Is Aldi the best place for a budget food shop?

[bells2810]

My partner and I always do our weekly shop at Aldi and very rarely use other supermarkets, where we live has an Aldi, M&S food hall and co op, bigger stores like Asda, Sainsbury’s and Tesco are a bit of a drive away.

I wondered is Aldi the best place to be shop on a budget? We typically spend about £40-£50 on a weekly shop for the two of us and we aren’t making wildly extravagant meals, we try to batch cook and freeze meals and take leftovers to work for our lunches, but we are very conscious of trying to keep costs down.
I’ve seen a lot of people talking about Asda’s essentials range and wondered are the bigger supermarkets worth shopping at if you use their own brand/budget ranges? We did a shop at Tesco lately as we were passing (without a club card though) and barely got a basket full for over £25.

Shopping suggestions welcome!

I think it depends on what you are buying and how you shop. Impulse buyers might be better shopping online. Everybody's perception of necessity and treats are very different. Depends on if you want branded or happy to buy basic ranges.
I shop online tesco (as disabled so can't shop instore) they do price match some items to Aldi. I also find I can keep a strickter budget doing an online shop and meal plan every meal.
I have a very strict budget and feed 1 adult, 3 teens (including allergies and afrid) for £45 a week by meal planning, batch cooking, eating a beans and toast meal once a week and leftovers. We eat well have fruit and veg, meat and occasional treats. However our meals can be repetitive to keep cost down (spaghetti bol, curry, chilli, shepherd's pie etc).
So you can reduce your budgets when you need to but not everyone needs to do it to the extent I have had to and how you budget depends on what type of shopper you are.

Aldi in general are the cheapest (same as Lidl). I have noticed M&S starting to price march some items. Milk, Cucumbers and carrots are the same price in M&S Aldi. Of course the rest of the M&S items are double! However if you need a quick milk top up and M&S is closer then it works well.

Aldi prices have definitely gone up recently, we used to only go to aldi for our weekly shop but now go between there and Asda and honestly there isn't a real difference in cost. I also find Asda food to be a lot fresher, the fruit especially, and it lasts longer than aldi, same with the milk we found aldi were going off a lot quicker.

No where is cheap anymore. I prefer Aldi to Lidl but top up with Tesco as I like their club card deals. Plus we use their vouchers for days out.

We shop at asda as we like to get shopping delivered. It’s probably not quite as cheap as Aldi but when I go to aldi I find myself adding extras in, whereas I’m much stricter with an online shop. And there’s of course a wider range of products.

Could you try some Asda essential? Would it be easy to go to Asda, is it easy to get there?

I used to shop at Aldi, now converted to sainsbury as it works out pretty much the same after nectar offers / cashback , and they do delivery for £1!

Lidl, Aldi and ASDA are all very similar price wise these days, especially when sticking to own brands. You do tend to get a bigger selection at Asda which is a bonus.

Hmm I thinks it depends on what you are buying. We mainly shop at Aldi but had to go to a big tesco the other week to buy 20 fillet steaks (don't ask 😂) and I noticed alot of their club promotions were very good.

We saved 18.40 on all the steaks. So was pleased with that, I do like Aldi meat but noticed the big packs of chicken breasts etc were cheaper on club card with tesco.

I do a Lidl shop for my main, but buy lots of frozen veg from Iceland. So if I make a casserole the meat will be fresh but I add frozen onions, peppers and mushrooms. Economical and no wasted veg

I do my main shop at aldi - it is getting more expensive and I know the value ranges at the bigger supermarket can be good but I still prefer aldi. I think it is a decent price to quality ratio.

I am within walking distance (from work or home) of an Aldi/Lidl/Sainsburys/Tesco and Morrisons. I get baked goods from lidl if that's all I need, prefer the almond milk and butchers at Morrisons if I get a chance, and there are some value range stuff from Sainsburys I prefer. The potatoes and fresh produce at M&S is brilliant imo (for special occasions or sunday dinner). The clubcard promotions can be good at tescos (don't shop there without a card though!)

But on the whole, I think Aldi is the best for me. It will depend on what you buy though.

I supplement with the local freezer shop as well.

Reading that - I didn't realise how much hassle I make things!

I check the prices online and shop around but I’m lucky to have different shops near home, school, clubs so no extra petrol involved. Asda is a bit out of the way for me so I’m not checking them that regularly. I agree that it depends on what’s you are buying. We buy a lot of fresh food/ ingredients, not so much alcohol and soft drinks. I found that combination of Aldi plus Tesco clubcard offers works the best. I also try to buy on offer and stock up or batch cook, and use a lot of frozen vegs.

Lidl are getting expensive for certain items, veg oil is £1.99 now, Tesco £1.75, butter is also dearer in Lidl rather than Tesco. Don’t assume Lidl is always the cheapest option.

I go between Aldi and Asda. I used to always shop at Asda and then when Aldi came along I shopped exclusively there because it was cheaper. However, Aldi is not as cheap as it was and there is now very little difference, if any. I usually go to Asda now, because they deliver and I hate food shopping.

We do Aldi or Morrisons.
Aldi cheeses ham bread and dried fruits much cheaper than where we live.