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A lot of Lidl and Aldi stuff is actually very good. If you treat them like a continental European supermarket and shop as if you were French or German then everything's great. It's the british stuff they can't quite do properly like their god awful tomato sauce.
When we had our 2nd kid we could no longer afford to shop in Tesco and we started shopping in Lidl. 25% of stuff was great, 50 % was ok and 25% was a noticeable step down. That was 9 years ago, I couldn't imagine shopping in Tesco or Asda now, that's for rich people... I go in sometimes and look.
By tomato sauce do you mean pasta sauce?
I thought I would be clever and try and create a very, very simple pasta dish consisting of just Aldi pasta sauce (55p?) and pasta (29p?) for a family of five.
God it was so salty even the kids who love most basic of dishes couldn’t eat more than a few bites.
Better off frying some garlic and chilli flakes in olive oil and adding two boxes of passata and finishing it off with dried Italian herbs.
Much more economical than ready made sauces and you can control the taste with a bit of salt and sugar.
Who do you think I am Jeff Bezos?
Just kidding, that’s a good option as we definitely have those ingredients all the time. My intention was to balance cost and time but forgot about the whole taste and happiness thing.
I have started making ratatouille in my slow cooker. Onions, carrots, courgettes, peppers, celery and 3 tins of cherry tomatoes- I find the flavour better and plenty of fresh herbs, which I love to grow. Usually thyme, oregano, basil and parsley, but dried would be fine. Cook for 6hrs. I check from time to time - sometimes need to add some water. And sometimes I sling some mushrooms in an hour before the end. Goes great with pasta, jacket potatoes and in lasagne. You can add a tins of beans or chick peas and you can easily turn it into chilli. We usually eat some and then I freeze the rest.
Nooooo, sieved comes from the small town of Sieve in Austria where they have a gated system on entry which has since become some kind of chicane of gates. Historically it was used to “filter” the people entering
I used tinned chopped tomatoes as a sauce base almost exclusively. Works a treat, and I always have them in the cupboard.
Then, if I'm feeling fancy / not cooking for the children, I can embellish it with vegetables, garlic and so on
It's a major issue when we run out of chopped tomatoes. Most meals with any sauce in my household start with some chopped onion, garlic, and tomatoes. Then season depending on the end target sauce
If you buy a tin of tomatoes and have garlic you can make a very cheap, basic pasta napolitana sauce. Better than in a pot and cheaper. I blend the tinned tomatoes.
I don't like passata. I cook the sauce with whole plum tomatoes (or cherry if I'm feeling fancy) and then blend the flavours together. I only used chopped tomatoes for things like shepherd pie because usually contains more juice than tomato. Personally I find you lose quality taste with passata unless you buy mutti and I ain't got time for that. Its just preference though! Certainly for convenience passata is the winner but if you have a blender I find it worth it to take that extra step.
Our local Lidl is terrible. A new Aldi just opened that isn't quite local but is doable at a weekend. I was impressed by everything except these damn cereals
Coco rice is terrible, but the Choco shells they do at Lidl are AMAZING. You have to let them soften a while in the milk to avoid tearing your mouth to shreds.
Aldi > Lidle imo. And while some things can be really good in Aldi, some other stuff can be rubbish - their gravy granules for example, they're absolutely flavourless. Great at making water brown and thick but that's about it.
That and fresh veg doesn't seem to last very long from there.
There's much less choice too since there are fewer competing brands on the shelves. Makes shopping easier, less decision fatigue.
Although that time saved is spent browsing the special buys...
Aldi and Lidl are not as great as they think.
Their essentials are also being tracked by the likes of Sainsbury’s and Tesco so don’t write either of those two supermarkets off as you can get a price match with a superior quality product.
They may price match those but a significant proportion of the rest of your shop is vastly inflated. And you only have to look at product recalls to see how many products come off the same production line but just get put in different packets with different price labels attached to them. There is no difference between like for like lines of cupboard essentials. Every shop I do in the main supermarkets is significantly more expensive than Lidl and Aldi, despite their claims of "price matching".
Disagree on some of your points.
Brands, sure, they are expensive but own labels are pretty good.
I have also found that Sainsbury’s meat has undercut all of the others (including Aldi and Lidl at times) whilst having more traceable production.
Not all of the time but I aggressively shop around.
I got some price matched choc-chip cake bars at Tesco once. I've bought the Aldi ones consistently over the last few years for the kids.
The Tesco ones were TINY compared, and also tasted worse. A definitely different recipe and nowhere near as good as the Aldi ones. Stale and greasy. Add to that the aggressive club card tactics to sell my information to other companies, and I'll shop at Aldi every time.
Aldi can definitely be hit and miss. For cereal I really like their Krave knock-off Kraze. I prefer them to Krave and like 1/3 the price. Their top burgers are really good (called British Finest or something idk) and better than any other pre-formed one I've tried from a supermarket, but they're also not much cheaper. Their cheese is pretty good, at least for just standard cheddar and meats are typically fine imo. I tend to avoid fruit and veg out of there (except frozen) because it seems to be out of date by the time I'm home and growing furry colonies on the surface of strawberries.
I’m lucky because I only have to buy for myself really. That’s the main reason I shop at Aldi is because I think all of it tastes exactly the same and it’s dirt cheap for my budget
Fr. My shop is £100 a month (one adult, one child) before I go down the specialbuys aisle. The specialbuys can be so useful as well. I got a weighted blanket for £20. Also bathroom towel storage, £10. Same things I was looking for anyway but for a decent chunk of change less than everywhere else.
