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)

@MissConductUS Don't rub it in!

@ShirleyPhallus

I think what did it for me was the thread on supermarket sushi and someone said “try Aldi!” but the Aldi sushi was all sad and dry looking

It’s like it’s the favoured child that can do no wrong

Tbh if your biggest issue when doing your weekly shopping is how fresh the sushi look then you are living on a different planet than most people.

(No Aldi near me so I use LIdl…)
The reality for me is that I need and want basics. Good products at a decent price. And lidl is doing that great. When I want something a bit fancier, the european products (French/Spanish/Greek etc…) are great. Good quality and no crazy prices. That works for me.

What you can’t do is expect fancy products like sushi to be M&S quality. Only the best brands because nothing will do and turn your nose down to their own brand 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

Basically it depends what you are expecting in your weekly shop…

Love Aldi, great quality for most things (fruit is not as good as some other supermarkets, or the greengrocer). Best vanilla ice-cream around, good range of certified sustainable wild capture fish products, excellent olive oil, cheeses and dairy products. Can't find almonds, brazil nuts, cashews, seeds as good or as cheap anywhere else. Salted cashews at 75p a bag! Great dark chocolate. I compared their lebekuchen and stollen directly with M&S and Waitrose's this Christmas and they knocked it out of the park. Still need to go to Sainsbury's for Lavazza coffee, Skippy peanut butter, Sabra hummus and a couple of other brands that Aldi doesn't stock. Can't believe I took so long to switch - I must have wasted thousands.

But it is just a shop, OP, no need to get grumpy about it!

Depends if you cook from scratch or not I think , we usually do so Lidl is a great source of good quality meat , dairy and veggies along with their bakery. Aldi do a lot more processed food but three things I go there for are the fake marmite , yellow bag skin on fries and fish burgers - just having some fries now

Aldi anti bac floor wipes - 70p
Morrisons equivalent £2.00 last time I checked!

I have 4 dc…I can do a full meal planned shop in aldi for around £100-£120.
Morrisons comes in at around £170. That’s a significant weekly saving.

Also, who buys sushi in a supermarket??? you are being unreasonable for that!

Aldi and Lidl in the UK are great, especially the newly built stores which are big, clean open spaces with huge range of stock. However the Aldi and Lidl in the country I live in, leave a lot to be desired, but I think that's because people here eat different food, so I can never find what I want.

I don’t know what you are praying about but for milk, unsalted butter (for baking), eggs, cream, olive oil, carrots, onions, potatoes, bananas, apples, avocados, tomatoes, parsnips, peppers, broccoli, chocolates, all butter shortbreads, cocoa, flaked almonds, ground almonds, kitchen towels, some yogurts and cheeses Aldi is perfect for me. Smoked salmon and prawns are absolutely fine for everyday use and Aldi has a couple of interesting breads and good hand sanitizer.
For everything else there are Waitrose, M&S and Sainsbury’s.

I swap between Aldi & Waitrose. I prefer ALDI’s rye sourdough cut loaf to Waitrose’s version and it’s half (possibly even a third) of the price, the gourmet crackers in sea salt, rosemary or black pepper are bloody gorgeous, as are their Parmesan & garlic twists, their par baked baguettes are nice too. We liked their mussels in white wine, preferred them to Waitrose’s, still Scottish and have the welfare stamp but half the price for the same weight. There’s some nice stuff to be had but I really hate the layout.

To be fair I think M&S quality has really gone down, pre baby we did the bulk of our food shop there but I really don’t think it’s as good as it was.

I love ALDI and do 80% of my shopping there.
Much cheaper than Tesc/Morrisons/Aldi, and just feels a nicer shopping experience.
Some things I love- the frozen fruit, the new frozen breakfast fruit toppers are lovely, a few different varieties, some with raspberries, goji berries, chia, pumpkin seeds, apple etc. I eat several packs a week. Granola is lovely, low sugar and very cheap, mixed seeds, great new plant based range, dishwasher tablets, cat food, wash up liquid, scented candles of course,wine, fruit and veg all great.
The only fault is that I can't buy certain spices or exotic stuff, panko or other speciality items.
So I do top up in other stores. Otherwise I love ALDI.

@BigSkies22

Also, who buys sushi in a supermarket??? you are being unreasonable for that!

I don’t buy sushi in a supermarket, that’s the point! I think it’s generally sad and dry but someone was extolling the virtues of Aldi sushi so I wondered if it was something to try. It was not.

