Aldi newbie-what won't I be able to get or at lidl? And what's really good?

[Molehillmountain]

I sometimes go to lidl, but never aldi because there isn't a local one. I'm going to visit a friend near one this week so I'm planning a whole weekly shop there. Anything I really should get, or won't be able to? Looking forward to cutting our ridiculous bill and not having offers to suck me in.

I think if you've been shopping in Lidl you may well be disappointed. I find the quality of things is infinitely better in lidl than Aldi.

Celery in Lidl is lovely - bigger head and nicer flavour for 69p instead of about £1 in Tesco. They had Linda McCartney sausage at "1/2 price" for 99p last weekend, they were £2.25 in Tesco. Lidl jam and marmalade is very good quality too and between 59p and 89p. Bread, milk and margarine also much cheaper and comparable. Lidl is very close t the Tesco I visit and by going in there for about £15 worth of stuff I save about £5 out of total shop.

Do not buy the aldi chocolate brioche its so horrible you will have to eat it all in one go and possibly buy another

Tuna has been my best find. Not to be confused with Tuna flakes which were foul.

Cheese is great as are yogurts, not so fussed on the sandwich meat but probably more so that I'm not fussed full stop on it.

Cereal is fine, tea is ok, sweets n stuff great.

I like the whole meal village bread and the part naked buns

Tin stuff fine, I add a tiny bit of purée and a knob of butter to the beans. Pasatta and pasta sauces are great, cleaning stuff fine, nappies and wipes are excellent.

Hi juice tastes just like ribena. The fruit juices are nice too.

Meat - wasn't keen on the mince at all but had pork, gammon and their chickens and eggs are free range and lovely.

EMUZ, we love that too! It was gone within 5 minutes once we opened it at the weekend.
I've only been buying from there for a couple of weeks but so far we like the peanuts, sweets, cereal, chocolate brioche, tinned red salmon, passata, pesto, ketchup, pasta, ice-cream, crème fraîche, cheese, wine and the fruit and veg is pretty good too. Oh, the Greek yoghurt is lovely. Every morning I have Greek yoghurt with frozen fruits, honey and oats which are all from Aldi. The spicy chorizo sausage has a massive fan club in this house too although I won't eat it.
The sandwich ham doesn't look great but I never eat it anyway so I'm not bothered. The selection isn't always great but I shop around at the market and Tesco so it's not an issue for us.

Aldi do take credit cards in Scotland.

Their instant coffee is terrible, the chocolate lovely. Cereals I agree are great. Fruit good but I notice seems to start going soft a bit sooner than from elsewhere. I don't buy their meat.

I stopped buying the icecream as the stuff I'd tried had high fructose corn syrup in it which I'd rather avoid if I can. Apple juice cartons cheaper than everywhere else. Always buy their tinned tomatoes, purée and passata. Dijon mustard is 49p, bargain.

Lidl goat's cheese is much better, Aldi's is more like normal sort cheese but Lidl has a rind.

I've started chopping and freezing fresh veg as soon as I get it home (where possible). Means it's much quicker to get cooking as well!

Ok so heres a secret that aldi till lady told me. She said that weetabix makes all own brand bix for all supermarkets and aldi chocolate is made by cadburys!

Am surprised people are not buying there meat. We think it's excellent. Cheapest free range chicken of anywhere. Plus they do a pack of ham in an orange packet thats 99p and it's actually real meat with a rind on, not that mush stuff. Don't get me started on the salami....

Oh oh oh and they sell that mega expensive manuka honey for under £3!

Aldi cider-Taurus-is excellent!! I normally drink Scrumpy Jack dry cider, but Aldi Taurus dry cider is excellent too at a fraction of the cost!![bugrin][bugrin]

Free range chicken -- 1.5 kilos for £4.99
hot smoked salmon
tortilla chips
bread sticks
olive oil
pasta
red pesto
olives
Toro Loco red wine
white Burgundy
39 p tinned tomatoes
mozzarella

maple syrup

We've recently moved back from Germany where Aldi and Lidl are two of the main supermarkets, as opposed to being the budget supermarkets they are here.
Because of that the products tend to be of a much higher quality than you might expect. The cost of groceries is a LOT lower than in the UK, so what we see is as cheap is standard 'Tesco' equivalent pricing over there.

A lot of the products here are made in Germany and are excellent quality. The cleaning products are made there, as are the Alpenmark cold meats - we buy German salami, Bavarian Ham, German baked ham and Bratwurst. They make me nostalgic (and are great).

