To think that Aldi isn’t the answer to everything?

[ShirleyPhallus]

On pretty much every thread here to do with food and drink within about 2 posts someone pops up with “I get mine from Aldi and it’s amazing”. On literally every thread like this it’s praised like it’s the best thing ever. See also Lidl.

Anyway, I went to an Aldi this week on the back of all the MN love and it’s just a cheap supermarket. Not the answer to my prayers. Am I missing something? Am I being unreasonable? (Answer is no fyi)

Lidl always seems grubby to me, even the nearest one which is a year old.
The nearest Aldi opened a couple of months ago and it’s our weekly shop. During lockdown, we had to have Sainsbury’s delivery, as they were the only supermarket who would deliver and we spent twice as much. That’s not sustainable. We might have to top up from another supermarket or the farm shop for fruit and veg, but it’s still less.

Prices are rising, but our income isn’t and won’t.

@ComtesseDeSpair

I think the quality and range of stock on offer might differ depending on how much competition they have in the area and what the area is like. Our local Aldi and the one in the next neighbourhood are far nicer and sell a much broader and better range (especially meat, cheese, pre-prepared meals and wine) than the two in objectively less nice and affluent areas slightly further away. Our ones are competing with a giant Sainsbury’s and a Waitrose which I presume pushes them to up their game.

I’m a massive Aldi fan - until we moved near this one I’d pretty much never bought a product which wasn’t a named brand, now I buy a huge range of Aldi equivalents.

Ah I think this makes sense. My local aldi is pretty good, veggies last at least a week, no throwing it out like many others have said. But it's got a lot of competition nearby. I went on holiday in Scotland and found an even better aldi, pretty swanky by aldi standards (newton stewart) right next door to sainsburys so I guess that's its main competitor. I long for that Scottish store to come to my town, it had everything and more and was light and bright and clean and full of fridges.

The reason I shop in aldi is the £50+ I save every week compared to morrisons or Asda, and yet we still eat steak and salmon etc.

You Tory Bitch! (Joking 🤣)

@HoldingTheDoor

Lidl and Aldi aren’t comparable. Lidl is much better

For me Aldi is much better. It varies by location I'm sure though. I love Lidl's bakery and the occasional other item but not for much else.

I tend to shop between almost all of the supermarkets though.

I prefer Lidl to Aldi, generally, bur DCat doesn't like the Lidl catfood but eats the Aldi catfood. You can't argue with a cat

I shop according to what I need. A Lidl or Aldi shop will be a big shop as I need to drive there, so heavy or bulky items mainly (washing powder, bleach, instant coffee, catfood etc.) Top ups are from Tesco because it is very convenient or Waitrose. By planning the shopping I don't find any of the shops expensive

I buy pretty much the same items each time I shop but there isn't overlap other than fresh food

The ice cream from Lidl is very good. The skincare type stuff from both are good.

I agree. I mean it’s OK but not fantastic and the dates on fresh food tends to be very short. I just prefer Sainsbury’s tbh. Lidl does do very nice and reasonably priced steak though to be fair 😋

What a shame you don't have Trader Joe's.

I like Aldi but ime it definitely depends on your local store. The one I go to has a really good range of items, veg and fruit is generally pretty good or at least no worse than other supermarkets. Yet I’ve gone into other Aldi stores in different areas and noticed a much smaller selection and the fruit and veg looking like it won’t last.

I don’t do my full shop there as there are some branded items we prefer but overall I like it and a lot of things are noticeably cheaper, especially cleaning and laundry products, tinned beans etc. Oh and I love the aisle of wonder!

@TheHoptimist

the answer is 42

😅😅😅

Other things I can't get at my local aldi/lidl:

• pickled walnuts (for a stew I make)
• cooked chestnuts (for brussel sprouts)
• Split peas for pea/ham soup
• Smoked ham hock/beef cheeks/ox tail for stews
• 9V batteries
• puppy dog food

I do like lidls themed weeks- Asian, Greek, Austrian etc as know what I do and dont like those weeks.

Aldis creme caramel liquor is devine. I got a dog harness, grooming kit, leads and chew toys and they were great value and have lasted very well.

My DH loves Aldi, I'm not a fan. From reading this thread, it does sound like it varies from region to region. The fruit and veg from Aldi goes off quickly here, and I don't like many of their other substitutes. I do like Lidl's bakery and some of the meat. Most of the time we still do our "big shop" at Tesco.

