Great What/What Not to Buy at Lidl, Aldi and Netto Hunt

Tootiemoon

Lidl DON'T Buy

Girls, don't buy their panty liners - as far as I can tell have absolutely NO waterproof backing - in which case, what's the point? Other sanitary products are fine.

Do buy
No one has mentioned seeds yet. Of course they're only available in the spring, but at 29p a small packet and 49p a large packet, these are one of the best deals around. They do a very servicable selection of herb, flower, and vegetable seeds and I've always had good germination.

dirtyblonde_2

Just tried the Lidl's Single Malt whisky, and it's not bad at all, especially when you consider it only costs £12.99.

barginunter

Mark_Beech wrote:

The "Q10" moisturiser from Lidl is absolutely the best bargain on the planet.
I have suffered from all sorts of skin conditions (Rosacea, exczema - u name it!) .. and have tried all sorts of expensive moisturisers. Many of these have brought me out in spots and have been most unsatisfactory ... despite the huge expense. The Lidl "Q10" moisturisers (day creaam and night cream) come in expensive looking little pots ... but only cost £1.89 (I think .. could be £1.79 ... but hey ...!).
I buy this stuff in bulk ... it is REALLY GOOD STUFF!!
Merry Christmas

They used to sell a very good eye cream (£1-79)but have stopped stocking this in UK stores.
But it is still available in Spain so I stock up whilst on holiday.

barginunter

treez wrote:

Has anyone mentioned Lidl's frozen paella? £1.89 Quick and simple to cook in microwave (I am no cook), very tasty and authentic, with white fish, meat, squid, mussels, prawns, peas, etc. Fantastic value!
Went around German Christmas market here in Nottm the other day and felt rather smug that I could buy the chocolate goodies etc for a third of the price.
The theme of the weekly specials often amuses me and leaves me speechless. I now have a saying 'If there is anything you want/need wait long enough and Lidl will eventually have it in.'

Try the Frozen BeefBurgers. Great on a barbecue(when its not as foggy as today) or griddle.

lozkate

Just bought 20 x 330ml bottles of Stella at Aldi for £8.98 - going back to stock up for Christmas.

TheChillPill

I do most of my shopping at Netto, but occasionally call in to Lidl too.

Much of the stuff I would recommend has already been mentioned, but to add to it;

Netto;

Their own 'I can't believe its not butter' (sorry, cant remember the actual name - but you'd know it when you see it).
Jaffa Cakes - actually bought some of the 'real' ones a while ago and realised the cheaper netto ones were actually far nicer.
Instant Coffee - big jar for 59p, tastes just like Maxwell House to me.
Lemonade - at 17p you can't beat it, and far superior to supermarket cheapies.
Cola - not quite as good as the top brands, but still excellent for the price.
Bread - I personally prefer their bread over any other, but this is probably personal preference, my ex didn't like it.
Teacakes - very nice and very fruity.
Grapes - you have to hunt around sometimes for a good box, but at 99p their are fantastic (and often on a bogof too)
Cat & Dog food - again, no complaints from mine
Tinned Minced Beef - excellent in a shepherds pie
Red Leicester cheese
Beans - everyone has mentioned it before, but they really are good

Lidl (I don't go here often, so theres probably alot more)

Part-baked baguettes - very very nice
Pizzas - I picked one up for £1.49 (frozen) and it was as good as one you'd get at Pizza hut.

Also, most of my frozen food comes from Farmfoods (which for me is next door to Netto). In particular, I can highly recommend;

Sweet & Sour meals - part of their '5 for £5' offer, and everyone I know agrees they are by far and away better than any other make. As close to take-away as you're likely to find.

All day breakfasts - again, part of the 5 for £5 deal, very convinient if you're in a rush in a morning, and taste great.

Lyons Maid ice creams - very creamy and plenty of 'bits' (depending on your chosen flavour).

superhoop

TheChillPill wrote:

Bread - I personally prefer their bread over any other, but this is probably personal preference, my ex didn't like it.

