Is Aldi/Lidl actually cheaper?

[CPHB2021]

Hello! Thinking of ways to cut our costs each month. Usually spend about £100 per week in Tesco/asda. Family of 4. Don't drink alcohol. Do you think Aldi or Lidl are genuinely cheaper and ok quality?

No @Peaseblossum22. I'm challenging those who make blanket, sweeping statements about food at Aldi/Lidl being shit when it's evident they don't even go there. Or who have had a bad experience that they then decide means that everything will be bad. Let's face it, we've probably all had a bad experience at some point in time at any supermarket!

Yes cheaper. But the quality is poorer on some things, plus like pp's I can't get all I need, so always have to go to sainsburys aswell.

In fact irritatingly I find I prefer certain things from lots of places so end up going occasionally to Iceland, Tesco, Asda, Morrisons, nearly all of them!

Oh the hypocrisy from someone who regularly dictates how people should eat on these boards.
I dont go to aldi as there isnt one near me, but i have been to many lidls all over south of england and their veg and fruit are crap as is their in store bakery wherever i have been. I do regularly go to the local lidl just for a nose and pick up the odd thing, but the mince i bought was dripping with fat so wont be buying that again either. I really couldnt do a proper shop in there. I dont stick to brands either.

Its interesting though Aldi have been pulled up on their advertising because in their comparison basket to Tesco , they only had own brands whereas the tesco basket was branded weetabix etc so i suspect people fall for the advertising!

Those suggesting it's inferior are more likely to be food snobs who prefer to buy brands!

so this isn’t a sweeping blanket statement then?

the mince i bought was dripping with fat so wont be buying that again either

im not a huge fan of Aldi but the mince is quite clearly labelled with fat content so if it’s dripping with fat then you’ve probably bought the 20% fat one

I was talking about Lidl, either way i have never had such fatty mince and i do sometimes buy 20%.

You have to love how no one ever believes you have a bad experience at aldi or lidl. Like somehow u don't know what u bought or what mould looks like.

We have 2 lidls and 2 aldis. They are all really bad for fruit and veg. Much of it growing friends and having whilst still on the shelf. There's always a mouldy orange ir lemon or lime in those mesh bags. Without fail.

The last thing I bought from their after avoiding fir many many months due to the off butter incident, was a broccoli. That came complete with its own wildlife.

I actually popped into Lidl yesterday after this thread. Bought just a few basics and looked in middle aisles.

firstly - on getting home, discovered bag of oats was actually 2 months out of dates. That must have been in there forever as oats last ages.

scecondly - . The bananas were browner than what I would use to make banana bread when old.

thirdly - I bought some cheap leggings for Ds. Age 2-3. He’s just 2. Got home, miles too tight and short ( and he wears age 18-24/2 years in all other brands). Gave to neighbour, they just about fit her 8 month old.

Sorry. It’s just a waste of my time and money.

Depends what you buy, over Covid LD i found Lidl to be substantially cheaper and similar quality, far less queues too!
Started going back there again and the prices seemed very similar to tesco, when compared to own brand products but there was less choice/availability so had to go to Tesco in any case.

Agree on fruit veg, goes mouldy within 24hrs, even when in a fridge :( at least with Tesco, i can take it back and easily find someone who will replace/refund.

the Lidl we found in Pollensa was totally different, well stocked and cheaper than UK version.

I've had rotten fruit and veg in packs from Sainsburys and had to go back and complain. I've also seen stuff well out of date on the shelves. It happens in all supermarkets if they don't have a manager who is good on stock control.

In my town we used to have a horrible little Lidl branch, it has been replaced by a large new shop which is excellent and conveniently a 3 or 4 minute walk from my house.

I've bought food that has gone off by the time I got home and out of date food from other supermarkets

When I complained about something or returned something, Lidl were very good about it

I buy the occasional tin or packaged item from Lidl, and our local one sells cheddar (not in the UK!) so I go there for that regularly.
Every now and again I give in to temptation and buy some cheap fruit or veg, and every single time it has gone off before we've used it (which will always be a day or two later). I've put a note up in my car now reminding me to RESIST RESIST RESIST lol

But ultimately supermarket own-brand is just as good and just as cheap, plus they will pretty much always have everything in stock, so I don't see the appeal of Aldi and Lidl at all.

Maybe use the quote facility as you looked to be responding to somebody advising if their personal experience. Twice.

