To think I might be missing something to have totally had my head turned to Aldi?!

[Ipll]

I used to shop mainly in Waitrose, sometimes Tesco or Morrisons.

A couple of weeks ago I nipped into Waitrose to get three pretty mundane items and it came to 17 pounds. I decided enough was enough and it was time to see what else was out there, having previously been adamant I wouldn’t be interested in somewhere like Aldi (yes a bit of a snob when it comes to shopping!).

Anyway, after a few trips to Aldi I am shocked. Incredible and tasty fruit and veg. Great meat options. Biscuits ok. Great middle aisle of books for my daughter. The cost reflects something more manageable and I don’t feel I’m spending huge chunks of money like in Waitrose and Tesco.

I am obsessed 😅

Am I missing something?! Why doesn’t everyone shop there?!

For me it’s random odd bits you’d routinely find in a decent sized supermarket but not buy often. Stuff like glacé cherries (rocky road is my default food donation) sea salt, lazy garlic / chilli in jars (exists dometimes in middle aisle) garlic purée seems to have been discontinued, dental floss. Possibly this is location dependent and they stop selling stuff that doesn’t sell well.

Why doesn’t everyone shop there?! @Ipll

For the same reasons you didn't shop there all this time until now.

Also, depends on the area, I'm guessing aldis in some towns for eg that don't have Waitrose, are more chaotic and "colourful" and not always worth the hassle.
City Aldis are crazy (Manchester city centre anyone 🙃)

Having said that, I do go to Aldi early morning mid week a couple of times a month in between either Tesco or Sainsbury's.

I don’t mind the non edible stuff like nappies or toys but Fresh stuff is very poor quality and wine is a bit dire but main reason I avoid is (and this does sound snobby) but the check out queue is so bloody long! And you need a pound for the trolly! Who carries cash these days?

Main shop Aldi but go to Tesco for tea , sainsburys & gluten free ( Aldi have started GF) for pork ribs, marks for veg & fruit & yelow stickers, Lidl but not very often for stuffed vine leaves, very rarely Asda.

Oatly oat milk, plain pizza bases

Agree that Lidl slightly better due to bakery and more nuts.

I like a lot of Aldi stuff. The Australian ad campaign says "Hey, it’s cool. We know you see other supermarkets. But you'll save more if you shop at ALDI first". Can't argue with that!

I think my local WR is going downhill. Poor variety, has closed its deli counter that had lovely stuff and was always busy, often sells out of stuff. No local Aldi. Local Lidl very variable, I agree about the short fruit and veg life and yes I have had the smelly chicken issue as well, also sweaty slimy fresh mushrooms. On the up side, some of the foreign specials are nice and they used to do a really good pack of gravadlax with the mustard sauce but stopped it. Ocado for me. A wide variety of prices, quality generally very good, price matched to Tesco and I can get marks stuff there AND delivered.

local Asda here is dire. never tidy, always grubby looking with massive gaps on shelves and long checkout queues. My Sis who lives in a different distant county says the same thing about hers.

I used to do a weekly shop there with Click and Collect as it was so much cheaper and it was good. But then they put their prices up so there was less difference, the fruit and veg quality was too variable/unreliable, and there were more and more things they stopped selling or randomly didn't have and had to be topped up at Tesco or Sainsbury's, defeating the price and convenience. So now I get a delivery from Tesco.

At our Aldi the staff are so helpful, M & S Foodhall across the road not so much, really rude at times which pisses me off - what exactly are you paying extra for. Yes, I shop mainly in Aldi, quicker as not so much choice and has all the basics we need; do like a potter around a Waitrose or our local Booths though.

I agree with this. I used to shop in Aldi and have stopped doing my main shop there. Not only have the prices risen but also the quality has gone down. One example is the Mrs crimble dupes, they used to taste exactly the same. Now they taste of wax. Chocolate used to be cocoa butter, now palm oil. We used to go mad for all the Christmas stuff but the last couple of years we found nobody really liked a lot of it anymore.
There are still some things I make a trip to Aldi for but I’m finding that list gets shorter and shorter.