I have 8 kids and until about a month ago I was spending around £400 a week in food in sainsburys, I switched to Aldi because money was tight and I can get a weeks worth of shopping including wine and nappies for £240.

Finances are better now but I’m not going back to sainsburys, Aldi is great! Only thing that is rubbish is the crisps that the kids like, I just don’t buy crisps anymore (apart from the premium prawn cocktail ones, they go so nice with white wine ) .

Only Smarties have the answer....

’THE ANSWER TO ALL MY PROBLEMS IN LIFE’

Did you skip the mystery aisle?

Because I live in London I am lucky to have a branch of pretty much every supermarket within a 15 minute bus ride so I go wherever takes my fancy that day. Sometimes my decision is made by which bus turns up at the bus stop first.
Recently however I have taken to do a big shop of heavy bulky stuff from Iceland via their online home delivery service which is fantastic. But to be honest if I am doing a 'big' supermarket shop I often want to buy non food/cleaning/toiletries at the same time... magazines, paperback books, clothing items, stationary things, birthday cards and what not. I can't be arsed with going to different shops for different things. So basically Aldi/Lidl are fine for a smallish 'top up' shop but if I am going to do a really big decent shop I want a hypermarket size branch of Tesco/Sainsbury/Wherever please.
I have a friend who has a giant Asda near where she lives. It has all the Asda stuff including giant George section plus a big pharmacy, an optician, a dry cleaners, cafe, a key cutting/shoe repair place, car wash and money exchange place (the last two I don't really need but they are there).
It's marvellous. One shop....everything !! Now that's life changing !!

@Bagelsandbrie

Chocolate is the answer to everything.

Don't please. Some aldi chocolate has laxative effects on me...didn't even taste that nice!!

What stew Hairyfriend? It sounds interesting.

@EvilPea

It takes a bit of practice to trust their own brands and which version is best for you, and get the hang of it.

It’s honestly changed my life and budget. I was struggling to afford even a basic stuff shop. Now I can buy better ethical stuff, better equality and save money.

This is really nice to hear

I guess it depends what you were praying for and what sort of thing you normally buy. My weekly shop consists of meat, fish, fruit, veg, and cupboard staples such as tinned tomatoes, tinned beans, rice etc so for that i think its fine. If you want a choice of a billion different brands and a lot of ready made food then it's probably not the place to shop.
I can't get on with Lidl, we've got a brand new store and it's horrible and I've not been impressed by the quality of a lot of things. Their almond milk is vile, it tastes of almond essence!

Their nappies and baby wipes are really good and excellently priced 🤷‍♀️

They also had some lovely wooden toys at Christmas

If you are a ready meal queen then not much to offer but if you cook then a decent enough offer.

I shop at our local farm shop, Waitrose and morrisons but our local Aldi sometimes- it is better than either Tesco or Sainsbury's for ingredients (but if you like processed food then you need Asda, Sainsbury's or Tesco)

I like Lidl a lot but I wouldn’t go there all the time. I do a mix of Lidl/Sainsbury’s/Waitrose

It’s also going to be about lifestyle, isn’t it.

We’re childfree, don’t need to budget at all when it comes to food and don’t meal plan, we buy and eat whatever we want when we fancy it. We also live in London within 10 mins walking distance of several supermarkets and are out of the house every day for one reason or another anyway. We do a small amount of grocery shopping about every other day and we know that the A, B and C we like the best comes from Sainsbury’s, D, F and E from Waitrose and X, Y and Z from Aldi and will visit one or the other depending on what we’re looking for. It doesn’t matter that Aldi doesn’t sell everything we need - we never need to buy everything we need when we go there.

Whereas if you need to count the pennies, plan your week’s meals ahead and are relying on being able to do one big shop to get everything because you either don’t want to wrangle the kids around the aisles several times a week or don’t want to drive 25 minutes each way to get there very often, your view is going to be different.

I think Lidl is better overall. Aldi sushi now you mention it is quite good compared to other supermarkets. It obviously isn’t like the real thing but neither is the price.

Aldi has never been the answer for me because they don't deliver food 😅 I get anxious in any shop doing a large shop, but even more so in Aldi. I do like some of their items though. I do just sometimes go in for a basket full! My local one now does click and collect too! But I could never get everything there! There's just some stuff I'd still need to get from Tesco.

I like Lidl for some things and Aldi for others. I have been rather put off the bakery in Lidl though as I watched several people picking up bread and cakes with bare hands and putting them back and one woman was sniffing the bread so close to her nose she had flour on the end of it. So the bakery is not for me.