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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To say Lidl and Aldi are not cheaper or better quality than other supermarkets?

133 replies

WeetabixTowels · 04/08/2023 12:27

A Lidl has opened near me and so many people have said how good it is and how much cheaper it is to shop there. So I thought I’d give it a go.

I meal plan over 2 weeks and we generally eat the same things. So I went with my usual list - and spent £20 more than I do in Asda!

This was yesterday, and we ate chicken last night which was very gristly and then today I made the kids bacon sandwiches for breakfast - I had to bin the bacon as it was so fatty and shrivelled and grey it was revolting.

Comparing my receipt, I saw that

  • The only things that were cheaper than Asda were bakery items and biscuits/treats - but I don’t tend to buy a lot of either so made no massive difference
  • Fruit and veg were more expensive in Lidl
  • Meats were a little more expensive in Lidl
  • Frozen stuff was a lot more expensive and smaller quantities too so it won’t all last as long. We always have a movie and pizza night on Saturdays and I spent £3 per pizza whereas in Asda I can easily find them for £1.50 or cheaper
  • Cupboard things like olives are more expensive in Lidl
  • Toilet roll is cheaper in Lidl but honestly I wouldn’t buy it again, it’s like wiping my arse with a cheese grater

Now I will say that I bought 2 things I can’t get in Asda that were to die for and I would 100% make a trip to Lidl again for these - pickled garlic cloves and the Towergate digestives 🤤 amazing!

But have I done something wrong? I have officially failed at Lidl and I have no idea why 😂 was chatting to my cousin about this last night and she said the same happened in Aldi to her!

OP posts:
megletthesecond · 04/08/2023 14:47

Yanbu. The fruit and veg in our aldi and lidl is awful. Yet again I forgot and bought some salad leaves. They were off 2 days before the best before date. I can't even take them back as it's not worth my time for £1.

Reugny · 04/08/2023 14:50

riotlady · 04/08/2023 14:39

Weekly shop in Lidl usually works out about £20 cheaper than Morrisons for me, find everything good quality except the meat (bakery stuff especially is lush)

Morrisons is damn expensive.

My nearest supermarket is now Lidl, followed in distance order by Asda, Sainsburys, M&S, Waitrose, Aldi, Tescos and Morrisons. Both Asda and Sainsburys sell niche products that the other ones don't tend to sell all the time. So depending what I'm buying I go to Lidl, Asda or Sainsburys.

Though with Sainsburys I have a tendency to drive to one further away simply so I can look at the clothes and homeware.

The problem with Lidl is their middle aisle - looks at latest pot plant.

ScribblingPixie · 04/08/2023 14:50

Aldi and Lidl used to be much cheaper than their competitors a few years ago but it's a much more mixed picture now. I'm lucky to be able to walk to five supermarkets and pick up from all - there isn't one where I'd buy everything.

SM4713 · 04/08/2023 14:52

Out of interest OP- how do you eat picked garlic? Just whole as a snack, on a cheese platter or some other way? I've always seen them in the jar and wondered what you do with them 🤔

If you have lidl app, and spent £250 in a month, the next shop is 10% off. I'm sure you end up spending much more though!

In both lidl/aldi/asda- you always need to check the dates. Too many times I've come home to find the item is best before the following day. I do like the lidl, grassfed beef though. Even the rump is tender and tasty.

KatherineSwynford1403 · 04/08/2023 14:53

WeetabixTowels · 04/08/2023 13:31

I think the pickled garlic cloves were from a ‘foreign’ range (also bought some plantain thingmabobs) so I would go back for the odd thing - even though the queues seem to take about half an hour!

The thing with stuff like this is that it gets discontinued and it is so annoying.

maddiemookins16mum · 04/08/2023 14:55

I now shop at Aldi. Just out of curiosity/boredom (and because DH was watching a Marvel film), I did a like for like ‘dummy shop’ at Tesco.
Aldi was £14 cheaper and I got more weight on the chicken thighs.

