am seriously considering a switch to sainsburys .

YouHaveBeenSummarilyDismissed

You maybe onto to something. I live in a relatively prosperous area and perhaps Aldi HQ just don't range the same stuff to stores in areas like this as to 'poorer' areas? They have all the metrics to hand, there must be some rational explanation - I did think it may be because some stores are franchises, but that's not the case.

I don't know if it is poorer areas per se but more that if it the turnover is high then the shop will overall be more successful as they will have fresh produce, in date items and not run out of stock?

It probably just depends on the immediate local competition as well.

In urban areas it is a total faff to grocery shop as I have to park on roofs, driving up numerous ramps, have time limits, can't park close to my front door to unload, etc, so delivery is easier and vastly quicker. The shops are also always busy no matter when I go.

I live in a relatively prosperous area in the south east. The only other supermarkets within a 10 mile radius are Sainsburys and Waitrose so Aldi definitely fills a gap here and is always really busy. I don't think things would have a chance to go off on the shelves to be honest as it doesn't hang around!

I get alot of organic, wholefoods etc from aldi the price doesn't doesnt neccessary come into it.

For me the quality of the fruit and veg. Is what sells it and the price. And organic too.

My local is so busy the fruit and veg is never on the shelves long enough to go off.

If i buy from tescos etc i find the fruit bland and half frozen still.

So I split my shopping between waitrose and aldi.

I also think the meat is ok for the price. Seems to shrink less than tescos or the like.

Yes definately a weird business model. Our Lidl isn't much better I gave up there too when the chicken started tasting funny, tray bakes started poaching as opposed to roasting due to the amount if liquid that came out of the chicken, even the butter was off when you bought it and I had to repeatedly tell staff that the veg was growing on the shelves and they didn't seek remotely bothered about sorting it.

Russell Howard summed it up perfectly when he called it a shelter for abused food.

If I pop into Sainsburys for "just bread and milk", it costs £80 ... and yes, I have more than bread and milk, but not much.

In Aldi, under £20 and I have bags full.

I didn't find much difference with Aldi, but a significant difference with Lidl (both compared to Asda). Not sure how, as Aldi and Lidl are generally reckoned to be the same price....maybe I shop differently in Lidl??

Although my partner insists the fruit and veg go off quicker at Lidl compared to Asda....