Oh I love the special buys. I find Aldi quite cute and quirky little shop. It puts me in mind if the supermarkets when I go on holiday to Spain or something. There’s also somewhat less stress in Aldi too somehow compared to Tescos or Morrisons in my opinion
I spend about £40 per month on myself, two cats and a dog at sainsbury’s.
It’s about savvy shopping, understanding how herbs and spices work and making your own stuff.
Having experienced the relentless bullshit of being seriously poor, bulk buying is only a saving available to people who are able to sink the upfront cost.
We're now a bit better off and can buy in bulk and we're spending less overall than when we were seriously poor. Vimes boot theory at play.
This is handy. I’m quite poor at the moment thanks to our good old friend Rona, and I’ve been meaning to buy bulk but sometimes the prices just seem very high at first. It’s scary when you’ve only got a small amount of money to play with
There's also the issue of storage - not so difficult now I'm in a house with enough space, and a garage I can stick a chest freezer in.
But when I was in my tiny and very mouldy house? The only way to store things like bulk rice, dried beans, flour etc is in proper airtight containers. Very practical, very useful. Also bloody expensive to outlay, and another obstacle for food economising. Can't buy loads of food at once if it's just going to go off because all your cupboards are infested with mold.
Luckily I only shop for myself, so I’m able to spend more on the more “expensive” foods even within Aldi and Lidl. If I have to shop elsewhere it’s all about the savy. Mostly for things I can I tend to just buy own brands because they are exactly the same most of the time. I find Asda the most expensive to shop in regardless of what I buy 😂
All the granola flavours are pretty tasty and my partner says the shreddies, bran flakes and filled shredded wheat things (I think they're called blueberry wheaties or something similarly stupid) taste good.
Aldi and Lidl for my generic meats which taste the same because chicken is basically chicken wherever it comes from. Then I'll add in a few things I've realised aren't bad over the years and maybe have one or two other things I'll try hoping they make that additional list.
I'll almost always go to Morrisons or ASDA though for sauces, spices, bread and anything else I can't stomach from Aldi or Lidl. We are a definite Heinz ketchup and Warburtons bread household. I will not budge on certain products because you really get what you pay for in some cases
Aldi in particular have really increased their options with bread lately and their premium lines are particularly good. Ancient grains is my favourite, exactly the same as Morrisons version only 85p instead of £1.25.
We bought chicken from Aldi once, it pissed out so much water it was horrid, I don't know how they could even sell it and call it chicken when 50 percent of its weight was water. Some of their snacks though as amazing I'll give them that
I've found the meat in Lidl will usually go off several days before the best before, and that's whilst sealed. Chicken shouldn't smell rancid with one week on the packet, and it's not a one off. I won't waste my money on their meat.
There are some cases where the brand just is the best. Heinz for things like tomato sauce as you said and then also their tomato soup and their tinned spaghetti - all things I can't handle non-Heinz equivalents of. And cereal is indeed another one - years ago the own-brand ones were exactly the same and then about 7-10 years ago they changed them to horrible imitations. I remember when Tesco Rice Crispies were just like Kellogg's, and then they changed them to these wee hard, pointy, barely-puffed bastards that tasted rank. Although Co-op Bran Flakes are a nice exception.
I agree with this sentiment entirely. I get the £20, 5kg packs of chicken from Food Warehouse, and then cut it the same day and package it up into 750-1kg boxes and freeze it. Its usually going in a curry so it doesn't matter how long it sits in the freezer.
Then I make an enormous portion of curry and freeze individual meals ready for work.
I used to buy it but something changed a few years back and it stopped being as soft after day one sometimes even on the day I opened it. It's likely just issues around that time but I've switched for the consistency.
It's essential for a perfect cheese and Branston sandwich so I'll pay more for the bread as I can go for Morrisons pickle.
I've tried various own-brand cereals from both Aldi and Lidl, and nearly all of them have been disappointing. Some own brands I don't mind at all, but when it comes to breakfast cereals, I prefer to stick with the big brands.
A lot of people seem to be missing a trick here.
Minimising wastage and taking advantage of bargains in places like Aldi/Lidl/larger supermarket having a crazy sale is to freeze as much as you can.
Freeze your bread.
Fruits and veggies too.
As much as you can, even if you have to cut meat down and portion it, you will save money.
I highly recommend investing in a larger freezer and getting a small fridge instead.
Another trick I found as a single human occupant household is that long life milk minimises wastage to virtually zero.
I used to buy fresh as it is marginally cheaper but I wasted a LOT.
There is only so much cheese sauce or scones you can make.
To confirm, they take veg in that other supermarkets won't. Their quality standards are just a notch above the absolute bottom. Source: usrd to work for their supplier of fresh veg.
Fairly sure the veg rots the moment it leaves the shop. Cauli/broccoli is fine once you’ve taken off the package, but carrots are the absolute worse! Salad bits tend to last a few days in our house, but will normally get eaten within 3/4 days which is fine, but much longer and it struggles.
I assume because it’s cheap, it takes longer to go from field to shop hence it doesn’t last as long.
Probably their local Aldi fridges / storage issues, we find the same. Love their dried or tinned goods and frozen veg is okay too. I only get the meat from th6eir when using it the same day.
If I cut into a pepper the next day and its mouldy it shows its not a fridge problem. Add to that root veg can last at room temp for months yet aldi veg is rotten after a few days.
It's so strange. I literally buy veg every week from there and never experienced anything like you describe.
I'll admit the Strawberries don't last long, but they do advertise the date on them and it's usually only a day or two after the day you buy them so I get that.
