To swap Waitrose for Aldi?

[Shopper2]

I’m someone who has shopped more or less exclusively at Waitrose over recent years. However, I’ve just returned from a break by the coast where the only supermarket by us was an Aldi.

Having been a bit sceptical at first, I found it to be excellent quality and brilliant value. So much infact, I’m considering making a trial switch now I am home. A friend seemed to turn her nose up when I told her this on the phone earlier.

Would you do similar? Has anyone switched themselves?

I shop at both. The Aldi closest to us is excellent. I get all my fruit, veg, pasta, milk and cleaning stuff etc basically all the basics from Aldi and then go to Waitrose to top up with stuff also don’t have or that we prefer from there. Stuff such as nicer cheeses or meats and just branded treats etc. found it had cut my shopping bill drastically by not getting everything from Waitrose.

I think our closest Waitrose is like 20 miles away so we obviously don’t shop there, it’s overpriced anyway…

We’ve shopped at Aldi for years with toiletries / cleaning products from home bargains and branded food items we can’t get in Aldi from Tesco e.g SEN DS’s safe foods are largely branded, we prefer branded coffee.

Yep. I mostly shop at Aldi and make lovely meals
I get a few things from Sainsburys, occasionally Tesco and notice no quality difference

Aldi is fine for some things, not so good for others (crap for bread and bakery products in my opinion). The main reason I don't do more shopping in Aldi and Lidl is that I actually have to go there and can't shop online.

I don’t think Aldi fruit and veg are very good . I also wouldn’t buy their meat . I shop at Waitrose for my weekly shop but I do buy bin liners , washing powder from Aldi .

Aldi is very hit and miss for me. There are some undisputed brilliant items you can stock up on which we do every month but I avoid the fruit and veg, meat etc which we get from Waitrose or Sainsbury’s (our local/online).

I think it varies from store to store. My local one has brilliant fruit and veg (Lidl even better). Lots of the meat is high quality and high welfare - and their fish is particularly good for this.

I do both. I get what I can at Aldi and then some stuff I prefer from Waitrose (most fruit, fish) and some bits from Waitrose I can’t get in Aldi. I find the quality of the ‘specially selected’ products in Aldi is usually excellent and still very affordable, but it really does depend on the specific product.

I’ve done it and never looked back.

Me, an Asda shopper, having a look at how the other half live

Aldi is decent quality in my humble opinion op 😄

My experience of Aldi is that they are inconsistent. In terms of the shops.
The one near my late mother was really lovely. Nice staff, clean.
Other ones I have been to have had miserable staff, unclean and really really messy.
The only thing I would say compared to Waitrose is the welfare for poultry/fish/ meat will not be the same. Despite the claims made.

I don't understand how people notice differences between the stores. Fine, some have a wider range as a larger store, although there's fewer of those now as many of the older Aldis have relocated into larger units or been extended/rebuilt. But otherwise they're much of a muchness.

Aldi’s fruit and veg is of a far lower quality than Waitrose. I do buy some things occasionally at Aldi but never their fruit or vegetables.

I live near one and buy plenty of stuff there, but I can't do my full shop. Not if I am to get all the things I want. If you were previously shopping at Waitrose I'd imagine you'll find similar. I'm relatively picky about my meat and will tend to buy free range if I can from Waitrose and Sainsbury's. Things like processed meats, ham etc, I'd rather buy better quality. But it's useful for top ups of milk, eggs, limited fresh veg. Not bad at all for snacks - chocolate, crisps etc.

I like different shops for different things. Aldi do great cheese cold meat and pate for example.

I prefer to support local fish mongers, butchers and the fruit and veg shop. They are all providing excellent quality produce and their customer service is wonderful too. That said, if we didn’t have these locally, we would need to shop for these items at a supermarket so you’ll receive no judgement from me. I have heard the meat at Aldi is awful quality so bare that in mind.

Aldi meat is OK, but limited range.
General groceries, laundry and cleaning supplies good.
I will not buy fruit and veg there because of poor quality and it goes off quickly.

There are a few things I like from Aldi though I prefer Lidl. I go to our local Lidl occasionally but it hasn’t made me stop shopping at my usual place (Tesco), partly because they don’t deliver.

I switched from Aldi to Waitrose- fed up with fruit &veg that goes off, not being able to buy Ecover and other green options, UPFs in abundance, too much sugar in products, crap animal
welfare….. don’t find Waitrose that pricey with offers and careful choices.

Both Waitrose and Aldi have quite limited ranges in different ways. We don’t live near an Aldi and I find it a pain to make the journey there and not be able to buy everything on my list. If they have everything you want, then fab!

Hyacinth is that you?

I think you will definitely see a difference in price, availability of unusual items and in some items quality. I have switched from ocado to Lidl- not earning like i used to. There is definitely a difference, although some items are fine. I find fruit is not as good.

I shop all over the place, the only supermarket I don't ever use is Asda. I also shop in small independent butchers and greengrocers if I happen to go to the two small towns where they are.

I don't do a big shop either as I shop in so many different places. It probably costs a bit more but I'm OK with that.

Interesting people find the fruit and veg poor quality in Aldi. This definitely was the case about 10 or so years ago, I remember the first time I went it was so bad I refused to return for about 3 years. It’s absolutely fine now, lasts a usual amount of time. We don’t eat meat or fish so can’t comment on that.

The only frustrating thing is not being able to get everything in one store. Their coffee isn’t great and they don’t do many branded items but DS will only eat branded for certain things e.g innocent smoothies, nakd bars, Doritos, bear yo-yos (he has SEN).

If I could afford to I’d shop at Waitrose for everything - more choice, great customer service and a good layout. The fact is I really can’t afford to so it’s Aldi for most of the shopping and Waitrose for the occasional treats.