To say you're all wrong about Aldi?

[Rabbitheadlights]

Just that really, I've nipped into Aldi in the past for the odd loaf and picked up a few bits. DP and I discussed and decided to do the 'big' shop there last week.

It's been a disaster, to start with I couldn't find fruit or veg with more than a couple of days shelf life on them and everything I've substituted so far has been either underwhelming or disgusting (1/4 pounders filled with gristle) 🤮 with a couple of exceptions (salmon Wellington, sliced ham) the bread was mouldy the next day and still had 2 days on the use by. The nappies are just awful.

I spent £219 on Friday last week and I've since been out and spent another 150 and will likely need more before the next "big shop" on Friday.

I bought a beautiful velvet chair from there...half the orixe of standard interior shops...well made too. I shop Lidl and when i pop to Sainsburys I cant see what the fuss is about...overpriced.

Supermarkets generally vary from area to area. My Lidl is excellent at I do 99% of my shopping there.

We nipped into a Morrison’s a few miles from us and it was dire. The one near us is great though. Supermarkets will cater to the demographic.

@Sexnotgender

Supermarkets generally vary from area to area. My Lidl is excellent at I do 99% of my shopping there.

We nipped into a Morrison’s a few miles from us and it was dire. The one near us is great though. Supermarkets will cater to the demographic.

Yes that is very true, and it comes up on every supermarket thread.

It varies so much depending on what demographic it is pitched at.

You've spent £370 in the space of 9 days in Aldi? How? Did you raid the middle bit, or something? Is the OP a stealth boast about how much money to have to spare??

We buys loads from Lidl (main shop) and only use the local Sainsbury if there's something we need that Lidl don't stock. Mind, we buy fresh meat and veg for the next few days. Most of the processing of food in this house is done by us.

Our weekly shop is £60, and part of that is for MIL, who doesn't drive, so we do her shop (she pays). We top up with fresh fruit once or twice a week, (a few quid a time) but that's because I eat it so fast, not because of shelf life. The deal here is that we buy "what looks good". If something doesn't look good, we don't buy it, but that applies to any other shop/supermarket.

I can't bear the way they rush you through the till and that alone puts me off shopping there very often.

I like their cheese range, greek olive oil and thai green curry paste. But have a lot of poor purchases there, mainly fresh produce.

I don't get the hype.

I think you have to be selective.
Their meat & fish is good quality, but there's not the variety I want.
I used to avoid the f&v, but my store had a re-vamp & the quality has improved.
Cleaning & laundry products are excellent, & far cheaper than Sainsbo.

Maybe it depends on your local shop?

Aldi here are brilliant. £45-50 for a big shop every week, for 2 adults. I cook from scratch and they have everything I need; I've never had an issue with produce quality; I used to shop at Sainsburys but save a small fortune now, and found Sainsburys veg was smaller and never lasted as long.

As I've said before - I know, it's shit, now off you pop back to Sainsbury's or Waitrose and then I might be able to get a parking space.

Over the past 18 months prices in Aldi have gone up, it is now probably no cheaper to shop there than Asda or Morrisons tbh.

I love our local Aldi - I never understand posts that say the fruit and veg are terrible, or the meat is awful. It’s great in ours - I wouldn’t shop there if it was - always plenty of shelf life, and I do our big shop there then go to Sainsbury’s close by for anything I can’t get or for our top ups.

I have been to some dreadful ones though (and some dreadful other supermarkets) so perhaps it does vary from store to store.

*Shop there if it wasn’t

I never recognise these descriptions of Aldi & they pop up every so often.
We're not on a low budget at all & shop in our local aldi for pretty much everything. The only other supermarket I bother with from time to time is m&s
We're in Ireland too.& so much of the produce is local/ Irish.
We buy a lot of the specially select range.
I've just come home from there with a weeks shopping & it cost €120.
This includes: specially select irish fillet steaks × 4 (they're so good), 4 x organic free range chicken breasts (also Irish), 4% Irish round steak mince, 2 x packs smoked Irish bacon medallions, Irish hand tied traditional sausages, black & white pudding, organic free range Irish eggs x 12, honey roast ham, parma ham all meat is from the selpecially select range
We also got Irish soda bread, Irish butter, Irish organic milk, freshly squeezed orange juice, double cream, wexford strawberries, plums, mangos , pears - all specially select, bananas, salad, vine ripened tomatoes, organic cucumber, organic porridge oats , fresh donuts, 3 x packets chocolate biscuits, white bread, Irish mature cheddar, parmesan, egg mayo deli pot, skin on frozen fries( THE best frozen fries we've tried) salt & pepper fries, baked beans, tender stem broccoli, organic Irish carrots, garlic, mushrooms, lemons , rooster potatoes , fresh herbs, red peppers, asparagus, tea bags, washing up liquid , toilet rolls, panty liners, liquid handsoap tayto crisps, whotsits, fizzy water, chocolate, freah pasta , tacos, Knorr chicken stock pots, black pepper & sea salt grinder mills, fresh potato gratin,

The only thing I buy elsewhere is coffee but aldi coffee is v good.

