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 use both. Lidl or Aldi for loo rolls, cleaning products, pasta, basmati rice etc. fruit and veg quality is poor in the stores local to me.
waitrose for fruit and veg, meat, sun-dried tomato paste etc.

Definitely agree that some Aldi products (fruit, veg, meat, fish) are not great.

We lived in rural Wales for six years and our nearest Waitrose was over an hour away. Our nearest supermarkets were Aldi, Tesco and a small Co-op, with an M&S food hall about 30 mins drive, so we shopped between all of these. The Aldi had incredibly rude staff who regularly asked to see inside customers' empty shopping bags (it wasn't an area known for shoplifting!) which put us off going there as it seemed very intrusive.

Now back on the south coast of England we only buy loo rolls and the 'ultimate' burgers from Aldi, splitting our weekly shop between M&S and Waitrose, with the occasional trip to a (too) big Sainsbury's. We prefer the quality and variety (particularly of meat/fish/bakery products) in M&S/Waitrose and don't find them much more expensive - eg, M&S baked beans are about a third of the cost of Heinz...and far nicer imo.

Aldi is total shite

i only shop at M&S. Absolutely everything lasts longer and much better

It’s really not though! It depends on your local store. Mine is spotless, great staff
award winning pizzas, cheese, alcohol. Milk, butter, nice sourdough, steaks
if you are wanting specific niche stuff for a recipe or expecting stuff to taste identical to brands then that’s the issue

I cook from scratch with Aldi produce and it genuinely tastes the same as if I used Waitrose. I will concede Mutti tomatoes are the best but the cherry Aldi tinned ones are also very good

It depends on the one near you. We've got a great one and a bad one. The fresh stuff is poor quality on the bad one. A lot of stuff is now price matched in M&S and the veg lasts longer.

Lidl is better than Aldi

Aldi is really good

So the Weetabix I buy in Aldi is a different Weetabix to the one on sale in Tesco?

Sweeping statements like that make the writer appear a bit thick tbh

I have an aldi and lidl right on my doorstep but I shop at Sainsburys which is about a 8min drive. You do whats best. Somethings in aldi are really hit and miss

I stopped using Waitrose as I was sick of the substitutions. Picked from huge supermarket but they couldn’t find a sub for 6 bread rolls

i shop at Ocado for my main shop but find my local Aldi so much nicer and fresher for fruit. I do think there can be a difference between stores though

What products did you like Op?

We swapped, loved Waitrose but Aldi were so much cheaper and we’ve never had any problems with anything we’ve bought.

If you can afford it I’d go Waitrose every time

Lidl is better

We do both! Pretty much 50% Waitrose 50% Aldi. Works for us.

This might prove useful @Shopper2

https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/things-always-buy-aldi-why-swerve-sourdough-4467651?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=social_fb_posts&utm_source=fb&fbclid=IwY2xjawSef6FleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA80MDk5NjI2MjMwODU2MDkAAR55yASiSBfsUtbcvayqiZlVcdqUkjTHK3bgF8SXWnqbEEYh_N0k-F5_cpLCfA_aem_VJ2gFLFvmgSOV_ydpMNxpw

Like a few others, I don't shop at just one place. I get about 40% of my food shopping from Morrisons, and about 30% from Aldi and Lidl, and the other 30% from Iceland, and Tesco. I get toiletries and things for the kitchen from Savers and B & M. Most fresh food would be from Morrisons. All these stores are in my little market town. (Or just outside it within a mile.)

(We have no Sainsbury's or M & S for about 20 miles... The closest Waitrose is 7 miles away.) We have no Asda or Co-op for about 20 miles either...

I find Aldi's fresh food - particularly fruit and veg - to be a bit short lived and inferior to many other shops, but for basics like cereals, biscuits, crisps, milk, butter, yogurts, bread, beans, cheese, tins of tuna, and some frozen stuff like chips, peas, pizza, pies, and ready meals, Aldi is fine. I could never use them for my main shop though.

I never use Waitrose. I have always found them hilariously overpriced. The food is no better than Sainsbury's, Tesco, and Morrisons.

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This.

I have tried to do my shop in Aldi several times but find the quality is poor and the selection is so bad I always have to go to other supermarkets to finish the shop. Things might be cheaper but they are often not so good and the packets are smaller.

The animal welfare issue is key for me.