ALDI & LIDL Food and Drink Worth Trying?

[FiF]

bingybongy said:

jakesmith said:

The only good thing I’ve had from Aldi, the fillet steak. Their crisps, bread and everything else we tried once were inedible

.

Certainly not my experience.
Their baked beans, for example, are vastly superior to any others.

Agreed, perhaps not the beans, but their malted bloomer bread is excellent, as is the spiced fruit loaf. Likewise the sourdough pizzas.

Yes there are some lines which are poor, and some which are not to our personal tastes but others may like them.

Everyone is different, recall when the discounters first arrived, one colleague swore by Netto crisps purely on the basis that he liked crisps which others thought were overdone to the point of being a bit burnt.

Edited by FiF on Tuesday 11th September 19:52

[RammyMP]

FiF said:

BrabusMog said:

V8mate said:

RammyMP said:

V8mate said:

FiF said:

One for Worcestershire Lidlers, the old Blackpole Lidl, vacated when they moved across the road into the new bigger store, is being refurbished and will open up as an M&S food store. Excellent news, the trip into the city centre and parking, plus pickup round the back on New St was a pain in the rear. Is this a record, mention of Sparks on this thread?

Your head won't be turned for long.

When you discover that the dedicated food stores have even higher prices than the food halls in their main stores, you'll only have to baulk a couple of times at the price multiples before you dash back to the sanity of ze Germanz.

I can’t believe how expensive the M&S food shops are. Went with the wife a few weeks ago, she conveniently forgot her handbag so I got dicked with the bill. It cost over £40 for next to nothing! Would have been half as much anywhere else!

Regular M&S foodhalls are 'satisfyingly expensive'. The standalone stores, especially those on petrol stations or near railway stations, are obscene.

I will have to check when I am back from holiday but the one in Reading station is the same price as the one in the town centre from memory.

Can't speak for ones at railway stations, but the motorway service ones are more expensive, but certainly not price multiples, and not what I would call obscene. Some motorway service area pricing is indeed obscene, but not M&S from my perception. Anyway time will tell with this store as it's quite a decent size, not like the tiny poky motorway outlets.

The one in Piccadilly station in Manchester is more expensive than the one in Piccadilly Gardens.

[dickymint]

I thought the recession was over - you guys still eat Aldi’s

[FiF]

dickymint said:

I thought the recession was over - you guys still eat Aldi’s

This is the sort of comment I don't get and it flies against the general attitudes as evidenced in this thread.

Seems to me most input are folks saying, try this it's really good, or I tried that and never again. If something is good, and it represents good value for money, why get all condescending and sniffy over it.

It's more about buying what you like from wherever represents good value and consistent quality of a level that the individual finds meets their needs.

While I'm on a roll will comment further on the attitudes recently presented towards M&S.

In my morning porridge I use dried fruit as a sweetener rather than sugar etc, typically raisins, sultanas and sometimes a couple of chopped Medjool dates, they are the sort we prefer. Most places sell these for 1.12/100gm, to take out pack size variability, Tesco 1.12, Morrisons 1.52, Waitrose, 1.12, M&S 1.10. What M&S cheapest?

Actually no, Sainsbury's also do a 500g box for £0.90/100gm Taste the Difference too. And you can taste the difference, the Marks 500gm product is far far superior and not subject to as much variability as that from Sainsbo's.

So, great financial crash / austerity / recession all irrelevant, it's all about knowing products and pricing, not about any supposed marketing image or prejudice.

[BrabusMog]

I think he was making a joke FiF

[FiF]

BrabusMog said:

I think he was making a joke FiF

Fair enough, housekeeping to clean up mess from whooshing parrot in aisle 3.

[V8mate]

FiF said:

BrabusMog said:

I think he was making a joke FiF

Fair enough, housekeeping to clean up mess from whooshing parrot in aisle 3.

No parrot due. Dicky isn't funny and I don't even know why he ventures into this thread. He's never made a valuable contribution; just throws stones and makes snide comments cloaked as humour.

[BrabusMog]

V8mate said:

FiF said:

BrabusMog said:

I think he was making a joke FiF

Fair enough, housekeeping to clean up mess from whooshing parrot in aisle 3.

No parrot due. Dicky isn't funny and I don't even know why he ventures into this thread. He's never made a valuable contribution; just throws stones and makes snide comments cloaked as humour.

Toss the parrot my way then

[louiebaby]

BrabusMog said:

Toss the parrot my way then

Niche.

[BrabusMog]

louiebaby said:

BrabusMog said:

Toss the parrot my way then

Niche.