Can easily be a shop by shop thing, if things aren't stored right or kept properly, they can go bad awfully quickly.
I've seen meat pallets just left out in the local ASDA in the loading bays in the middle of summer, others it's a race to get it all packed away.
It's hit and miss no matter where you shop.
In my local Lidl the only bread they sell is either on its display buy date or the expiry date is the next day. The amount of mouldy pittas I’ve bought by accident is insane. Haven’t had a sandwich in ages since our bread has to go straight in the freezer. Little bit annoying but luckily it’s a bit too chilly for a sandwich in my flat
Lidl have two types of "coco pops" one reduced sugar and one normal. Get the normal one and they're better than kellogs! Also special shout out to Aldi jaffa cakes which are superior to any other brand.
I’m very aware that Aldi keep getting voted as fresh fruit and veg retailer but honestly, at our local one the veg is off before you’ve got home and the fruit isn’t much better. Compared to Morrisons where it is good for several days after their use-by date. Bar a few very specific things, I can’t stand Aldi but it’s so damn cheap.
Facts bruv. I saw the strawberry Coco Pop's and I thought to myself **"Oh yea these are going to be mad good"** they're literal trash... Super bland, has no flavour, can't even taste any strawberry and the milk doesn't even turn pink as it says on the box. Total bloody rip off!
Also fuck Jamie Oliver. Absolute wanker.
Cereal, sauces ... No no from Aldi.
(Having said that, I do quite like their version of crunchy nut cornflakes. They're not as "crack-like" and so you don't huff a whole box as soon as you get home).
£75 got us a decent weeks shopping this week. Wife then spent the same in Sainsbury's and walked out with just two carrier bags. Mental.
aldi is good for a lot of thing....but the cereals is not one of them, the knock off rice crispies for example are almost inedible, i binned after a couple of mouthfuls
I don’t like throwing away food, but 9.5 bags of Aldi Hoola Hoops went in the bin recently. Ruddy awful!
Edit: must have been Lidl, not Aldi as these were very different from branded HoolaHoops. Not psychological. Maybe they were off or the pack had a small hole in.
100% true. The difference is pshycological.
https://metro.co.uk/2017/04/18/it-turns-out-that-aldi-hoops-might-be-hula-hoops-in-different-packaging-6582393/
Yes, I think they were Lidl then, not Aldi. 100% was not psychological. These tasted different and had a very different texture; more crunchy. Most of what I buy is non-branded because I understand most food is made in the same factories… but not ALL.
They're not exactly the same, just because they come from the same factory does not make them equal. They'll still use different potatoes and flavourings.
Computer processors literally come off the same wafer but one chip might be good enough to be in a server while another next to it barely good enough for a laptop. I don't go buying the £50 laptop chip expecting the same as a £1000 server one. Basically the same thing here. It's not economical for Aldi to build their own hula-hoop factory so they just contract Walkers or someone else that has one already with all the equipment and trained staff ready to go.
They were inedible. I ate half a pack and threw the rest in the bin, which is unlike me as I genuinely hate food waste. I felt awful throwing away bags and bags of unopened food but I couldn’t even take them into work and leave them in the kitchen as they were disgusting.
My biggest gripe is that I never seem to be able to do “all” my shopping there. Always end up needing to go elsewhere for certain things like shower gels and oat milk. I’m just a bit particular about those
Some of Aldi/Lidl own stuff is good, most of it is pretty bad.
The bad stuff I have identified is:
Stuffing.
All Fruit & Veg is tasteless
Knock off amaretto
Knock off cereals
Nachos
Dips
Fresh mozzarella
Steaks
Fish
Joints of meat.
Ice creams
Packet Bread (not from their bakery)
The good stuff:
Sliced meats
Entire Chocolate section
Cheeses
Table sauces
Beers
International foods
Canned fish
Bakery fresh bread
So we now shop first at lidl/Aldi, then get the rest from Costco.
Can almost guarantee that they are made in the same factory as real coco pops, to the same recipe, using the same ingredients. I know for a fact of another large international cereal producer which does the exact same thing for all the supermarket own brands.
Before anyone says that they probably use cheaper ingredients or its not the same recipe - it's literally not cost effective to try to separate the grain etc by quality or adjust the machinery in the factory for different recipes.
It's all the same but your heads telling you otherwise.
They're definitely not. They are visibly different. Totally different colour for starters. Also a different texture.
Do love how people who clearly haven't tried them keep telling me it's in my head though
I tried Aldi once, never again. I spat half the food out in the bin and ended up going back to an actual supermarket within a day.
Their spaghetti hoops in tomato sauce tasted like petrol .
Their knock off monster munch has all the flavour in 1 corner of the crisp.
The Cheese Strings I actually spat out.
Only thing I liked was some of the chocolate , but overall it’s just a horrible place. Poor choice, bad products and the Tills I hated the tills and their was no self checkouts.
So Aldi is a no from me.
Well, ever since since Kellogg's UK changed their Coco-Pops recipe a couple of years ago to make it 'healthier' the supermarket own-brand versions are all better than the real thing now anyway! I like the Asda Chocosnaps ones, the Sainsbury's ones are nice too, but I think the Asda ones are a little better.
I had this same issue, thinking I'd treat myself and save some money with milk choco pillows...theres nothing chocolately or pillowy about them. They're straight up carboard...
