Must buys from Lidl?

[Paulat2112]

I generally shop at Waitrose but we are looking to save money so today I went to Lidl instead. We haven't properly shopped at Lidl in maybe 6 or 7 years, but was happy with my savings. Normally spend £80-£90 a week in Waitrose but today I spent only £48 and got a lot for my money. Not a fan of our local Aldi.

What are your favourite buys from Lidl? Would love to know what I should look out for next week!

Fresh bread, doughnuts, fruit and veg, potato salad (delicious), coffee, decaffeinated tea, and pretty much any of the basics. The only thing I've not liked so far has been their dishwasher tablets, which seem a bit harsh.

Yeah in general the toiletries and cleaning products aren't great, but everything else is fine! Tinned beans/pulses are lovely, none of that rock-hard-bullet thing you get in some supermarket tins. The fruit and veg and bakery sections are great, and fresh meat/fish/eggs perfectly nice.

serano ham, prosecco, spelt (?) loaf, fake oreos, crusti-choc, fruit & veg are all fine although choice can be limited, argan oil handcream. I usually pick things up from there and then top up with a tesco shop every month for the stuff they don't stock. Don't get sucked in to the 'aisle of wonder'....it'll double your shopping time . Although I now have a useful handheld vacuum and a steam cleaner!

Sensitive baby wipes (DD now 3.5 but still used for everything!)
Mixed nuts (and all bags of nuts)
Small bananas
Most fruit and veg (love the big bags of spinach and kale)
Sweet chilli chicken skewers
Deluxe Madagascan vanilla yoghurt
Fillet steak (DH says better than supermarket)
Tins of chickpeas

There jams are beautiful.
DC had a knock off version of kinder Bueno and said it was just as good.
In fact if you like choc lost any of there replica brands of Mars snickers the peanut m&ms are better that original and more in a bag. The bars of choc are great.

We frequently buy the racks of ribs as they are far superior to any in other supermarkets.

The deli meats are very good.

There own brand of muller lights lemon is stunning.

The cleaning stuff is amazing

Actually I can't think of anything I've ever bought and not loved. We do however find the branded products more expensive to other supermarkets

Big tubs of Greek yoghurt, cold meats, filter coffee, English breakfast tea all good. Not had anything bad from the bakery: the mini focaccia things and margharita whirls always go down well here.

Happy with all of it except their weetabix!

In a recent blind taste testing session, our Cub Scouts preferred the Lidl version of Nutella to the real thing.

We love their chorizo.
Bacon lardons (extremely useful to sit in the fridge for emergencies/mac'n'cheese/carbonara/quiches etc).
Pretty much all their fruit and veg are great, and their fresh, baked-in-store bread.
The salty sticks (pretzl sticks with salt on them - to nibble with drinks instead of crisps).
Wine is actually nice - a few misses but a lot of them are good. And the higher priced prosecco is great (there's an €8 and an €11 version - we get the €11 as its still a lot cheaper than elsewhere!).

Pasta is fine.
Orange juice from fridge is good, and I like the large cartons of apple juice for making smoothies.

Organic milk is good.

And cheese - lots of lovely cheese!!

We used to use their nappies (a good few years ago) and found them better than Pampers for night flooding.

Halloumi, goats cheese, butter, greek yoghurt, bacon, crayfish tails. At easter and christmas they do pots of wasabi almonds which are adored chez poggibonsi.

Ooh they've also started doing four packs of greek yoghurt in different flavours - lemon, strawberry and coconut & vanilla which are good too

their honey cured streaky bacon is fab, as it their drycured...price wise it's on a par with tesco and the like

the giant tubs of turkish yogurt are brilliant

sliced cheeses....I cannot keep them in the house...the smoked one is especially prized.

yy to the tinned almonds, the BBQ one are also amazeballs!

ribs...all fabulous

organic chickens too, and the ordinary chicken breasts are pretty good value too

their bigger joints of meat are really good value, but do watch, they often will have a massive fridge full, and with beef the different cuts are all muddled in, so read the labels.
Pork joints, can have bones in too, so that's annoying.

Giant bags of prawn crackers!

and another vote for their jam...the cherry one and the apricot one are just as nice as Bonne Maman

Really hard pressed to think of anything we have not liked.

mmm i want to try all of these now lol, i have a feeling i won't be saving any money next week as i will be buying everything! :D

I go there once a week and spend around £60-80. I don't get much of the Deluxe stuff, although it all looks amazing. My staples are:

Bellarom 70% dark chocolate for cooking
Smokey barbecue crisps
8 packs of 2l fizzy water
Big tub of greek yoghurt
Wraps
Bags of kale
Houmous
Soave
Nuts! We eats loads of granola and the packs of nuts in Sainsbos are mini. You can get good sized packs in Lidl.
Rosemary crackers. We cannot live without them
And my favourite - the hot smoked salmon - not much more expensive than a tin of salmon and so tasty.
Also mini pizzas from the bakery are amazing for instant packed lunches

What you don't get is a huge selection of spices, herbs, sauces etc, so I often top up at Sainsburys for those. Also don't like their loo roll, so get Andrex from Sainsburys. They sometimes have specials on like maple syrup (which I use a fair bit of) and when they do I chuck 5 in at once because it's usually really cheap.

