Aldi - I just don't get it and no one agrees with me

[user7654321]

All of my friends, family etc don't have a bad work to say about Aldi and say they do the majority of there shopping there for both cost saving and better quality produce.

My DH and I feel we are missing something, as based on the all recommendations, we have tried Aldi 5 or 6 times in the past 6 months or so, and have found the products not to taste as good as the well-known brands. The fruit/veg doesn't stay fresh for long etc, and we have wasted so much food that we have tried but preferred the branded version (e.g. cereal, jars of sauces). We have tried hundreds of Aldi products, but I'd say only a handful are as good as the branded version or even a mainstream supermarket's own brand. Even their nappies, which are reviewed as amazing gave my poor DS terrible nappy rash.

So, AIBU to say i actually don't think Aldi products are the same or better quality than other brands? I understand they are cheaper but the impression I get from others is that its not cost that's the driving factor for them shopping at Aldi - its there amazing quality. Why don't I feel the same? My DH and I are so confused about this that we've even done 'blind tests' on some products and the Aldi one has always been identified as the 'fake'

Sorry OP, but I love our Aldi!
Granted, I don't think you can do a full shop there, as there's usually something that you need and it doesn't have it.
However, the food it does have is brilliant and so much cheaper.
Fruit and vegetables on 69p, really good and when it costs say £2.50 for a punnet of blueberries elsewhere seems daft not to get them for 69p at Aldi.
The gourmet crisps, the smoked cheeses, really good wines.....
I even like the checkout system. I don't want to be stuck behind Dithering Doris counting out her change as Till Lady witters about her weekend.
Just scan and move it along, people.

Yy not

No one blindly chucks stuff in the trolly

At least in the other supermarkets there maybe the odd dodgy packet but you can find a nice one.

Aldi? Well if you find a nice one chances are you don't want it having walked past a crate of green mince and a shelf of mouldy berries to get to it.

Shocking how poor they are compared to the other supermarkets for that.

Maybe that's why people spend less? They rapidly go off food as they go round?

See I like the chickpeas, the curry sauces, the 🍌 the soup and hummus

The hummus! The hummus is amazing and so much cheaper than the other supermarkets. Ours does a gorgeous Moroccan style one for under a pound that costs £2 in the local "big name" supermarket.

I do my main shop at sainsburys because it's nearest but have started to top-up at aldi - mature cheddar is excellent, meatballs are british beef (sainsbury's are not) and just as good, outdoor-bred bacon is much cheaper and just as nice and they've recently started doing a lovely bread-and-butter pudding.

Their fruit and veg is really awful tho' - nothing to do with buying to eat/buying to keep, it's just poor quality.

There are certainly some products in Aldi that are fine but there always seems to be a catch. The hula hoops are the same as the brand and you get 10 packs for £1 but they only do plain.

Don't know what Aldi you shop at obviously, but you can get multipacks of Aldi hula hoops at ours with a mix of plain, cheese and onion and salt and vinegar.
All as you say just like the brand.

I agree with you although I take my gran there every week. They do have good cheese though!!

Oh the hummus - tried it but it was terrible, no garlic taste whatsoever and much too smooth.

Beansonapost Your having a laugh.
Everyone I know looks at every item and inspects it, checks the date and tries to get items with longer dates on them, like for bread etc.

I think most items I have tried are far better quality than other supermarkets for comparable items (burgers , steaks, fish cakes, tinned peas, sweet corn to name a few).i don't use cooking sauces and things don't know about them, I personally also found the nappies to be far better than pampers in terms of fit and leakages. I am very fussy about anything that touches my skin as I have very sensitive skin and come out in rashes with most products but the sensitive baby wipes are really good and the nappy sacks smell nice.
However I do tend to walk there and do a couple of small shops a week (exercise as just had baby and it's just round the corner ) as it would stress me out at the checkout with a large shop and having all my goods just thrown at me by the very polite but extremely quick checkout staff.

