Top buys:
Smoked salmon
Roll mop herrings in jars
Camembert
Chocolate
Prosecco
Kinder eggs (frequently on offer at very low prices)
Novelty chocolates for Easter, Christmas, etc
Chocolate muffins
Pappardelle
The choc ices on a stick that look a bit like Magnums
Don't think anyone's mentioned this so:
Aldi's triple blade razor blades fit perfectly in my Gillette Sensor Excel razor and at £2.99 for 10 are a fraction of the price of the Gillette ones and just as good. Their shaving gel is excellent too and is about £1.19 I think, lasts for ages and gives a great shave.
Ian.
Pros for Aldi:
Clothes
Electronics - TV's and associated goods
Kitchen specials
Veg
Range of cheese
Meat, despite poor range
Ground coffee, tea
Chocolate
Aloe Vera loo paper
Orange Juice
Garden furniture and plants
Friendly staff, at least in Fareham and Portsmouth
Walking/outdoor gear, esp boots
Fresh flowers and herbs
Weaknesses for Aldi:
Queues
Tinned soup
Strengths for Lidl:
GraffenWalder lager - even better if you can get to France to buy it.
Charcuterie, esp Chorizo and best ham
Oxtail soup
Veg can be briiliant and very cheap, but check freshness
Staff at Fareham excellent
Short queues
Steak mince
Cleaning/janitorial supplies
Binoculars - incredible value for money, usually available-ask at checkout
Weaknesses at Lidl:
Clothes
Chicken breasts are awful
Tinned chilli con carne
Returns policy can be awkward
Why are credit cards accepted in Wales and France, but not England?
Lidl- We do most of our shopping here; great things (mostly not mentioned):
fair trade chocolate, light and dark (though the dark is 70% coca, it isn't very bitter, of course, ingredient no 2 is cane sugar )
tagliatelle
fair trade instant coffee (DH doesn't like most types of fair trade instant coffee, but will drink this)
organic milk-- 2L is 22p more expense than regular milk, so why not?
organic tomato juice (or so I'm told...)
fair trade orange juice
museli bars
big bags of MSC Alaskan frozen white fish at not much more than non-MSC fish (over fishing is a BIG problem, and chosing cheap over ethical is going to kill the oceans...)
recycled loo roll
I know that not everyone cares about fair trade, organic, or sustainable fishing, but it's nice to sometimes not have to stare at things in the supermarket and say "do I spend half (or even 1/3 :eek: sometimes!) the amount on the cheap stuff, or do I buy what best matches my ethics?"
Netto we like:
Cola
Lemonade
Big Juicy BRITISH Strawberries (in summer obv)
Frozen lamb shanks in gravy
White swing bin liners
Don't like
black bin bags - too thin
Sometimes milk has short date (but I just don't buy when this is the case)
Pan au chocolat - Sends hubby all funny/dizzy
Fabric softener the one with a baby on it made me & bubba all ichy
hey Sami do you get the offer emails you can sign up for? Netto send two a week... Can pick up some good deals! ;-)
I would like to add that I will now go shopping in Aldi for everything but my little boys soya milk that I buy whereever is closer, simply because Tesco has nothing but empty shelves, quite literally, for the last 3-4 weeks, last week even the freezers were half empty and none of the deals are ever available to buy until day they go off othe offer. The Bread Aisle is constantly empty and as I am a busy mum and student I simply can not go in at 1am when they seem to restock there. I am appalled at what they think they can get away with in such a large store.
And want to praise my local Aldi, luckily a couple of bus stops the other way on the tewkesbury road in cheltenham, just same distance as they always have fully stocked shelves and a bigger choice of items available. We also like Lidl but that is not as easily accessible for us.
Only down point is a bit hard to manoeuvre with a buggy and a toddler on my other hand as I dont drive, but Tesco is just the same somehow, also its about 5 times bigger and stocks a smaller choice of food products.
Replies
My top things to buy are:
fruit
fruit juice
museli
soft cream cheese
nuts
j2o equivelent
tortilla crisps
My top things to avoid are:
houmous
Top buys:
Smoked salmon
Roll mop herrings in jars
Camembert
Chocolate
Prosecco
Kinder eggs (frequently on offer at very low prices)
Novelty chocolates for Easter, Christmas, etc
Chocolate muffins
Pappardelle
The choc ices on a stick that look a bit like Magnums
Aldi's triple blade razor blades fit perfectly in my Gillette Sensor Excel razor and at £2.99 for 10 are a fraction of the price of the Gillette ones and just as good. Their shaving gel is excellent too and is about £1.19 I think, lasts for ages and gives a great shave.
Ian.
- Foil, Film and Freezer Bags - all top quality
- Nuts - pistachios/mixed nuts
- Hairspray
:T
Clothes
Electronics - TV's and associated goods
Kitchen specials
Veg
Range of cheese
Meat, despite poor range
Ground coffee, tea
Chocolate
Aloe Vera loo paper
Orange Juice
Garden furniture and plants
Friendly staff, at least in Fareham and Portsmouth
Walking/outdoor gear, esp boots
Fresh flowers and herbs
Weaknesses for Aldi:
Queues
Tinned soup
Strengths for Lidl:
GraffenWalder lager - even better if you can get to France to buy it.
Charcuterie, esp Chorizo and best ham
Oxtail soup
Veg can be briiliant and very cheap, but check freshness
Staff at Fareham excellent
Short queues
Steak mince
Cleaning/janitorial supplies
Binoculars - incredible value for money, usually available-ask at checkout
Weaknesses at Lidl:
Clothes
Chicken breasts are awful
Tinned chilli con carne
Returns policy can be awkward
Why are credit cards accepted in Wales and France, but not England?
fair trade chocolate, light and dark (though the dark is 70% coca, it isn't very bitter, of course, ingredient no 2 is cane sugar
tagliatelle
fair trade instant coffee (DH doesn't like most types of fair trade instant coffee, but will drink this)
organic milk-- 2L is 22p more expense than regular milk, so why not?
organic tomato juice (or so I'm told...)
fair trade orange juice
museli bars
big bags of MSC Alaskan frozen white fish at not much more than non-MSC fish (over fishing is a BIG problem, and chosing cheap over ethical is going to kill the oceans...)
recycled loo roll
I know that not everyone cares about fair trade, organic, or sustainable fishing, but it's nice to sometimes not have to stare at things in the supermarket and say "do I spend half (or even 1/3 :eek: sometimes!) the amount on the cheap stuff, or do I buy what best matches my ethics?"
hey Sami do you get the offer emails you can sign up for? Netto send two a week... Can pick up some good deals! ;-)
I would recommend 'Orange Cakes', their own brand version of Jaffa Cakes - they're yummy.
I would recommend their Rowan Bakery Farmhouse White Bread 79p.
Nappies - fantastic, cheap, a great fit and lovely quality. Best I can find.
Jam - more of a conserve, crammed full of fruit
Anitbacterial spray - great
Bleach - the cheapest around
Rechargable batteries - what can I say 4 batteries for £2.99!
And want to praise my local Aldi, luckily a couple of bus stops the other way on the tewkesbury road in cheltenham, just same distance as they always have fully stocked shelves and a bigger choice of items available. We also like Lidl but that is not as easily accessible for us.
Only down point is a bit hard to manoeuvre with a buggy and a toddler on my other hand as I dont drive, but Tesco is just the same somehow, also its about 5 times bigger and stocks a smaller choice of food products.