LOVE Lidl!

Jaffa cakes - much better than McVities

Parmesan

Salami - both the Milano and the deluxe Fennel seed salami

Deluxe steaks (ribeye and sirloin)

Cava (Arestel)

Dried cat food (our Siamese are very healthy on it)

Free range chicken (whole chickens and chicken breasts)

Free range pork medallions

Turkey steaks

Frozen chunky oven chips

Frozen peas

Dishwasher tablets (the simple ones: I use separate [Lidl] Rinseaid) - I live in a soft water area, so split the tablet in two and only use half at a time

Cornflakes and chocorice

74% dark chocolate

Free range eggs

Ready made curries (both fresh ones and from the freezer)

W5 cream cleaner.

800g packs of mince

Kidney beans

Onions

Tomatoes on the vine

At the moment Fresh raspberries

Blueberries

Full fat Greek yoghurt

Dry cure back bacon

My list is a bit "all over the place" - been trying to remember all the things I get regularly.

I'm a Lidl convert too, instead of Waitrose. I reckon my food bill's easily halved and the quality is generally better when it comes to fruit, veg, meat and fish. I certainly notice the extra cost if I go into Sainsbury's or Tesco's to top up.
Even my very elderly parents enjoy the bakery items I buy for them from Lidl, and they're life-long Sainsbury's aficionados!

Agree most of the suggestions - one thing we didn't like was their version of Cheerios!

Kitchen roll is grand as well - although I don't usually get the loo roll (I get the luxury version when I do though).

Eggs are grand, baking staples too.
Own brand lemon and lime (fizzy) was preferred by Cubs to 7up.
(But Cubs much preferred kelloggs for Rice krispies and corn flakes!).

DH likes their craft/German/Belgian type beers.

The cheap gin and vodka are perfect for making lemoncello or other "fruit infused spirits" (raspberry vodka, slow gin etc).

And their vegetable seeds are pretty decent as well.

Just all the deli stuff. Give me my trolley and a shovel and I could put away the lot.

Veg is good and cheap.

If you have a lidl with fresh bread - yum.

Chocolate - all/any as good as its equivalent brand from kid bars to 70% stuff.

Their Euro beers.

Wines.

Cakes.

Frozen veg and their special/best frozen buffet stuff.

Salmon and prawns.

Nuts.

Oh, I forgot. CHOCOLATE RAISINS. Can't stop eating them.

Anything from the bakery, particularly the pain-au-chocolat.....best ones for miles around.
The bags of Californian walnuts - top quality nuts.
The various continental 'specials' - I always have a look what's in the store and love coming away with things like turron or halva.
The drinking yogurt (in bottles by the yogurts) - love the tropical flavour, it's totally delish
The milk chocolate
Paprika crisps
The little woven baskets of garlic
Mini stollens at Christmas

The dark chocolate with raspberries

The chocolate coated fruit (strawberries, pineapple and cherries)

The chocolate mint and lemon creams

Their bakery pain au chocolat

The apple cereal bars and the cranberry ones

DH reckons one of their ready made iced coffees is the most caffeiney compared to other brands and useful when he has to leave home early in the morning

At Christmas, the chocolate marzipan and mini stollen. (Anyone know if the Gluhwein is nice? I bought some last year and didn't use it so have it in the loft)

Their seasonal greeting cards are usually nice too, e.g. for Father's day

Today I bought the lychee liqueur and it was very nice (we had it with the Kopparberg alcohol free pear cider but that's not from Lidl).

Fresh pesto
Hoummous ( really cheap and not made with cream cheese like Tesco's)
Deluxe salmon pate stuff ( can't remember what it's called exactly)
Creme brulee
Incredibly cheap and good veg
Baklava really wish they would discontinue it before I gain another stone
Small bottles of fizzy water 99p for 6

I tried the cheese twists from the bakery section and loved them :D gonna go for a mooch about tomorrow i think

Bread is better and cheaper than Kingsmill (all I have ever used) also the meat is good and they reduce 2 days before not one day like all the other supermarkets. I stocked my freezer up.woth meat this week. The children like the breakfast waffles and the bars like the little kinder ones. I may have also stocked up on little ones shorts and tshirts this week

Stocked my freezer up with *