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 find the meat, cheese and ready meals are good. Stuff like dried foods are the same everywhere, and I quite like that there's a smaller selection as its easier to get round.

The fruit and veg always seems to go off quicker than other supermarkets. Perhaps as a European supermarket they have different standards. It's hard to shop for an entire week as your veg can go off before then.

Personally i find Tesco’s the worst quality. I usually do a mix of Morrison’s and Ocado.

For fresh fruit and veg, I find that Lidl and Aldi doesn’t last as long as Tesco. So for it be economical for me, it would be going shopping every couple of days but accept that some of the bigger items (a bag of potatoes) you’d lose half. I’ve never liked the meat from Aldi and Lidl anyway but I don’t like the meat from Tesco either really. I think some individual items at the individual supermarkets are always better than their competitors but for ease, I can’t be bothered travelling to different supermarkets to get something individual from each.

Fine for things like veg and meat. But can definitely tell the difference with things like their cereal and crisps

I don’t have an Aldi near me but I do have a Lidl.

I do Lidl first then Tesco.

I buy all my meat and veg and bakery stuff. My vintage cheddar from there is great. Bacon. The Greek yoghurt is lovely.

But there is some stuff you can’t get.

Goji berries, quails eggs and avocado oil really are niche foods

On my list every week ......

@Sexnotgender

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.

Lolz you're not the only person to comment that filled pasta isn't your thing! Good for you! I think when cooking from scratch you notice less. But even when doing so (which we mainly dowith additional dips and snacks etc). I have noticed a difference in quality.

Also many busy people buy semi prepared food. So not every person shopping in those shops avoids everything pre prepared.

Our Aldi and Lidl both have a pretty good range of fresh veg and salad stuff - OK, perhaps not if you want enoki muchrooms but they sell aubergines, pak choi, radishes, lots of different tomatoes and padrone peppers during the summer which I've never seen in Tesco or Asda. I think their cheese selection is excellent and their wine selection knocks our local Tesco and Asda into a cocked hat.

As someone above said, the chocolate is much better quality - DH can hoover up a bar of their hazelnut chocolate in about 10 minutes but won't touch cadburys.

Their frozen pizzas are good - mostly thin crust which we like.

I like Aldi - can do pretty much a week's shop in about 15 minutes and keep a list of more specialist ingredients for the occasional trip to the asian grocers. I also quite like that there isn't a 30M aisle of cereals/brown sauce - choice is OK but too much choice is a PITA.

So the consensus over all is the quality is excellent. Hmm fair enough. It won't chance my shopping habits as I just honestly can't taste it.

I shop at Aldi and Lidl and actually find it difficult to shop anywhere else because I feel so ripped off. Everything I get is fine though tend to buy fish and meat from actual fishmonger and butcher however if I'm making a bolognaise or similar, then Aldi stuff is fine for that.

I like Aldi because you are in, round and out in 20 minutes. The checkouts are always super efficient and nice and long so you actually have time to put your stuff on and get to the till to re-pack rather than your stuff getting stacked up on top of each other.

We've regularly had their meat go off before it's use by date so we don't buy meat from them anymore. Similarly, their veg goes off fast. It's fine if you can use it within a day or two of buying it, but no good for a weekly shop. Really if you can't rely on their veg and meat it starts to become a waste of time to shop there as that's the bulk of our weekly shop.

That said, their Fairtrade chocolate is lovely and they do nice 'treat' cheeses (like brie, cambembert, stilton etc)

Veg is not just veg. The same with fruit - there are taste differences. Generally the fruit and veg I get from Aldi is seasonal so tastes a lot better, it's also fresher. Any time I buy I veg from Tesco I have to sift through the limp, sorry looking fruit and veg to find anything decent and it's often going mouldy within a day or so.

Things like cheese, gnocci, soup I actually prefer Aldi's. Due to our current circumstances we are unable to go shopping to Aldi and have to shop delivery via Asda and both DH and I have commented on how much we miss the Aldi stuff we used to buy. We also spend almost double at Asda.

It is worth noting that I don't buy things like crisps and biscuits so cant compare those. The only thing I truly think is awful from Aldi is the tea.

I shop at Lidl and way prefer it over Aldi. The veg and fruit last longer than in Aldi and overall taste better and you can get really nice meals in Lidl that taste no different to Tesco. The meat seems the same everywhere to me and I don't eat mature cheese so can't comment on that. I love the Spinach and Ricotta pasta parcels which are similar anywhere you get them, in my opinion.

