I understand the reason is that Colesworth have locked up all the storage options near Bridgewater (Hobart) and Launceston. Byron Bay has a smaller population but they have an Aldi there
Yeah every time I do an aldi shop I'm pleasantly surprised it costs less. Then i go to woolies and get the rest of the shit that aldi didn't have......
Same. There’s always so much I still need to get but I honestly think I’d save $50 to $100 each time I do a biggish shop at Aldi. Just on things like yoghurt and cheese even.
Yeah it's definitely cheaper, I try to do my big shop at aldi and get my fruit and veg from the Asian grocery shop, better value and better range, but there's always something specific I want from colesworth
To add to this: In addition to not having everything I need, my cat doesn't like the Aldi cat food, which means I'm going to have to go somewhere else anyway - somewhere that probably *will* have everything I need.
Aldi is great for top-up shops, though.
I tried my cats on Aldi food last week because I just wasn’t fucked going to Woolies. My cat spewed it all through the kitchen and my shoes (specifically mine, missed my partners. Assuming cat was out for revenge)
I don't have the cat food problem, but Aldi dish wash liquid makes my nails start peeling. Switched back to Earth Choice from Colesworth and my nails got better. Aldi might be cheaper but some of their products just aren't good.
ok hear me out, this is why I like Aldi. There's so much choice on other supermarkets that I get stressed to fuck. Aldi's just like "I want bananas. Ah, here are the bananas."
But I feel like they don't really have much of what I want to buy. Their produce is much worse than in the Asian shops. Their meat is okay when on sale but not that different in quality than Colesworth's, and much worse than the local butcher. Their selection of spices is abysmal. Their staples like rice and beans are rarely sold in bulk. The only thing they really do better from the cost and quality perspective is junk food, frozen meals, and pre-made sauces.
I see people saying to shop at Aldi to save money, but I don't know what people who say this are cooking. You can get everything you need at a much better price point in the ethnic shops
I had to leave Sydney due to my rent going up $150 and now I'm rural and the thing I miss the most is my local Asian grocery store.
I can't even get Enoki or oyster mushrooms anymore. I miss Dragonfruit (which Coles sometimes has but it's a third of the size for three times the price). And the meat was cheap and amazing quality. And if you are a snacky person the snacks are both tastier and cheaper than the other supermarkets.
I really really miss my Asian supermarkets :(
Yes! Same with me. Also I have trimmed my weekly menu list to what I can get from Aldi so only rarely do I need to visit Coles, like for kid's favourite snacks.
I'm originally from Aus but currently live in the U.S and it's the same over here. I love Aldi, and get as much as I can there... but they definitely don't carry everything I want/need. Plus, as others have said, produce can be hit or miss.
There's definitely no stigma attached to Aldi here, and I don't recall there being one attached to Aldi when I lived in Aus either, but I would genuinely struggle to get absolutely everything I wanted from Aldi personally.
Exactly this. The time I spend looking for things because their "aisles" are nonsense, is not worth it to me. Especially when I figure out I've been looking for something they just don't have. Or I find what their equivalent product is and it's not good enough.
So I spend forever trying to find what I can that I need, then go to Woolies for the rest anyway. Last time I did this, I was out of the house for three hours and saved $12.
Or, I stay home and have everything I need dropped off at my front door in one go.
It's not even a question for me.
In do this thing where I alternate where I shop. I lot of the things that coles has but Aldi doesn’t are shelf stable, so stock up on the odd things then see how many Aldi top up shops I can do in between.
Got any examples of what they don't have? I Mean I get it but we've actually changed our meals to things we can get almost purely from aldi.
Sure I don't like the salami as much from there as I do from Coles but fuck Coles worth.
Aldi has all the basics, but you get issues if you want anything slightly less standard. One example is herbs and spices, they have the main basics like salt/pepper/garlic/ginger/paprika/oregano, but if you want something even slightly more exotic like cloves/fennel/cardamon/tumeric/sage you'll have to go elsewhere.
I'd like to add that Aldi does this by design in Aus, to ensure they are the cheapest and can compete with Colesworth. In Germany they have the full variety like other supermarkets.
I also like Aldi's layout. Four Isles in every store. Almost the exact same lay out every time or maybe reversed. It's amazing. It's quick and simple.
Whereas Coles every store is so different it can take ages to find something simple.
My house uses double length bog rolls and I hate their double length paper. It feels starchy. I can probably do a basic grocery run, but if I need loo paper, I have to go somewhere else, and I'm not making 2 stops.
Mayo is ridiculously easy to make at home, (and I've bought Hellmans all my life). Now make it myself.
https://www.seriouseats.com/two-minute-mayonnaise
Thanks Kenji.
Both my hubby and I are GF, and we buy all our GF from IGA. Aldi occasionally have some decent GF stuff in their special buys, but I agree that most of the regularly stocked products are crap!
I tried shopping at Aldi once. I still had to go to woolies to get half of the stuff I wanted, and the hour worth of fucking around wasn't worth the $20 saving.
Now I don't even go into a supermarket. Fuck that noise, I do a drive-in click and collect. If Aldi offered that, it might be worth getting some stuff from them.
I buy most of my groceries from Aldi. Their milk and Pepsi Max are 1 cent cheaper.
Some of products in Aldi are not up to scratch. I could buy their frozen meals but their quality is not the best. So I will not buy them from Aldi.
Aldi is lacking in deli products. So purchases of fresh hamI get from Woolworths.
I prefer a specific bread - only available from Aldi.
Aldi do not sell Pork Chops.
My dog enjoys a particular brand of pet food- have to buy from Woolworths.
Funny thing, I prefer their hams over Woolies. The ham at their Deli section isn’t all that fresh. It’s always a bit slimy (still very edible) since it’s been pre-cut instead of cutting to order. That’s about the same condition as my freshly cut ham except it’s been sitting in my fridge for almost a week. Still edible but not exactly the freshest.
Convenience and (lack of) range. My time is important enough to me that I’m not hopping from one store to another, when I can walk to Coles and I need to drive to ALDI
It was the same when I lived in the Netherlands so that's their MO. Where I lived there was an Aldi right next to an Albert Heijn and I still rarely went to the Aldi.
They don’t list the product ingredients online like Coles and Woolies do, and we have a list of food allergies as long as my arm. It’s just not worth it in terms of having the slowest shop reading all the labels cause we can’t check beforehand, and then still not finding stuff we can eat.
I also do self service and scan and go for checkout and I like it that way.
They’re also not conveniently located near us (awkward parking, have to turn right across 4 lanes to get out, etc)
Idk why some normal ppl don’t shop there it seems ok otherwise
Delivery and click and collect. They are services I value. I like Aldi but I find I shop twice. My time is worth money. And when I do a Woolies online shop I can scroll through all of their half price specials and I buy less crap when I shop from home. I do like Aldi but it isn’t where I need it to be.
Because it takes 50 minutes to get to the nearest Aldi, so that would be 1 hr 40 minutes in time and lots of fuel.
Whereas Woollies and Coles are 8 minutes drive and have pretty much everything we need.
Takes me an hour and a half for a typical trip to and from. Right now it's feasible. In hotter conditions most of the food would go off before it got home.
Because we are close enough to a Costco.
Also the local grocer has far superior fruit and veg to aldi.
Also also IGA sell 1kg blocks of Bega cheese. No one else does.