There's a gag in there somewhere LOL!!!

Thanks for the tips ChillPill.

TheChillPill

superhoop wrote:

There's a gag in there somewhere LOL!!!

Thanks for the tips ChillPill.

hehehehehe

:rotfl:

Chris120A

First post, I registered to write this!

My parents regularly shop at Aldi, so I went with them last month as I'm trying to save as much money as possible at the minute. I did almost a whole month's shop for £30!

Buy:

Apple and Cinammon cookies - 59p for a massive packet, and they taste like apple pie
Jaffa cake Mini Rolls - also 59p for 6, as nice as McVities
Stonebake pizzas - I thought I'd buy 2 of these, "can't be very good for less than a quid" I thought - how wrong can you be?! I'll be stocking up on these next time.
Fresh pasta - the ravioli are a bit small, but the rest are gorgeous, and 55p each.
Dried pasta and rice - massive bags, cheap as chips and nicer than Sainsburys/Asda own brand
Tinned tomatoes - as above, 25p a tin, compared to 50p+ at Asda for a smaller tin, and they don't taste as nice!
Beer - I can't remember the name of the 2 beers I bought, but one was in a 6-pack of brown bottles, and one was in white and red cans, and both were luvverly.
Salami - 96p for about 20 slices, try the olive one.
Extra virgin olive oil - I'd normally spend £4+ on a bottle of olive oil, and it'd last a couple of weeks. £1.99 for this, and it's still half full a month on! These bottles are HUGE!
Mozarella - again, cheaper, bigger and tastier than Sainsburys and Asda
Part-baked Ciabatta - again, see above
Emmental cheese slices - 99p for 10 - put a couple of these and some of that ^ salami on some of that ciabatta up there ^ , put it under the grill = yum.
Wholegrain mustard - smoother than normal wholegrain mustard, and kind of creamy. Nice on a sandwich mixed with a bit of mayo. Dirt cheap too.

EDIT: I forgot one:

Raspberry and vanilla jam - yumyumyumyumyumyumyumyumyumyumyumyum. Yum.

Avoid:

Garlic bread - tastes spongey and never gets crusty no matter how long you leave it in the oven
Veg - they only had ONE bag of onions and it was mouldy. Better off getting your fruit and veg from a greengrocer.
Frozen italian meals - my dad buys these and loves them, but they are rank.
The rest of the Continental meats - The salami is top-notch, but the bavarian ham is stringy and gooey, and the garlic sausage is more garlic than sausage.

Chris120A

Am I allowed to mention other discount supermarkets in this thread? If so:

Kwik Save

Buy:

Flat mushrooms - 3 big BIG mushrooms for 89p
Kwik Save medium roast coffee - 59p, but doesn't taste like it.
"Famous American" chcocolate chip cookies - 59p for 12 HUGE cookies and damn tasty.
Booze - brilliant deals on beer and wine, at the moment, 12 cans of Kronenbourg for £6.99, Strongbow £1.74 for 4, Wolf Blass reduced to £2.99, Oranjeboom £1.99, crate of Bulmers Old English (!) for £9.99.
Soft drinks - they regularly have bizzare promotions on branded soft drinks, in the last couple of months they've had 2 litre bottles of Pepsi for 64p, buy one get one free on Fanta, now offering 3l Diet Coke for £1.29. Like the booze deals, they do these at really random times, with random products and prices.
Indian herbs, spices and pulses - The Kwik Save near me sells the East End range of these, and they are cheap AND authentic. If you need chick peas, lentils, bayleaves, cardamom, garam masala, etc. have a look in here. I'm not sure if they do these in all branches, I live in an area with a large Asian community so it might be area-specific.

Avoid:

Own brand tuna - tastes like corned beef (!)

It's worth checking what deals they have regularly, as they don't really advertise.

(Sorry if I broke the rules of the thread )