My month at Aldi experiment

[Pippioddstocking]

So after reading so many threads on here about Aldi I decided for a month to swap from my usual combination of asda and waitrose to Just Aldi . I brought all my usual things and have just done my final shop for the month .
It's been AMAZING . I've saved nearly 250 pounds and quite frankly I think the food has been nicer and better quality . I'm a total convert .

Anyone else found this ? I just can't get how the other supermarkets get away with charging so much more ?

Yep, converted about two months ago to try and save money. We used to get a Tesco delivery every 2 weeks. We're saving a fortune and I think that in general the food is a lot nicer. The only problem is that it's slightly inconvenient as it involves a bus ride and trying to do the weekly shop with a toddler in tow. However, because they don't have massive stores I can get it done quite quickly and lugging it all home on the bus means I'm careful about only getting what I need.

Mrs underwood I know what you mean about shopping quickly . Managed today to do 8 days worth of food shopping in twenty minutes .
I think it's because they aren't trying to lure you into a clothes or home section ( I always fell for that )

Converted years ago. It hurts now to go elsewhere!

Saved 200 quid over last month. Food better quality than ocado and waitrose where I used to shop.

Only thing don't buy there are squash, readymade soups, evian, eggs and lactose free milk but we buy everything else there.

Even bought stuffed frozen turkey crown there for Xmas day after giving one a whirl last week. At 9.99 am saving about 40 quid!

In terms of hair skin and beauty is there anything you would recommend ?

I find their hand cream AMAZING, and the makeup remover wipes at 89p are fantastic on my sensitive skin

I like the Q10 moisturiser, and also liek the shampoo that looks like Tresemme.

I like all the lacura stuff I've tried tbh.

I miss the make-up now as it's not a regular thing in any of my local aldi's

I am currently using both the hydralonic (?) serum and also the almond facial oil at night. Both are the best things my skin has seen in a long time!

I love Aldi. I've recently converted back to Tesco, purely for convenience as I'm heavily pregnant and can't be arsed to go shopping but I do miss Aldi. I'm spending a little bit more but not masses as I'm sticking to online shopping so not being tempted by things I don't need.

Facewipes at 89p are superb as is the Lacura night cream. I don't like their shampoo or conditioner though. Otherwise, we can easily do all of our shopping there. Oh, apple juice - it's not pleasant. The orange juice though is delicious! You have to try their curry sauces too - ah.maze.ing. Oh and the chocolate! The chocolate is fab.

Shower gel and shaving gel are great, according to dh tier razors aren't great as they don't stay sharp for any length of time. I've also used their sun cream/after sun which has been good too

Excellent , I can start adding these onto my next list.

Is there anything ( apart from Apple Juice) I should avoid?

I'm not getting it!!! I just don't seem to save the money, I spend pretty much (within £10) of what I spend at ASDA. I can't get everything I want either: beansprouts for example

I so love Aldi. We did our week's shopping there at the weekend for 110 for a family of five, higher than normal because we were buying lots of dried fruit etc. for Christmas cake/pudding. Otherwise it comes in under 100 each week. On the odd week we end up doing our shop in Ocado because of time constraints it's about 220. For very similar stuff.

The only thing I don't like there is the fizzy water.

Deadcert I found asda to be much more expensive . Is your Aldi a small store in somewhere like London ?

If you buy a lot of smartprice, Asda own brand, or the very good special offers that Asda often do, you probably won't save much money, especially if you get tempted by the weekly specials or buy more 'because it's cheap'.

Lets face it, there's little risk of you accidentally buying a chainsaw in Asda is there .

But if you just want consistent low prices on a reasonable range of good quality goods, you can't lose. We get about 90% of our shopping at Aldi, except we mostly get our meat from the farm shop. But I have had some Aldi meat and it's been very good. I'll probably go to a bigger supermarket about once a month to stock up on things Aldi don't sell.

Once you get used to it, the small stores with less choice are an advantage as shopping is quicker.

Lacuna wrinkle defy day cream is great. Equal to brands that charge 2/3/4 times more.

Oh, forgot to say, the fresh soups in the plastic tubs at Aldi are made in the same factory as the similar product at M&S.

I haven't bought them, mostly because I make a lot of my own soup, but I did buy the M&S version once and was not impressed - not a patch on my home made versions and very expensive in comparison, especially as I generally make soup to use up things that would otherwise be thrown away.

Yy to the hand cream, I use the one in the red tube. We use the 55p a litre bubble bath as pump soap too.

The stollen is lovely. Not dry like sainsburys.

What I found when I tried doing a price comparison on MySupermarket once was that the Aldi stuff gets matched with the basics ranges of other supermarkets, which really distorts the savings. For example, the torchon ham was matched against the real basic ham shavings stuff from Sainsburys. The parma ham is the exact same brand as Sainsburys but much cheaper - that's a clearer comparison.

We also do a top up shop of the stuff we can't get in Aldi every 2/3 weeks but buying the bulk of stuff there makes such a massive difference.

Is the washing powder any good ?

It's great, as is the fabric conditioner. It's won a Good Housekeeping award I believe.

Oh this is quite encouraging. I've not particularly liked the Aldi nearest to me it's not quite got the right balance of products I need, probably just this particular one, but I recently dropped into Lidl and was impressed.

I'm doing a week's shopping there this week and comparing prices afterwards. Do people think that Lidl is cheaper as well, if you don't stock up on too much stollen!

The almat bio powder is the only thing to convert me from aerial - ever. Is brilliant

what did you buy at aldi op?

I love their version of amaretto

We get the litre bottles of non bio washing liquid - works as well as anything else I've tried.

Mrs grumble - I got all the usual groceries but didn't need washing powder as had enough left from last month .
I found their meat was really good quality and really liked their breakfast cereals . Fruit and veg seemed to last as long as other Supermarkets and tasted as good . I didn't get much frozen stuff apart from peas as it's not my usual thing . Their dishwasher tablets were excellent and much getter than my usual fairy brand . I managed to avoid the stollen and gingerbread but that's def on next months list !