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

Cantdance_2

Wow, it's good... it's certainly a lot better than canned Stella from this country as it doesn't have the aftertaste you normally get from that.

Lovely!

James

newleaf

Pianola ice cream lollies, Solero lookalikes. Yummy . They are not quite identical to Solero, in that they are ice cream and lemon sorbet swirled together in the centre of the lolly with a fruity sorbet coating. 3 in a pack for 75p!

Cantdance_2

Okay I've been shopping in Aldi and Netto for a few months now so here's my picks:

Netto:

Fresh Fruit and Veg - if you can get it when it comes in (first thing in the morning), it's cheap and good quality and will keep for ages in the fridge. Espcially noteworthy are the 39p cucumbers which is nearly half price compared to Tesco's. Cherries too are good value at £1.29 for a punnet (£3 in Tesco's).

Dishwasher Tablets - 22 for £1.49 and do the job perfectly well for my liking!

Loo Rolls - Family pack, 9 for £1.99 - bigger and better quality than Tesco value and cheaper than anywhere else.

Dog food - Hearty tins (in gravy or in jelly) - £1.69 for 6 tins which is a good bit cheaper then Tesco's own and the food is 100% identical in nutritional value and even looks the same (same factory?)

Tinned tuna - Ocean rise Tuna Chunks - £0.29 a tin which is cheaper than Tesco's Value and MUCH better quality - nice big chunks of succulent tuna and not those horrible flakes which taste different.

Tinned Tomatoes - Chopped tomatoes for 15p a can and much nicer quality than Tesco's value.

Salad cream / Mayonnaise - I forget the price but the quality is very good. Own brand quality mayo/ Salad cream for Value brand prices. I always find Value Salad cream to be too yellow and taste nothing like Salad Cream but this stuff is nice! Nice thick mayo too!

Value Bacon - 79p a pack and if you pick through the packs carefully you can get some that have 8 nice non-fatty rashers!

You and Me Shower Gel - 39p for a huge bottle and much nicer than Wilkinsons value shower gel.





Aldi:

Ciabatta Bread - 49p for a huge ciabatta bread which is nicer than the ones from Tesco, Asda and even Waitrose - lovely and fluffy when baked in the oven!

Chocolate Shortbread fingers - 99p for four, taste delicious! One of the few cakes made for any supermarket which doesn't contain milk (useful as my wife is dairy intolerant...) See also the carrot cakes when in stock, and the doughnuts!!

Crunchy Nut Cornflakes - if you didn't see the packet you'd think you were eating Kelloggs!

Soya Milk and Chocolate Soya Milk - At 59p a carton, they only seem to have these in stock every couple of weeks and they sell out fast. There's a good reason for this! I don't drink it myself but my wife tells me that the chocolate soya drink is nicer than Alpro chocolate at 3 times the price!

Brussels Pate - 57p a pot and delicious! Again, it doesn't contain milk which is astonishing to me given that most pate does. There are lots of other flavours as well but I haven't tried them.

Potato Wedges - 69p from the freezer - a nice change from Oven chips and delicious!

Cat Food - dried in a box, Vitacat I think it's called! £1.69 for a kilo (or is it 2kilos?) which is cheaper than Tesco's own and my cat loves it, wolfs it down!

Ice Cream - in general, everything I've tried has been delicious and much cheaper than Tesco / branded stuff. Straciatella ice cream at £1.59 a tub is really nice, the mini magnum things at £1.99 for 12 are excellent, and all my family are addicted to the Calippo rip-offs at 99p for 4 - Orange and Strawberry equally nice! I can also recommend the Orange sorbet deserts which come inside an actual orange shell!

Lager - Lots of choices here, the nicest being the aforementioned Stella Art... sorry, I mean 'Saint Etienne' which apparently *is* Stella but proper Stella and not the UK-brewed crap you get in this country! The Wernesgruner pils is also nice in the bottles and if you just want something cheap then the Brasserie beer is standard St Omer stuff - I think it's 10 x 250ml bottles for £1.89 or something (correct me if I'm wrong!)


Hope this helps.

I haven't really investigated Lidl yet but as it's 15 minutes drive away and these two are on my doorstep I'm not sure I will.

James

deanos

Ive noticed alot of products from Lidl/Aldi contain Hydrogenated oils, these are 10x more damaging than saturated fats, so please check the label.

https://www.bantransfats.com

http://www.recoverymedicine.com/hydrogenated_oils.htm

competitionscafe

Cantdance wrote:

Netto:
Value Bacon - 79p a pack and if you pick through the packs carefully you can get some that have 8 nice non-fatty rashers!

Buying the cheapest toilet paper is all fine and good, but when it comes to meat; bear in mind that cheap usually means factory farmed with low standards of animal welfare. A 79p pack of value bacon is unlikely to have come from a happy , well treated pig!

http://www.ciwf.org.uk/publications/Factsheets/Fact%20sheet%20-%20Pig%20farming.pdf

Cantdance_2

deanos wrote:

Ive noticed alot of products from Lidl/Aldi contain Hydrogenated oils, these are 10x more damaging than saturated fats, so please check the label.

https://www.bantransfats.com

http://www.recoverymedicine.com/hydrogenated_oils.htm

That's true but I'm not sure that there are any more Lidl/Aldi own brand products containing trans fats than there are in Tescos / Asda?

As always, read the label and know what you're eating!!

;-)

James

deanos

Cantdance wrote:

That's true but I'm not sure that there are any more Lidl/Aldi own brand products containing trans fats than there are in Tescos / Asda?

As always, read the label and know what you're eating!!

;-)

James

Tesco & M&S are taking them out of there foods

If you go into Aldi/Lidl and you want a product you only have 1 product to choose from, if you are in a supermarket there maybe 6 different brands to choose from and you can choose one without if you wish, you may be saving money but risking your health in the long term

Cantdance_2

competitionscafe wrote:

Buying the cheapest toilet paper is all fine and good, but when it comes to meat; bear in mind that cheap usually means factory farmed with low standards of animal welfare. A 79p pack of value bacon is unlikely to have come from a happy , well treated pig!

http://www.ciwf.org.uk/publications/Factsheets/Fact%20sheet%20-%20Pig%20farming.pdf

Thanks very much for this post - I must admit it's something that I've just been starting to consider. I think in all honesty that the packs of value bacon bits are off-cuts of bacon that weren't deemed a good enough shape to go into more expensive packs, however it's certainly something that's well worth thinking about.

Trouble is, with the price you'd have to pay for meat from truly well-kept animals, there's no way I could afford to eat meat at the moment.

Maybe that's a good point - maybe I shouldn't be eating it at all...

stamford

competitionscafe wrote:

Buying the cheapest toilet paper is all fine and good, but when it comes to meat; bear in mind that cheap usually means factory farmed with low standards of animal welfare. A 79p pack of value bacon is unlikely to have come from a happy , well treated pig!

http://www.ciwf.org.uk/publications/Factsheets/Fact%20sheet%20-%20Pig%20farming.pdf

So paying a fiver to Sainsburys or suchlike guarantees the pig has an easy contented life :rotfl:

Cantdance_2

deanos wrote:

Tesco & M&S are taking them out of there foods

If you go into Aldi/Lidl and you want a product you only have 1 product to choose from, if you are in a supermarket there maybe 6 different brands to choose from and you can choose one without if you wish, you may be saving money but risking your health in the long term

True enough but you can always buy a different type of food altogether that doesn't contain trans fats...

I certainly don't buy food that's less healthy just for the sake of my wallet!