ObiKenobi · 04/08/2023 14:56

I shop in several supermarkets to get the best quality & value for money product. You constantly need to look around as everyone has their offers.

wutheringkites · 04/08/2023 14:58

We do most of our shopping in Sainsbury’s. If you have a nectar card and are flexible about what you buy to maximise offers then I find them good value.

Quality of produce has taken an absolute nose dive in the past year though. I'm buying more and more fruit and veg at M&S

SistersNotCisters · 04/08/2023 14:58

Who here is old enough to remember the first bargain foreign food shop, NETTO?
Now shopping there was brilliant. Back in the day when average Joe couldn't afford to be picky, we thought it was great to get random foreign food items we'd never tried before. Some were great, some awful. But god help you if mum put your PE kit in a Netto carrier bag. I'd have rather had a Kwik Save one over them embarrassment of the yellow Netto bag.

CasperGutman · 04/08/2023 15:02

Love our Aldi, and find it a bit cheaper than Asda. Also, I really dislike our Asda. It never has any decent cheese for one thing, so who could shop there?

That said, we tend to shop at Ocado. It definitely costs a bit more than Aldi, but at the moment we suck it up because
(i) the stuff we buy is good,
(ii) online shopping is convenient as we're time poor at the moment,
(iii) their website and app work really well (I can do the shop in literally half the time I spend waiting for pages to load on the Tesco site!),
(iv) we can get everything we want in one hit without having to pop somewhere else for something Aldi doesn't stock and
(v) the customer service is really good: things which show as in stock at the point of ordering are almost never missing from the delivery, any problems are addressed quickly and without quibble, and the very few substitutions we get are sensible ones like two packs of two baking potatoes instead of a pack of four baking potatoes.

RedPony1 · 04/08/2023 15:04

I don't use Lidl, but my Aldi shops are considerably cheaper than my Asda or Tesco equiv shops. Plus i always find Aldi meat sooooo much better!

AllProperTeaIsTheft · 04/08/2023 15:05

I completely disagree. On the rare occasions I shop in Tesco, Asda or Sainsbury's, I have found it way more expensive than Aldi. And I don't find Aldi bad quality at all. When I do my supermarket shop, I want to buy what I want, and what's on my list to make the meals I've planned, not trawl around looking for bargains, stickers and what's on offer.

I like good food and we cook almost entirely from scratch and I have never bought anything from Aldi that I didn't happily eat. The only downside is that there is a narrower range of products.

Having said all that... I have noticed my Aldi bill creeping up over the past year, so I wonder if it's time to try Sainsbury's or Tesco again and compare.

GasPanic · 04/08/2023 15:07

Most places have good and bad stuff.

Aldi I find is good for meat. Steaks there are relatively cheap and tasty.

Less good for veg, it doesn't seem to last as long.

Reugny · 04/08/2023 15:10

@AllProperTeaIsTheft if you go to any other supermarket you would need their loyalty card/app to get the cheapest prices.

telestrations · 04/08/2023 15:10

A few years back I had a very low budget for food, and I found Sainsbury's to be the best value. You can spend a fortune in there but their basics range, wonky veg, mark downs, meat, fish and deli counter deals, never card and price matching vouchers all added up to make it the best price, significantly better quality, and I could get everything from one store.

Then once I had a bigger budget I started going to Lidl which is fun. Lots of things that I couldn't get or would be much more in other supermarkets, the weekly deals and themes, plus I found the small size and location of the store convenient. It was cheaper for some individual items but I would spend more overall

MrsAvocet · 04/08/2023 15:11

We don't have a Lidl or Aldi particularly close by so I don't use them much, but I recently had to cater for a kids' club end of term party on a limited budget so went to Lidl and was very impressed. Their own brand crisps, cakes , bags of sweets etc were a fraction of the price of branded equivalents and were really nice,and the bread was gorgeous. Can't speak for the "proper" food, but I'd definitely go back for next year's party catering. My only complaint was that it seemed a bit weirdly laid out and things that you'd expect to be next to each other weren't.