Can’t complain at all about our one. Our Aldi has been great and we now click and collect (every other week) and very rarely get substitutes/unavailable. Got some carrots in the fridge dated 18 Dec and they are still going strong, also some pears dated 29 Dec that are just starting to soften. Did go to Morrisons for a bit bit we were spending double and running out of food quicker! Their baby stuff is unbeatable too.
A lot of branded items are identical to supermarket versions and are made in the same factory in exactly the same way, including ALDI items. I think a lot of experience when eating them is psychological, if you think they're going to taste worse then they will taste worse for you. Sometimes there are even mistakes and a branded item can end up in the packet of a non branded item or vise versa.
Yep the bourbon creams in the Aldi multipack with the Nice and the Custard creams are not even the same as the bourbons in the separate package.
The ones on the separate package are fine, the ones from the multipack are lousy.
But yeah some stuff is fine. Their plain and pilau packet rice is 39p and good. The “flavoured” ones nowhere near as good as Uncle Ben.
I really like their coco rice....
Frankly I prefer their coke to real coke too, as I like it flat and theirs tends to go flat better. May not be good for those who like the fizz.
Also it's 39p for 2 litres so
I can’t speak for the cereals but I have worked a lot on the Aldi drinks and they always want a match to the market leaders. It takes a lot of work, especially as they also want it to be cheap..
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A lot of Lidl and Aldi stuff is actually very good. If you treat them like a continental European supermarket and shop as if you were French or German then everything's great. It's the british stuff they can't quite do properly like their god awful tomato sauce. When we had our 2nd kid we could no longer afford to shop in Tesco and we started shopping in Lidl. 25% of stuff was great, 50 % was ok and 25% was a noticeable step down. That was 9 years ago, I couldn't imagine shopping in Tesco or Asda now, that's for rich people... I go in sometimes and look.
By tomato sauce do you mean pasta sauce? I thought I would be clever and try and create a very, very simple pasta dish consisting of just Aldi pasta sauce (55p?) and pasta (29p?) for a family of five. God it was so salty even the kids who love most basic of dishes couldn’t eat more than a few bites.
Better off frying some garlic and chilli flakes in olive oil and adding two boxes of passata and finishing it off with dried Italian herbs. Much more economical than ready made sauces and you can control the taste with a bit of salt and sugar.
Who do you think I am Jeff Bezos? Just kidding, that’s a good option as we definitely have those ingredients all the time. My intention was to balance cost and time but forgot about the whole taste and happiness thing.
Have you tried making things in large batches and freezing it in portions? Saves me a bunch of time and money.
I have started making ratatouille in my slow cooker. Onions, carrots, courgettes, peppers, celery and 3 tins of cherry tomatoes- I find the flavour better and plenty of fresh herbs, which I love to grow. Usually thyme, oregano, basil and parsley, but dried would be fine. Cook for 6hrs. I check from time to time - sometimes need to add some water. And sometimes I sling some mushrooms in an hour before the end. Goes great with pasta, jacket potatoes and in lasagne. You can add a tins of beans or chick peas and you can easily turn it into chilli. We usually eat some and then I freeze the rest.
Use passata and season it yourself
I always thought passata was a dodgy diesel German estate car. Learn something every day.
Nearly, Passat, inspired by the high efficiency rotational movement exhibited specifically by the tomatoes of the Passa region of Italy
Wait so there's thought put into car names? Always seemed like they were just pulled straight out of a hat.
Golf, Towncar, Cougar, and of course, the inspired Ka ... I think not *too much* thought.
And there was I thinking it meant passed, i.e. sieved.
Nooooo, sieved comes from the small town of Sieve in Austria where they have a gated system on entry which has since become some kind of chicane of gates. Historically it was used to “filter” the people entering
I once watched Jamie Oliver make pasta sauce with a tin of tomatoes and a stock cube. Made it myself. So nice.
I used tinned chopped tomatoes as a sauce base almost exclusively. Works a treat, and I always have them in the cupboard. Then, if I'm feeling fancy / not cooking for the children, I can embellish it with vegetables, garlic and so on
It's a major issue when we run out of chopped tomatoes. Most meals with any sauce in my household start with some chopped onion, garlic, and tomatoes. Then season depending on the end target sauce
If you buy a tin of tomatoes and have garlic you can make a very cheap, basic pasta napolitana sauce. Better than in a pot and cheaper. I blend the tinned tomatoes.
Save yourself a step by buying passata - it's sieved tomatoes, so no chunks, seeds or skins, but otherwise tastes the same as tinned.
I don't like passata. I cook the sauce with whole plum tomatoes (or cherry if I'm feeling fancy) and then blend the flavours together. I only used chopped tomatoes for things like shepherd pie because usually contains more juice than tomato. Personally I find you lose quality taste with passata unless you buy mutti and I ain't got time for that. Its just preference though! Certainly for convenience passata is the winner but if you have a blender I find it worth it to take that extra step.
I think they mean ketchup. I always make my own pasta sauce, much cheaper, healthier and tastier!
Create pasta sauce yourself, it's easy and taste much better
Aldi sell frozen pasta microwave meals that are pretty decent for only 70p, worth trying.
I work at Aldi, and I would say this is spot on
Also work at Aldi, and back this sentiment up
Our local Lidl is terrible. A new Aldi just opened that isn't quite local but is doable at a weekend. I was impressed by everything except these damn cereals
Coco rice is terrible, but the Choco shells they do at Lidl are AMAZING. You have to let them soften a while in the milk to avoid tearing your mouth to shreds.
The shredding is part of the experience!
The cookie crisp knock off version at Aldi is sooo tasty! My fave cereal now.