I personally also found the nappies to be far better than pampers in terms of fit and leakages

Never tried the nappies as mine had sensitive skin/eczema prone and I never dared stray from the ones we knew were OK.
The baby wipes (Mamia?) were brilliant though.

I agree every Tesco I have been is is a dirty shabby mess with flavourless fruit, veg and meat. I also cannot cope with how slow the checkouts are in other supermarkets I actually love the speed and throwing my stuff in trolley.

I just bought a weeks shop the trolley brimming with fresh fruit and veg anything I fancied. It loads of fresh fish etc sheets for the bed and a steam iron for just over £100! That is what I call a satisfying shop!

Barge pole coming en route aka Brexit

I don’t get the love for it either. Apart from things that you can’t taste (cotton buds, tissue) the only things I’d say are good quality are the cheeses, deli meats (Parma ham) and baking range is ok. Also things you can’t get wrong are find (milk). Everything else I’ve tried is inferior to Sainsbury’s/ Waitrose/ Asda own branded goods. I know their wine is widely praised but it brings me out in a rash (so does some M&S wine but I have no trouble with wine from our independent wine shop). The fresh chicken in Aldi is absolutely vile. Yoghurts are yuk. We cook from scratch so couldn’t say about ready meals.

The shopping experience in our local store is also horrible. Plus it’s stresses out my DH so much we always end up bickering. It is cheaper but not worth the savings to me as I don’t enjoy eating a lot of the food.

Lidl is much better quality than Aldi and they are not equal, even though they are often lumped together.

I'm a recent Aldi convert; I reckon it's saving us at least £40 a week. I'm not that bothered if it's a bit scruffy and the whizz stuff through the tills. I like that it's small and quick to get round.

We like the tea, the award winning coffee pods (especially the cardamom), the part baked bread, the tinned stuff, the frozen stuff, particularly the fish, the cheese (cheese is excellent) and charcuterie, all the deli stuff, the breakfast stuff and the nuts. The meat is okay; free range chicken is very cheap, steak is really good.

We don't like the poor quality of some of the fruit and veg, the bacon, the lack of decent dairy (full fat yogs) and no lactofree products. Also lack of spices and poncy ingredients.

Works for us though; we are happy to get fruit and veg in our local farm shop and do the odd bit at Asda.

Re: Tesco. I can’t visit our local store- they have uncovered strip lighting and it makes me dizzy and has caused migraines. I’ve not had this experience in any other shop ever - only Tesco which is so weird. My DH also finds it gives him a headache but not as bad as me.

I hardly go to supermarkets these days- instead we bulk shop at Costco every couple of months, then butchers, fruit/veg shop, independent wine store and milkman (bread delivered ). I’m saving money and getting better quality food. I work full time & have a young child so it’s totally doable not relying on supermarket and we spend less time shopping now.

I never said they don't look at use by dates etc.

But if something is pre-packed I've noticed people just grab, glance and go.

For example green beans come in packages... I always try to look over as much as I can even to look beyond the writing on the package. Yes my shop takes longer... but I just don't want to leave with mouldy/half rotting food. Waste of money and time. People also do it with eggs... most never actually open the box to see if any are cracked.

I also grew up going to a market with my mother for our weekly shop and I was taught to look, feel and smell your produce. We only went to a supermarket for tinned goods... flour rice etc. I never shopped in a supermarket for veg & fruit until I moved to china... where well markets were dodgy and best bet was AEON! And even then most things were not pre-packed so you could choose what you wanted, not what the supermarket decided was a good quantity to sell.

I much prefer shopping in markets, but I'm in a city and we have two small children.

But this is just my observation.

I loved Aldi at first, but now they've got people hooked their prices are creeping up quite a lot (or you're getting less for the same money).

I find some of their meat and veg hasn't been stored correctly and so it spoils before the best before date, which is very annoying.

The worst problem I have though is with the parking; you could spend 30 plus minutes trying to get into the car park and then finding a space.