NeverDropYourMooncup · 04/08/2023 15:12

I found that when they were being hailed for being incredibly cheap compared to other supermarkets, this applied to people who would buy a lot of 'packaged' foods with high profile brands - so they'd save on Ketchup, Cereal, biscuits, crisps, chilled meals and that kind of thing, and when combined with a perceived saving on veg/fruit from the loss leaders, it made a significant difference to them. However, being a cheapskate, I generally bought basics stuff as much as possible and went to smaller shops for things that tend to attract a premium in the UK (the same olive oil or Feta can be a quarter of the price in a Turkish supermarket, for example, and mini cucumbers are just cucumbers, not seen as a delicacy/premium product), so didn't find it a saving.

I suspect that thanks to their strong PR and advertising embedding in people's minds that Lidl/Aldi are always cheaper, they don't have to worry about that so much now and can charge more without people realised they can actually be quite expensive even before paying over the odds in the middle aisle.

NancyDrooo · 04/08/2023 15:15

SistersNotCisters · 04/08/2023 14:58

Who here is old enough to remember the first bargain foreign food shop, NETTO?
Now shopping there was brilliant. Back in the day when average Joe couldn't afford to be picky, we thought it was great to get random foreign food items we'd never tried before. Some were great, some awful. But god help you if mum put your PE kit in a Netto carrier bag. I'd have rather had a Kwik Save one over them embarrassment of the yellow Netto bag.

Interesting you mention Netto - it was where I realised some things are worth paying a bit more for. When I was a student one opened nearby, I went and did a big shop, ridiculously cheap. But their 18p pack of spaghetti was the shittest pasta I’ve ever tasted. How did they get it so wrong?

StillPerplexed · 04/08/2023 15:16

Depends what you're buying, right? Carton unsweetened soya milk currently 50p in Aldi, £1.25 in Sainsbury's. No brainer.

I agree with the others here though that the veg is shocking.

Reugny · 04/08/2023 15:17

NancyDrooo · 04/08/2023 15:15

Interesting you mention Netto - it was where I realised some things are worth paying a bit more for. When I was a student one opened nearby, I went and did a big shop, ridiculously cheap. But their 18p pack of spaghetti was the shittest pasta I’ve ever tasted. How did they get it so wrong?

Show quote history

😂

I went into a Netto once, saw all the tins had been bashed up and walked straight out again. The store I went into is now an Asda.

Reugny · 04/08/2023 15:18

StillPerplexed · 04/08/2023 15:16

Depends what you're buying, right? Carton unsweetened soya milk currently 50p in Aldi, £1.25 in Sainsbury's. No brainer.

I agree with the others here though that the veg is shocking.

They taste different.

MrsMoastyToasty · 04/08/2023 15:21

I have to factor in the hidden costs of going to Aldi or Lidl. My town doesn't have either so I either have to take the car or catch a bus, whereas I can walk to Tesco.

Deadringer · 04/08/2023 15:22

I find nuts, crisps, ice cream and biscuits cheaper in aldi/lidl but that's about it. Dc don't like any of the non branded cereals and i don't like the meat and for some reason the bread always seems to be stale, even though its in date. I pop in now and again for a few bits but could never do a full shop.

PinkIcedCream · 04/08/2023 15:28

Sorry, but I think that’s entirely a Brexit problem. 🤷🏻‍♀️

The supermarkets are generally much better here in Ireland. My sister is a die hard Waitrose/M&S shopper and she was surprised by the better quality and wider range of food on offer in our local Supervalu, Lidl, Aldi and Euro Spar.

You wouldn’t ever buy a ready meal in a Spar shop in the U.K., but I often buy them from our local Spar as they are made on the premises by a great chef and taste restaurant quality. Even the locally made food items sold in the tiny supermarkets attached to a petrol station are usually of excellent quality.

Lidl and Aldi brand chocolate is also very good.
The Roisin brand from Aldi is definitely a Lily O’Brien dupe, I’m sure. However, I don’t think they sell it in the U.K.?

StillPerplexed · 04/08/2023 15:32

Reugny · 04/08/2023 15:18

They taste different.

Show quote history

It's fine for my tastes and it's not as if it's being had on its own. Watching the pennies on the food shop is the main way I make sure I don't have to worry about money in other parts of my life.