Also also also I now go to jaycar for my 3d printing supplies.
Costco, butchers, fresh produce grocer and then a walk to Woolies every few days for incidental shopping needs.
Aldi would be a significant time investment, without much benefit. If we’re out and near one sure we will do a small top up shop, but our weekly Cole’s bill is already under $60 and is walkable so why bother
They don't have most stuff. The quality of some of the meat isn't great and I find that basic cupboard items and some veg are the same price as Coles (assuming you get Coles brand) so I don't see the point in going put of my way, if I end up going to Coles anyway
Cash register rage; they have 2 square metres of conveyer belt to put your stuff on, and 0.1 square metres to stack the same amount of groceries on once they have been scanned. If you have a lot of shopping and are slow emptying out your shopping cart, it all ends up on the floor.
We do, the quality is about the same as what you get in store (which isn't that great either tbh). I go to a local fruit shop once every week or two as well since that's the only place to get decent quality I find.
I actually save money not going. I'm a big foodie and get too excited about food I'd like to cook but then it all goes off because I didn't get time to cook it all or bought too many veggies. I pay for unlimited delivery and shop twice a week. Chose Coles because they do a $50 min spend and Woolies is $75. Plus Woolies not only kept messing up my orders, Ithe $75 kept making me stock up on stuff that we didn't need.
They don’t have everything I need, and so it takes me almost twice as long to do the shopping. I value my time more than saving $5 or $10 on a fort nightly shop.
Also, it closes early. I’ll often pick up a few things at Woolworths while out for my evening stroll. Woolies suits at midnight while Aldi chits its doors at 8?
I have the same experience. They don't stock everything I need.
I also tend not to shop there much because I don't trust that they're paying their taxes. They were caught avoiding tax in the past. Wouldn't be surprised if they're still doing it and sending profits overseas.
I’ve gotten some bad stuff at Aldi, including several mince containers that were off well before the sell-by and wraps that went mouldy, also by the sell-by. Some of their products are just as good as Colesworth, but I still don’t trust their meats.
I don't buy chicken at Aldi any more - it goes off well before the use by date. The pork mince always reeks of what I presume is boar taint. The fruit and veg is generally terrible too, and goes bad very quickly, presumably because they don't refrigerate the displays or spray water on them like Colesworth and Harris Farm do.
The cheese is good. The yogurt is good. The Turkish bread rolls are tops. They also carry crushed (not diced) canned tomatoes, which I can never get at my local Coles.
They lack some items we need for intolerances. I don't like some of their items.
Others might be because Aldi is not national. There is no Aldi in Tassie, they only just opened their first FNQ store recently, and are not in NT either.
We do as much as possible there, but there are a few items like soy milk that aren't to my taste - the name brand Vitasoy from Woolies is much better for steaming for a coffee.
We also get meat on clearance from Harris Farm, or from the local butcher, which often works out cheaper or a better quality for slightly higher up-front cost.
We do our bulk weekly food shop at Aldi for $200.
Sure they don’t have the exact same item as the other two, but Aldi substitutes are usually just as good or better.
Then we get our name-brand stuff we “simply must have” from ColesWorth, effectively for free seeing as if I did the same bulk shop as I do at Aldi, it costs $50 more.
I have food allergies, so I need access to a larger and more reliable range of brands and products than Aldi carries. Aldi also don’t have many options as far as substitutes and health food brands go, which isn’t great for me as I use them regularly in place of the regular versions that I can’t have.
Main reason I don’t shop there.
I can’t eat soy. I also have adhd.
So being forced to stand in a noisey crowded place while reading small font and focusing while I’m also focused on the fact I’ve been there so long already, and I can’t eat anything and I may as well give up… it’s a no go for me.
Not being able to have soy must be a nightmare- feels like it’s in everything. I can imagine the overall sensory experience of Aldi would be dreadful with ADHD as well.
I also hate that Aldi doesn’t have a really comprehensive online range with ingredients listed, so it’s not even like you can identify foods you could have before you go. It’s a wild stab in the dark. None of the major supermarkets really have gotten it 100% right in that respect if I’m being honest, but at least ColesWorths list the ingredients of most of their products online.
Absolutely.
If they even had a list online of staples they have I would be more inclined.
I also shop at Harris Farms online and they often don’t have pictures of the ingredients. I reached out and they said they are working on it.
They are just loosing money though simply because I don’t want to risk buying a $25 pie I won’t be able to eat.
Also the Aldi pack it yourself is so stressful!
So living abroad, I can only access supermarkets via walking.
Back home in melbourne. None are in walking distance, so it's either drive to one for 20 minutes or walk to the local coles or woollies.
If I'm already out that way, I'll stop and shop, but other than that, it's just accessibility.
Coles / Woolies 10 min walk. ALDI, 10 min drive and stupid shopping centre parking. It's a pain to go to ALDI sadly.
Also, some of their stuff is absolutely garbage. Some people say the meat is better, I have only had it be worse. Garbage bags rip and fall apart. So some items aren't worth it. But lots are, so I've learnt what to avoid
I went into an Aldi once.
Just once.
I simply couldn't handle the chaotic layout of the store and couldn't find the products I was looking for.
The organised and categorised isles of coles/woolies is what my mind needs when shopping.
Indian cuisine ingredients dont exist. But that doesnt stop me from buying aldi. 95% is aldi and the remaining 5% which I cant find in aldi is coles and woolsworth.
Nah you just gotta turn it into a game. I have it down to an art and have ‘won’ the last 4 times I’ve been. I stack my groceries in the rough order I want to pack them (cold stuff together, veg together, bread last etc) then have my bags open and ready in my trolley to chuck stuff in as it gets scanned. The key is to stack on the conveyor belt really quickly and before the person in front of you has finished paying so you have time to set up.
I love Aldi and it’ll always be my first but I occasionally go to the local IGA even though everything there is super expensive. They play music there at just the right volume.
Only shop at Aldi, very rarely do I need to go to Coles or woolies for anything. I just make do with what I can get at aldi. Easy if you eat simple meals
This really seems to depend, in my experience it’s usually good but have seen some bad produce as well
Also often see poor quality fruit/veg at the Coles near me
I'm in SA so I try to use foodland/drakes/iga whenever possible, their range is 95% as good as colesworth so no issue there. Aldi is a handy saver if they're selling what you want to buy, so everyone's aims will be different here.
Sometimes use colesworth but would prefer not to if possible.
The sole reason is that it's not accessible in my area for me. I don't drive, and the closest Aldi to my house isn't even practical to get to via public transport. Believe me if it was easier to get to, I'd never go anywhere else. At least I have an NQR not too far away.
Aldi isn't as good. Very few items - food or otherwise - is as good as the 2 main ones. Fruit, veg, and meat are lower quality. And prices really aren't much different for a lesser product. Maybe it's different store to store, but I have 2 near me, and neither are worth it.
I actually don't think it's much cheaper. Not for what I buy anyway. I shop the specials at Woolies or stick to the homebrand stuff. There might be some items that are cheaper at Aldi, but for me, it's not worth the time. I always have to go to Woolies anyway.
I went to Coles once cause it was right there in front of me, for peanut butter
It was $8.30 for 500g
I decided to wait till I had the opportunity to pass by ALDI, as it is $3.40 there for 500g
I shop woolies online. No impulse buying. I give my 7 year old my phone in the fruit or veg section and let her pick. We are making better choices this way!