I'm not sure how this would not be considered a full shop? What's not there?

All seems fine, never keep fruit or veg long, meat fine, only get a few bits from elsewhere these days.
All supermarkets have a few iffy bits

I don't rate their fresh stuff and they're awful for gluten free but I do buy dry goods and cleaning products from there.

Use Lidl, it’s as good, if not better than the more expensive shops. Did you buy some tools or perhaps a sewing machine seeing as you spent that much 🤔

I like Aldi but not for a big shop.

I have just started using Ocado, it’s expensive but I have worked out it saves me money as I buy what we need, don’t pick up loads of extras (offers) and I don’t chuck anything away. Most things last the week, I might have to buy bread and milk but other than that £100 of shopping lasts the week. When I go to Aldi of Tesco I end up throwing things away that have gone out of date and needing to buy more mid week resulting in me spending more.

Aldi are good for meat (steak) and fish.

We tried Aldi to save some money, if anything we spent more as we have to nip into Tesco to get the bits Aldi didn’t have. For the sake of saving 20p on an item I’d rather got to Tesco where I can get everything and know roughly the cost. I found their quality disappointing part from some of the meat.

I can't get my full shop at Aldi so go between a few shops but I've never had any problem with bread (malted bloomer) or fruit & veg.

Their soya milk is my favourite & the fact it's cheaper than most others is a bonus. The fake pringles are very nice as well.

No idea about meat as we're a vegetarian/vegan household.

My favourite thing about Aldi is that it's small & only 1 or 2 choices of each item. Shopping complete in 20 minutes! I hate superstores that take miles to walk around.

Really?
Maybe it’s down to crap management or poor quality English produce?

I’m in Ireland and our local Aldi is brilliant. I buy 70% of my food shop from Aldi and about 10% from Lidl and 20% from Supervalu. The fruit and veg is fresh and tasty and the bread lasts ages too. The main cheddar cheeses they sell are made locally (about 15 miles further north) as my friend works at the cheese company and showed me the manufacturers number to look for on the packets.

I buy my milk from Supervalu as I prefer to support our local Clona brand too. Supervalu is a brilliant supermarket as they’re always supporting new small food businesses so there’s often new ranges to try.

When I lived in the U.K. I used to shop at Waitrose and I can’t say I miss it at all.

I think it varies area to area store to store as well.

Last place we had to stop shopping at Asda as it was bad - where we are now it's great even home delivery is great.

Aldi was nicer in last location here it's okay but you do have to watch the fruit as it does get bashed about and can go off very quickly

We tend to use Alid for top up shops rather than miain monthly shop which we usually get home delivered.

I shop at Lidl regularly, but I don't buy meat or bread there and only get some veg - I buy all those things in local shops. What I do buy is cheese, yoghurt, continental cold meats and salamis, tinned veg, pasta, jams, gin and wine. Oh, and chocolate, when I'm eating chocolate. I particularly like the stuff they get in whenever they're having a Spanish or Italian or French week - its a bit like visiting a supermarket in Spain or Italy or France.

If you eat a classic western British diet and have no dietary requirements it’s excellent. Otherwise it’s terrible.

I agree completely I can’t abide the place - it’s poorly laid out, it has a terrible selection of fruit/veg - it goes off quickly and the variety is appalling. They literally don’t sell seasonings and their meat is consistently fatty.

I would pay the extra fiver I would save not to make two supermarket trips because no Aldi I have ever been is sells sodding celery!

I shop at Lidl but only for certain items. Saves me a fortune. It's trial and error really. I wouldn't buy meals that have been pre prepared (like pies and lasagnes etc). Tried the burgers and hated them. But things like chicken breasts and mince are fine.

I'd say I do two Lidl shops then one tesco as Lidl don't sell everything.

I don't buy meat from Aldi or Lidl, do really like some Lidl stuff though. Buy meat at Sainsburys or Waitrose.