Oh Booths! I live in the south but we used to holiday in the north and I loved shopping at Booths

i don’t have an Aldi but do shop in Lidl frequently. It’s so much cheaper for every day things but I do find a pretty vast difference in the quality of some things, especially fruit. I pretty much will only buy fresh fruit from Waitrose because although it costs more, I don’t have to throw away literally half a packet of raspberries the day after purchase like I do if they are from other places (and I do means literally).

I tend to shop at my local supermarket for fresh main meal things, but was going to Aldi for a
monthly shop of store cupboard items.

I’m having a break from Aldi though as I started to find a lot of items I was buying had the same synthetic sweetener taste (cereal, biscuits, snack bars, crisps, protein yoghurts, drinks). No one else I know has this issue so might be a me issue and not an Aldi issue 🤣

I can’t get a full shop from Aldi. I also think bread products taste weird from there as they’re made to last longer and have an artificial taste. I like popping in for a few bits, though.

Aldi fruit & veg is second rate don’t waste your money, no comparison to M&S Sainsbury's or Tesco.

Our Aldi is pretty good - they’ve just put a bakery in! We tend to go there first and go across the road to the Sainsbury’s superstore for any branded goods or stuff we can’t get in Aldi. Aldi’s prices have been going up though, and like others I’m finding their fruit and veg isn’t lasting as long. I’ve also taken to going to our local farm shop where they’ve got a meat counter, shellfish stall outside and they have freezers where you can get frozen fruits, frozen vegetables etc by the weight (you just fill a bag with as much or as little as you want and they weigh it at the till). The farm shop is a bit more expensive but the quality is great.

Our farm shop has lovely fruit & veg & always SO tempting, but it's not just 'a little more expensive' it's extortionate!! £4.50 for a cauli for example (£1.19 at Tesco for a lovely one) I occasionally cave in & buy something unusual & sometimes the Brussels on stalks in season.

We have a lovely organic shop in the village thst sells gorgeous vegetables bundled together in twine. Five quid for carrots, nine for a bunch of asparagus, six quid for small strawberries. It all looks amazing but there’s no way I can possibly afford it.

I did the quality of fruit, vegetables, and meat at Aldi and Lidl is really poor compared with Waitrose, Ocado, M&S, and sainsburys. Like others have said, I couldn’t do a full week’s shop at Aldi, and I don’t think they are necessarily cheaper. They also sell virtually no organic food.

There's a Lidl on my doorstep which beats out the further away Aldi for convenience and a non postage stamp sized car park so I can only really comment on Lidl. I really like it BUT I couldn't do a full shop there. I tend to go once every couple of months with my mum to buy stuff on my "Lidl stock up list" like big bottles of cheap squeezy honey for DHs tea, naice biscuits, jams, big boxes of microwave porridge, olive oil plus maybe a couple of treats like deli meats and fruit /veg/meat if I know we will use it immediately. Their cakes and chocolate etc is lovely and I like their dry pasta. But I don't find their fresh to be lasting and I can taste the difference with some stuff from there and don't buy it twice. I also randomly don't rate their tea light candles. Overall Lidl good but not as cheap as they once were.

I also find them very unreliable with continued stocking and prone to suddenly discontinuing things - I had some good Duc D'Or freezer fillets from them - never seen them again, lovely hot chocolate discontinued etc. We're really busy and we meal plan and don't have time for such grand-scale fuckery, frankly. We also shop online bar the odd item I pick up at the supermarkets near my station - I know we're still tied to a weekly shop but the time saved to-ing, fro-ing and shopping is much appreciated. If Aldi and Lidl work for weekly shops for others though, that's great! Both deserve to do well.

That's interesting, I didn't really enjoy their Christmas stuff last year. Disappointed as I used to love their stollen!

Yeah, sounds lovely but just not affordable, such a shame 🫩

I’m surprised you think the wine is poor - I can assure you that the drinks/wine industry doesn’t agree with you!

https://www.thedrinker.co.uk/aldi.html

See this year’s recommendation from The Drinker