Lidl - just managed to use them for a full shop

[Bonefish Blues]

We use Lidl and top up at Tesco - sign of how times have changed eh?

[technodup]

KFC said:

I don't think you can get a full weeks food out of there. Sure you might be able to pick up the occasional nice thing... but they don't seem to have any variety. A lot of the food they sell is absolute crap quality.

I'm just really struggling to see why anyone would genuinely choose to shop there, unless finances forced it?

I'm struggling to see how anyone misses the point of Aldi/Lidl.

I have a Sainburys Local literally next door, a big Morrisons 300m away and Asda/Tesco nearby as well. I do my weekly (more like monthly) shop in Lidl through choice. The benefits are many:-

smaller store - quicker to get round
less choice - quicker to get round, less comparing prices/value
fewer 241 type offers to distract/make you spend more
better prices - cheaper shop
oddities - things you wouldn't get in other stores e.g. the £40 ham, powertools etc
quality - cold meats, , breads, crisps, biscuits, cereals all better than branded

I see going into the huge Tescos etc as a battle. Far too big, so many distractions to keep you in there and buying stuff you don't need. Who needs 10 different ketchups in varying brands, sizes, sugar content etc? It's ketchup ffs.

Aldi/Lidl I see as straightforward, no nonsense and good value. Go in with a list, nick round in ten mins and gtf to spend time on what I actually enjoy. I've not tried everything but I can't remember buying anything I regretted or thought was poor quality.

They sell Lynx at £3. Their Cien equivalent is 75p. Likewise shampoo, shower gel, handwash, detergent etc. Seeing as it ends up down the plughole I can't see the point in spending more.

It's a bit off a faff at the checkout if you've got a lot of stuff, the stores aren't exactly exciting and they attract some strange characters but you pay your money and make your choice.

[StuTheGrouch]

HotJambalaya said:

Is there any particular difference between aldi and lidl?

I prefer the meat from Lidl, so tend to shop there. Plus our local Lidl has a bakery which does some lovely bread (and it's always still warm).

From my experience Aldi has better stuff in the central aisle bit (I saw someone refer to this as 'the central aisle of financial ruin').

I like them both, but it took me a while to get over the check out procedure (i.e. fk this checkout person is fast!!).

[StuTheGrouch]

bhstewie said:

I shudder to think how much they must throw away.

A few years ago I worked on a project looking at food waste, and actually visited a warehouse to obtain samples of waste from M&S. I took a whole roll cage full and back at the workplace we started going through it. Nearly everything was still edible (all still packaged) and largely consisted of breads, meats (I remember multiple whole chickens) and ready meals. Loads of those tubs of chocolate treats too (such as those chocolate-covered cornflake cake things).

My first thought was 'why isn't this given to the homeless?'. The answer is simple- if anyone gets food poisoning from food viewed as 'waste' then M&S could be in a world of st, so they won't do this. Since that project they send more of their waste to anaerobic digestion to recover energy, but it is still a lot of good food being wasted. Tragic really.

[bitchstewie]

StuTheGrouch said:

A few years ago I worked on a project looking at food waste, and actually visited a warehouse to obtain samples of waste from M&S. I took a whole roll cage full and back at the workplace we started going through it. Nearly everything was still edible (all still packaged) and largely consisted of breads, meats (I remember multiple whole chickens) and ready meals. Loads of those tubs of chocolate treats too (such as those chocolate-covered cornflake cake things).

It doesn't surprise me in the slightest.

The Waitrose near me generally has appalling use by dates on food, a day or two tops.

I don't know if that's a sign of quality or disorganisation and I don't know if it's just how it is near me but it puts me off buying too much there because you just can't buy a few days worth of meat or certain other products.

M&S is just a bit weird IMO, the food is lovely but it just goes back to my point about waste - I simply can't believe how much of it the (reasonably) fresh stuff there is on the shelves.

That said maybe it sells, the food hall at the large one at Tamworth is a bit like Mos Eisley most days.

[StuTheGrouch]

Makes you wonder, also, how the waste is factored into their profit margins. So maybe we aren't paying for quality after all, we're simply paying higher prices under the illusion of quality but really it's to cover their costs for waste

[bitchstewie]

StuTheGrouch said:

Makes you wonder, also, how the waste is factored into their profit margins. So maybe we aren't paying for quality after all, we're simply paying higher prices under the illusion of quality but really it's to cover their costs for waste

They must do.

Don't get me wrong I'm not commenting on the quality of their food just the absolute stark comparison in the volume of "stuff" on shelves between walking into Aldi/Lidl vs. walking into an M&S Food Hall.

[KFC]

I'm off to Lidl or Aldi in a minute to buy food for the dogs and some cheap booze for the homeless. Just out of interest I'll try and get all the ingredients for this to make myself - http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2838670/thai-po...

[Bullett]

Looks nice.

Might struggle with the thai paste and the 'light' coconut milk.

[WinstonWolf]

KFC said:

How am I on the windup? I'm simply saying I don't think its possible to shop in Lidl for a full weeks worth of food. Unless you've got no taste buds, or no money

Their tinned mackerel in tomato sauce is much nicer than the M&S stuff. Go figure...

[uk_vette]

wijit said:

uk_vette said:

The Aldi weetabix are better tasteing than the original product.
Also you should try the Aldi Readybrek (sp) very good,
and have bought them particular products for years.

vette

That's pretty good to know. I can let the appropriate people know. But trust me, both are exactly the same.

How do you know they are both the same?

Do you make them?

vette

[KFC]

Okay so from that Recipe I posted, heres what was available in Albufeira Lidl.

