Following on from the Tesco thread,

[WinkyWinkola]

are there any goods specific to Lidl and Aldi that you recommend? Or meals?

Aldi:
The chocolate
The biscuits
The Christmas food like stollen and panettone
The fruit teas
The coffee
Tomato sauce
Mayo
Choc spread
Jam
Honey
Cleaning products...all the laundry stuff is good housekeeping recommended. Loo rolls, kitchen towels etc. My aunt swears by their face cream too.

I don't buy meat from there and I dont rate the veg and fruit tbh - not enough of a selection.

I do Lidl once a month or so. The good stuff includes...

Pasta.

Chocolate (unless FairTrade is important to you.)
Biscuits
Washing products.
Marmalade
Cooked meats
Fruit and veg
Toaster waffles (mmmm)
Part baked bread.
Frozen veg.
Icecream.
German Christmas goodies.
Crisps and nuts

I'm not a fan of their dairy, fresh meat, or frozen meat.
The wine can be hit or miss.
Ready meals are very poor.

Have only shopped at Aldi but we like
The really cheap pasta and spaghetti
The curry sauces mainly buy the balti one
Own brand cereal
Bread especially the rolls you cook in the oven
Veg is ok but limited selection. Some is on 69p and they are generally really good value
Kids drink the flavoured water in school lunches
Basic ice cream is ok
The choc ices that are half choc covered and half wafer
Tikka flavour cooked chicken is a hit with dh
The specially selected fudge at xmas
Bread mixes - they were reduced this week and seem really good from the one we've made
Crisps and biscuits are all fine too

Oh and the 30p bars of chocolate

The pizzas

Spinach ricotta and caramelised onion and sweet chilli chicken are amazing

The diablo..... Well it has after effects as it burns going in and out

I really love their torchon ham

The salmon en croute is nice, you get a cheese sauce one or, I think, prawn and white wine?

Oh, yes the pizzas! Very nice.
Also the ice cream.
I forgot the bread mixes...will get some this week!

Lidl fresh bakery products and continental meats are yummy.

No Aldi near me, but when I can get to one, I stock up on their cat food.

Lidl are good for fruit and veg, detergents, bread, canned veg, nuts, cooking ingredients (flour, spices, sugar) sliced meat and pasta.

they do a really nice perfume for under £5!! :)

Aldi do a lovely Vegan dark chocolate bar for vegan DH and their own brand dairy chocolate buttons are nut free which is great for my son who has a nut allergy. I also like their wine and beer/cider.

Lidl:
Peanut butter
Greek yogurt (only place I can find full-fat kind)
Prosecco

I actually buy quite a bit at Lidl, but these are the things where I prefer the Lidl item over what other stores carry.

I went to Aldi.

Was staggered by how much I bought for £70.

Lidl is across the road from our Aldi. Will visit there too.

I only go to Aldi as no LIdly near me.

The Aldi real maple syrup is several pounds cheaper.

I love the Aldi Parmesan, the French Torchon ham in the large flat packs and the Halloumi.

Cheap packets of cereal from £1,19 to £1,50 and the quality is great. My teenage son doesn't turn his nose up at them as he does with other own brand cereals.

The fruit and Veg lasts and I have never noticed any difference in quality. The apples are especially good value as so expensive elsewhere.

The Panini, Crumpets, Brioche (Super gorgeous) and Tiger Bread is superb.

Bags of frozen Tuna steaks at £2,99 are excellent for tuna burgers and also w/ a stir fry. The steaks are small but they fry up well. They also have bags of Frozen Basa (Catfish) which are sweet and succulent and only £2,99 to £3,99.

The Babywipes are just as good as any other-I use them for make up removal. Lacura face creams have been widely praised.

Plenty of US foods in the wire displays in the central part of the store. Look out for seasonings like Old Bay, Pretzels, Marshmallow Fluff and plenty of good spice and herb mixes too for Thai/Chinese. Junk food wise, their tortilla chips, cheese twists and balls are yummy and DH buys shed loads of the various bags of nuts. The peanuts, Cashews, Macadamias are incredible value and very good quality.

Limoncello is worth buying when you see it too.

Aldi's muesli in the purple box is lovely, loads of fruit.

Choc spread, baby wipes.
Mulled wine.

bread..warburtons is £1 so 50p cheaper than most of the other supermarkets

pasta...the gnocchi is gorgeous

fruit and veg I buy bananas, apples, blackcurrants..super cheap and lovely
peppers, cucumbers, onions, mushrooms, maris pipers

steak...they do a mature steak which is lovely and never tough

tinned fruit..really good value

cashews, pistachios...we buy loads of these for snacking

cleaning products super cheap and great

their tinned tomatoes are as good as the really expensive brands. I won't use waitrose/sainsburys basic tinned tomatoes as they taste awful but aldi's are great

basmati rice

I use lacura face creams now after years of using decleor and clarins
the organic shampoo and conditioner are great and also the body cream

paracetamol is 19P!

the cheese is yummy - the mature cheddar (with the cow on the front) is similar to cathedral city in taste but nicer and creamier
garlic bread slices

greek yogurt...buy loads!

their sparkling chardonnay is lovely
the Aldi prosecco is also nice - a bit dryer than the sparkling chardonnay

Well this thread was a bit of a revelation! Just gone and done most of a weekly shop at Lidl - it is only half a mile further than the Tesco we usually use. Much smaller, but it was so refreshing not having a million choices for everything!

Have only so far tried the sliced gherkins in my late-lunch sandwich. Got quite a lot of fruit and veg and it looks good. Got a kilo bucket of Greek yogurt on the recommendation of a PP, can't wait to have that with my fruit salads for breakfast. Am amazed at the cheap booze too - got a couple of British ales for 99p each, a bottle of red wine for £2.59 (it doesn't need to be good, it's for coq au vin, and the coq was £4.50). Overall, four bag-for-life sized bags of shopping including booze and meat for £46... Not bad!

I prefer having less choice too.

Too much choice flummoxes me. Especially when the prices aren't transparent.