ALDI & LIDL Food and Drink Worth Trying?

ALDI & LIDL Food and Drink Worth Trying?

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Discussion

0a

Original Poster:

23,879 posts

193 months

Thursday 2nd February 2012
quotequote all
Tonight I'm going to enter the local ALDI for the first time and take a look around. What would PHers recommend trying (if anything)?

Mr Roper

12,985 posts

193 months

Thursday 2nd February 2012
quotequote all
Beans are bad, so are the cereals. The rest is good.

SHutchinson

2,040 posts

183 months

Thursday 2nd February 2012
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Peri-Peri chicken was quite edible.

The food in there is generally really good though, especially the cured meats. Once I open a pack of their German peppered salami I often find myself unable to not finish the whole thing.

NotDave

20,951 posts

156 months

Thursday 2nd February 2012
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Veg - good

Lamb shanks - lick

Bread based stuff - good

Juices - fine

Cheeses - fine

Salad - fine

Wine - some is OK, odd shocker.

Frozen stuff, is the same as any other supermarket.

HTH

0a

Original Poster:

23,879 posts

193 months

Thursday 2nd February 2012
quotequote all
Very useful, thanks all. I recall being told the cured meat was good, so will be picking some up.

Stoatman

592 posts

166 months

Thursday 2nd February 2012
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Badger ale , around 1.39 . Slurp !

redtwin

7,518 posts

181 months

Thursday 2nd February 2012
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0a said:
Very useful, thanks all. I recall being told the cured meat was good, so will be picking some up.
It is. The cheaper basic stuff isn't worth a trip, but spend a bit more and the various hams etc are lovely. My fave is the French Torchon ham. Proper massive slices, thin cut and scrumptious.

0a

Original Poster:

23,879 posts

193 months

Thursday 2nd February 2012
quotequote all
At the till now. The bloke in front has a funny accent and what looks like his kid's name as a tattoo on his neck.

Stoatman

592 posts

166 months

Thursday 2nd February 2012
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Yeah , always head down getting concentrating on bargains when I go in . Never make eye to eye contact LOL

Steffan

10,362 posts

227 months

Thursday 2nd February 2012
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In a former life I owned two Children's Day Nurseries I thought Education was a good investment and it was. Sold them both after ten years of fun when I was planning retirement. Both still going strong.

I digress to flatter Aldi.

The Nurseies bought A LOT of food each year, and soft drinks, ice cream etc etc. Aldi were by far the best supermarket in terms of quality in the are and we tried them all.

The quality of their cooked meats, bread, cheese, eggs, yoghurts and everything else was completely unbeatable. We were (well the staff were) feeding over 175 children six days a week every week. And the prices were miles below every competitor.

You need to become used to the Germanic descriptions and product lines and discover the lines that are suited to you. The cheese/bacon/ham tends to be Danish and much of the pastries etc come from Austria and Germany.

Bear in mind we NEVER had ONE cause to complain buying for two Nurseries over twenty years in total. Not once.

I do not think they can be beaten. I suspect Lidel will be the same.

Germany efficiency. You cant beat it. It PH terms Vorsprung durch Technik.

remedy

1,635 posts

190 months

Thursday 2nd February 2012
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Mr Roper said:
Beans are bad, so are the cereals. The rest is good.
What!?! Their Harvest Morn Chocolate Clusters are amazing. I used to get 3 or 4 boxes in there everytime I was in the area and for 99p a box it was brilliant value.

condor

8,837 posts

247 months

Thursday 2nd February 2012
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Their frankfurter (hot dog) sausages in a jar - 5 or 6 for just over a £1 - are very tasty..better than Lidls (which cost £1.29).

They have Ffyes bananas cheap at approx 70p for 6 - veg is cheap but doesn't last long.

I only visit Aldi if I'm in the vicinity - I wouldn't go out of my way to visit it.

mugs56

38 posts

192 months

Thursday 2nd February 2012
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Be ready with an excuse when you see someone you know ..."Oh I only come here for the jammy dodgers/ seeded bread" lol they are nice though.

evilmunkey

1,377 posts

158 months

Thursday 2nd February 2012
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i like the veg... good prices but dont tend to buy more than i can use in say 3 days... they do red dog hot dogs in my local and i cant get enough of em especialy the red dog chilli franks... mmmm on the whole its not bad if on a budget,

bazking69

8,620 posts

189 months

Thursday 2nd February 2012
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I do alot of our shopping at Aldi/Lidl now. Alot of the stuff is good quality for bargain prices. Blows Asda out of the water on alot of things, especially meat, cheese and veg.

jas xjr

11,309 posts

238 months

Thursday 2nd February 2012
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Stoatman said:
Badger ale , around 1.39 . Slurp !
Is champion badger ? smile I likey

jas xjr

11,309 posts

238 months

Thursday 2nd February 2012
quotequote all
I bought a cordless nailgun from there. Installed 40ft of fencing with. Both still fine

0a

Original Poster:

23,879 posts

193 months

Thursday 2nd February 2012
quotequote all
Well I came out with what looks like a lot of shopping for £35 which is a bargain compared to the usual weekly shop. Raw meat will be purchased from the butcher.

First thoughts regarding the quality of food are very positive. The fruit and veg were far cheaper than TESCO/Sainsbury's and look to be equal or better in quality, the salad tonight was good. I went for the more expensive cold meats (still good value) and they were very good indeed. Finished with a couple of own brand cornetto type things and was surprised how tasty they were (other supermarket own brand ones are rubbish).

I don't like the whole charging for bags thing (I never remember to bring my own), they seemed surprised to have customers so the 2 tills open had big queues, they have cut trolley parks to save money (you have to walk all the way back to the store), and the customers seemed to have thousands of irritating kids running around.

Overall, I'll be going back. Using the butcher, ALDI and out local market I should be able to remove all TESCO spend and up the quality of the food we eat for less money. I expected to leave with a few items and purchased most of the non meat week shop there.

Steffan

10,362 posts

227 months

Friday 3rd February 2012
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0a said:
Well I came out with what looks like a lot of shopping for £35 which is a bargain compared to the usual weekly shop. Raw meat will be purchased from the butcher.

First thoughts regarding the quality of food are very positive. The fruit and veg were far cheaper than TESCO/Sainsbury's and look to be equal or better in quality, the salad tonight was good. I went for the more expensive cold meats (still good value) and they were very good indeed. Finished with a couple of own brand cornetto type things and was surprised how tasty they were (other supermarket own brand ones are rubbish).

I don't like the whole charging for bags thing (I never remember to bring my own), they seemed surprised to have customers so the 2 tills open had big queues, they have cut trolley parks to save money (you have to walk all the way back to the store), and the customers seemed to have thousands of irritating kids running around.

Overall, I'll be going back. Using the butcher, ALDI and out local market I should be able to remove all TESCO spend and up the quality of the food we eat for less money. I expected to leave with a few items and purchased most of the non meat week shop there.
Aldi and Lidel (I tend to rate the two together) are idiosyncratic in their customer approach and till queues ( LONG!!))

But the quality of the food is really excellent and much cheaper than mainstream supermarkets.

You can put all your foodstuffs etc into the trolley, wheel it to the car and fill up the boot etc. I always have a few heavy duty supermarket bags in the car just to be prepared.

Not surprised you liked it Da, the food quality is as good as any. Better than most.

jas xjr

11,309 posts

238 months

Friday 3rd February 2012
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We find that we still need to visit a mainstream supermarket as well as an aldi. But where I live it is ok as they are opposite each other. Waitrose is in the next county