To ask if you shop in Aldi/Lidl what you eat?

[Topsyshair]

As in a rough weekly meal plan, all meals.

Also do you solely shop there and do you cook from scratch or use jars/ready meals?

I ask because I'd like to start shopping there to save money, and because everyone raves about how good it is, but I've never really been able to find everything I need. I also find that some of the branded stuff is as cheap if you buy it on offer, or for example the smart price version is cheaper than Aldi's.

I want to give Aldi/Lidl another go but need convincing I think.

Yesterday we had sausage mash and veg, today I made a chicken curry, tommorow we’re having chilli and cheese nachos. All the ingredients from Aldi.

Kids also love their naice ham in wraps for lunch, and we always buy the super 5 fruit and veg (I just made my second lemon and passion fruit tart of the week because the passion fruits are only 45p for 3 this week!!)

Following the thread for inspiration when I do the big shop on Friday!!

I usually have a steak or salmon and a salad or roast veg most nights. V. Boring. Lol. And omelettes for breakfast. Keeps my shopping simple.

But here are my star items from Aldi and lidle

Greek yoghurt. -used for breakfast with fruit or in bakes, or in chicken marinades.

British Mushrooms -large wonky pack. Cheaper than mainstream supermarkets. Stirfrys, kebabs, roast veg etc

Super 6 fruit and veg offers - love a good selection of fruit in the.morning or as dessert with yoghurt.

Aldi does sock eye salmon for 3.99. but definitely a luxury. But I usually pan fry..normal salmon I usually bake with soy, ginger. Then have with brown rice and roast veg.

Lidl used to do gressingham duck breast for a fraction of the price compared to.tesco but it's.dependent on the store. (Pan fry duck for a few minutes then wack in the oven to finish cooking , use the duck fat to chuck on the potatoes and do a salad)

Aberdeen Angus burgers are £2.79 (used to be .49p) very tasty. Naked burger with roast veg and salad or with their brioche buns. Very nice.

Meatballs and veg is another meal. Like another poster said, very tasty. And we usually either do tomato sauce or kebab it on the gas BBQ with veg. (I use lime soy honey marinade on veg before skewer)

Aldi do good pate and continental hams for snackage. We have that every so often with their prosecco (5.99!).

Winter time rotation is less.reliant on aldi as alot of lentils which I buy from Amazon lol.

we buy pretty much everything in Aldi. I just get pissed off at the amount of plastic on the fruit and veg. Washing powder, washing up liquid etc are all excellent, cold meats and cheese are good, decent wines and gin at a good price, very good chocolate...
Meal wise we tend to eat stuff like
bolognese/chilli/meatballs
pasta bake
chicken dishes - various
stir fry
baked potatoes and fillings
casseroles and stew
curry
fritatta
salad
etc

We're a mix of cook from scratch and some convenience/frozen food. We eat a lot of fresh fruit and veg so I tend not to expect to get it all in one big shop to last a week. I have a few supermarkets quite close to home or on the way home from work so it's not a faff to pick up branded items elsewhere.

Scratch: Aldi have a good selection of tinned beans, also chopped tomatoes, pasatta. Good range of veg, some organic, also fruit which I definitely find cheaper than other supermarkets, particularly berries. The Super 6 or whatever it's called often needs using quickly but the other fruit and veg lasts for the time we need it.

Mine has quinoa, lentils, couscous although I think availability of some items might depend on your store and I think my local one must be a good one!

Convenience/frozen: Fishcakes, stir fry, bagged salad, little salad pots, falafels, filled pasta, fresh or frozen pizza, frozen veg/rice mixes, veggie burgers, bake at home bread rolls.

Other: A lot of their yogurts are nice, feta, buffalo mozzarella, halloumi, Brie, Smoked cheddar (but not their normal cheddar ), not-from-concentrate orange and apple juice, smoothies, sushi, various nuts and last but not least wine .

I've just got back from Aldi. I did go to Tesco because dp needed some tgel and I also bought mango as they had run out in Aldi .
We are a family of six with a dog and a cat and we get everything from there.
This week we are having
Fillet steak, salad/ and new potatoes
Spagbol and garlic flat bread
Cod chips and peas
Chicken stifry with noodles
Breaded chicken mini fillets with halloumi fries and veg (kids)
Chicken madras with poppadoms rice and naan
Fresh burgers in brioche rolls with curly fries and corn on the cob
I've also got lots of nice meats, cheeses, crackers, wraps, pittas and dips. Also mini sausages and sausage rolls for picnics.

The Greek Style Yogurt is good but there are cheaper ones for about £1.35 elsewhere.

Peppers also cheaper elsewhere.

The ice cream is rank.

Aldi cleaning products are brilliant, so is their booze - their Baileys knock off is excellent. And their chocolate is far too good.

