ALDI & LIDL Food and Drink Worth Trying?

[Gretchen]

Loads in my local. Bought two packs. Which is unfortunate as I don’t much care for it.

[SpeckledJim]

Gretchen said:

Loads in my local. Bought two packs. Which is unfortunate as I don’t much care for it.

I’ll send you a stamped, addressed shoe box.

[J8 SVG]

Gretchen said:

Loads in my local. Bought two packs. Which is unfortunate as I don’t much care for it.

100% Meh. Still drank them all but didn't taste of much

Better than the pints we had in the Birmingham Institute on Saturday night

[andburg]

Someone earlier asked about the new flatbreads.

not tried the weird on I demolished the calabrese salami one yesterday and will be buying several more tonight!

[FiF]

Lidl, Spanish week, the Patatas Bravas are normally quite good, this time their supplier has screwed up, the contents are rather poor roast potatoes, in fact some quite manky with the spuds going black. Avoid.

[Greendubber]

J8 SVG said:

Gretchen said:

Loads in my local. Bought two packs. Which is unfortunate as I don’t much care for it.

100% Meh. Still drank them all but didn't taste of much

Better than the pints we had in the Birmingham Institute on Saturday night

To be fair, most liquids would be better than a pint in there....

[Gretchen]

SpeckledJim said:

I’ll send you a stamped, addressed shoe box.

Wouldn’t that be a bit, leaky?


I don’t have any young children, but I desperately want this. A Mud Kitchen. MUD.

[Spice_Weasel]

Thesprucegoose said:

For the price, 1079 is good value not brilliant.

Any porter fans should try the wild beer co millionaire beer, bloody gorgeous, but from Waitrose or Weatherpersons randomly.

I'm not generally a lager fan but might try the 1079. I normally grab a pack of the little French Brasserie beers as they make for an easy cold beer, straight from the bottle. For porter/stout I like the Spill the Beans Coffee Porter and the Mud City Stout, although that has not been stocked in my local Aldi for ages.

[Gretchen]

Who had all the Halloumi? I managed to pick up the last two boxes of Halloumi Fries in my local Aldi this afternoon. Made the mistake of going to the pub first.

Not tried them yet, but 10 mins in the oven it could be anytime soon.

[BRISTOL86]

Just polished off some of the ancho chilli and lime pork belly slices, done on the barbecue. Thought they might be a bit naff - I’m always a bit meh about pre marinaded meat for some reason, but it was absolutely bloody gorgeous.

[soupdragon1]

Thesprucegoose said:

hyphen said:

If only Aldi and Lidl were global companies with ten thousand stores each, and had massive buying power...

They could then compete in a price war with the mighty UK supermarkets...

But alas, they are tiny minnows with a few stores in the UK, smaller than Costcutters and Nisa, and will be bankrupted when Tesco cut the price of milk

Edited by hyphen on Saturday 12th May 07:02

They have stretched there brands to take on the middleclasses, which is working but could be risky longterm, some towns have two lidls etc.

And they're not actually as competitively priced as people think they are. At least on a normal basket of shopping anyway. A bit like poundshops. Some cracking headline offers but then you overpay for other stuff while you are there. You don't actually save any/much money shopping at a lidl/Aldi v a regular supermarket if you're a savvy shopper.

[bingybongy]

soupdragon1 said:

Thesprucegoose said:

hyphen said:

If only Aldi and Lidl were global companies with ten thousand stores each, and had massive buying power...

They could then compete in a price war with the mighty UK supermarkets...

But alas, they are tiny minnows with a few stores in the UK, smaller than Costcutters and Nisa, and will be bankrupted when Tesco cut the price of milk

Edited by hyphen on Saturday 12th May 07:02

They have stretched there brands to take on the middleclasses, which is working but could be risky longterm, some towns have two lidls etc.