I have been to quite a few Aldi stores (as I stated in my post) and they have all had awful fruit and veg. Not a lie or an exaggeration but the truth. Plenty of other posters saying the same.

I can't honestly say I have had a bad experience with the fruit and veg at other supermarkets.

I can assure you it is true. No reason for me to lie. The Aldi stores I have been in (quite a few in different areas) have all had awful looking fruit and veg.

I only bought mushrooms in Aldi because I needed them and it was the closest store. I sorted through all the packs and chose the best looking one. It wasn't great but better than the others.

When I got home and opened it the mushrooms under the top ones were slimy and/or mouldy. I was furious as it meant I could not make my recipe.

I phoned the store and they were totally uninterested.

Me and DH are vegetarian so buy lots of veg. No point in shopping at Aldi because it is a complete waste of time and money

It is cheaper but I totally rely on the online shop time wise so Asda for us.

They are cheaper, but when I’ve been to Aldi I noticed they are a bit cheeky with the sizes (not noticed the same with Lidl - they may do it as well)

but if a standard size is say 100g they might sell theirs at 90g and the price per weight is the same or sometimes more.

quality of the fresh veg isn’t as good but if you are buying it and using it weekly it’s not an issue.

also with the Lidl app if you spend £100 on a calendar month you get £2 off spend £200 you get £10 off. So I’ve found that while it’s a compromise it’s a worthwhile one

I like Aldi and do think it’s cheaper, but I still shop at sainsburys. Mainly because I like to meal plan and I found too often with Aldi it was impossible to buy my full list of shopping as they often didn’t have key ingredients in stock. It was also hard to get things we eat regularly as stock seemed to change each week. I don’t want to go to multiple shops (I don’t go to sainsburys at all, I get delivery!) and I found I needed to. I also hate our local shop as it shares a small car park with McDonald’s and it’s so busy and hard to get a space. But I never had a problem with the overall quality of the products.

Personally shop at Aldi after years of going to Tesco....I really do think some of the meat is much better than tesco and the fish is exactly the same only quite a bit cheaper

was it awful looking or just a funny shape....this is the reason for the majority of food waste, because people want perfect looking veg. Its criminal how much gets wasted because if its put on the shelves people wont pick it up

Just a heads up, as this thread has popped up again - if you have the Lidl app, they're currently offering £5 off if you spend £40.

Yes and no. I have literally done a spreadsheet on it this week.

I was doing shopping for a scout camp so needed to penny pinch as we were buying in quantity.

Surprisingly on a £200 shop for spag bol for dinner, sandwiches for lunch and cooked / cold breakfast, if you shop at Aldi it would have cost you £2 less than Asda. Its not much.

Thats not the full story though. If you were to split on what was cheaper at Aldi and cheapest at Asda you could save yourself £20 on just shopping at Aldi.

The trick is clearly to either do both if you live somewhere where they are very close or to try and alternate between the two and shop savvy, knowing which products are going to give you a particular saving.

There is a slight cavet to this. I found Asda had more empty spaces on shelves so you couldn't always get the cheapest item and I found Aldi doesn't always stock every product I want.

The really noticeable things you can save on is meat. Sausages and bacon were cheaper at Asda. If you can find the smart price items then you can get savings on some of these items. The noticeable one was orange concerntrate boxes of juice. 55p for smart price. 75p at Aldi. But the smart price range were properly hidden away and not everything seems to come up on their website for the smart price range. And they were often out of stock. Asda also comes up good on some particular items that Aldi only stocked a limited range on. For example if you are happy to switch your Nutella to Asda's own brand version you can save a lot, because Aldi don't have their own line.

On the whole it was much of a muchness on standard products with Asda price matching Aldi on many.

Where Aldi definitely wins is on the detergent and cleaning aisle. I would never go back to brands having switched.

So thats my tip - dont shop exclusively at one supermarket. You can save even more if you dont. Just work out which particular items you buy regularly, work out cheaper at which supermarket.

I get an Oddbox delivered most weeks which is full of wonky vegetables, they taste fine
but@swifty1974
If you read the thread people are complaining because the vegetables are not fresh not because of the shape

Aldi have Nutoka, own brand Nutella

Funnily enough i saw the aldi own brand Nutella yesterday. In the past three weeks Ive been into 4 different branches and yesterday is the first time I've seen it, despite actively looking and checking the shelves (and turning jars around!)