Sorry - above is referring to Aldi.

Lidl I have less experience of as not so close to. When I do get to a Lidl I like their bakery!

If you choose Sainsbury's food it is lovely quality, but I'm fed up of their online shopping which is all going out of date about 4 days after it's delivered. You can't do a whole week's shop and expect any range of dates. Given the extra you pay for Sainsbury's that's really poor.

I really like Lidl and Aldi, I find the food good, although not as good as the very expensive berries or whatever in Sainsburys- in terms of meat, it's all excellent, I can't think of anything which is much worse quality, I like their frozen stuff, desserts have to pick through- the best desserts are in Co-op anyway IMO.

Lolz you're not the only person to comment that filled pasta isn't your thing! Good for you! I think when cooking from scratch you notice less. But even when doing so (which we mainly dowith additional dips and snacks etc). I have noticed a difference in quality.

Also many busy people buy semi prepared food. So not every person shopping in those shops avoids everything pre prepared.

Now I’m SURE you don’t mean to come across as snarky and rude, lolz.

Aldi was brilliant about 10 years ago. Quality has definitely dropped as ranges grew and it became more like a typical supermarket and more popular. It used to sell really good food cheaply, but now it sells cheap food cheaply although needs to be commended for it's commitment to British foods where none of the big 3 give a shiny shit. Morrisons has a half-hearted attempt, but it sells too many pies/processed crap.

The thing I don't like about Lidl and Aldi is they don't deliver. If they did, I would switch to them in a flash, but don't want to spend 2/3 hours a week going there, shopping, unpacking all on my own.

@Sexnotgender

Lolz you're not the only person to comment that filled pasta isn't your thing! Good for you! I think when cooking from scratch you notice less. But even when doing so (which we mainly dowith additional dips and snacks etc). I have noticed a difference in quality.

Also many busy people buy semi prepared food. So not every person shopping in those shops avoids everything pre prepared.

Now I’m SURE you don’t mean to come across as snarky and rude, lolz.

I totally meant to come across like that just as you did.

I love our local aldi, the quality to me didn’t seem any different to Asda or Tesco. So it makes sense to save the cash to be honest.
It’s ranges have increased over the years and they have a lot more variety than they used to, it’s also quick for me not having a large supermarket to wander round. Ours is one of 3 supermarkets in the local area and is always busy.

I’ve never found massive issues with fresh fruit and veg, odd occasions maybe but Asda was the same for that to be honest.
People will all have their favourites and tastes in items, plenty of supermarkets for everyone!

@diplodocusinermine

Our Aldi and Lidl both have a pretty good range of fresh veg and salad stuff - OK, perhaps not if you want enoki muchrooms but they sell aubergines, pak choi, radishes, lots of different tomatoes and padrone peppers during the summer which I've never seen in Tesco or Asda. I think their cheese selection is excellent and their wine selection knocks our local Tesco and Asda into a cocked hat.

As someone above said, the chocolate is much better quality - DH can hoover up a bar of their hazelnut chocolate in about 10 minutes but won't touch cadburys.

Their frozen pizzas are good - mostly thin crust which we like.

I like Aldi - can do pretty much a week's shop in about 15 minutes and keep a list of more specialist ingredients for the occasional trip to the asian grocers. I also quite like that there isn't a 30M aisle of cereals/brown sauce - choice is OK but too much choice is a PITA.

Oh yeah! I forgot their chocolate, it's really good so are their versions of Mars bars etc.

I think the point here though is that taste is not objective at all. It's very subjective so it is entirely fair if somethings are not to your taste but they are to someone elses.

I don't really think its possible to do a blanket statement. The provolone from Lidl when they do the Italian range is fantastic to my mind , the meatballs in Aldi are our houses favourites but I agree I prefer the cheddar from sainsbury's.

Different people have different views. I personally think for us aldi is better quality for a lower price but I agree some of it doesn't work for us , but then I think the same of some of sainsbury's, I don't really like sainsbury's rolls

We shop there for some things but wouldn't touch their meat again, especially the frozen stuff. We have only ever been disappointed with it!

But there are many things that we only but from there and Lidl's sourdough bread is far, far superior to anything Tesco or Sainbury's make, even Waitrose!

Lidl I have less experience of as not so close to. When I do get to a Lidl I like their bakery!
A lot of the bakery stuff leaves a fatty coating in my mouth, really not nice