Supermarket Snobbery

eleanor73

nuno wrote: »

The thing about somewhere like Aldi is on something like, say, pasta sauce - there is 1 brand and a couple of varieties. In sainsburys there are 10 brands, 80 varieties and there is *ALWAYS* a brand on offer - Lloyd Grossman for £1 say. You just never get these sort of offers at the cheap places. So at lidl it might be 80p for a jar - at sainsbirys £1 for a premium quality jar (and i'm sorry but it DOES taste better).

Not that long ago Lloyd G pasta sauces were down to 80p in my local Lidl :j

Ricekirsty

Aldi and Lidl are cheap low end German food. Still most germans would not feed their dog some of the stuff we eat here.

Some stuff in Aldi and Lidl is great and other stuff not so good. Same as anywhere else I suppose.

Sharon87

Digital09 wrote: »

I use Netto, Wilkinsons or Home Bargains for cleaning products, wash powder etc as you can pick up great bargains there.

Ultimately yes people are silly for being 'snobs' about shops. But as above I don't find Aldi/Lidl as good as they are made out to be, and the stores are smaller so don't offer as much choice. So I end up buying things I don't really want.

Oh Home Bargains, I miss that, use to work there. But we don't have it in London I don't think there's many Wilkinsons either.

I don't shop in Lidl or Aldi as they are much further away - a bus ride or tube away. And my local Sainsburys is 5 minutes walk away from my house! Since shopping in Sainsburys I have preferred it to other supermarkets - they do have some really good deals. With Asda I usually spend too much because of everything on offer - too tempting.

I hear the fruit and veg in Aldi and Lidl is cheap, my housemate walks past a Lidl on the way home from work, so sometimes goes in there. I have had no real desire to shop at the Lidl, but I used to shop at Aldi - well my parents did when I was younger. They did have some good stuff, but at that age I wanted brand names! lol

As for M&S and Waitrose I'm not one who has the desire to shop there if I had more money. Yes M&S is nice, and I shop there for treat items - their cookies are lovely! But I would not do my whole shop there.

nitr02007

I was in Aldi earlier today (needed some eggs and was driving past) and was surprised how pricey it was for a "Discount" supermarket. You have to be careful not to assume that all their prices will be cheaper than a "mainstream" supermarket, but I'm sure there are bargains to be had.

As for being a snob about it, I'll shop anywhere. I don't have enough money to be snobby about where I shop.

kathy206

The Uk Aldi and Lidl aren't a patch on those in Germany. Much better range of products and better layout of stores. They have a great button that customers can push at the tills if the queue is longer than 4 people deep which puts out a message for staff to get their @sses on the till to get the queue down!

Stompa

kathy206 wrote: »

They have a great button that customers can push at the tills if the queue is longer than 4 people deep which puts out a message for staff to get their @sses on the till to get the queue down!

That sounds a good idea, but what happens if you press it when the queue is only 3 deep?!

To be fair though, the staff in ours seem to operate a similar system, and press a bell to summon more staff when the queues start to get a bit long. I always get dealt with more quickly than in any other supermarket I've ever come across.

kathy206

Stompa wrote: »

That sounds a good idea, but what happens if you press it when the queue is only 3 deep?!

To be fair though, the staff in ours seem to operate a similar system, and press a bell to summon more staff when the queues start to get a bit long. I always get dealt with more quickly than in any other supermarket I've ever come across.

Our nearest Aldi and Lidl are brilliant at queue management - the staff work really really hard and keep on top of the queues- I just wish there was the range of products that they have in Germany. Still, between Aldi and Lidl I can usually do a full week's shop for much less than the big 4:T

MyRubyRed

Today Ive been to Lidl and found it great. Clean, spacious with a good range of cheap branded goods as well as some unknowns (to me.) Kingsmill love to toast bread at £1 a loaf. Gold Blend coffee £3.99. Mussels in garlic £1.99. Sirloin steak 2 lovely pieces for £3.00 (reduced). Paella £1.79. I'm really looking forward to dinner this evening!!

Gemmy_2

We tend to do most of our shopping in Lidl/Morrisons or Tesco.
Though we have most supermarkets around here other than Asda, we don't really like the others.
We're not to keen on the food in Aldi, Sainsbury's is overpriced and the one near us is tiny. We have two tesco's and we buy pasta/rice etc from there or morrisons. I'd say Lidl is our main shop? We love Lidl lots

I wouldn't call myself a snob because i don't like aldi. We just prefer other places.

darkblue_2

I laughed out loud when I read this. It's so true! So many people I know will hide their Lidl/Aldi visits like they're just nipping down the high street to raid some bins.

They genuinely have far better quality tinned products than many other supermarkets. And yes! Their fruit and veg is fresh and cheap!

I have to say though, if I weren't at all concerned by money, I would use Marks and Sparks for all my groceries. I tend only to pick up their dine in for two deal every so often as a treat because they're so expensive. But I do feel that (most of the time) you get what you pay for there.

Unfortunately, my local is Asda. They just seem like the most soul-less, generic chain store I've ever visited. There's no personality to the company and they may as well just put you on a conveyor belt and flash offers in your face. I'm sick to death of their adverts stating their the cheapest in the UK for x years running. Yes, because you undercut the competition by pennies and don't have any incentives, such as Tesco's genuinely good club card.

The worst thing they did was their 'check to see if you could have got it cheaper' service on their website. You put in the till number etc and it shows how they literally shave pennies from the prices of the competitors and make a song and dance about it.

/rant.