How bad will Aldi be on Monday?

[bonesandbooth2025]

I nipped to Tesco today for milk and bread only to find complete and utter chaos

I can go to Aldi at 7am when they open or 9am and wondering which to do!

Do 7am if you can, it’s only going to get worse the later it is.

Ugh, that’s what I thought

it was a giant Tesco I went to today, I’ve never seen the carpark full and well, it was!

I never understood the rush most shops are back open the next day.

I know. It’s just a normal food shop I need as well

Well I'm in for a shit time, haven't bought presents or food.
Buying presents Sunday, doing the food shop Monday.
it's just the 4 of us at home (me, partner, 2 kids) so all I want is chicken and the red cabbage. Not doing turkey, just an extra nice Sunday dinner.

That's as maybe, but many people don't want to go anywhere near shops the next day, or several.

Monday at 7am as they will have full shelves as people refill them overnight. By 9am some of the shelves will be empty. I'm going first thing Monday to get my turkey crown. I will pop in for a breakfast at Spoons on my way home. I can never face the huge crowds later in the day at Aldi or Lidl.

We went in at 16:45 today and it was fine, no busier than it might be on a normal Saturday afternoon. Didn't even have to queue.

Suppose it depends where you live but I haven't found Aldi to be too bad this year, whereas I went to Tesco at 5am a couple of days before Christmas last year and it was already absolutely shagged.

Tesco today was like the world was ending but I did get a really good deal on beef!
they had those tape barriers filtering people along to checkouts so they didn’t block the aisles and it was full along the barriers by 11am

7am or 9pm - otherwise it will be hell

7am

I did Aldi at 7am last year. I arrived at 06:45 to park, grab a trolley and wait for the doors to open. It was actually quite a nice experience in my local Aldi, everyone was friendly and in good mood. I'm sure by 9am it was a different story!

Go for 7,30, gives the crowd at 7 time to get In and will be a bit calmer

I like going to the massive Sainsburys at 7am on 24th. I use it as an excuse to choose something lovely from Habitat before making it to the veg aisle once everyone has moved on.😀

I'm setting the alarm for 5.30am on Monday and aiming to get to Sainsbury's for when the doors open at 6am... if I'm not one of the first 20 people in those aisles I'm fucking off out of it.

I hate people!

7am - I've done it for years - home by 8am. Shops empty.

I can’t even go on Monday- I am having to go on Tuesday. I am not happy about it!

I noticed that when I went in Thursday lunchtime it was stupidly busy.

Never understood the need to buy 6 loaves of bread and extra cheese, you can bet your Christmas turkey that half of that will end up in the bin and they'll be in the shops on the 27th because they're bored.

I did Aldi last night and it was normal! Everything had really long dates on and I managed to get pretty much everything I needed.

But I need the food for Christmas Day.
No point buying our Christmas Dinner on Boxing Day.

Plus I don’t want to go to the shops the day after Christmas, or the day after that, at least.

Makes perfect sense to me why it’s busy. Christmas Dinner has a lot of fresh elements - meat, veg, dairy. The majority of people will want to shop for it 2-3 days before Christmas to allow for optimal shelf life of the fresh elements, and when there is still decent stuff left on the shelves.
Online delivery slots are harder to get this time of year and personally I don’t like doing the Christmas Dinner shop online because I want to choose my own replacements (I don’t mind when it’s our normal weekly shop).

I went to Aldi yesterday at 8am and it was very busy. My friend met me for a coffee after, then went to do her own shop at about 9.30am and they'd already started running out of the fresh stuff.

Went to Tesco yesterday it was heaving, car park almost full and gridlocked traffic in and out. I've got to go again tomorrow, but I'll be there for doors opening at 9.30am. Then I'll be set for Christmas.

Schools broke up yesterday at 1pm-ish, so I think I caught the tail end of people going shopping without their children.

This is it, exactly. Plus Boxing Day lunch involves lots of fresh elements - salad etc.

I’m going early tomorrow for when the shops open. The car park where my Aldi is is brutal at the best of times so I’m going to go and get a spot 30 minutes before they open, my audio book on and a flask of tea. Then I shall enter Aldi, remain calm, not ram anyone’s ankles with my trolley, not punch anyone in the face for the last Wensleydale with cranberries and not beep the gridlocked traffic trying to get out the car park at the end. Then home all Zen.

I hope.

Aldi on Monday was my first plan, but....FWIW I went to Tesco at 7am today (opened at 6) and it was super. Just the "professional" customers and shop/online order staff - no faffers, ditherers, "cute" kids pushing trolleys into your shins etc. Plus everything was freshly replenished and available.

For Aldi, get there about 7.15am Monday and you'll be behind the first wave who were waiting for it to open, but before the main crush.

Not necessarily. Last year I did my food shopping on the 23rd, at 7pm. It was empty! Only a handful of other shoppers and much quieter than a normal evening. The shelves were full as well, and I got everything I needed.

When I was hosting, I always used to hit M&S at 7 am on the 23rd - would be there as the doors opened. Home again by 8.30.