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 love Aldi and would absolutely rate their food over Tesco, for example. I shop there because I prefer it; I'd rather not pay more at Tesco for lower quality (imo) food. I go to Lidl for their European deli foods. Either shop has better sausages than any supermarket here.

Veg: agree you might not find veg that lasts an entire week at either Lidl or Aldi now. It wasn't great before brexit but it's gotten much worse now.

If your bread was mouldy before the date, you should have brought it back, same as you'd do at any other shop.

However if you're convinced it's awful, it's no skin off my nose. One less person going after my halloumi fries.

Totally agree, OP - I'm on a strict budget, but after one main shop at Aldi I wouldn't ever cross their threshold again. The choice was pants, the quality was pants and the whole experience was depressing.

I have never been into Lidl.

I once went with DH to Aldi, it was years ago. We bought chicken kiev, an umbrella and tinned tomatoes.

The chicken kiev sort of deflated when it came out of the oven and went flat like an escalope.

The tin of tomatoes had a single tomato with a load of juice.

The umbrella we took with us to a cafe. It rained, we put it up - it had a press button to open it with a swift zoom action. The top flew of it so I was left holding a stick - it went into the road and a bus went over it.

I see no reason to frequent Aldi again.......

I think it could just be an issue with your local store. I attempted a full shop a hand full of times and absolutely hated it! Fruit and veg went off within 2 days and the meat section was like a jumble sale.

I tried another Aldi slightly further away and managed to get the full shop, all great quality. Someone told me that the fruit and veg doesn't last as long as bigger supermarkets because it's not full of preservatives.

It really depends of what you buy too. I make most meals from scratch so can easily get what I need from any shop. If I have a lazy week and buy more ready made processed food, I need go to bigger supermarkets for branded items.

I've pretty much halved the cost of my weekly shop without compromising on quality. Any meat i buy is locally sourced and so is loads of the fruit and veg.

We tried Aldi a few years ago but we
couldn't do a full shop and I found the fresh produce didn't last. We ended up going to Asda too, defeating the point.
I also couldn't cope with them firing my shopping at me either, too stressful.

That said I do like a mooch round Lidl now and again. I love their bakery items and the snacky bits.

We do our main shop between Aldi and Lidl and love it. We find it much cheaper than Asda or Tesco. We do get most of our meat at the butchers though.

Have never had an issue with quality.

My Aldi uses local farms for meat, is that not what they all do?

Agree that the fruit and veg isn't all that, nor is the bread.
We do really like the cheeses and deli meats, fruit juices, muesli, crisps and chocolate. And the booze - lots of the Exquisite and Specially Selected wines are great, including the Cremant du Jura and the Clare Valley Riesling. Plus the faux Baileys and Pimms.

I would never do my whole shop at Aldi but they are brilliant for selected products: frozen goods, alcohol, greek yoghurt (better than anywhere else), pasta/pasta sauces, dried fruit, nuts and seeds.

Depends what you get at Aldi.

They are good for:

Free range chicken (whole)
Flavoured yoghurts
Spaghetti/penne - forget it if you want macaroni
wines/red wines are good
hash browns/chips
cheese
free range eggs
Magnum washing up liquid (fragrance free)
toilet paper
kitchen paper

Was speaking with the manager at Aldi at our local branch and he talks about, 'loss leaders...' so people come in for the free range chicken for instance, and end up doing a bigger than planned shop.

Some of their produce is OK, but not all.

I agree with you. The bakery is amazing. Everything else is absolute rubbish.

We did a big shop there and all the fruit and veg was inedible. The meat was poor quality. It cost us much more that week because we had to replace everything.

Aldi chicken always seems to be off before the use by. I like a few things though, their baby wipes are really good, one of the only brands that come out one at a time. The plain yoghurt in a big round blue tub (can’t think of the name) is the best Iv ever had, so creamy, tried other named brands nothing compares.

How can you spend that much, I can't get much more than £100 in my trolley in Aldi!

Maybe it depends where you are and when you go. I can get very fresh local fruit and vegetables, organic grass-fed local beef, the best smoked salmon, very good quality dairy (except cheese), good bread and at about 2/3 the price of other supermarkets. The one a few towns away I wouldn't shop in.

... in Aldi...

@UnreasonablyPissedOff

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?

Well I don’t buy meat, dairy, pastries, crisps etc so I can’t comment on those. But my local Lidl (I’m not near Aldi) don’t sell some things I buy every week, like wholemeal wraps, tofu, and dairy-free yoghurt. They also don’t sell other regular purchases like brown basmati rice, any dried pulses other than red lentils, dandelion & burdock, tempeh and half the time they don’t have wholemeal pittas or hash browns either. I popped in last week after sugar free baked beans and sugar free ketchup and they only had the standard ones with sugar. The range of herbs & spices is also very small compared to other supermarkets. So it’s very dependent on your diet as to whether you can get a full shop there.

Completely disagree! Aldi is great. I have never had an issue with mouldy bread. I’m vegetarian so can’t speak for the meat but the veggie/vegan range is amazing.

I can only assume you needed two trolleys to get to £219. I did a big shop there on Saturday and got to £140 with alcohol.

I think you have to know what to buy. I am quite picky so never did a full shop there, supplemented from sainsburys.

I online shop at waitrose but still like an aldi shop for all those things in life that are just massively overpriced with no superior flavour/ benefit in waitrose. Household stuff and snacks as well as fruit veg and meat that I know to be as good as waitrose.

Never had a problem with Aldi. Pizzas, fish, steak are all good. Nappies are fine for day time although I find only pampers work at night.
Don't tend to buy fruit and veg there or bread but pretty much everything else has been fine.

The food used to be better quality, and there used to be some real bargains, but you now get what you pay for.

I go in there for particular things. I find the fruit and veg ok. Never lasts in my house! I choose selectively and follow up with an asda shop.

On the contrary to saying bread went mouldy or veg goes off quickly I find everything from aldi lasts a suspiciously long time. Its chock full of preservatives.

How do you spend £219??? I bought a weeks worth of food for 4 adults today, £86 including wine! In my experience the quality is just fine, my bread last over a week in the fridge, though since DD's returned home fat chance!

Also.. not bashing Asda as I do shop there too but I bought a carton of fresh orange from there last week which was sealed and unopened and when I came to open it a massive lump of mould fell out first 🤮 So to conclude, this can happen anywhere unfortunately.