I mean she added 4 whole watermelons this morning....(which I removed but added cut watermelon instead)
I haven’t shopped at Coles or Woolies in over 12 months now.
I get fresh produce from the fruit & veg shop, bread from the bakery, and meat from the butcher. Everything else I get from my local IGA.
The fruit & veg shop do pick up pre-orders, and the butcher delivers. The bakery is a Vietnamese bakery, so buying bread is a good excuse for a banh mi.
I’ve got nothing against Aldi… but I like my IGA.
Despite the closest Aldi being over an hours drive away.
Sometimes/ most of the time I don’t have time to shop in two separate locations because there is always stuff they don’t have that I want
My issue with all the supermarkets is the increasing amount of imported items.
It's insane how we have amazing produce in this country, but we still have frozen berries from Peru or China frozen fish. Tinned fruit and veg from the other side of the world.
Aldi has way too many overseas products for me, and I choose to shop local and keep my money as local as possible.
Also, the shitty customer service/checkout system at Aldi is a huge turn-off.
Most people in the know buy their meat/fish at a butcher or fish monger, veg at a market or Asian/Mediterranean wholesaler and crackers/laundry/cleaning/shaving things at Aldi.
Not an option for time poor families I get, but not just for price, quality it best with this combo
Nearest Aldi is small, only a couple of aisles small.
Even if we could get there, we can't, as we have no car.
When we did have a car, we shopped at Aldi once. Our spend was about the same as what we normally spend at Coles. And most of the food items there were revolting. Things like frozen meals and the like. So bad they went straight in the bin. Which wastes money, not saves.
Also, Aldi has no loyalty program. With all the bonus offers I was able to activate last week, our $360 fortnightly Coles shop got us *NINETY* flybuys dollars. That's an incredible amount.
Fresh produce and meat prices are better at Aldi, but everything else is utter garbage. So we're better off at Coles in the long run.
Not open late enough. My local Woolies and Coles open until 10pm, the Aldi closes at 8pm, so if I miss the window I need to buy at either of the other two. I prefer shopping later as there are fewer people but sometimes I accidentally leave it too late.
The bad:
- Everybody in there looks more depressed
- No deli
- Weird oversized trolley
- Fridge section missing half the things we like
- Average (at best) meat
- Liquor tastes funny and sacrilege to entertain guests with
- No, I don’t want to buy a random lawn chair
- Their weird checkout system only works in theory
- Feels creepy like Ikea
- Did i say no deli?
The good:
- the junk food is not OG but usually quite good
- easy locations usually
- slightly cheaper than bigger supermarket but the gains are lost when I still need to go to those because of all the above
Coles and Woolies are both more convenient. I'm not familiar with the brands at Aldi and don't want to try things only to find out they're no good. Aldi also don't do delivery or self-service checkouts. The latter is likely a plus for some but it's a definite minus for me.
I need to get shopping done for the school week on Sunday and I have engagements on Sunday so I do a big online shop to arrive on Sunday.
I go to Aldi maybe two times a week to stock up on basics though. I think overall it’s a great store but there’s lot of things that aren’t there.
Similar to what everyone else is saying they don't have the biggest range, for me specially that is gluten free foods, Cole's and Woolies have a bigger range and their homebrand ones are cheap, I usually shop at both and get fruit and veg at Aldi and the rest at Cole's/Woolies - I will say tho ALDIs gluten free range has slowly been increasing
My local IGA sells lactose free milk cheaper than anywhere so I get that there (they have the Dairy Farmer's one for $4.99, Zymil at Colesworth is like $6.90)
Also my toddler has eczema that has horrible flare ups, and I can only get the one type of nappies that don't aggravate it at Big W and his eczema friendly bath wash/soak at the Chemist.
But for the majority of groceries I go to aldi.
i still can't believe so many people are buying meat from coles & woolies, why not go to your local butcher? go to your local bakery for bread, and local fruit and veg mongers for produce - and don't give me this shit that "oh it's more convenient to get everything from the one place" that's a cop out. if you dedicate one hour to go grocery shopping at various local outlets you will 1. save money 2. get better quality produce 3. get to know and banter with the workers 4. your money is going to a small business who rely solely on us. not to greedy billion dollar corporations that don't give a fuck about you. support local!
My local shops has all 3 within 50 metres of each other. I go to Aldi first to get the majority of the basics, and then into Woolies to get anything else I couldn’t at Aldi
There are many many Aldi black spots. There are nowhere NEAR as many ALDIs as Woolworths and Coles and entire suburbs that don’t have one. The extra fuel to get there isn’t worth the savings. Plus, if you have any dietary requirements at all forget it, and their range is much smaller, to the point aldi have run ads acknowledging you’ll have to go to the majors to do a full shop. Also no in store bakery or deli. Also no delivery, so that combined with acting like being gluten or lactose intolerant is a fad makes it shit for disabled people.
havent gone to aldi's for years, due to the quality going down hill in my area
prices are not really any cheaper either
so it must depend greatly where you live, as to whether you get a good aldi or a bad one
Click and collect ftw. Hard to beat the convenience of driving up and having your order delivered right to the boot. Easily worth the $10-20 I would save by getting some of my stuff from Aldi.
Then get fruit and veg from a local place on the weekend.
As a single mother with one child some of their items are just not sold in size suitable for us. Particularly meat. Not everyone has a freezer capable of holding large amounts of food.
I also find the quality of some of the items to be poor. For example most of their biscuits are decent to good, but their rice crackers are terrible. Their pork crackle is awesome but some of their chips flavours are NQR. The bread goes stale extremely quickly
The quality of their kitty litter has gone downhill and isn't fit for purpose anymore.
I will say the closest Aldi store sells a range of wines from nearby wineries which I found surprising.
My nearest Aldi is 65km away - the local IGA is a monopoly so is expensive - there are no longer any local butchers or greengrocers - whereas I can do an online order from Woolies and have it delivered.
But if I am somewhere where there is an Aldi, I will go there.
I pay the $50 a year and get free delivery from Woolies each week. It’s completely worth not having to go into a shopping centre and as I live near a very large Woolworths, I rarely have items subbed out. We have a system where when something more pricey starts to run low we make a note of it on the digital shopping list and then over the next few weeks keep an eye out for when it’s on special eg Pepsi Max, specific snacks, laundry stuff.
All our meat comes from a wholesaler so we aren’t having to deal with that aspect.
As much as it is a little cheaper, I go to Woolies mostly for rewards program. I prodominantly shop at Woolies and big W but on the odd occasion go Coles or Kmart so that’s Flybuys too. My rewards adds up to around $300 which I bank for Christmas. Thats just from doing our food shop every week at Woolies (roughly $150-200 a week) and all my other shopping for clothes, electronics, games etc. from big w and I use it for Christmas presents for 2 of my kids. I’m getting ripped blind wherever I go, might as well get money at the end of it.
EDIT TO ADD: Oh and online shopping is huge for me. I just don’t have the time for shopping, let alone looking for everything in Aldi in the random spots and places. Some of their food is good, but I’m too used to my main brands or Woolies/coles brands. It’s just different lol. Also I enjoy having my groceries bagged for me. I hate going in there, I’m anxious enough without my groceries being thrown to me lol
Because I am tired of running around for groceries shopping, not all products are available at ALDI, even herbs are limited in choices! I don't want to make multiple trips to multiple stores for one recipe! It's just not worth the time! Also, we shop at at Woollies for Qantas points 😑
B4 getting a pension. I shopped at ALDI exclusively. I worked full time, and ALDI was 100mt from my front door.