[FiF]

BrabusMog said:

louiebaby said:

BrabusMog said:

Toss the parrot my way then

Niche.

One shouldn't, but

On the other hand, both parrot and shop related.

[anonymous-user]

Having lived in the land of ze Germanz for many a year, my go to shops are now Aldi and Lidl, the food is, generally, much better than Tesco / Asda / Morrisons especially some of their own lines.

For those who comment on M+s, etc, being superior, I live in North wales where the Iceland HQ's are, as such a few people I know are involved in the procurement of food for Iceland, almost all of where they purchase from produce for M+S, Waitrose, etc too, exactly the same food, cereal, crisps, etc, don't kid yourself.

[anonymous-user]

Lord.Vader said:

, almost all of where they purchase from produce for M+S, Waitrose, etc too, exactly the same food, cereal, crisps, etc, don't kid yourself.

It's called contract manufacturing and nothing new. But to say that m&s food is the same standard as Iceland because they are produced from the same factory is massively wife of the mark. There will be specification differences which can mean massive differences.

[Riley Blue]

Thesprucegoose said:

Lord.Vader said:

, almost all of where they purchase from produce for M+S, Waitrose, etc too, exactly the same food, cereal, crisps, etc, don't kid yourself.

It's called contract manufacturing and nothing new. But to say that m&s food is the same standard as Iceland because they are produced from the same factory is massively wife of the mark. There will be specification differences which can mean massive differences.

We food shop almost exclusively at Aldi however O/H has just changed her job and now occasionally calls in to the M&S shop on Sheffield station for fresh fruit and veg. She finds the prices are keen, we reckon the quality is good and the 'fridge life' is the best of all supermarkets.

[FiF]

Thesprucegoose said:

Lord.Vader said:

, almost all of where they purchase from produce for M+S, Waitrose, etc too, exactly the same food, cereal, crisps, etc, don't kid yourself.

It's called contract manufacturing and nothing new. But to say that m&s food is the same standard as Iceland because they are produced from the same factory is massively wife of the mark. There will be specification differences which can mean massive differences.

Chatting with a Canadian girl who was from a town where I'd spent some time working, turned out she worked for Campbell's, usually known for soups, but obviously they have other products and brands.

She was a product specialist for their contract manufacturing and cited various companies mentioned, subject of specifications and recipe differences cropped up, including manufacturing companies who do not do contract manufacturing for others, e.g. Kellogg's. In response to the question as to which of her mentioned contracts were the most strict on standards, was expecting M&S to be up there, but she had no hesitation to name the company with the tightest standards, "at times to the point of being unreasonable" was Iceland.

Incidentally the shortbread in Lidl, is actually made by Walker's.

[anonymous-user]

i know from my time in a chicken processing plant, m&s, ocado and waitrose used higher standard chickens than the other supermarkets. lidl and aldi had longer store lives but same birds as Tesco et al.

[NoVetec]

Thesprucegoose said:

i know from my time in a chicken processing plant, m&s, ocado and waitrose used higher standard chickens than the other supermarkets. lidl and aldi had longer store lives but same birds as Tesco et al.

I concur, worked at a plant too. The smell will never leave me.

[IanA2]

NoVetec said:

Thesprucegoose said:

i know from my time in a chicken processing plant, m&s, ocado and waitrose used higher standard chickens than the other supermarkets. lidl and aldi had longer store lives but same birds as Tesco et al.

I concur, worked at a plant too. The smell will never leave me.

For memorable smells, try approaching a salmon farm downwind and see how far you get before you steer off.

A variation on the time honoured game of chicken.







See what I did there :-)

[dickymint]

V8mate said:

FiF said:

BrabusMog said:

I think he was making a joke FiF

Fair enough, housekeeping to clean up mess from whooshing parrot in aisle 3.

No parrot due. Dicky isn't funny and I don't even know why he ventures into this thread. He's never made a valuable contribution; just throws stones and makes snide comments cloaked as humour.

Sorry you feel that way V8mate but hey ho.

As far as "valuable contributions" Thanks to another thread I've finally found a good reason to set foot back to Aldi (well send Wifey)................................

https://metro.co.uk/2018/09/14/aldis-new-cast-iron...

Valuable enough

[Gretchen]

dickymint said:

Sorry you feel that way V8mate but hey ho.

As far as "valuable contributions" Thanks to another thread I've finally found a good reason to set foot back to Aldi (well send Wifey)................................

https://metro.co.uk/2018/09/14/aldis-new-cast-iron...

Valuable enough

Good luck finding a complete set. They’ve had these before and all I could find was a Milk Pan.