Lidl....

[OnTopOfSpaghetti]

I am seriously considering ditching my £7 a month delivery saver with Tesco and doing my main shop in Lidl. One the one hand I will miss the convenience of home delivery, but on the other my shops are getting more and more expensive and it has to stop somewhere....
A new Lidl has opened near us and my two DS conveniently have a one hour class nearby, so I'm thinking

1. Grown up meal planning head on
2. Go to Lidl once a week
3. Save money What do you reckon? Can I get most things there? Disclaimer: I am notoriously bad at budgeting/meal planning/planning ahead. Sigh. Any advice/tips? I feel sure I can do this Thanks

We love Lidl here. The quality is excellent, the Germans have pretty good standards. I like the limited choice although I will stock up on herbs and frozen foods elsewhere.
The electric items are really well made too, our toaster and dehumidifier have been really good buys.

Lidl Jaffa Cakes are better than branded Jaffa Cakes.
The mahoosive bags of crisps work out to be something silly like about 5p a pack and are so much nicer than branded. And you get a full packet, not like Walker's where it's mainly fresh air.
The black tube of anti wrinkle moisturiser is fantastic.
The pseudo Magnums are a fraction of the price and just as yummy.
Did a "big shop" last week, filled the trolley and it was about £20. No way you can do that even in Asda and the quality is so much better.
Enjoy!

I love aldi, not so keen on Lidl. A big one opened near us recently and although I could probably get 75% of my weekly shop there, I've decided it's not worth the hassle. Some items that appear to be like for like are good, others are not. We bought a pack of frozen curly fries as an occasional treat and frankly, found the Lidl ones inedible, ended up throwing the rest of the bag and having to rush out for a bag of chips from the chippy, so ended up about twice as expensive as Tesco! If you are going to try Lidl, I'd suggest trying a few things at a time otherwise you could end up very disappointed. Also, I think some stores must carry different stock - I was really looking forward to the continental meats but ours has a disappointing selection of cold meat, mainly British style hams, few cheeses other than basic cheddar etc. So it's back to Tesco for me with the occasional foray to Aldi who h is miles away. I have found that we are saving money by sticking to one carefully planned Tesco delivery each week, with a walk to the local store just for bread and a few pieces of fruit. We only take a £10 note and no cards so cannot buy extras.

Quality is fine too. I actually prefer their veg over Sainsbury’s. Especially if you are cooking for a family as some of it is pre packaged in larger sizes.

It’s worth looking at their posh range ( still compares well price wise with the big supermarkets) for things like ham. Their lemon curd is to die for ( DH rates it over Waitrose and tiptree).

We tend to mainly buy ingredients over packaged food and do top up with other shops. I really miss the weeks I can’t make it to Lidl and have to make do with Sainsbury’s now. Just watch out for all their non food random things that you never thought you needed! Their kids clothes are great for my DCs with sensitive skins.

Lots more suggestions and ideas, thank you. I am looking forward to trying it out.

My kids love the Chicken En Croute, the bakery mini Pizzas are nice and the Brioche buns with roasted red peppers on top ! My kids also love the chilli chicken scewers with pasta, and there is a great range of cheeses. I love the bits at the till, the different crispbreads and pots of nuts and cranberries.

Well if anyone is remotely interested I just did my 1st Lidl shop Very impressed. I spent £68 for a huge trolley full of food which included a £5 toastie maker from the random aisle of stuff. I did have a list but also picked up other bits. Now to see if we like it... Thanks again for all the tips.

Ah the aisle of destiny!

I think you’ll like it. I shop at Waitrose for meat, fish etc because they send me regular vouchers, Dh is miffed the foods not miles better than aldi.

@Tidypidy  I'm going to have to avoid that aisle I think to prevent excess spending!!
@Fluffycloudland77 yes I think you're right. Interesting about the comparison with Waitrose.
We have so far given our family seal of approval to everything we've tried, although still using up some Tesco items. Most surprising was the orange squash which my youngest DS said was just like Robinsons! And the lady at the checkout assured me the 40p ketchup is as good as Heinz... will buy some next time and see. The only fail has been the cat food, unfortunately my little fluffy darlings have been spoiled with Felix for far too long! Going again Sat morning to do a top up shop.

