Sainsbury vs Lidl - OH MY GOD!!

[Stargazing]

Just did my first Lidl shop after years of shopping at Sainso's and being increasingly terrified by hundreds of pounds of groceries disappearing in a matter of days, despite regular supplementation (is that a word?) from the local shops.

Our household -

DH, works odd hours so often not home for dinner, never takes lunch with him, manages to wolf a bowl fo cornflakes in the morning.

Me - very health conscious, weight conscious etc - vegan, wheat-free, dairy-free, all round pain in the a*se dinner guest

DD - not quite 2, good appetite, eats all her veg and fruit, likes meat, 3 solid meals a day plus 1 or 2 snacks, mostly of the dried fruit variety.

DS - just over 6 months, has been on purees for 2 months, has just started eating fish/ meat/ chicken as well as veg, lentils etc.

Today at Lidl I spent .... £74.18

In the interests of being a TOTAL geek, I did the same shop online at Sainso's and it came to... £122.99

I tried to get weights. sizes, etc the same, only chose the basic brand stuff etc etc .. and it still came out nearly £50 more expensive!!!! Am in total shock. Granted, it was not nearly so pleasant a shopping experience (had to do it myself, for one thing, with the infants, rather than having some delivery man bring it round, and was accosted by someone wanting 'just a few pence for a hot meal' in the car park ... ) but OH MY GOD - am sooo converted.

I have found at the 2 lidl stores local to us that the fruit and veg doesn't keep.
B&M is great but quite often the stuff has very short dates on it. Ok I suppose for best before dates so long as you're not bothered.

i bought some stewing steak and chicken thighs for the dog, didnt see any free range cickens though. will go to butcher for meat still i think.

i meant chickens!!

i buy meat from butchers ... everything else from lidl. asda sometimes and tesco rarely.

love lidl especially half price fruit and veg

they do organic and fair trade , not a lot, but the things i want like bananas, potatos, carrots etc and coffee & sugar.

can stock up on snacky things cheaply. and pasta and tinned toms.

DH loves the tinned mackrel they do, but the squid was absolutely mingtastic and went straight in the bin. but i am not sure tinned squid is a good idea at all....

kiddiz - do you keep fruit/veg in the fridge?

I do my big shop at Aldi and use morrisons for my washing powder, cola and dog food. I only buy these items else where as i can only use persil for dd2's eczma, and we prefer morrisons own brand cola to any other.

Nappyaddict....yes I do, not spuds onions or bananas though. Think it's perculiar to the branches near me though...maybe the turnover as mil has no such probs

i do find aldi is better than lidl for fruit/veg actually. do you have one of those near you?

I too was a Sainsburies or Waitrose snob shopper who has been recently tempted by Aldi. I took my reusable bags which of course are Sainsburies reusables as I normally shop there. A fat woman standing near the entrance blew smoke at me and said loudly to her friend " I think she's got lost, she thinks she's at Sainsburys - you're not at Sainsburys now love - do you think we should tell her?"

Next time I will be sure not to wear my Boden tiara and bunting-adorned Hunter wellies.

brocolli - . good to know the (supermarket) class system is alive and well and living at aldi....

Wendyweber I didnt know there was a B&M near us!!! I went to one years ago in cleveleys but really was totally unaware there was one near to me.

that is a massive difference, I am a Lidl convert, there cat food is soo much cheaper that and asda for us, sainsburys once a month after pay day.

DH works for B&M, bkbk, I wouldn't have known either otherwise Our nearest now is Accrington (ex Kwiksave) & there's a big one near the bus station in Preston.

They were taken over 2-3 years ago (when Cleveleys was the flagship store) by a couple of very savvy entreprenurial brothers who are expanding like mad on the back of retail chains who lost their way - they have taken over lots of the empty Kwiksaves, all the Glyn Webbs, and currently quite a few Au Naturales.

pmsl at the sainsbury's bags broccoli!