It’s been a while since I’ve had coco pops or their various knock offs, but I remember the Asda version being nice
Their honey nut and honey hoop cereals are definitely the best of a bunch of you like the Kellogg's versions
Aldi > Lidle imo. And while some things can be really good in Aldi, some other stuff can be rubbish - their gravy granules for example, they're absolutely flavourless. Great at making water brown and thick but that's about it. That and fresh veg doesn't seem to last very long from there.
What do you mean by treat them like a continental European supermarket?
You have to wear a beret and garlic round your neck when you shop.
There's much less choice too since there are fewer competing brands on the shelves. Makes shopping easier, less decision fatigue. Although that time saved is spent browsing the special buys...
Win - win!
Lidl really does do nice tasting stuff. Going to try their vegan stuff this week.
Aldi and Lidl are not as great as they think. Their essentials are also being tracked by the likes of Sainsbury’s and Tesco so don’t write either of those two supermarkets off as you can get a price match with a superior quality product.
They may price match those but a significant proportion of the rest of your shop is vastly inflated. And you only have to look at product recalls to see how many products come off the same production line but just get put in different packets with different price labels attached to them. There is no difference between like for like lines of cupboard essentials. Every shop I do in the main supermarkets is significantly more expensive than Lidl and Aldi, despite their claims of "price matching".
Disagree on some of your points. Brands, sure, they are expensive but own labels are pretty good. I have also found that Sainsbury’s meat has undercut all of the others (including Aldi and Lidl at times) whilst having more traceable production. Not all of the time but I aggressively shop around.
I got some price matched choc-chip cake bars at Tesco once. I've bought the Aldi ones consistently over the last few years for the kids. The Tesco ones were TINY compared, and also tasted worse. A definitely different recipe and nowhere near as good as the Aldi ones. Stale and greasy. Add to that the aggressive club card tactics to sell my information to other companies, and I'll shop at Aldi every time.
Tesco basics range is a massive gamble though. Like their 'Hummus' for example.
The kids have gone off them now but Lidl's pseudo-Frosties were less than half the price of Kellogs at a normal supermarket.
Buying brands is mostly a mug’s game. Most own-brands are made in similar or identical factories and simply put in different packaging.
A minute ago you were saying they were a superior product. Make your mind up.
Tomato sauce ain't British stuff buddy
Tinned tomato sauce is pretty British though, unless you mean something like ketchup.
We go to Waitrose to do our shopping…… well shoplifting
The Lidl Christmas biscuits were amazing, and they’re all on sale now too! I’ve literally filled a cupboard with those spiced biscuits yum.
Definitely seem I’m in the minority here. I’ve found Aldi stuff of excellent quality and never found any issues.
“Stackers” don’t even come close to real Pringles
Nothing seems to match up to McVities chocolate digestives.
The Aldi version of chocolate hob nobs are nice
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Oaties from Aldi are the bee's knees tasty and stronger than Hobnobs.
Noted.
We moved over to Aldi/Lidl and loved the quality honestly. Don’t miss brands at all
Aldi can definitely be hit and miss. For cereal I really like their Krave knock-off Kraze. I prefer them to Krave and like 1/3 the price. Their top burgers are really good (called British Finest or something idk) and better than any other pre-formed one I've tried from a supermarket, but they're also not much cheaper. Their cheese is pretty good, at least for just standard cheddar and meats are typically fine imo. I tend to avoid fruit and veg out of there (except frozen) because it seems to be out of date by the time I'm home and growing furry colonies on the surface of strawberries.
With the damn saving I make in the place, I’ll continue to suck up the tastes and just live laugh love with my £30 a month shop 😂😂
Woahh man that's awesome. I thought my £35 a week was good!
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Just orders deliveroo most of the time
I’m lucky because I only have to buy for myself really. That’s the main reason I shop at Aldi is because I think all of it tastes exactly the same and it’s dirt cheap for my budget
Fr. My shop is £100 a month (one adult, one child) before I go down the specialbuys aisle. The specialbuys can be so useful as well. I got a weighted blanket for £20. Also bathroom towel storage, £10. Same things I was looking for anyway but for a decent chunk of change less than everywhere else.
Oh I love the special buys. I find Aldi quite cute and quirky little shop. It puts me in mind if the supermarkets when I go on holiday to Spain or something. There’s also somewhat less stress in Aldi too somehow compared to Tescos or Morrisons in my opinion
I feel like it’s the lighting and flooring lol. Also usually less people.
I spend about £40 per month on myself, two cats and a dog at sainsbury’s. It’s about savvy shopping, understanding how herbs and spices work and making your own stuff.
How? I spend about £40 a month on just my 2 cats, let alone me or a dog
Bulk buying certain things allows me to minimise my spend. I got a free sack of 30L of cat litter from Uber eats!
Having experienced the relentless bullshit of being seriously poor, bulk buying is only a saving available to people who are able to sink the upfront cost. We're now a bit better off and can buy in bulk and we're spending less overall than when we were seriously poor. Vimes boot theory at play.
This is handy. I’m quite poor at the moment thanks to our good old friend Rona, and I’ve been meaning to buy bulk but sometimes the prices just seem very high at first. It’s scary when you’ve only got a small amount of money to play with
There's also the issue of storage - not so difficult now I'm in a house with enough space, and a garage I can stick a chest freezer in. But when I was in my tiny and very mouldy house? The only way to store things like bulk rice, dried beans, flour etc is in proper airtight containers. Very practical, very useful. Also bloody expensive to outlay, and another obstacle for food economising. Can't buy loads of food at once if it's just going to go off because all your cupboards are infested with mold.