And they're not actually as competitively priced as people think they are. At least on a normal basket of shopping anyway. A bit like poundshops. Some cracking headline offers but then you overpay for other stuff while you are there. You don't actually save any/much money shopping at a lidl/Aldi v a regular supermarket if you're a savvy shopper.

Cobblers.
Do a shop at Sainsbury's. Then an equivalent at Lidl or Aldi.

Anyway the Reinbacher lager from Aldi 4 cans for £2.99, purity law brewed, 4.5% is very agreeable.

[BRISTOL86]

soupdragon1 said:

And they're not actually as competitively priced as people think they are. At least on a normal basket of shopping anyway. A bit like poundshops. Some cracking headline offers but then you overpay for other stuff while you are there. You don't actually save any/much money shopping at a lidl/Aldi v a regular supermarket if you're a savvy shopper.

Our comparative shop at Tesco is £30-£40 pw more expensive.

[Gretchen]

BRISTOL86 said:

soupdragon1 said:

And they're not actually as competitively priced as people think they are. At least on a normal basket of shopping anyway. A bit like poundshops. Some cracking headline offers but then you overpay for other stuff while you are there. You don't actually save any/much money shopping at a lidl/Aldi v a regular supermarket if you're a savvy shopper.

Our comparative shop at Tesco is £30-£40 pw more expensive.

I think it’s more a point of being savvy and checking offers at all supermarkets within your radius. I’m probably a bit extreme as I’ll visit several to make sure I get the best deals/offers then do a standard shop in Aldi/Lidl.

Watched a final episode of Extreme Couponers the other day. One woman had $4,500 of shopping for nothing and the winner over $6,000 ! Not sure I’d have the time or patience on that scale.

[soupdragon1]

bingybongy said:

soupdragon1 said:

Thesprucegoose said:

hyphen said:

If only Aldi and Lidl were global companies with ten thousand stores each, and had massive buying power...

They could then compete in a price war with the mighty UK supermarkets...

But alas, they are tiny minnows with a few stores in the UK, smaller than Costcutters and Nisa, and will be bankrupted when Tesco cut the price of milk

Edited by hyphen on Saturday 12th May 07:02

They have stretched there brands to take on the middleclasses, which is working but could be risky longterm, some towns have two lidls etc.

And they're not actually as competitively priced as people think they are. At least on a normal basket of shopping anyway. A bit like poundshops. Some cracking headline offers but then you overpay for other stuff while you are there. You don't actually save any/much money shopping at a lidl/Aldi v a regular supermarket if you're a savvy shopper.

Cobblers.
Do a shop at Sainsbury's. Then an equivalent at Lidl or Aldi.

Anyway the Reinbacher lager from Aldi 4 cans for £2.99, purity law brewed, 4.5% is very agreeable.

I did. Similar discussion on another forum a while back and as I had just returned from Tesco with a £35ish shop, I had a look to see what I would have paid in Aldi for same goods. In the end, I would have saved 13p by shopping at Aldi. But that meant substituting some of my branded items for Aldi and my counter ham for cheap packaged ham. Overall quality was reduced to save me only 13p.

[soupdragon1]

I also had a quick look at a typical meal I would make for the kids on a Saturday when the missus is at work. The easy peasy spag bol. A grand total of £2.69 for the basic ingredients from Tesco, mince, Bolognese sauce and spaghetti. Cheaper than Aldi. Plus, I've better selection of quality in Tesco, I can go cheap on some items, more expensive on others. I would usually go for the best quality mince for example, and Tesco is cheaper for that too. The trick is to shop some promo items in the bigger supermarkets when making your basket.

We're creatures of habbit and when the credit crunch hit, Aldi and Lidl had massive increases in customers. The landscape has changed massively since then and that big gap doesn't exist anymore.

