to not get why people like Aldi/Lidl so much?

[lucydogz]

yes, I know it's really cheap, but, appart from some things, the food just is poor quality. When I last went there, my DH was enthused about how cheap it was, but the eggs, porridge oats, jam, mayonnaise, digestive biscuits, and plums I bought were not good at all. I see why people would shop there if they hadn't got any money, but, if you can afford to, why not go somewhere better?
If anybody can tell me about any things they do well I'm prepared to be convinced.

OP the answer is in the first reply

How can an egg be poor quality??

England has a very strange relationship with food

I did my weekly shop in Morrisons this c week because it was close. It was £10 cheaper than I usually b spend in Aldi. However, I did notice everything is a bit smaller, so I'll have to top up.

We do a big shop at Waitrose which is 30 mins drive away. We have a Lidl in walking distance.

The Lidl is good for bakery, household goods and the random “deluxe” items that occasionally appear! The wine isn’t bad. They have breaded goats cheese, croque monsieur and speciality cheese sometimes. Random things like maple syrup appear sometimes which is cheaper than the syrup in Waitrose.

The eggs are very poor though- paper thin shells and take ages to cook for some reason? The avocados I got were rock hard and never ripened!

I tried to buy Cosmopolitan magazine from Lidl - three editions. They are never on the system so the cashier just says she can’t sell the magazine to me! I don’t buy newspapers from there as the supplements are always missing.

I don’t like the Lidl shopping experience at all!

Is it not less familiar brands though? Don't think ours does big familiar brands, only really European brands that are less familiar to most UK shoppers

Not really. Ours sticks Coca Cola, Heinz, warburtons, Kingsmill, Yorkshire Tea etc.

I don’t actually tend to be brand loyal apart from to the odd item, I never ever need to top up my shop anywhere else though and a like for like - so Aldi “middle of the range” vs Asda “middle of the range” is undoubtedly cheaper at Aldi, before you even factor in travel cost etc

*Stocks

In your area maybe. But in my area the things from Aldi/Lidl is of excellent quality.

Honestly don't understand people saying it's gross. Been shopping at both Aldi and Lidl for years and many of their products are better quality than the big supermarkets. There's the odd dud like the ketchup, but for the most part they're great. I think a lot of people are suspicious of them before they even try, which obviously influences their opinion. Again, the blind tests tell a story here.

Aldi is great. they are less brightly lit, and cause less of a sensory overload in autistic boy. also they are quite small so getting the autistic boy round a lot quicker is better for all too.

sen shopping trip: hypermobile 10 year old sitting in a trolley, autistic 8 year old doing heavy work pushing said trolley with 10 year old in.

if I’m on a tight budget I shop in Aldi or Lidl because I can guarantee I won’t find half the stuff I like to buy. The lack of real choices and the huge queues drive me insane.

I always get confused about which one is which- but the one with the fresh bread gets a visit for the bread, and only the bread!

You are right. I have a sensory disorder and don't mind shopping there. I didn't realise why. Asda and the apple store I find tea stressful, and have to avoid going in them. The lighting is too bright and oppressive. Also the music they play in Asda and the quantity of stuff in Asda is too much for me.

We don't have Aldi here (NI) but the last couple of years have really grown to love Lidl. Their butter is significantly cheaper but just as good and they have some lovely cheeses and pizzas. Dh likes the pork. Don't get me started on the joy that is the Aisle of Shite it's great!

The thing with aldi/Lidl is that it takes a few shops to sort the wheat from the chaff. There are a few things that are as good if not better - fruit and veg, chocolate, steak, pizzas, magnum washing up liquid (great in hard water) strachans ice cream (identical to mackies and cheaper) but it.takes a few tries to find out what they are, and they are different for everybody. But once you have found your aldi golden items, it's definitely worth a trip now and then.

Don't get me started on the joy that is the Aisle of Shite it's great!

I love it so much

Especially this time of year

Totally agree on the sensory overload of ‘normal’ supermarkets! I go into a soporific haze just wandering round them, and forget what I’m there for half the time. I find the choices bewildering.

YABU.
I could afford to shop elsewhere but do the majority of my shopping in Aldi
Good quality meat, chocolate at reasonable prices .
Saved myself a lot of money

Our nearest supermarket now is AldI and we ve had a horrific year financially so we have tried it and we like the breakfast cereals, we find the granola bars are better than premium brands, pasta bake sauce nicer than home pride ones, my son will only eat the 80p frozen pizzas he thinks frozen pizza from anywhere else tastes funny. The chocolate bars, fake snickers, twixes etc taste just the same, bread, milk and cheese are just bread, milk and cheese, ditto cleaning stuff.
The fruit and veg isnt great at ours and I don't eat much meat so can't comment on that. Toilet rolls, squash, flavoured water are all good. I wouldn't touch the crisps again since buying some with what looked like ground up chicken bones in!!!

We are now a bit better off than earlier in the year and I needed some stationery for work last week and some Christmas bits so I went to ASDA it literally doubled our shopping bill (just the food not the extras) and I was shocked cos ASDA quality isn't that great!!! I m going to Aldi this week!!

What puts me off them is the funny smell in the stores and the extremely long, slow queues. I just don't have the time, and haven't been in one to do my own shopping for years after having popped my head round the door to see if things have improved - without luck.

My hubby was a head chef and he totally rates their steaks!

I spent £245 in sainsbury and my trolly wasn't even completely full. Lasted two weeks. Went to lidl for £127 I came out with two trollies.

The quality is very similar so I don't see the point of buying similar products for a higher price its pointless

I choose to shop at Aldi, I sometimes pop into Waitrose or Asda for convenience but I much prefer Aldi. I'm always shocked at how much processed food is in the bigger supermarkets. Row after row of shite!

As I said before, I've only started shopping there as it's so close, we can afford to shop elsewhere, but I've been happy with it so no need to shop elsewhere.

Out of interest I've just looked through my credit card statements and done some sums. We're spending around £100 a month less than when we did most shopping at Tesco with the odd bits from co-op. I genuinely feel there has been no reduction in quality or variety of what we eat. If he didn't know my husband wouldn't have noticed the difference. The kids haven't noticed the difference, they don't care where their wheat biscuit is from. Seems like a no brainer to me.

AIBU to say ' i dont now why people dislike aldi/lidl'

its personal preferences i guess.
I love our aldi, i spend third less then i used to at local morrisons and half less than nearest waitrose.
the quality has always been excellent, in fact meat and fish and veg far superior to morrisons.

And i love less choice, so much easier , no dithering between packets of over priced bespoke hand twilled organic oats loving reared on some swanktastic dorset farm and all given a name...just plain oats in a bag...
I love the super fast checkout
i love being able to take my stuff and pack it slowly away from tills
I love the wine !!!

Smaller quicker cheaper better. Just less pressure and marketing. No brainer really.

Also newish aldi veggie ready meals are amazing

I like aldi although I much prefer Lidl.
Majority of my groceries are from Lidl. If I can't manage to get out then I order in a Waitrose shop, whereby I buy almost exclusively the Essentials range and I use a discount members coupon to knock off £20 something. If I'm careful then my food bill is usually not much more than a large grocery shop in Lidl.
I bulk buy a few items from Costco like cat food and washing powder as even Lidl can't match the price.

Once in a while i nip into a main supermarket and EVERY SINGLE FLIPPING TIME I wince at the price my basket has come to at the tills. I never seem to learn.

I agree with you OP. I also don’t think it’s particularly good in terms of value for money if you shop from scratch — the basics are cheaper and better quality at Waitrose