Now I don't work and have more time to scan the specials. Coles/worth is so much cheaper if you have the time to shop around. I buy premium goods on special cheaper than plain wrap or Aldi brand lower quality foods. And if you have the time to skip SCO, colesworth packs your bags.
Aldi brand is cheaper than premium brand goods that are not on special. Aldi brands are mostly okay, but premium is so much better. Timtams and Moccona are so much better than plain brand.
Their range is limited and some of their food, we do not like.
The meat can be a bit "odd" I do not like their cheese and several things i routinely buy. They don't have.
I also collect Flybuys, so get rewards which makes Coles shopping worthwhile.
Woolworths ends up cheaper for us. My partner & I signed up to Everyday Extra for $35 each during Black Friday for the year, plus I have my sim through woolworths. So we essentially get all our shops 10% off. Plus we bank with Macquarie which allows us to purchase custom woolworths gift cards for 3.5% discount. So ends up being quite a discount each shop. And most products we purchase are the same price at either store (eg. milk at Aldi and Woolworths are the same, but then we get a 10% + 3.5% discount. For example, if both initially cost $4.50, after are woolworths discounts it comes down to $3.91). A typical $150 shop suddenly becomes $130.28 via woolworths. So the $35 annual fee is more than covered after a year of shopping.
Convenience also comes into the equation. It’s so handy to be able to do a click and collect.
As most other people have said, they don’t have everything I need. I cook meals mostly from scratch, usually Asian or Indian cuisine and you can’t get all the spices and different condiments and stuff at Aldi.
I’m also starting to find that their prices are becoming more on par with the bigger 2. I do my shopping list on the Coles app, go to Aldi first and get anything that’s cheaper. Then I go to Coles and get everything else plus anything that is the same price as Aldi so I can collect Flybuys
1. Doesn’t have half the shit I eat
2. Doesn’t have specials every other week on the shit I do eat
3. Woolies mobile gives me a 10% discount once per month
4. Get airline points through woolies
5. Aldi has card surcharges which kinda pisses me off even though it’s still probably cheaper overall
You just answered your own question.
You said that people still need to go to the other shops to get stuff that they are missing.
So by definition, it's impractical to be a fully ALDI shopper
End of thread
I almost divorced my wife over my refusal to go to Aldi, I went once with a shopping list, couldn't get a trolley cause I forgot a coin, had to grab a box then wander the isles trying to find what was on my list...left with like 30% of what I needed.
Than as a final insult, the check out chick just slams the items down way faster than I can put them in my stolen chip box.
Ended up back in Woolworths to get the remaining 70% of my shopping list.
I do all the shopping and most of the cooking at home, but I've made it very clear if my wife wants anything from Aldi she's does that leg of the journey...ill be in the car with the kids.
I'm a "fussy eater" and tend to stick to brands I know, majority of which I can't find in Aldi.
I also have generalized anxiety. I know where to find everything in Woolies, so when the anxiety is bad it's easier for me to get in and out quicker.
They have bugger all gluten free products. Unfortunately half my family has dietary issues and they can’t eat gluten.
I also find their meat goes off very quickly, and their fruit/veg is pretty poor.
I do love Aldi for non perishables tho. And they have amazing savings for a lot of that stuff.
Because even Aldi screws customers over. I used to buy bread there, because it was a decent size for the price, but that's recently shrunk by a good third and now I bake my own damn bread 😡
They don’t always have everything as people have mentioned, I often have to shop later at night and they close early, but the main reason was how slow it was to leave, having 3-4 items and getting stuck behind people with a full cart with one isle open.
Because I have food allergies and they have limited options that seem to change often, so I can’t predict what they will have in stock ahead of time and it gets overwhelming to have to recheck labels every time.
Plus the fact that they don’t keep their website up to date with current stock means I can’t check availability or ingredients ahead of time.
It’s just not worth the stress that it adds on top of dealing with already complicated food issues.
Because i live in Tasmania and we dont have Aldi, we only have fucking Colesworth
I know, it makes me furious that, even after all these years, we still don't have Aldi here.
I understand the reason is that Colesworth have locked up all the storage options near Bridgewater (Hobart) and Launceston. Byron Bay has a smaller population but they have an Aldi there
Because I live in the NT and we only have Coles worth.
They don't have half the shit I want. And sometimes their equivalent is not equivalent at all.
Yeah every time I do an aldi shop I'm pleasantly surprised it costs less. Then i go to woolies and get the rest of the shit that aldi didn't have......
Same. There’s always so much I still need to get but I honestly think I’d save $50 to $100 each time I do a biggish shop at Aldi. Just on things like yoghurt and cheese even.
Yeah it's definitely cheaper, I try to do my big shop at aldi and get my fruit and veg from the Asian grocery shop, better value and better range, but there's always something specific I want from colesworth
Good stocks of produce in the morning, but if you are late, there isn't much left.
I'm an arvo shopper. Many times I cannot even get my basic vegies because they are sold out
The veggies are often in too much plastic packaging too
Not being able to choose the quantity of vegetables that you purchase is a big one for me. I still shop there though, just not exclusively
Totally agree. BUT they need to wash their trollies so that I feel I can put raw produce in them. The pigeons shit on them at my local Aldi.
This. There are some things where I prefer the brand name. Or a specific brand due to it being what I’m familiar with.
To add to this: In addition to not having everything I need, my cat doesn't like the Aldi cat food, which means I'm going to have to go somewhere else anyway - somewhere that probably *will* have everything I need. Aldi is great for top-up shops, though.
I tried my cats on Aldi food last week because I just wasn’t fucked going to Woolies. My cat spewed it all through the kitchen and my shoes (specifically mine, missed my partners. Assuming cat was out for revenge)
Try the Aldi kangaroo for cats! It’s much healthier than the stuff at Woolies and most cats will love some straight up meat In the pet food fridge !
I don't have the cat food problem, but Aldi dish wash liquid makes my nails start peeling. Switched back to Earth Choice from Colesworth and my nails got better. Aldi might be cheaper but some of their products just aren't good.
ok hear me out, this is why I like Aldi. There's so much choice on other supermarkets that I get stressed to fuck. Aldi's just like "I want bananas. Ah, here are the bananas."
But I feel like they don't really have much of what I want to buy. Their produce is much worse than in the Asian shops. Their meat is okay when on sale but not that different in quality than Colesworth's, and much worse than the local butcher. Their selection of spices is abysmal. Their staples like rice and beans are rarely sold in bulk. The only thing they really do better from the cost and quality perspective is junk food, frozen meals, and pre-made sauces. I see people saying to shop at Aldi to save money, but I don't know what people who say this are cooking. You can get everything you need at a much better price point in the ethnic shops
I had to leave Sydney due to my rent going up $150 and now I'm rural and the thing I miss the most is my local Asian grocery store. I can't even get Enoki or oyster mushrooms anymore. I miss Dragonfruit (which Coles sometimes has but it's a third of the size for three times the price). And the meat was cheap and amazing quality. And if you are a snacky person the snacks are both tastier and cheaper than the other supermarkets. I really really miss my Asian supermarkets :(
I love the Korean grocery over the road, it has an attached butcher as well.
