My first ever Aldi shop - WOW!

Jue_xx · 26 September 2013 at 11:04AM

On Saturday morning I had the humiliation of getting a phone call from MrT saying that my debit card payment wasn't going through and they therefore couldn't deliver my grocery order (of £116.26). Due to changing circumstances we have recently been creeping more and more into our arranged overdraft at the end of the month, but this month we hit our overdraft limit. So I thought, that's it, we need to start reigning in our spending.

As our weekly shop is regularly £125 per week I decided that this month I would start by setting myself a limit a shopping limit of £95 per week, and then I discovered this part of the forum!

Thanks to you guys I have just been out and bought two Daily Mirrors for the £5 Aldi vouchers, and ventured into our local Aldi for the first time. I only spent £62.71! (plus the 50p for the Mirror). And I have another £5 voucher left for next week (to be used by next Thursday).

I'm a bit concerned that we have become "brand snobs" and we may miss some of our usual brands, especially PG Tips teabags and Heinz beans, so time will tell whether we stick with the cheaper options for these. I also stuck with our usual Kingsmill bread (26p cheaper than MrT).

I also still went across to Morrisons for my usual hair colourant - going grey is not something I am going to compromise on in the name of moneysaving! (£7.99).

But overall I am thrilled, and its all thanks to you guys on this forum!:beer:

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stormbreaker · 26 September 2013 at 11:39AM

My OH does most of the grocery shopping and has been buying the fruit and veg from Lidl and finds it much cheaper.

There was a thread on here which I can't find just now on what people found good and bad in both shops.

As for hair dye, I got mine done regularly at the hairdressers until a girl from work, who is always impecable said she coloured her own with Loreal. So I have started using that.

My sister has just said that she uses super drugs own and it is often on offer for 2 for £5:eek: or bogof.

She has naturally very dark brown almost black so needless to say her grey really shows up. She started buying it after admiring someone at works hair.... might be worth a try.

sKiTz-0 · 26 September 2013 at 11:44AM

I find the Aldi beans just fine - and their 'gold' teabags taste much like Yorkshire Tea to me. My top tip is get over the brand snobbery - worst case scenario, you try something and find it inferior then go back to buying that particular item branded in the future. Best case scenario - you find no difference from the branded item and save ££££

I do around 80-90% of my weekly shop in Aldi and just top up the other stuff at Tesco

paulineb_2 · 26 September 2013 at 11:46AM

I shop more in home bargains now than I do in aldi, but Ive shopped at aldi for many years and would always prefer them to the bigger supermarkets.

spacey2012 · 26 September 2013 at 11:48AM

Did you drive there ?
if it is a parking Eye car park one, I hope you read the signs very carefully.
Even this is not a guaranteed way to avoid the parking parasites as many find out.

NigeWick · 26 September 2013 at 11:54AM

Jue_xx wrote: »

I'm a bit concerned that we have become "brand snobs" and we may miss some of our usual brands, especially PG Tips teabags and Heinz beans,

Lidl sell PG Tips and if you join https://www.recyclebank.com for free, you can earn discount vouchers for the tea bags. My wife and I actually prefer Aldi's baked beans to Heinz so I suggest you give them a try.

I now do about 90% of my shopping at Aldi & Lidl checking the weekly deals and buying appropriately. Lidl have loose bananas so you can get the type and number you want. Both discounters have good quality produce at comparatively reasonable price. If you don't have a handy Lidl then you should still be fine with Aldi. I'll be getting their Super 6 Mushrooms and plums tomorrow.

bigjoe · 26 September 2013 at 12:49PM

Jue - think how those savings will add up over a year!!!

What a lot of people do is buy everything they can from Aldi then do a much smaller "top up" shop to get things they can't get at Aldi - like Heinz baked beans.

Best bet there is to bulk buy those beans when they are on offer - like 1kg fridge pack 95p at Tesco at the moment!

GlynD · 26 September 2013 at 12:58PM

I am so pleased for you Jue. We've always done a bit of shopping at Aldi or Lidl for German brands I was familiar with through army service but when things were tight we were restricted to £50 a week for groceries and it is surprising how well you can live on that when you shop with our German friends.

Even though we're long out of our crisis now I still insist upon going to Lidl (we have no local Aldi) and keeping our costs down because it leaves us even more disposable income.

Great innit?

Halifax81 · 26 September 2013 at 4:10PM

I love Aldi, I started using it when they 1st opened here years ago that was back in the days when they didn't have barcode scanners on the tills so the staff had to remember codes for every product in the store.

I hate going to any other supermarket nowadays as they all drive me mad!!!

Not had a bad food experience yet

Marmiter · 26 September 2013 at 4:20PM

I am fortunate enough to have both Aldi and Lidl close to where I live and work, so am always in there (maybe not very MSE!), and I don't think I've ever spent more than £70 even when I've bought alcohol.

I still need to do some shopping in one of the "Big 4", but I can honestly say I prefer Aldi & Lidl's products. Whenever I do go to Mr T I find myself saying "I can get that much cheaper in Lidl"!

I also second the Superdrug hair dye, I used the 10 minute one last night and actually prefer it to the top brand I used to use. Get a Superdrug points card as well!!

Serendipitious · 26 September 2013 at 7:02PM

A friend of the family once had a girlfriend who was German and she spoke very highly of Aldi, she could not understand why in the UK people tended to look down on them as they are held in high regard elsewhere.

I always found their fruit and vegetables excellent, their flowers are good value, and I know their products for Christmas have won taste tests. In fact I think they won an award for their scampi too.

My first ever Aldi shop - WOW!

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