I have changed to Aldi from Tesco. We are mostly don’t eat meat and DD is dairy free so our meals are not necessarily what you would want but we have

• quorn sausage, mash and veg
• quorn chicken fajitas with advacados
• med veg pasta
• chilli
• curry
• fish, new pots and veg

-veggie Shepard pie with sweet potato topping

I find my Aldi shop is over all cheaper and the ingredients are better quality.

I do have to a Asda shop for specialist non dairy milk, cheese and yoghurts. I am starting to find a few things are not available eg pinenuts, pischatio nuts, flaked almonds and polenta.

I’ve shopped in Aldi for about 5 years, also use Tesco to get bits I can’t get in Aldi.
Hate Lidl though.
Aldi sirloin streaks are beautiful, torchon ham, filled pasta, pizza, halloumi, skylr yogurts are very nice too.

I bounce between Aldi, Sainsbury's and Waitrose.

Aldi is good. Milk, cheese (great selection), cold meat, cereal, crisps, pasta, tinned pulses/tomatoes, rice, par bake bread, biscuits, frozen chips/veg, yoghurt, tin foil, bin bags, gin, wine etc are all great.

As a family, we prefer Sainsbury Taste the Difference sliced loaves, so bread comes from there. And I find Waitrose fruit and veg to ge the best. Waitrose is also great for spices and random stuff.

We cook from scratch and manage to buy almost all of our ingredients in Aldi - fruit and veg(fresh and frozen), all basics like pasta, rice, tins of beans, most of the basic herbs and spices, chopped tomatoes etc, meat (although we order in bulk from musclefood too), fish, Quorn mince and pieces, Greek yoghurt, love their range of cheeses. Typical meals for us are curry, chilli, lasagne / bolognese, chicken or fish with cous cous and veg, stir fry. We rarely buy ready meals and sauces etc but don’t think they are hugely cheaper than elsewhere from what I’ve tried, so if you tend to use more convenience stuff there might not be much difference. I like their frozen food like fish fingers, and they do lovely ice lollies / ice cream. They usually do really nice treat type things as well, especially around Christmas. I also find their cleaning products pretty comparable to branded stuff, converted to their washing powder and love their nappies and wipes.

The only things we tend not to be able to get there are more fancy herbs and spices and more unusual ingredients. And for some reason they never seem to stock risotto rice. We tend to do a top up shop for this sort of thing at Sainsbury’s every couple of months and save our more fancy meals for around that time.

Our shopping bill went down by around £20 per week when we switched to Aldi (from
Sainsburys), even including the Sainsburys trip for extras, and the fact that we usually come home with more than we used to. This was a few years ago though, I’ve noticed prices have increased a bit so don’t know if there would be as big a difference now.

Found Lidl a lot cheaper too and they do some lovely food, but i don’t find their basics as good (cheddar cheese is rank!) so I dont tend to bother any more and just stick to Aldi.

I go in a few different shops inc farm shops.

Over a week we tend to have:

We have a Roast chicken at least once a week. Never normally any decent leftovers between us & the dog. The dog has what's left the next day.

Meat (chops etc) & veg or quinoa or avocado salad.

Teriyaki chicken wings.

Gastro fish, veg & avocado salad.

Fish pie.

Macaroni cheese.

Chicken soup or Jamaican pea soup (lamb & kidney beans). Tomato soup. Lentil soup.

Stir fry.

Whatever meat can be got to make a meal round from the yellow sticker section.

Mussels & bread.

Chicken thighs in BBQ or pesto or nando sauce.

Plain chicken wings (s&p) and avocado salad.

Very occasionally spag bol.

Everything is made from scratch except the gastro fish, we don't buy jars.

I like Lidl (we don't have an Aldi very near us - there's been a fucking planning war waging for ages about the damned thing) but ours is usually full of really mardy OAPs who glare at you if you dare have kids with you (even if mine are very very well behaved in supermarkets holding the trolley meekly supermarket behaviour's one we did do well on with the parenting thing ) so I don't tend to go there if I've got the kids in tow.

I can get most stuff there - few bits of veg, couple of tinned things that are probably there if I looked harder... but I know the layout in Tesco so much better as it's right next to school so I can get round there faster usually and it has a Costa in to finish the shopping run

This week -

Roast Chicken with mash, broccoli and carrots

Chicken tortilla soup (made from leftover chicken and stock)

Sirloin steaks with sweet potato fries and cauliflower cheese

Kedgeree made with hot smoked salmon

Pork with 3 mustard sauce and basmati rice and broccoli

Tuna pasta bake

I tend to cook from scratch / buy basic ingredients and I love Aldi. I do an ASDA shop about once a month for oat milk, strong white bread flour, packet yeast etc. Also home bargains about once a month for cleaning / laundry supplies and basic toiletries.

If you eat mainly veg and cook from scratch it’s great !