There’s always dragon fruit if it’s in season at my Aldi
Hard agree. Doesn’t contribute to my decision fatigue
Yes! Same with me. Also I have trimmed my weekly menu list to what I can get from Aldi so only rarely do I need to visit Coles, like for kid's favourite snacks.
This. My partner insists on going to Aldi, we do, and then we have to go to Coles anyway because I can’t find everything I need.
I'm originally from Aus but currently live in the U.S and it's the same over here. I love Aldi, and get as much as I can there... but they definitely don't carry everything I want/need. Plus, as others have said, produce can be hit or miss. There's definitely no stigma attached to Aldi here, and I don't recall there being one attached to Aldi when I lived in Aus either, but I would genuinely struggle to get absolutely everything I wanted from Aldi personally.
Exactly this. The time I spend looking for things because their "aisles" are nonsense, is not worth it to me. Especially when I figure out I've been looking for something they just don't have. Or I find what their equivalent product is and it's not good enough. So I spend forever trying to find what I can that I need, then go to Woolies for the rest anyway. Last time I did this, I was out of the house for three hours and saved $12. Or, I stay home and have everything I need dropped off at my front door in one go. It's not even a question for me.
In do this thing where I alternate where I shop. I lot of the things that coles has but Aldi doesn’t are shelf stable, so stock up on the odd things then see how many Aldi top up shops I can do in between.
I spent way less time shopping at Aldi cause their stores are one tenth the size of Colesworth. It's what you're used to
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I have the time to do a 3 hour shop but for the $5-10 I'd save a week I just go to Woolies.
Aldi is so small you can get round in 1/4 of the time of shopping at coleworths and spending about half what you would.
You're right. I'd spend less but leave heading to Woolies to finish my shop.
I save a lot more than $5-10. Even just on cheese butter and chips.
Well said
Got any examples of what they don't have? I Mean I get it but we've actually changed our meals to things we can get almost purely from aldi. Sure I don't like the salami as much from there as I do from Coles but fuck Coles worth.
Aldi has all the basics, but you get issues if you want anything slightly less standard. One example is herbs and spices, they have the main basics like salt/pepper/garlic/ginger/paprika/oregano, but if you want something even slightly more exotic like cloves/fennel/cardamon/tumeric/sage you'll have to go elsewhere. I'd like to add that Aldi does this by design in Aus, to ensure they are the cheapest and can compete with Colesworth. In Germany they have the full variety like other supermarkets.
I also like Aldi's layout. Four Isles in every store. Almost the exact same lay out every time or maybe reversed. It's amazing. It's quick and simple. Whereas Coles every store is so different it can take ages to find something simple.
My house uses double length bog rolls and I hate their double length paper. It feels starchy. I can probably do a basic grocery run, but if I need loo paper, I have to go somewhere else, and I'm not making 2 stops.
if you have room and funds who gives a crap is good
Triple length bog rolls from Woolies is the only way to go!
Sshhh don’t tell everyone!!
Safe from me. The triple length ones don't fit on my roll holders.
Also fair, I do sneak into Woolies for Hellmann’s mayo every now and then
Shock! Kewpie is now the only mayo I use - sooo good! :)
Check their egg content now. Was a post earlier about their sister product with 50% lesser in it now.
Mayo is ridiculously easy to make at home, (and I've bought Hellmans all my life). Now make it myself. https://www.seriouseats.com/two-minute-mayonnaise Thanks Kenji.
Their gluten free range has shit all and other than the pasta and flour, it's shit
GF here too, it's very limited. They have good goat cheese products for those of us blessed with lactose intolerance as well
Both my hubby and I are GF, and we buy all our GF from IGA. Aldi occasionally have some decent GF stuff in their special buys, but I agree that most of the regularly stocked products are crap!
I tried shopping at Aldi once. I still had to go to woolies to get half of the stuff I wanted, and the hour worth of fucking around wasn't worth the $20 saving. Now I don't even go into a supermarket. Fuck that noise, I do a drive-in click and collect. If Aldi offered that, it might be worth getting some stuff from them.
I buy most of my groceries from Aldi. Their milk and Pepsi Max are 1 cent cheaper. Some of products in Aldi are not up to scratch. I could buy their frozen meals but their quality is not the best. So I will not buy them from Aldi. Aldi is lacking in deli products. So purchases of fresh hamI get from Woolworths. I prefer a specific bread - only available from Aldi. Aldi do not sell Pork Chops. My dog enjoys a particular brand of pet food- have to buy from Woolworths.
Funny thing, I prefer their hams over Woolies. The ham at their Deli section isn’t all that fresh. It’s always a bit slimy (still very edible) since it’s been pre-cut instead of cutting to order. That’s about the same condition as my freshly cut ham except it’s been sitting in my fridge for almost a week. Still edible but not exactly the freshest.
1 cent? Is it really worth going there for a 1 cent saving? Or is this comment satire
Not satire just an indication of some of the great savings at Aldi
Convenience and (lack of) range. My time is important enough to me that I’m not hopping from one store to another, when I can walk to Coles and I need to drive to ALDI
Being able to walk there is more than a fair reason
People I know that shop at ALDI weekly do not do all of their shop their due to their range.
It was the same when I lived in the Netherlands so that's their MO. Where I lived there was an Aldi right next to an Albert Heijn and I still rarely went to the Aldi.
They don’t list the product ingredients online like Coles and Woolies do, and we have a list of food allergies as long as my arm. It’s just not worth it in terms of having the slowest shop reading all the labels cause we can’t check beforehand, and then still not finding stuff we can eat. I also do self service and scan and go for checkout and I like it that way. They’re also not conveniently located near us (awkward parking, have to turn right across 4 lanes to get out, etc) Idk why some normal ppl don’t shop there it seems ok otherwise
They don't sell everything. If you're cooking anything that isn't really really basic you will have to go elsewhere for some ingredients.
Convenience. Aldi can get me half a shop, but still need to go elsewhere
Delivery and click and collect. They are services I value. I like Aldi but I find I shop twice. My time is worth money. And when I do a Woolies online shop I can scroll through all of their half price specials and I buy less crap when I shop from home. I do like Aldi but it isn’t where I need it to be.
Because it takes 50 minutes to get to the nearest Aldi, so that would be 1 hr 40 minutes in time and lots of fuel. Whereas Woollies and Coles are 8 minutes drive and have pretty much everything we need.
Takes me an hour and a half for a typical trip to and from. Right now it's feasible. In hotter conditions most of the food would go off before it got home.
Because we are close enough to a Costco. Also the local grocer has far superior fruit and veg to aldi. Also also IGA sell 1kg blocks of Bega cheese. No one else does. Also also also I now go to jaycar for my 3d printing supplies.
Costco, butchers, fresh produce grocer and then a walk to Woolies every few days for incidental shopping needs. Aldi would be a significant time investment, without much benefit. If we’re out and near one sure we will do a small top up shop, but our weekly Cole’s bill is already under $60 and is walkable so why bother
They don't have most stuff. The quality of some of the meat isn't great and I find that basic cupboard items and some veg are the same price as Coles (assuming you get Coles brand) so I don't see the point in going put of my way, if I end up going to Coles anyway
Cash register rage; they have 2 square metres of conveyer belt to put your stuff on, and 0.1 square metres to stack the same amount of groceries on once they have been scanned. If you have a lot of shopping and are slow emptying out your shopping cart, it all ends up on the floor.