Felix is cat crack here. Mine would eat a box of it a day if I let him.

Aldi cat food used to be excellent, then they changed the recipe and it looked grim. The cat gave me a wtf? Look. Can’t say I blame him.

We have a Lidl in our small town, it's so cheap.

Dd2 and I call the middle aisles, the aisles of joy

I love Lidl :) I spend £60 a week for a family of five and can generally buy everything I need there.

I especially love their cheese selection, wraps, pittas, mini wraps, veg, pasatta, organic eggs, etc

They have started selling some chicken goujons in the freezer section, bbq and fajita flavour for just over £1! They were very nice, good in a wraps with salad cheese and some sauce.

I prefer Aldi but do buy some things in Lidl.
I wouldn't bother with Lidl frozen chips, tried couple different ones but they were truly awful.
Lidl bakery department is good, cartoons of drink, flavoured water and deluxe ginger biscuits were fab.
They sell cathedral city cheese in my one as used to buy Lidl cheese but found it went off quickly once opened not sure why this would be. Less preservatives maybe

@Fluffycloudland77 yes I know that look! I tried one more time with the Lidl cat food this morning, and they both sniffed it, walked away, then followed me round for the next hour until I caved and got the felix out (think I failed my cat slave test today)
@TopBitchoftheWitches I love that! I somehow left the shop with a £3 tray today. Its a very nice tray. And it was only £3.
My shop today was huge with random items not on my list (including the tray) and came to £83. Which might sound a lot but that was toiletries, cleaning stuff, treats, enough food for the week's meals. I reckon it would have been at least £30 more in Tesco.
I am converted!

My sister lived in Germany. If you shopped at Lidl you were considered 'posh'

Tried lidl for first time today we normally spend 85 in aldi but done 75 in lidl today. Included a bottle of wine new face cream and lots of nappies. Happy so far so good. Whole roast chicken today was lovely and the potatoes with it good too. Ice cream nice. Deodrant I bought had a different smell but for 49p I'm not too fussed still works!

Afraid mixed results here: we treated ourselves to a few excursions to a Lidl on holiday.
Hits: milk, juice, croissants, gravadlax salmon, dried apricots, melon & avocado
Misses: wine (Pino grigio), vegetable pizza and foccacia chilli (from bakery), strawberries (turned to sawdust over night), red onion tart (cooked it and then chucked it), premium oranges (dry), nuts (pecans and mixed nuts are all soft - wtf?), Brioche buns (bread air).
DH treated himself to some kind of clamp

I'm a Lidl fan too.

I am there once a week. My DH is a meat & 2 veg man. So I'll buy from the butchers for him. Lidl suits my dietary requirements as I love hams & cheeses and salads.

Bakery is excellent and the random aisle? Love it.

I shop in aldi rather than lidl because I have one 5 mins from where I live. I used to shop mostly at morrisons but am now a complete convert!

I had to do an online shop this week at morrisons (due to illness) and was shocked at how much more expensive it is!!

Another Lidl fan here . We have one where I live and it's fab! I'm ceoliac and Lidl now do a gluten free range which is cheap too.

My lovely husband is not exactly interested in fashion but I ordered him to buy some new clothes before we went on holiday. He bought two pairs of shorts, and a pair of swimshorts from Lidls mystery aisle and he's delighted with them!!

I've found the food better than Aldi but think Aldi is better for cleaning/toiletries. I divide the shopping between them. I've let things slip recently and been popping into Tesco and the price difference really does add up.

I got some haddock and cod at a really good price there. Much cheaper than the other supermarkets, and some mixed seafood. I was going to put it all in a fish pie but some stir fry needed eating up so I put the seafood in the stir fry. Yum!

Yes to the gluten free. I buy the gluten free pasta , warburtons squares(GF) and Nairns Oatcakes (also gluten free).

They do the lush potato salad with creme fraiche too but unfortunatley for me the box is too big for me as I share a fridge and have the salad box to put my stuff in. Which is a shame but then I would do what I did at mum's. I used to grab a spoonful whenever I walked past the fridge!!

OOh and the Milbona yogurts - but I have to check cos some have Gelatine in. The coconut Greek yogurt is lush but has sugar in it. Lovely on top of my porridge!

The random aisle's OFFICIAL name is The Aisle of Requirement.