Same goes for Amazon, eBay etc....The go to place for cheap goods. In needed some Maguairs products for my car. Google shopping, Amazon, eBay all were checked. Cheapest products were from carparts4less. 5 mins work, saved £8, got free delivery. I'll always shop smart to get best value, rather than shop using 'perceived' value, or assuming some places are cheaper by default, without checking

[FiF]

soupdragon1 said:

bingybongy said:

soupdragon1 said:

Thesprucegoose said:

hyphen said:

If only Aldi and Lidl were global companies with ten thousand stores each, and had massive buying power...

They could then compete in a price war with the mighty UK supermarkets...

But alas, they are tiny minnows with a few stores in the UK, smaller than Costcutters and Nisa, and will be bankrupted when Tesco cut the price of milk

Edited by hyphen on Saturday 12th May 07:02

They have stretched there brands to take on the middleclasses, which is working but could be risky longterm, some towns have two lidls etc.

And they're not actually as competitively priced as people think they are. At least on a normal basket of shopping anyway. A bit like poundshops. Some cracking headline offers but then you overpay for other stuff while you are there. You don't actually save any/much money shopping at a lidl/Aldi v a regular supermarket if you're a savvy shopper.

Cobblers.
Do a shop at Sainsbury's. Then an equivalent at Lidl or Aldi.

Anyway the Reinbacher lager from Aldi 4 cans for £2.99, purity law brewed, 4.5% is very agreeable.

I did. Similar discussion on another forum a while back and as I had just returned from Tesco with a £35ish shop, I had a look to see what I would have paid in Aldi for same goods. In the end, I would have saved 13p by shopping at Aldi. But that meant substituting some of my branded items for Aldi and my counter ham for cheap packaged ham. Overall quality was reduced to save me only 13p.

The point is, in the scenario of the ubiquitous 'big one stop shop' on balance looking at the price and quality equation then there isn't anything in it imo, swings / roundabouts.

However the days of that type of shopping has gone. Several visits, buying what you actually like from several sources, including buying generic items, both branded and own branded on deals means big savings can be had compared to one stop sourcing. At the same time as you are also making a selection on quality and not just price means that you don't sacrifice in that area. There are products at the discounters which knock the socks off the big name offerings both in branded/own branded on both quality and at a lower price. The savvy shoppers source very selectively.

[SmoothCriminal]

Did anyone get the Halloumi fries?

Can you let us know what they're like before I go trecking about for some.

[Gretchen]

SmoothCriminal said:

Did anyone get the Halloumi fries?

Can you let us know what they're like before I go trecking about for some.

Yep. Posted above. Last two boxes early afternoon yesterday. Cooked last night served with salad. They’re very salty, dry. Needs the Pomegranite Molases/dressing/dips to cut through that. We used two boxes between five of us, although I think only four ended up eating them. I’m not in a rush to buy anymore. Not sure how the others feel.

[soupdragon1]

FiF said:

The point is, in the scenario of the ubiquitous 'big one stop shop' on balance looking at the price and quality equation then there isn't anything in it imo, swings / roundabouts.

However the days of that type of shopping has gone. Several visits, buying what you actually like from several sources, including buying generic items, both branded and own branded on deals means big savings can be had compared to one stop sourcing. At the same time as you are also making a selection on quality and not just price means that you don't sacrifice in that area. There are products at the discounters which knock the socks off the big name offerings both in branded/own branded on both quality and at a lower price. The savvy shoppers source very selectively.

Yes, you're bang on with this. Those who have the time to multishop can get a real good bang for buck.

My daughter wanted a little toy from B&M this morning so I picked up some cheap miracle gro plant food, some cheap deodorant and shower gel while I was in there. Only £2.99 for the concentrated plant food which is great.

In general though, I use Tesco mostly as I find I can get a lot of cheap items while I'm there, but also upgrade the quality on meat, provisions etc, as I don't want to compromise on quality meat, cooked meats, cheese etc where there is a fairly substantial choice of items. That's what stops me going to the discounter stores, the limited choice just doesn't quite deliver what I want from a shop.