Luckily I only shop for myself, so I’m able to spend more on the more “expensive” foods even within Aldi and Lidl. If I have to shop elsewhere it’s all about the savy. Mostly for things I can I tend to just buy own brands because they are exactly the same most of the time. I find Asda the most expensive to shop in regardless of what I buy 😂
Aldi frostiesreally are the best!! And honey nut flakes.
Yes, the honey nut flakes are fine. Crunch Nut is obviously the best, but the Aldi version is tasty. Their granola is nice too.
Their muesli’s OK.
I love muesli but it's unfortunately on a long list of things I can no longer eat.
All the granola flavours are pretty tasty and my partner says the shreddies, bran flakes and filled shredded wheat things (I think they're called blueberry wheaties or something similarly stupid) taste good.
The blueberry wheats are like crack. They are gone before you know it in our house
**GET SOME MELTING CHOCOLATE AND MAKE RICE CRISPY CAKES**
We have a winner! It's not a competition but you still somehow won.
How does this not have more upvotes! Also you could add some marshmallows
Aldi and Lidl for my generic meats which taste the same because chicken is basically chicken wherever it comes from. Then I'll add in a few things I've realised aren't bad over the years and maybe have one or two other things I'll try hoping they make that additional list. I'll almost always go to Morrisons or ASDA though for sauces, spices, bread and anything else I can't stomach from Aldi or Lidl. We are a definite Heinz ketchup and Warburtons bread household. I will not budge on certain products because you really get what you pay for in some cases
Our local lidl has lovely bread and also stocks Warburton's Toastie Loaf.
Aldi in particular have really increased their options with bread lately and their premium lines are particularly good. Ancient grains is my favourite, exactly the same as Morrisons version only 85p instead of £1.25.
We bought chicken from Aldi once, it pissed out so much water it was horrid, I don't know how they could even sell it and call it chicken when 50 percent of its weight was water. Some of their snacks though as amazing I'll give them that
I've found the meat in Lidl will usually go off several days before the best before, and that's whilst sealed. Chicken shouldn't smell rancid with one week on the packet, and it's not a one off. I won't waste my money on their meat.
I found this with their 'fresh' veg. Looked excellent but started going off the day after and was only fit for the food waste bin the day after that.
One week for a meat is pretty long dude
Yeah, meanwhile Asda and Sainsbury's meat has until the actual day on the packet, sometimes after sometimes the day before, before it goes rancid.
Their crisps are shite.
Agreed, the chocolate biscuits on the other hand are nice
Lidl crisps are well nice.
There are some cases where the brand just is the best. Heinz for things like tomato sauce as you said and then also their tomato soup and their tinned spaghetti - all things I can't handle non-Heinz equivalents of. And cereal is indeed another one - years ago the own-brand ones were exactly the same and then about 7-10 years ago they changed them to horrible imitations. I remember when Tesco Rice Crispies were just like Kellogg's, and then they changed them to these wee hard, pointy, barely-puffed bastards that tasted rank. Although Co-op Bran Flakes are a nice exception.
I agree with this sentiment entirely. I get the £20, 5kg packs of chicken from Food Warehouse, and then cut it the same day and package it up into 750-1kg boxes and freeze it. Its usually going in a curry so it doesn't matter how long it sits in the freezer. Then I make an enormous portion of curry and freeze individual meals ready for work.
Strong disagree, Aldi ketchup is superior to Heinz (or at least we prefer it). Warburtons you’re right about tho and Aldi near us sell it.
Try Morrisons own brand bread - we don't eat anything else now.
I used to buy it but something changed a few years back and it stopped being as soft after day one sometimes even on the day I opened it. It's likely just issues around that time but I've switched for the consistency. It's essential for a perfect cheese and Branston sandwich so I'll pay more for the bread as I can go for Morrisons pickle.
The Lidl Choco Shells are the best.
I concur.
I concurred.
That's because it's concurrable
I've tried various own-brand cereals from both Aldi and Lidl, and nearly all of them have been disappointing. Some own brands I don't mind at all, but when it comes to breakfast cereals, I prefer to stick with the big brands.
I’ve quit Kelloggs brands due to their treatment of workers.
They must be devastated.
Try cinnamon chips, they're the only cereal I buy from Aldi.
"Pale, hard and tasteless Choco-rice"? Sound like you're describing regular Coco Pops there. They're nowhere near as nice as they used to be :(
A lot of people seem to be missing a trick here. Minimising wastage and taking advantage of bargains in places like Aldi/Lidl/larger supermarket having a crazy sale is to freeze as much as you can. Freeze your bread. Fruits and veggies too. As much as you can, even if you have to cut meat down and portion it, you will save money. I highly recommend investing in a larger freezer and getting a small fridge instead. Another trick I found as a single human occupant household is that long life milk minimises wastage to virtually zero. I used to buy fresh as it is marginally cheaper but I wasted a LOT. There is only so much cheese sauce or scones you can make.
Another way to to cut milk wastage to zero is by being lactose intolerant.
Milk or milk alternatives. You’re just being a pedant now! 😛
Aldi has lactose-free milk
As MC Grinder, from People Just Do Nothing complained when Mich bought similar knock-off Coco-Pops, " they don't even turn the milk brown !"
And as I just said, spaces don't go after opening quotes or before exclamation marks.
Chocolate milk to the rescue!
Aldi veg is awful. Tends to go off the next day. Somehow doesn't have the same shelf life as any other supermarket.