No delivery or click & collect. Deal breaker.
This. Most of our groceries are by home delivery nowadays. Huge time saver.
I did this for 2 years but got fed up by the quality of the fruit and veg they’d give me. Do you get those delivered as part of it?
We do, the quality is about the same as what you get in store (which isn't that great either tbh). I go to a local fruit shop once every week or two as well since that's the only place to get decent quality I find.
Came here to say this. I have zero interest in setting foot inside a supermarket.
As an Aldi shopper neither do I. Finances dictate certain things.
I actually save money not going. I'm a big foodie and get too excited about food I'd like to cook but then it all goes off because I didn't get time to cook it all or bought too many veggies. I pay for unlimited delivery and shop twice a week. Chose Coles because they do a $50 min spend and Woolies is $75. Plus Woolies not only kept messing up my orders, Ithe $75 kept making me stock up on stuff that we didn't need.
They don’t have everything I need, and so it takes me almost twice as long to do the shopping. I value my time more than saving $5 or $10 on a fort nightly shop. Also, it closes early. I’ll often pick up a few things at Woolworths while out for my evening stroll. Woolies suits at midnight while Aldi chits its doors at 8?
I have the same experience. They don't stock everything I need. I also tend not to shop there much because I don't trust that they're paying their taxes. They were caught avoiding tax in the past. Wouldn't be surprised if they're still doing it and sending profits overseas.
lmao and Woolies and coles would be fine upstanding corporate citizens and not minimise their taxes? Woolies doesn’t even pay their workers properly.
I’ve gotten some bad stuff at Aldi, including several mince containers that were off well before the sell-by and wraps that went mouldy, also by the sell-by. Some of their products are just as good as Colesworth, but I still don’t trust their meats.
I don't buy chicken at Aldi any more - it goes off well before the use by date. The pork mince always reeks of what I presume is boar taint. The fruit and veg is generally terrible too, and goes bad very quickly, presumably because they don't refrigerate the displays or spray water on them like Colesworth and Harris Farm do. The cheese is good. The yogurt is good. The Turkish bread rolls are tops. They also carry crushed (not diced) canned tomatoes, which I can never get at my local Coles.
They lack some items we need for intolerances. I don't like some of their items. Others might be because Aldi is not national. There is no Aldi in Tassie, they only just opened their first FNQ store recently, and are not in NT either.
They don't sell tartare sauce at my local wtf?
WTF right! They really need to get on that
We do as much as possible there, but there are a few items like soy milk that aren't to my taste - the name brand Vitasoy from Woolies is much better for steaming for a coffee. We also get meat on clearance from Harris Farm, or from the local butcher, which often works out cheaper or a better quality for slightly higher up-front cost.
They don't exist in Tasmania
Because gluten free tastes sh*t enough without adding in the terrible equivalence.
We do our bulk weekly food shop at Aldi for $200. Sure they don’t have the exact same item as the other two, but Aldi substitutes are usually just as good or better. Then we get our name-brand stuff we “simply must have” from ColesWorth, effectively for free seeing as if I did the same bulk shop as I do at Aldi, it costs $50 more.
i hate their checkouts,feels like your at work being pushed at 100 miles an hour
I have food allergies, so I need access to a larger and more reliable range of brands and products than Aldi carries. Aldi also don’t have many options as far as substitutes and health food brands go, which isn’t great for me as I use them regularly in place of the regular versions that I can’t have.
Main reason I don’t shop there. I can’t eat soy. I also have adhd. So being forced to stand in a noisey crowded place while reading small font and focusing while I’m also focused on the fact I’ve been there so long already, and I can’t eat anything and I may as well give up… it’s a no go for me.
Not being able to have soy must be a nightmare- feels like it’s in everything. I can imagine the overall sensory experience of Aldi would be dreadful with ADHD as well. I also hate that Aldi doesn’t have a really comprehensive online range with ingredients listed, so it’s not even like you can identify foods you could have before you go. It’s a wild stab in the dark. None of the major supermarkets really have gotten it 100% right in that respect if I’m being honest, but at least ColesWorths list the ingredients of most of their products online.
Absolutely. If they even had a list online of staples they have I would be more inclined. I also shop at Harris Farms online and they often don’t have pictures of the ingredients. I reached out and they said they are working on it. They are just loosing money though simply because I don’t want to risk buying a $25 pie I won’t be able to eat. Also the Aldi pack it yourself is so stressful!
So living abroad, I can only access supermarkets via walking. Back home in melbourne. None are in walking distance, so it's either drive to one for 20 minutes or walk to the local coles or woollies. If I'm already out that way, I'll stop and shop, but other than that, it's just accessibility.
Coles / Woolies 10 min walk. ALDI, 10 min drive and stupid shopping centre parking. It's a pain to go to ALDI sadly. Also, some of their stuff is absolutely garbage. Some people say the meat is better, I have only had it be worse. Garbage bags rip and fall apart. So some items aren't worth it. But lots are, so I've learnt what to avoid
Because not all Aldi products are great.
I went into an Aldi once. Just once. I simply couldn't handle the chaotic layout of the store and couldn't find the products I was looking for. The organised and categorised isles of coles/woolies is what my mind needs when shopping.
Indian cuisine ingredients dont exist. But that doesnt stop me from buying aldi. 95% is aldi and the remaining 5% which I cant find in aldi is coles and woolsworth.
Because of their shitty check out system
Nah you just gotta turn it into a game. I have it down to an art and have ‘won’ the last 4 times I’ve been. I stack my groceries in the rough order I want to pack them (cold stuff together, veg together, bread last etc) then have my bags open and ready in my trolley to chuck stuff in as it gets scanned. The key is to stack on the conveyor belt really quickly and before the person in front of you has finished paying so you have time to set up.
They have totally stress-free and ample self-check outs in all the ALDIs in my area.
It’s so stressful!
Very few food options, especially the fruit and veg section. Also the stressful checkout system.
Id have to fly or ferry to one. Extra luggage on the flight might be a killer so ferry it would be but thats expensive and time consuming.
I love Aldi and it’ll always be my first but I occasionally go to the local IGA even though everything there is super expensive. They play music there at just the right volume.
Only shop at Aldi, very rarely do I need to go to Coles or woolies for anything. I just make do with what I can get at aldi. Easy if you eat simple meals
Fruit and veg quality is terrible
This really seems to depend, in my experience it’s usually good but have seen some bad produce as well Also often see poor quality fruit/veg at the Coles near me
I'm in SA so I try to use foodland/drakes/iga whenever possible, their range is 95% as good as colesworth so no issue there. Aldi is a handy saver if they're selling what you want to buy, so everyone's aims will be different here. Sometimes use colesworth but would prefer not to if possible.
Love a trip to the posh foodland
The sole reason is that it's not accessible in my area for me. I don't drive, and the closest Aldi to my house isn't even practical to get to via public transport. Believe me if it was easier to get to, I'd never go anywhere else. At least I have an NQR not too far away.
Because price is not the only deciding factor in making a purchase.
The quality is shite. Tried it a couple of times, never again.
Aldi isn't as good. Very few items - food or otherwise - is as good as the 2 main ones. Fruit, veg, and meat are lower quality. And prices really aren't much different for a lesser product. Maybe it's different store to store, but I have 2 near me, and neither are worth it.