May I recommend the Lidl luxury muesli? It's so full of nuts and fruit that I have to mix it with cheap-as-chips oats or if I've been posh, Holland & Barrett muesli base, it's a total bargain.

And good for deli-type stuff as well, very cheap.

But I too have my doubts about the meat and haven't been able to bring myself to buy it there.

Brocolli my BIL shops at Aldi- as he says @Daddy owns much of Dorset' LOL- how do you think most well people get that way? BIl and Sis save lots by cutting small corners, mortgage paid off thisars early.

Some things at Aldi are better than elsewhere- cold cuts for a start, if it's even vaguely German you're laughing. Add in Lidl fruit and you're on a winner!

We're shopping there now, cuting back on the basics means we can afford to buy free range meat on the same budget that used to do us for a week in Asda.

i can recommend lidls, frozen berry yogurt ice- cream dd loves it and i quite like it too its only £1.59 per tub also the mature chedder slices and the peppered ham is nice only just over a pound each , i usually shop at sainsbury or ocado for online .
Who ever mentioned whole earth peanut butter dont you think its gone up in price used to be 97p but its now 1.67!!! i got the sainsburys organic one the other day it was only 52p and no added suger!!

Thanks for that ELR. Yes I had noticed, stocked up on 2 jars in Asda, nearly fainted when I saw the price. Asda's own and Tesco both have sugar in too so good to know about Sainsbury's . I'll rem to stock up when I next go in

The museli is amazing.

I have fooled dh into thinking it is Dorset museli!!

Mila-- its quite nice tastes the same i think its only got 95% peanuts as apposed to 97% in whole earth and the jar is slightly smaller well actually only the same size as whole earth organic
Gonna try the museli

My local Lidl (handily next to my GP...) is excellent for cheap seasonal fruit + veg (but may be overpackaged), cheese, meat, chocolate biscuits, etc.
Sometimes there is good bread and tinned stuff, but a lot of the juices are 'juice drinks' with loads of sugar and additives, and I read the descriptions on cans and frozen things before buying.

The Lidl is also empty on a weekday morning. I tend to do an online shop from Tesco every 3 weeks as the Tesco guys have braincells and make sensible substitutions, whereas Sainsburys were always late and gave me random stuff. Then I top up with other places (greengrocer, Lidl, butcher, Sainsburys, when I could walk - now just the local shop and requests to Mr NC).
I'm actually saving loads of money by not being able to leave the house...

I heart B&M, whenever I go North to visit my mum I make a beeline for it, she also has an enormous Wilkos next door to it AND a Home & Bargains and a Primark in the same precinct !!

I tend to drive up with an empty boot and come home laden....

thanks for that wendyweber, I am going to go down accy and explore Aldi, Lidl, B&M, Netto and Home and bargain. Do you know if Glyn Webb is still there? Glyn Webb still there or not

Inspired by this thread, Ihave just nipped down to local Lidl to get a few bits to see us through til Friday shop day.

My was it grm... grimer than a grim thing...dont think I could do weekly shop there as they dont stock a lot of the stuff I buy regulary - or alternatives.

However - bouht 16 items, branded where possible, bread, fruit, nappies, cheese, cat food. Bill came to £16.

Just entered the same stuff into Tesco - £25.89 I am shocked that it was over twice as expensive!!!!!

Glyn Webb in Acc is not one of the B&M homestores, bkbk - dunno who has it, I never go past. I was there today, did a swoop round Aldi, Matalan & Lidl (I always bypass Asda now because I hate their stupid new carpark layout) - didn't have time to go up to Netto or do town centre. Aldi was enlarged recently, I like it a lot and the staff are great - Lidl's a bit more frazzled I find.

(I only needed a couple of things at Lidl so didn't do a list and then forgot the one I really needed )(I'll have to go again )

Wendy I am going to nip down Acci on friday to check out Aldi and Lidl. I have been in lidl before but with the blinkers on and shall be checking things out more carefully. I shall also try and find B&M whilst I am there.