To be falling out of love with lidl?

[Vistada]

I love the aldi / lidl business models, they fascinate me.

I've always liked lidl but lately I think I've fallen out of love with it because their quality is starting to take the piss.

Veg already rotten

Chicken thigh fillets that are no more than what you would find in a wing

Queues down the shop

And don't get me started on the packaging, they're clearly cutting a lot of corners here to keep prices low, manys a time lately that I've had to throw away things away upon unpacking because the packaging has broken in transit (predominantly fish / meat which is really fcking annoying)

Aibu to think lidl are at risk of losing their hard won market share as quick as they gained it if they don't stop taking the piss as currently I'd happily pay 20% more for halfway decent food

I always think there is a funny smell in there too!

Not a Lidl fan apart from the bread in the bakery but have one on my doorstep so it is easy

Fruit and veg has always been pretty bad. I prefer to buy Coop in their reduced section as it's better then Lidl non reduced. I worry about their chicken too and prefer not to buy- always lots of bloody bits in it and I've read they don't treat their chickens well.

I prefer Aldi but will use Lidl. Both very new stores and always clean and well stocked
Never had any issues

Why would it have gone off?!
I've been tonight and got stuff like British strawberries, Serrano ham, some beef and pork mince which is really good as I used some last week to make a lasagne, Greek yoghurt, butter, veg, salad...

I'm immunocompromised and never fussy about shopping in Aldi. Unbranded doesn't mean low quality, butter is butter

Me either. You do have to be quite picky on the vegetables though but I've also sometimes found that in Tesco and Asda!

What do brands have to do with it? I’ve seen and eaten food from there at my friends house and it is by and large low quality. She doesn’t even notice anymore as she says it’s just the same quality as Waitrose or M&S but it really isn’t.

Plus I do think it Aldi and Lidl can only buy the food so cheaply if they turn a blind eye to modern slavery and poor animal welfare on farms.

I knew this thread would appeal to food snobs. I've literally just watched a programe about supermarkets and how the own brand products are made by the same people as the branded ones, sometimes with slightly tweaked recipes. That's why places like Aldi and Lidl can create packaging and product names that are very similar to the brands. Do you think Weetabix are going to make a crap product and ruin their own reputation?

I shop at Aldi for my main shop now and have found the quality much better than most of the other supermarkets, barring M&S. Meat is great, fruit and veg very good. Generally the quality is better than we had from Sainsbury's and my shop is 2/3 of the price.

Me either.
I can buy organic chicken and milk, the fruit/veg is absolutely fine and it doesn't smell!
With their special offers, recently I've had 3 free peppers, two free punnets of grapes, two punnets of raspberries, two packs of avocado, two packs of chillies and a free lime!
The price of their greek style yoghurt has gone up massively though.

Lidl's veg have always been awful and go off in a couple of days.

Me neither. Ours is great - fruit and veg lasts a normal amount of time I would say (especially organic) and they’re increasing their product range all the time.

Having said that I used to live near another one that had ropey fruit and veg. Isn’t it weird it’s not like they have different suppliers.

Erm, if we were food snobs we wouldn't be shopping at Lidl and Aldi...

They're budget supermarkets so the quality is lower. That comes with the territory.

I don’t like Lidl, their branded stuff may be cheaper but the ingredients are scary, (non organic)chicken breasts and mince is actually more
expensive than in Sainsbury’s where I shop frequently. I also find the veg always poor quality so it’s a false economy for me as most of it ends up in the bin.

“Made in the same factory” ≠ “The same product”.

I watched one of those food factory type shows which featured a company which makes pies for various supermarkets. The recipes they use for premium & standard products were completely different. For example, for the premium / M&S level pies the pastry was made with real butter, the sauce contained red wine & big chunks of beef and the ratio of filling to pastry was high. In contrast, the standard pie was made with mince & contained no wine, the pastry was made with vegetable fat & there was less filling & more pastry.

Only get tins/oil in there. Veg rotten. Horrible eggs. Meat dodgy. Processed food inedible. My last straw was bagels that had been chewed by rats. The young lad on the till was horrified and we both reported it to the manager who totally could not give a stuff! That was it. M&S now lifes too short for grim food. Worth every penny.

The difference is MASSIVE. It is not the same food. Its just not.

The Lidl's I've tried have been good but there isn't one close enough for me to use regularly, it's a 1 hour journey including a walk/bus. Morrisons and ASDA 20 minutes walk away, ALDI about 30 minute walk.

I think it depends on the store, though. My local Morrisons is terrible and always has been - fruit/veg never look fresh, bashed about, goes off quickly. But I've been to other Morrisons when on holiday and they have been great 🤔

So I don't understand why there is so much inconsistency between branches?

I didn't say it was the same product.

I said the brands that produce the alternatives don't want to be seen to create something poor.

Never ever use Lidl, the smell of the stores is hideous, the customers often sketchy, limited choice, bad fruit and veg, queues for ages, just feels very very cheap. You can often find far better quality for similar prices in Sainsburys/ Tesco heck even some M&S things are similar prices.

This must be your Lidl because mine is very good, love their Italian and greek selection.

Some people on this thread aren't shopping at Lidl or Aldi though...

I have recently switched from lidl/ aldi to sainsburys for all the reasons you quote. Yes slightly more expensive ( I worked it out to be 5-10% when did a matching shop online with aldi and sainsburys) but there is so much less waste

Yes, this is what I mean, too. Supermarkets are very inconsistent from branch to branch, not sure why this is. Perhaps a retail expert will be on who can explain?

Please enlighten me about what being a "sketchy "customer means?🤔

I’m very frugal and I have never found Lidl or Aldi particularly cheap.

I much prefer Asda and Tesco.