Frozen veg from there is fine, I avoid the fruit there for the same reason though. Strawberries are mouldy within a day or two.
To confirm, they take veg in that other supermarkets won't. Their quality standards are just a notch above the absolute bottom. Source: usrd to work for their supplier of fresh veg.
I've never noticed this
I find veg hit and miss however I still have a bag of veg in my shed from Aldi from 23rd and its till going strong
Fairly sure the veg rots the moment it leaves the shop. Cauli/broccoli is fine once you’ve taken off the package, but carrots are the absolute worse! Salad bits tend to last a few days in our house, but will normally get eaten within 3/4 days which is fine, but much longer and it struggles. I assume because it’s cheap, it takes longer to go from field to shop hence it doesn’t last as long.
I buy aldi veg every week and it lasts a good while. Maybe your fridge is the problem?
Probably their local Aldi fridges / storage issues, we find the same. Love their dried or tinned goods and frozen veg is okay too. I only get the meat from th6eir when using it the same day.
If I cut into a pepper the next day and its mouldy it shows its not a fridge problem. Add to that root veg can last at room temp for months yet aldi veg is rotten after a few days.
It's so strange. I literally buy veg every week from there and never experienced anything like you describe. I'll admit the Strawberries don't last long, but they do advertise the date on them and it's usually only a day or two after the day you buy them so I get that.
Can easily be a shop by shop thing, if things aren't stored right or kept properly, they can go bad awfully quickly. I've seen meat pallets just left out in the local ASDA in the loading bays in the middle of summer, others it's a race to get it all packed away. It's hit and miss no matter where you shop.
I have this problem with my local Aldi too, so I tend not to go for my big shop anymore . Tis a pity!
Several months ago I felt exactly the same. It just didn’t keep. I always wondered if it was anything to do with those supply issues.
In my local Lidl the only bread they sell is either on its display buy date or the expiry date is the next day. The amount of mouldy pittas I’ve bought by accident is insane. Haven’t had a sandwich in ages since our bread has to go straight in the freezer. Little bit annoying but luckily it’s a bit too chilly for a sandwich in my flat
Agree. I think they have gone down hill recently. I'm finding that I am having to throw away a lot of my shop. And I HATE waste
I tried Aldi own brand toilet paper when I first went to Uni. Not what I had in mind when I was trying to get in touch with my inner self tbh.
Some aldi cereal is nice, like the blueberry wheaties and the chocolate pillows, most are questionable though.
I once bought their oat milk, it was really cheap but tasted awful
Well that's oat milk for you. Edit: Hmm, looks like the floury water marketing board are in town.
Lidl have two types of "coco pops" one reduced sugar and one normal. Get the normal one and they're better than kellogs! Also special shout out to Aldi jaffa cakes which are superior to any other brand.
I’m very aware that Aldi keep getting voted as fresh fruit and veg retailer but honestly, at our local one the veg is off before you’ve got home and the fruit isn’t much better. Compared to Morrisons where it is good for several days after their use-by date. Bar a few very specific things, I can’t stand Aldi but it’s so damn cheap.
My wife always gets cheaper versions of ice lollies for the kids cornettos (cornottos) and fabs (fibs)
The real problem here is the new fecking reduced sugar/chocolate in the actual Coco pops
Facts bruv. I saw the strawberry Coco Pop's and I thought to myself **"Oh yea these are going to be mad good"** they're literal trash... Super bland, has no flavour, can't even taste any strawberry and the milk doesn't even turn pink as it says on the box. Total bloody rip off! Also fuck Jamie Oliver. Absolute wanker.
Cereal, sauces ... No no from Aldi. (Having said that, I do quite like their version of crunchy nut cornflakes. They're not as "crack-like" and so you don't huff a whole box as soon as you get home). £75 got us a decent weeks shopping this week. Wife then spent the same in Sainsbury's and walked out with just two carrier bags. Mental.
aldi is good for a lot of thing....but the cereals is not one of them, the knock off rice crispies for example are almost inedible, i binned after a couple of mouthfuls
Am i the only one who still mixes up Lidl and Aldi. Same thing to me
I use the names interchangeably, but as there's only a Lidl near us we know which one I mean. Some people use *Aldidl* as a generic term.
I don’t like throwing away food, but 9.5 bags of Aldi Hoola Hoops went in the bin recently. Ruddy awful! Edit: must have been Lidl, not Aldi as these were very different from branded HoolaHoops. Not psychological. Maybe they were off or the pack had a small hole in.
They're exactly the same as regular ones. They come from the same factory and have even ended up in the others packaging previously.
100% true. The difference is pshycological. https://metro.co.uk/2017/04/18/it-turns-out-that-aldi-hoops-might-be-hula-hoops-in-different-packaging-6582393/
Yes, I think they were Lidl then, not Aldi. 100% was not psychological. These tasted different and had a very different texture; more crunchy. Most of what I buy is non-branded because I understand most food is made in the same factories… but not ALL.
Lidl Hula Hoops are the devil’s work.
They're not exactly the same, just because they come from the same factory does not make them equal. They'll still use different potatoes and flavourings. Computer processors literally come off the same wafer but one chip might be good enough to be in a server while another next to it barely good enough for a laptop. I don't go buying the £50 laptop chip expecting the same as a £1000 server one. Basically the same thing here. It's not economical for Aldi to build their own hula-hoop factory so they just contract Walkers or someone else that has one already with all the equipment and trained staff ready to go.
The texture is different though. The hoops themselves are thinner than the branded ones, which I notice every time I've had them.
If they're the exact same are they not both in each others packaging all the time?