As soon as you enter the car park, your car reg is recorded and the 90 min countdown starts. The final straw came when I spent about 45 mins waiting for a space, and then only had 45 mins before I had to be exiting the car park. I was over by a few minutes and received a £70 fine for my custom.

Once you're in the queue to enter the car park it's almost impossible to turn around and get out due to the number of cars on both sides of the road, so it's not just as easy as saying "don't wait" if the queue is long. You can't easily see the queue/car park entrance until it's too late.

Lastly, I find that I can't get everything there so have to go elsewhere anyway. Because I have mobility issues, this has become the deal breaker for me, as it's too painful to make 2 trips or go to 2 different shops on the same day.

So, no, YANBU, op!

I've also found that the quality varies between stores, and tbf, when it first opened the quality and value for money was much better than it is now.

Their washing powder is pretty good, as is their quilted, scented toilet paper (£3.95 for 18 x 3ply rolls).

I've never been a brand person or committed to just one supermarket chain, but that's just me, I think if you only bought the big brands and then bought the Aldi equivalent you'd see a price difference, but otherwise, not really.

I also find that it's cheaper to shop just once, if possible, as it cuts down on any impulse buys.

Our Aldi is great & I do like their produce, it lasts better than other local supermarkets, especially Morrison's. But it is a really stressful place to shop as it's always so busy.

I also think they've changed some of their suppliers. We used to love their Columbian coffee, but they changed it & it now tastes like burnt skunk wee we took it all back. The manager wasn't surprised. The frozen pizzas aren't as good as they were either, nor their frozen fish. I find myself gravitating back to Iceland for fish etc ☹️

I've found that a lot of older people dislike Aldi and Lidl because of the whole shopping experience. They don't see many staff within the shop so are unable to ask where things are, they want to chat at the tills and don't like packing up after paying for items. They feel hurried along when they are paying. They say it's unfriendly.

I think this experience taints their view on the price and quality of the food. An acquaintance was complaining to me about Lidl - she'd cooked a meal and was complaining it didn't taste right and the meat was poor quality - her daughter taken her shopping at Lidl instead of Asda. It tasted no different than previous visits and the cup of tea tasted better and she'd saved just under £10.

You wouldn't need to ask where things are in my local lidl, it's tiny and very grotty looking. when I did go in there, there was literally crowds of people hovering around the bakery section and a young girl dropped a doughnut on the floor and a man told her to "just put it back because no one will notice." made me skin crawl.

I agree OP. I think it's shite and only shop there when I'm forced to. There's literally one product I like there and cannot get elsewhere. Everything else I find inferior.

Sorry but I have to disagree with you OP, I love Aldi.

Our local ones are brilliant, really friendly staff and everything I need. The only two downsides is they don't seem to do arborio rice and my eldest DS hates their tomato sauce, it's Heinz all the way.

But everything else is brilliant, fruit and veg lasts way longer than Morrison's and it's a shed load cheaper. Their meat is good quality, wine is good too and everything is about a third of the price of the other supermarkets.

Yes the check outs are fast but you just need a system, I'm happy to put up with them so I can save myself about £30/£40 per week.

At the end of the day it's all about choice and different people like different things

We do a shop a month at Aldi and get things like pasatta, rice,noodles, soy sauce, crackers, crisps , mature cheddar, butter, baking stuff, greek yoghurt dunkers, beans, frozen prawns, washing up liquid, toilet roll ECT . We like them all and don't notice a difference at all. I don't but meat or fruit and veg their. Have you tried the speciality range ? We be had some lovley puddings from their and the fish cakes are nice, I think the crackers we get are speciality range actually.

paranoid pammywammy as an "older person", I can assure you I'm quite capable of finding what I want in a supermarket - especially one with limited stock like Aldi or Lidl; I pack very quickly and I have no desire to chat at the checkout.

I love Lidl and at my local store find staff and customers are friendly!