All the fresh meat is excellent although I admit I tend to buy the Specially Selected. The veg is best if you go after a delivery - ours is Thursday. I bought my veg in Morrisons a couple of weeks ago and it went off in half the time the Aldi stuff does.

As for savings... Out of curiosity I recently sat and did an online 'shop' of that days Aldi shop on the Tesco website. I did like for like, so own brand for own brand etc.... I saved a over a THIRD just by going to Aldi. My weeks shop for three adults, one baby was just under £60 in Aldi (and I bought treats etc) and in Tesco the same shop would have cost over £90!!!

I do

Oops - trigger happy!

I don't like Lidl though, didn't like it in Germany and don't like it here. Although cheap I find Aldi cheaper. That said their Cien range is good, it's not budget over there, it's more of a known brand. And their in store baked rolls take me straight back to Germany where fresh bread is king. They are the exact same rolls and they are AMAZING.

I bloody love Aldi.

I don't like their apple juice, soy sauce, loo roll, kitchen cleaner or frozen fishcakes.

That's it.

Things I really rate:

Fajita kit
Curry sauces (with spice)
Croissants (great for a breakfast on the go)
Ketchup
Mayo
Orange juice
Free range chicken (£4.99 and so meaty!)
Trimmed bacon
Chorizo
Marg
Frozen tuna steaks
Frozen lemon sole fillets
Low fat crisps
Cereal
Sparkling water
Lacura beauty products

and above all....their WINE.

We can easily feed 2 of us for £40 a week and that usually includes at least 3 bottles of wine.

I love Aldi, but I can't get hold of some things there:

cous cous
red lentils
live yoghurt
red wine/white wine vinegar
all bran

so I sometimes top up at Sainsburys

but Aldi wins every time for quality and price.

Aldi wines have been winning awards. Red wine 'Toro Loco' very good.
Every week they do 6 items of fruit and veg and a very good price 'Super 6'.

Greek yoghurt to die for and chocolate is delicious.
Washing up liquid and loo paper very good.

I try to avoid all the ready meals and convenience food though as you can get hooked. The crisp/biscuit aisle is always very tempting.

I agree that everything is worth a try. The only thing that I have really hated is the coffee (seemingly the "gold" brand) - just awful.

Really like :
Cereal - their no added sugar swiss muesli is great
Bakery - part baked baguettes, brioche loaf, bagels (not the ones in a pack of 4, 2 on each side - they're really hard, but the plain ones in a stack of 4 that look a bit like the New York bagels packaging), potato cakes, scotch pancakes, naan bread, individually wrapped choc chip brioche
Dairy - milk, greek style yoghurt, lemon fool (sooooo good), individual fruit yoghurts
Orange juice (looks like Tropicana - that has won a Which award)
Deli - cheese (can't remember the name of it but the extra mature in a black packet - think its called David Winstow or something), parmesan, ham - I think the opposite of previous posts - it is not the plasticky ham that you'd expect for the same price at TEsco or whatever, its proper meat with rind etc, but the smoked varieties are quite salty so go with unsmoked)
Other stuff - Thai chicken curry (in chilled section) really good for freezer emergencies, breaded camembert, unsalted cashew nuts, Lacura creams, cheaper for food bags, jams (particularly apricot and sour cherry), red wine, prosecco.

I agree that the fruit and beg is very good value but it won't last a week - you need to use it very quickly I find.

Haven't tried their meat yet.
Hope that helps.

Thanks for the tip on the cauliflower cheese. It was fab! DS loved it!

I don't rate their washing up liquid at all- its much thinner than fairy so you use more and over time it will cost more. I find their bin bags split and you need to double up- but then again I am use to using industrial strength ones. Also annoying they don't seem to do a kitchen cleaner with bleach in it.

Other than that- we love ALDI!

Aldi concentrated washing up liquid beat Fairy in their tests. True fact.

I love the super six too, my fruit and veg always lasts really well from there, I'd never be able to afford sweet potatoes in the big supermarkets.

Love their jam
Poppadums
Butter biscuits (you know those squares with the thick layer of choc)
Indian curry sauce with spices
Free range chicken
Hot smoked salmon
Sparkling water
Fabric conditioner
Dishwasher tablets
Microfibre cloths
Apple strudel (frozen)
Tinned tuna
Freshly squeezed oj
Free range eggs
Pistachios
Toro loco wine
Prosecco

Go to lidl a bit more though as the one near me has a far superior fruit/veg section plus the yummy in-store bakery .