1 tbsp vegetable oil - yes
bunch spring onions, sliced - no
small bunch coriander, stalks finely chopped, leaves picked - no
400g pork tenderloin, sliced - yes
4 tbsp Thai red curry paste - no
4 tbsp peanut butter - yes
175g pack baby corn - no (substituted for a can of regular corn)
400ml can light coconut milk - no

I gave up at this point and didn't check if they had brown sugar or soy sauce since if they don't have spring onions or coriander my efforts to cook this are finished without visiting a real supermarket first. I wasn't particularly surprised to not be able to fill the recipe list... but I was going there anyway so it was more just curiosity to see. I didn't expect to have to go without coriander or spring onions though.

It was cheap enough for the things I did get :




But generally crappy quality, generally crappy choice & generally crappy service (horrible queues) its hard for me to see it as anything other than a shop for students, the jobless and poor people.

Maybe its totally different in UK... I suspect not.

Edited by KFC on Wednesday 20th May 20:14

[prand]

KFC said:

But generally crappy quality, generally crappy choice & generally crappy service (horrible queues) its hard for me to see it as anything other than a shop for students, the jobless and poor people.

My general experience too. Tried to get some lasagne sheets, no chance.

[LordGrover]

^^ That surprises me. I'm not a pasta person but I see a decent range in my local Lidl.

[dazco]

prand said:

KFC said:

But generally crappy quality, generally crappy choice & generally crappy service (horrible queues) its hard for me to see it as anything other than a shop for students, the jobless and poor people.

My general experience too. Tried to get some lasagne sheets, no chance.

I went to Asda for some Frikadelle, no chance
I went to Tesco for a leg of Serrano ham, no chance.
I went to Sainsburys for a band saw, no chance.

Not everyone can sell everything.

[WinstonWolf]

dazco said:

prand said:

KFC said:

But generally crappy quality, generally crappy choice & generally crappy service (horrible queues) its hard for me to see it as anything other than a shop for students, the jobless and poor people.

My general experience too. Tried to get some lasagne sheets, no chance.

I went to Asda for some Frikadelle, no chance
I went to Tesco for a leg of Serrano ham, no chance.
I went to Sainsburys for a band saw, no chance.

Not everyone can sell everything.

My local Tesco haven't sold Gillette anti-perspirant for ages

[dazco]

KFC said:

Okay so from that Recipe I posted, heres what was available in Albufeira Lidl.

1 tbsp vegetable oil - yes
bunch spring onions, sliced - no
small bunch coriander, stalks finely chopped, leaves picked - no
400g pork tenderloin, sliced - yes
4 tbsp Thai red curry paste - no
4 tbsp peanut butter - yes
175g pack baby corn - no (substituted for a can of regular corn)
400ml can light coconut milk - no

I gave up at this point and didn't check if they had brown sugar or soy sauce since if they don't have spring onions or coriander my efforts to cook this are finished without visiting a real supermarket first. I wasn't particularly surprised to not be able to fill the recipe list... but I was going there anyway so it was more just curiosity to see. I didn't expect to have to go without coriander or spring onions though.

It was cheap enough for the things I did get :




But generally crappy quality, generally crappy choice & generally crappy service (horrible queues) its hard for me to see it as anything other than a shop for students, the jobless and poor people.

Maybe its totally different in UK... I suspect not.

Edited by KFC on Wednesday 20th May 20:14

You bought quite a few items considering the quality is poor

I still think you are on the wind up and I don't understand why they had no spring onions

[LordGrover]

More importantly, Sainsbury's has stopped stocking Melitta Coffee Filter Papers.

[LordGrover]

dazco said:

You bought quite a few items considering the quality is poor

I still think you are on the wind up and I don't understand why they had no spring onions

That's the drawback with the limited range - if out of stock there are few/no alternatives. They were probably back in stock hours or a day later. Ho-hum.

[Hackney]

mad4amanda said:

I chose to do the full shop there because of time .
Then I noticed stuff like cherry Tomatoes were only 59p celery and cucumbers similar. Potatoes were cheaper too , along with milk and butter the Shepherd Neame beers were so much cheaper you got and extra one every 3 you bought compared to supermarkets, bread went from £1.20 odd a loaf to 75p. I started noticing when I went to the supermarkets to get the stuff I couldn`t believe how expensive they were.
I only get the stuff we cant get when it is on offer now in the mainstream.

You'll find that in Aldi you can permanently get 4 for the same price as 3 in Tesco.
But, from time to time in Tesco et al you'll get a 4 for 3 offer, or similar / better deal.

Typically Aldi and Lidl don't promote, they just want your lowest market price.
Tesco and the rest will accept a higher price but will want regular promotions.

As you're noticing there's slightly less choice. A typical Tesco stocks 15,000 lines a typical Lidl or Aldi stocks 2-3,000 so that makes a lot of savings through property size, logistics etc.

Tesco and the others are cottoning on to this and are reducing their range size. This is leaving Tesco with space to let in their biggest stores... hence the Harris and Hoole (Tesco), Giraffe (Tesco) concessions in the largest stores. Expect to see more of this.

Trouble is Tesco got to this position by demanding sales value increases on the back of driving down the price (through ticket price and promo price) of their regular items.
Ketchup was in the news recently, "why do we need so many types of ketchup", said Tesco.
Well, because for years although volume was going up, value was flat / declining, so you demanded suppliers "add value". So along comes ketchup with chilli, organic ketchup, special rich ketchup etc, etc. so a few pence more can be charged. Now when you search "ketchup" on tesco.com there are 35 results. Aldi has 1 and it's the same price (but a different size) as the very cheapest product in Tesco.