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

For years, I had been doing my main shop with Lidl and a small internet shop with Tesco.
I’ve found that the range at Lidl has increased a lot and now I struggle to get to the £40 for the free delivery. There is very little I can’t get from Lidl tbh. My main things: frozen peppers, herbs and spices and almond milk….. are the few things I can’t find easily at Lidl….

@WheelieBinPrincess

To be fair I think M&S quality has really gone down, pre baby we did the bulk of our food shop there but I really don’t think it’s as good as it was.

The majority of M&S is processed crap Emporers new clothes

@greenlynx

I don’t know what you are praying about but for milk, unsalted butter (for baking), eggs, cream, olive oil, carrots, onions, potatoes, bananas, apples, avocados, tomatoes, parsnips, peppers, broccoli, chocolates, all butter shortbreads, cocoa, flaked almonds, ground almonds, kitchen towels, some yogurts and cheeses Aldi is perfect for me. Smoked salmon and prawns are absolutely fine for everyday use and Aldi has a couple of interesting breads and good hand sanitizer. For everything else there are Waitrose, M&S and Sainsbury’s.

I think maybe it was the one that I went in to. Prepared to give a different one a go!

I did buy a great soup maker from there today for £34

What’s a soup maker? A blender?

I used to live where there was a brand new Aldi and a slightly older Sainsbury's.

I spent far less on shopping using Sainsbury's than my friends who believed the hype about Aldi/Lidl being cheaper - because whilst the Aldi copies of branded items were cheaper, I didn't buy all the leading brands, I often bought Basics and the next step up or waited for promotions on cleaning materials/household goods and the like.

29p for a small bag of potatoes that turned out to be green on the inside (when they were actually in stock and they weren't trying to get you to pay £1.79 for the only potatoes in the shop under false pretences) wasn't a saving when I could pay 69p (at the time) for three times the amount and knew that they were actually fresh. Even the standard cheap Sainsbury's cleaning products were cheaper than the Aldi ones - 19-29p for things like bleach, washing up sponges, etc, compared to over a pound for less of the equivalent items, frequently.

And as others have said, they just don't do enough items suitable for medical conditions like Celiac, allergies or intolerances.

I think they just paid a lot for marketing that worked - targeting the people who wouldn't have dreamed of getting own brand and Basics/Value range items from the main supermarkets in the first place.

@WhatScratch

What stew Hairyfriend? It sounds interesting.

Beef cheek stew with pickled walnuts. I had a jar of them, tried them and thought how revolting walnuts in vinegar were. Rather than throw them out, I found this recipe and its delicious. I just throw in any root veg I have and throw in a handful of pearl barley also. A glug of port or red wine adds a lovely depth of flavour too.

www.waitrose.com/home/recipes/recipe_directory/b/braised-ox-cheekpickledwalnutstew.html

@BigSkies22

Also, who buys sushi in a supermarket??? you are being unreasonable for that!

A large asda near us has a sushi counter in store where its freshly made. I've never buy the dried out stuff near the sandwiches though.

I like Aldi for certain things. These include bread, cereals, crisps,nuts,crackers,cooked meats, wine (lots 😂), blueberries, oranges, salmon en croute. Their Christmas products are excellent.

My local waitrose has a fresh sushi counter, lovely!

I'm very equal opportunities in my shopping. I like Waitrose for some things and go to Lidl/Aldi for others.

The Lidl bakery is good and their steaks (the deluxe, 21 or 28 day aged ones) are excellent. And I say that as the daughter of an organic farmer/butcher. Their cheese can be pretty good too.

Aldi does nice wine - there are a couple of Pinot Gris that I like and an organic Pinot Grigio that's very nice. DH had a Saint Emilion from there the other week and liked it.

Both are good for basics such as passata, cleaning products and so on. I don't buy fruit and veg in either unless I'm going to use it immediately. Last time one of them had bargain mangos I make a few jars of chutney.

If I'm buying sushi, I'll go to my local Waitrose which has its own counter making it fresh. But why would I pay their prices for say, tinned tomatoes unless I had no time or hadn't stocked up in Lidl/Aldi?

Surely most people go to different supermarkets sometimes? There are always going to be variations. I wouldn't go anywhere and expect to love everything.

My last basic Tesco shop before Xmas was £189. I've been to a new Aldi today with a meal plan and a list and paid £77. Had to stop off at Tesco for some stuff they didn't sell in Aldi on the way back though. I'm still not keen though.

@Bagelsandbrie

Chocolate is the answer to everything.

Aldi chocolate in particular.