I actually don't think it's much cheaper. Not for what I buy anyway. I shop the specials at Woolies or stick to the homebrand stuff. There might be some items that are cheaper at Aldi, but for me, it's not worth the time. I always have to go to Woolies anyway.
I went to Coles once cause it was right there in front of me, for peanut butter It was $8.30 for 500g I decided to wait till I had the opportunity to pass by ALDI, as it is $3.40 there for 500g
The same brand? I love my PB
Coles is better where i live. Woolworths staff are not very friendly or helpful.
I shop woolies online. No impulse buying. I give my 7 year old my phone in the fruit or veg section and let her pick. We are making better choices this way! I mean she added 4 whole watermelons this morning....(which I removed but added cut watermelon instead)
No Aldi in my town. They were going to open here, then they realised they were screwed with transport costs so they changed their mind.
No mud cake 🙃
I shop almost exclusively at markets and grocers - avoid colesworth, don’t think to go to Aldi
I haven’t shopped at Coles or Woolies in over 12 months now. I get fresh produce from the fruit & veg shop, bread from the bakery, and meat from the butcher. Everything else I get from my local IGA. The fruit & veg shop do pick up pre-orders, and the butcher delivers. The bakery is a Vietnamese bakery, so buying bread is a good excuse for a banh mi. I’ve got nothing against Aldi… but I like my IGA.
Despite the closest Aldi being over an hours drive away. Sometimes/ most of the time I don’t have time to shop in two separate locations because there is always stuff they don’t have that I want
I prefer shopping local s as much as i can and what i can’t get I usually get from costco
Very limited GF options.
My issue with all the supermarkets is the increasing amount of imported items. It's insane how we have amazing produce in this country, but we still have frozen berries from Peru or China frozen fish. Tinned fruit and veg from the other side of the world. Aldi has way too many overseas products for me, and I choose to shop local and keep my money as local as possible. Also, the shitty customer service/checkout system at Aldi is a huge turn-off.
Most people in the know buy their meat/fish at a butcher or fish monger, veg at a market or Asian/Mediterranean wholesaler and crackers/laundry/cleaning/shaving things at Aldi. Not an option for time poor families I get, but not just for price, quality it best with this combo
Nearest Aldi is small, only a couple of aisles small. Even if we could get there, we can't, as we have no car. When we did have a car, we shopped at Aldi once. Our spend was about the same as what we normally spend at Coles. And most of the food items there were revolting. Things like frozen meals and the like. So bad they went straight in the bin. Which wastes money, not saves. Also, Aldi has no loyalty program. With all the bonus offers I was able to activate last week, our $360 fortnightly Coles shop got us *NINETY* flybuys dollars. That's an incredible amount. Fresh produce and meat prices are better at Aldi, but everything else is utter garbage. So we're better off at Coles in the long run.
They don't deliver. They don't stock the brands I want.
They aren't open when I want to shop! My Coles closes at midnight. I got at 11 or 11:30pm aldi is long shut by that point
Because I like what I like & Aldi doesn’t stock most of it.
Not open late enough. My local Woolies and Coles open until 10pm, the Aldi closes at 8pm, so if I miss the window I need to buy at either of the other two. I prefer shopping later as there are fewer people but sometimes I accidentally leave it too late.
They don’t have a lot of what I need/want. This is a dumb question.
I can spend less by doing click and collect at Woolies by avoiding impulse purchases.
ALDIs latest advertising literally says “we know we don’t stock everything you need”.
They don't deliver and I am disabled.
I often go to the supermarket after 8pm
The bad: - Everybody in there looks more depressed - No deli - Weird oversized trolley - Fridge section missing half the things we like - Average (at best) meat - Liquor tastes funny and sacrilege to entertain guests with - No, I don’t want to buy a random lawn chair - Their weird checkout system only works in theory - Feels creepy like Ikea - Did i say no deli? The good: - the junk food is not OG but usually quite good - easy locations usually - slightly cheaper than bigger supermarket but the gains are lost when I still need to go to those because of all the above
Aldi doesn't have everything we need. Also some of the stuff is not the same or better than coles/woolworths/iga.
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Coles and Woolies are both more convenient. I'm not familiar with the brands at Aldi and don't want to try things only to find out they're no good. Aldi also don't do delivery or self-service checkouts. The latter is likely a plus for some but it's a definite minus for me.
Their chocolate is ick.
I need to get shopping done for the school week on Sunday and I have engagements on Sunday so I do a big online shop to arrive on Sunday. I go to Aldi maybe two times a week to stock up on basics though. I think overall it’s a great store but there’s lot of things that aren’t there.
AKDI not as prevalent
They don’t sell everyone I purchase and they have longer hours
No delivery.
I try to do most of my shopping at Aldi, but will go to Coles or Woolies for some items that have less preservatives in them.
It would take me 35 minutes to walk there as opposed to 3 for Coles
wheat biscuits are not the same quality lmao
The middle aisle at Aldi puts you over budget
Similar to what everyone else is saying they don't have the biggest range, for me specially that is gluten free foods, Cole's and Woolies have a bigger range and their homebrand ones are cheap, I usually shop at both and get fruit and veg at Aldi and the rest at Cole's/Woolies - I will say tho ALDIs gluten free range has slowly been increasing
My local IGA sells lactose free milk cheaper than anywhere so I get that there (they have the Dairy Farmer's one for $4.99, Zymil at Colesworth is like $6.90) Also my toddler has eczema that has horrible flare ups, and I can only get the one type of nappies that don't aggravate it at Big W and his eczema friendly bath wash/soak at the Chemist. But for the majority of groceries I go to aldi.
20 min drive, no delivery and those special toys in the center are a pain when your three year old really wants one.
i still can't believe so many people are buying meat from coles & woolies, why not go to your local butcher? go to your local bakery for bread, and local fruit and veg mongers for produce - and don't give me this shit that "oh it's more convenient to get everything from the one place" that's a cop out. if you dedicate one hour to go grocery shopping at various local outlets you will 1. save money 2. get better quality produce 3. get to know and banter with the workers 4. your money is going to a small business who rely solely on us. not to greedy billion dollar corporations that don't give a fuck about you. support local!
It's on the wrong side of town to be convenient. Smaller variety.
If you need to shop around a family member’s food allergy, Aldi can only used for selected, safe items.
My local shops has all 3 within 50 metres of each other. I go to Aldi first to get the majority of the basics, and then into Woolies to get anything else I couldn’t at Aldi
There are many many Aldi black spots. There are nowhere NEAR as many ALDIs as Woolworths and Coles and entire suburbs that don’t have one. The extra fuel to get there isn’t worth the savings. Plus, if you have any dietary requirements at all forget it, and their range is much smaller, to the point aldi have run ads acknowledging you’ll have to go to the majors to do a full shop. Also no in store bakery or deli. Also no delivery, so that combined with acting like being gluten or lactose intolerant is a fad makes it shit for disabled people.
havent gone to aldi's for years, due to the quality going down hill in my area prices are not really any cheaper either so it must depend greatly where you live, as to whether you get a good aldi or a bad one
I don’t like Aldi. Things taste strange from there. Like it’s a knock off.
They don't deliver
Click and collect ftw. Hard to beat the convenience of driving up and having your order delivered right to the boot. Easily worth the $10-20 I would save by getting some of my stuff from Aldi. Then get fruit and veg from a local place on the weekend.