Salads
Omelets
Pasta with various sauces
Veg curry 🍛

Our weeks usually involve the following;
Pie and veg with either new potatoes or mash
Salads with various proteins (chicken breast, breaded chicken escalope, tuna, ham, quiche...)
Spag Bol
Shepherd/cottage pie
Various casseroles
Sausages and mash or chips
They do a lovely frozen paella which we sometimes have with fresh lemon wedges and crunchy bread
Smoked haddock, leek and savoury rice
Their Thai red curry is also yummy
Chilli con carne
Chicken tonight (Lidl version)
Roasted Mediterranean veg and salmon
Full English
Meatballs in red wine and tomato sauce with pasta
Pasta bake
Jacket potatoes with various filling

We like the mild pepperoni (but have to get our dough mix for home made pizzas from Tesco).

Another favourite is the mini 'Magnums' - just the right size.

We shop at aldi, greengrocers and butchers and we generally eat

Breakfast

A mix of Cereal, pancakes, waffles or toast

Lunch

Sandwiches, crisps, veg sticks, hommus
Soup and part bakes
Omlette

Dinner

Mediterranean fish and cous cous
Chicken sweet and sour with rice
Potato and pea curry
Burgers wedges and coleslaw with salad
Falafel pittas hummus and salad
Pasta bake
Spag bol
Chilli
Fajitas
Home made fish pie

I make my meal plan as normal and accept that I may have to follow up my shop with tesco or something after. Still works out cheaper. Not necessarily because items are cheaper but because there's less choice and not so nice shopping experience I do it quickly and put less in my trolley!

I'd shop in Aldi more if their car park wasn't an Indiana Jones style gauntlet run - You can blow all the money you save on insurance excess.

I think the dolts that planned the entrance and spaces have only ridden bicycles.

We have a newish Also with great parking,wider isles and on y way home from work.
I mix and match betweenAldi and Tesco.
I don't buy brand toilet paper,washing up liquid and washing powder/tabs so Also are fine for that.
They do good frozen fish sound steaks,salmon and their salmon on croute,the prawn and wine sauce one.
Since new store was built the fruit and veg have improved too but we also have a local greengrocer so I shop my seasonal veg their apart from mange tout,green beens.
They do my favourite fish. Cakes,salmon with watercress filling and they have an increasing veg selection so we have their veg pies.
The wine is nice and yes to the initial magnums.

My mates take the p@ss out of me and my OH as we have 2 good incomes but do 90% our shopping in Aldi.

The fruit, veg and staples (breakfast cereals, brown rice, wholemeal pasta etc) are great.

The meat is excellent quality.

Here’s a few examples:

• I do a chicken on the bone curry with their butter chicken sauce (which has a separate spice mix on top) with cauliflower rice
• Low fat meatballs with whole meal pasta
• Love their BBQ food - they are doing pork & chorizo burgers at the moment which are delicious
• They do a frozen bartered fish (2 pack) which is fab
• Love their roast in the bag chickens
• Their posh pizzas are great
• I make spaghetti carbonara from a jar of their white sauce, lardons & mushrooms

I don’t buy toiletries (I do like my brands).

They don’t do a lot of ready meals / sauces - so get a few homemade sauces under your belt.

I buy:

Fresh fruit and veg.
Their Deluxe white pan loaf
Bread muffins
Wraps,seeded thins (square flat baps)
Their ready made salads
Glensallagh ham 15 slices for £1.59
Bacon medallions
Skyr yogurt
Grated cheese
Eggs
Pasta, pasta sauces
Biscuits, bars and chocolate
Kitchen roll
Toilet roll
Pizza
Frozen chips
Fresh chicken
Pork chops
5%fat mince
Own brand porridge
Linseed crunchy mix

Home Bargains for
Toiletries and cleaning products

I get weekly shop from Aldi, I find their fresh chicken quite reasonably priced and very nice. They also have 'ready to cook' meals, such as hunters chicken which I buy for quick meal.

We always get:
Fruit
Veg
Cheese
Chicken
Bread
Kids cereal
Cordial, lemonade, tonic,
Gin (very nice)
General basics really.

But.. I have to go to Tesco for:
Ketchup
Beans
Weetabix
Nicer tonic
Toilet paper

It's saved us about £30 a week by switching. Not just because the food is cheaper, but it also stops you from just putting random crap in your trolley because it's on offer or looks nice. Of course, that's if you can resist the artificial grass, spanner sets an paddling pools 🤣

There are a

All the staples in Aldi are good.
Also the meat/chicken etc.

Yogurts and milk and fruit juice.
Sometimes buy the chilled pulled pork and duck with pancakes packs which the kids love or the pies.
Ds2 and I love their Quiche with bacon and maple syrup.

Pate is nice as are some of the cheeses we have tried and the basic cheddar for everyday is as good as any other.
Dont get wash liquid there as we use Fairy (due to being allergic to others) but the washing up liquid lasts absolutely ages.
And just discovered the Scottish Raspberry Ice lollies, delish.

Sometimes get some things on offer in Home Bargains just for a bit of variety and get loo roll there and have to get butter somewhere else as we only use one kind for daily use.

Definately notice the difference in price from when I pop into Morrisons!