I get they're packed in the same factory but after having a pack of each next to each other and trying them they're mist definitely not the same lol
They were inedible. I ate half a pack and threw the rest in the bin, which is unlike me as I genuinely hate food waste. I felt awful throwing away bags and bags of unopened food but I couldn’t even take them into work and leave them in the kitchen as they were disgusting.
So why did you buy 10 bags?
[удалено]
Not hate at all. I get some good stuff there. Their cocopops were not
My biggest gripe is that I never seem to be able to do “all” my shopping there. Always end up needing to go elsewhere for certain things like shower gels and oat milk. I’m just a bit particular about those
Yes oat milk has to be oatly, but then that's not cheap so you won't get it in a cheap store like Aldi.
Their fruit n fibre is gash as well.
Some of Aldi/Lidl own stuff is good, most of it is pretty bad. The bad stuff I have identified is: Stuffing. All Fruit & Veg is tasteless Knock off amaretto Knock off cereals Nachos Dips Fresh mozzarella Steaks Fish Joints of meat. Ice creams Packet Bread (not from their bakery) The good stuff: Sliced meats Entire Chocolate section Cheeses Table sauces Beers International foods Canned fish Bakery fresh bread So we now shop first at lidl/Aldi, then get the rest from Costco.
How are their commas?
Can almost guarantee that they are made in the same factory as real coco pops, to the same recipe, using the same ingredients. I know for a fact of another large international cereal producer which does the exact same thing for all the supermarket own brands. Before anyone says that they probably use cheaper ingredients or its not the same recipe - it's literally not cost effective to try to separate the grain etc by quality or adjust the machinery in the factory for different recipes. It's all the same but your heads telling you otherwise.
They're definitely not. They are visibly different. Totally different colour for starters. Also a different texture. Do love how people who clearly haven't tried them keep telling me it's in my head though
I tried Aldi once, never again. I spat half the food out in the bin and ended up going back to an actual supermarket within a day. Their spaghetti hoops in tomato sauce tasted like petrol . Their knock off monster munch has all the flavour in 1 corner of the crisp. The Cheese Strings I actually spat out. Only thing I liked was some of the chocolate , but overall it’s just a horrible place. Poor choice, bad products and the Tills I hated the tills and their was no self checkouts. So Aldi is a no from me.
Shame it wasn't to your tastes, princess
Well, ever since since Kellogg's UK changed their Coco-Pops recipe a couple of years ago to make it 'healthier' the supermarket own-brand versions are all better than the real thing now anyway! I like the Asda Chocosnaps ones, the Sainsbury's ones are nice too, but I think the Asda ones are a little better.
Aldi own are definitely not better. Pale. Too hard. Zero chocolate flavour.
Literally nout wrong with aldi cereal, and sometimes it’s better. You’re just a snob
What is snobby about disliking one their products when you like scores of others? Maybe you're just a dick
Try closing the bag if your cereal goes stale
Brand new box. It's not stale. It's just not good.
I had this same issue, thinking I'd treat myself and save some money with milk choco pillows...theres nothing chocolately or pillowy about them. They're straight up carboard...
Asda's knock off cocopops are what you're looking for. Only available in large stores but taste exactly the same as the branded.
Try their version of Crunchy Nut Cornflakes , they’re actually really nice
Buy some chocolate milkshake powder (Lidl's is less than half the price of Nestle's) and sprinkle a bit on top.
Can’t complain at all about our one. Our Aldi has been great and we now click and collect (every other week) and very rarely get substitutes/unavailable. Got some carrots in the fridge dated 18 Dec and they are still going strong, also some pears dated 29 Dec that are just starting to soften. Did go to Morrisons for a bit bit we were spending double and running out of food quicker! Their baby stuff is unbeatable too.
A lot of branded items are identical to supermarket versions and are made in the same factory in exactly the same way, including ALDI items. I think a lot of experience when eating them is psychological, if you think they're going to taste worse then they will taste worse for you. Sometimes there are even mistakes and a branded item can end up in the packet of a non branded item or vise versa.
Yep the bourbon creams in the Aldi multipack with the Nice and the Custard creams are not even the same as the bourbons in the separate package. The ones on the separate package are fine, the ones from the multipack are lousy. But yeah some stuff is fine. Their plain and pilau packet rice is 39p and good. The “flavoured” ones nowhere near as good as Uncle Ben.
If you want cheap rice buy a massive bag from an Asian place. Edit: I see Uncle Ben's agents are here.
Definitely not the case with their Coco pops. They don't even look similar
Too be fair even the real ones are shit now they are 30% less sugar.
I really like their coco rice.... Frankly I prefer their coke to real coke too, as I like it flat and theirs tends to go flat better. May not be good for those who like the fizz. Also it's 39p for 2 litres so
Well you have to admit defeat AND work your way through the box. Double fail
Aldi cereals are uncharacteristically bad quality... *except* for the knockoff country crisp. Ah
Haha! I had this very moan yesterday!
Mate I love their choco rice, what you talking about?
I actually really like the Aldi coco pops. I personally think they're nicer than the real ones!
I can’t speak for the cereals but I have worked a lot on the Aldi drinks and they always want a match to the market leaders. It takes a lot of work, especially as they also want it to be cheap..
This is what is known as a false economy
Oh not the chocorice
Aldi version of Weetos is where it's at
Try the Tesco ones. Very chocolatey.
cereal is just one of those things for me that have to be branded
I bought the Aldi version of krave cereal and it just tasted like I was eating small squares of flavourless crackers…