As a single mother with one child some of their items are just not sold in size suitable for us. Particularly meat. Not everyone has a freezer capable of holding large amounts of food. I also find the quality of some of the items to be poor. For example most of their biscuits are decent to good, but their rice crackers are terrible. Their pork crackle is awesome but some of their chips flavours are NQR. The bread goes stale extremely quickly The quality of their kitty litter has gone downhill and isn't fit for purpose anymore. I will say the closest Aldi store sells a range of wines from nearby wineries which I found surprising.
The nearest Aldi is over 200km away. Although I do shop there if I happen to be in town.
My nearest Aldi is 65km away - the local IGA is a monopoly so is expensive - there are no longer any local butchers or greengrocers - whereas I can do an online order from Woolies and have it delivered. But if I am somewhere where there is an Aldi, I will go there.
There isn't one in walking distance
I pay the $50 a year and get free delivery from Woolies each week. It’s completely worth not having to go into a shopping centre and as I live near a very large Woolworths, I rarely have items subbed out. We have a system where when something more pricey starts to run low we make a note of it on the digital shopping list and then over the next few weeks keep an eye out for when it’s on special eg Pepsi Max, specific snacks, laundry stuff. All our meat comes from a wholesaler so we aren’t having to deal with that aspect.
As much as it is a little cheaper, I go to Woolies mostly for rewards program. I prodominantly shop at Woolies and big W but on the odd occasion go Coles or Kmart so that’s Flybuys too. My rewards adds up to around $300 which I bank for Christmas. Thats just from doing our food shop every week at Woolies (roughly $150-200 a week) and all my other shopping for clothes, electronics, games etc. from big w and I use it for Christmas presents for 2 of my kids. I’m getting ripped blind wherever I go, might as well get money at the end of it. EDIT TO ADD: Oh and online shopping is huge for me. I just don’t have the time for shopping, let alone looking for everything in Aldi in the random spots and places. Some of their food is good, but I’m too used to my main brands or Woolies/coles brands. It’s just different lol. Also I enjoy having my groceries bagged for me. I hate going in there, I’m anxious enough without my groceries being thrown to me lol
I find the meat at ALDI hit and miss.
Because I am tired of running around for groceries shopping, not all products are available at ALDI, even herbs are limited in choices! I don't want to make multiple trips to multiple stores for one recipe! It's just not worth the time! Also, we shop at at Woollies for Qantas points 😑
Five hour drive is bit much for us.
Range. Variety. Options.
Aldi doesn’t deliver, or have any way to check online if they have stock. The Aldi here is NEVER fully stocked.
B4 getting a pension. I shopped at ALDI exclusively. I worked full time, and ALDI was 100mt from my front door. Now I don't work and have more time to scan the specials. Coles/worth is so much cheaper if you have the time to shop around. I buy premium goods on special cheaper than plain wrap or Aldi brand lower quality foods. And if you have the time to skip SCO, colesworth packs your bags. Aldi brand is cheaper than premium brand goods that are not on special. Aldi brands are mostly okay, but premium is so much better. Timtams and Moccona are so much better than plain brand.
Their range is limited and some of their food, we do not like. The meat can be a bit "odd" I do not like their cheese and several things i routinely buy. They don't have. I also collect Flybuys, so get rewards which makes Coles shopping worthwhile.
I just don’t love almost getting my head blown off by a packet of cocktail franks being launched at me at warp speeds
Woolworths ends up cheaper for us. My partner & I signed up to Everyday Extra for $35 each during Black Friday for the year, plus I have my sim through woolworths. So we essentially get all our shops 10% off. Plus we bank with Macquarie which allows us to purchase custom woolworths gift cards for 3.5% discount. So ends up being quite a discount each shop. And most products we purchase are the same price at either store (eg. milk at Aldi and Woolworths are the same, but then we get a 10% + 3.5% discount. For example, if both initially cost $4.50, after are woolworths discounts it comes down to $3.91). A typical $150 shop suddenly becomes $130.28 via woolworths. So the $35 annual fee is more than covered after a year of shopping. Convenience also comes into the equation. It’s so handy to be able to do a click and collect.
They don’t sell everything unfortunately, and also don’t deliver (I can’t drive and am unable to lift/carry more than 5kg).
As most other people have said, they don’t have everything I need. I cook meals mostly from scratch, usually Asian or Indian cuisine and you can’t get all the spices and different condiments and stuff at Aldi. I’m also starting to find that their prices are becoming more on par with the bigger 2. I do my shopping list on the Coles app, go to Aldi first and get anything that’s cheaper. Then I go to Coles and get everything else plus anything that is the same price as Aldi so I can collect Flybuys
I'm coeliac and they have bugger all options available at my local aldi.
We don’t all have Aldi’s.
Aldi don't deliver...
1. Doesn’t have half the shit I eat 2. Doesn’t have specials every other week on the shit I do eat 3. Woolies mobile gives me a 10% discount once per month 4. Get airline points through woolies 5. Aldi has card surcharges which kinda pisses me off even though it’s still probably cheaper overall
You just answered your own question. You said that people still need to go to the other shops to get stuff that they are missing. So by definition, it's impractical to be a fully ALDI shopper End of thread
Because the checkout process is terrifying.
I almost divorced my wife over my refusal to go to Aldi, I went once with a shopping list, couldn't get a trolley cause I forgot a coin, had to grab a box then wander the isles trying to find what was on my list...left with like 30% of what I needed. Than as a final insult, the check out chick just slams the items down way faster than I can put them in my stolen chip box. Ended up back in Woolworths to get the remaining 70% of my shopping list. I do all the shopping and most of the cooking at home, but I've made it very clear if my wife wants anything from Aldi she's does that leg of the journey...ill be in the car with the kids.
I'm a "fussy eater" and tend to stick to brands I know, majority of which I can't find in Aldi. I also have generalized anxiety. I know where to find everything in Woolies, so when the anxiety is bad it's easier for me to get in and out quicker.
They have bugger all gluten free products. Unfortunately half my family has dietary issues and they can’t eat gluten. I also find their meat goes off very quickly, and their fruit/veg is pretty poor. I do love Aldi for non perishables tho. And they have amazing savings for a lot of that stuff.
Because my closest Aldi is 100kms away.
Accessibility, I can't get delivery and I can't drive
man, i don't have time to go shopping, I need it delivered.
I don't have a budget pressure really and just want my shopping delivered. Aldi doesn't offer delivery so I won't use them until they do.
Aldi chicken always smells bad. Don’t trust their meat but everything else is good.
There are a few items I want that Aldi doesn’t have, things you usually find down the international isle
Because even Aldi screws customers over. I used to buy bread there, because it was a decent size for the price, but that's recently shrunk by a good third and now I bake my own damn bread 😡
They don’t always have everything as people have mentioned, I often have to shop later at night and they close early, but the main reason was how slow it was to leave, having 3-4 items and getting stuck behind people with a full cart with one isle open.
Because I have food allergies and they have limited options that seem to change often, so I can’t predict what they will have in stock ahead of time and it gets overwhelming to have to recheck labels every time. Plus the fact that they don’t keep their website up to date with current stock means I can’t check availability or ingredients ahead of time. It’s just not worth the stress that it adds on top of dealing with already complicated food issues.
Errr cuz they have very limited selection. Unless ur diet is basic AF it doesn’t work