Quality at Aldi and Lidl

[Marcelduchamp]

I know Aldi and Lidl are really popular on mumsnet but I really am completely baffled as to how people can claim its good quality. I have relatives who shop there and I have eaten the food lots of times. Yes a few items are OK but on the whole its not good in my experience. I don't eat meat so can't comment on that. I do think veg is veg so is probably not vastly different. I also think the choice is poor with a very basic selection of stuff.

I know it's cheap and we all need that at times. I'm not knocking people who need to cut shopping costs. But are people really being honest when they say the can't tell the difference. What are you tasting? Examples are the strong cheddar cheese is just bland, the crisps don't have much flavour and the filled pasta is cloying inside.

I suppose my AIBU is AIBU to day these shops sell poor quality food.

I'm not an Aldi or Lidl shopper as I don't have them nearby. But... on "eat well for less" (the tv show), they often win on blind taste tests so I think certain products must be good enough to compete and surpass higher priced alternatives.

Where do you normally shop?

The meat in Aldi is British and the majority of veg is too. Our Tesco is full of chicken from Holland and potatoes from Estonia.
I don’t eat filled pasta or crisps so can’t comment on that but everything else I buy is good quality tbh.

What is "cloying"? I shop from Lidl, sometimes Tesco but Lidl is so much cheaper and all the food we get is the same. We but loads of fruit and veg, meat, pizzas , cakes etc. The stuff we get is good quality, the bakery is amazing. I guess it depends what you do with it/ what you cook etc?

I shop at Tesco because there is a huge one near my house. I went through a phase of being obsessed with ham and lentil soup so I would make a pot on a Sunday night, put it in the fridge and it would last for lunch from Monday to Friday.

I decided to try Aldi to save a bit of cash so I bought the same ingredients (swede, carrots, onion, lentils and a small smoked gammon joint) from there. Not only did it cost about the same, my soup tasted sour and "fizzy" on day 3.

Not impressed!

@ZombieAttack

Where do you normally shop?

Sainsburys mainly. But the nearest shop to me is a big Tesco. So I pop in there for bits occasionally. Is it massively relevant though? I'm talking about overall quality which is objective. Something either tastes nice or it doesn't.

I think they are good quality for the cost, but what really gets my goat at Aldi is the fact that all the fruit and veg are sold in plastic. They have hardly any loose items in that department. Never been to a Lidl so can't comment.

I also don't like the queueing at Aldi. There are no self service tills, so there are always long queues for every till. We don't shop in Aldi very often, even though it's now the closest supermarket to our house - 5 mins walk. It's the kind of distance you'd pop out to on foot for a pint of milk, but we don't, because of the long queues.

I use both all the time and rarely shop at the "bigger" supermarkets. The quality is excellent, and if you try something you don't like then you haven't wasted a big amount of money. The meat is very good, and the chocolate is far better than the big names. There aren't any brand names that I would prefer over their own brands.

By cloying I mean sticky, thick and sweet. @LemonPeonies

Like any supermarket quality will vary, even stuff from Waitrose won't be great i.e. I find their strong essential cheddar bland. I shop at Waitrose and Aldi mainly, I tend to buy the 'specially selected' stuff in Aldi more especially when it comes to things like cheese etc. I find their stuff good quality, sometimes we prefer their stuff e.g their own jaffa cakes are much nicer than McVities.

I think it's just what you have tried to be honest.

I have done blind tests with my family before. I gave them a branded version of something then Aldi’s version and none of them knew the difference, most also preferred Aldi’s.

Before I discovered Aldi I was a total brand snob because I just found a lot of supermarket own brand stuff was tasteless and often disgusting. Aldi’s a total game changer imo, their own brand stuff is just as good.

I love both lidl and aldi, not just because they're good value, I genuinely like the food and don't recognise your descriptions. I love some of the random continental products you get that you can't get elsewhere..it can be annoying when you need a specific ingredient that they don't have though. I need sesame seeds for a recipe and couldn't find any in aldi today.

i use lidl and Aldi and the stuff is pretty decent their essential sauces are a bit iffy but the rest is really good. Their laundry products are exceptional. I get the lack of choice but Goji berries, quails eggs and avocado oil really are niche foods.

Just to clarify I don't really but branded food I'm talking about supermarket own brand in various forms.

We have an excellent Tesco near us and I used to get the majority of our food from there, with tops up/luxury yumminess from Waitrose and M&S. My DH lost his job at the beginning of lockdown and so I tried Lidl and Aldi for the first time.

Perhaps I went to Aldi on an off day but my local one wasn't good. The selection was very poor and I came out virtually empty handed. Lidl was great though - but for selected things. I tend to buy store cupboard essentials, biscuits, eggs, rice, garlic baguettes, waffles, Yorkshire puddings, etc. and some fruit/veg from there. The strawberries and apples are delicious but the cherry tomatoes were tasteless. I don't rate the free range chicken. It's tougher than Tesco.

So, I do my shop at Lidl first and then pick up whatever I can't/don't want to get at Tesco afterwards. I'm definitely saving money. And I enjoy seeing what's available in the 'Middle Aisle of Surprise' too.

I've shopped in Aldi for at least 15 years and find the quality excellent. I tend to find that filled pasta isn't nice wherever it's from tbh.

I shop at lidl and the only criticism is that the veg always seems to be on its way out. Other than that I find no noticeable difference. I have the means to shop elsewhere but see no reason to.

Weird. I’m a total food snob and do 99% of my shopping in Lidl.

I cook virtually everything from scratch and have no problem at all with quality. Filled pasta isn’t really my thing so I can’t comment.

Yanbu I don't save money, the food isn't as nice and it goes off faster. Even my in date cut fruit tasted fizzy as someone else said about their veg, thats how all their prepared fruit tastes. The sandwiches in lidl are nice though.

Oh and Lidl bakery is amazing!

I can’t shop in Aldi or Lidl I really don’t like either of them and find the food is vile. I would rather pay more in Tesco’s tbh.

@Wherehavetheteletubbiesgone

i use lidl and Aldi and the stuff is pretty decent their essential sauces are a bit iffy but the rest is really good. Their laundry products are exceptional. I get the lack of choice but Goji berries, quails eggs and avocado oil really are niche foods.

See, I was complaining that my laundry smelled damp and musty for ages. I cleaned out the machine and nothing changed. Someone on MN suggested that I go back to branded laundry powder so I did and the smell vanished immediately!

Lidls vegetables are awful quality, been to lots of lidls are rotten within a couple of days

I think their fresh produce is really good - fruit and veg, meat, fish etc. Can’t fault it at all.

The only thing I’ve come across as being no good is their breakfast cereal. Both in terms of taste and the fact they don’t add any vitamins and iron to it.

I wouldn’t go near the Lidl bakery, in my local one I’ve seen flies on the doughnuts and witness someone drop one and put it back. Each to their own though!