Aldi is so expensive - am I missing something?

Desperate_Housewife_2-2

I found aldi got more expensive and swapped over to lidl as they have got better over the years. I shop at lidl every week now and top up with bits from sainsburys that I cant get at lidl.

Lynsey

Lidl have been having some great weekend half price offers of late - well worth a vist early Saturday morning if you can.

Lynsey

BlueFox

I've never heard of B&M either!

I agree with OP to a degree, i've always found Aldi to be a let-down price-wise, not comparable to Asda or Tesco for everyday items but they have an occasional bargain but it's not worth driving to an Aldi just to save 50p on a joint or whatever else is "on offer".

Lidl is slightly better, but not as convenient for me.

The other problem is the Aldi & Lidl stores always seem to be too small & therefore only a selected range of items, perhaps we are spoilt having a warehouse sized Tesco & Asda and a huge Sainsburys within driving range.

tillycat123

I have to travel 40 miles to a B&B and a Home bargains, it's a day out for me.

Please Mr B&M and Home bargains can we have some more.:)

maman

I visit Lidl for a few bits most weeks then finish off my shopping in Asda. Aldi is a now and again visit when I want some moisturiser and while I'm in there I have a browse around. I suppose if it's close enough for you it's worth going in for fruit and veg but Lidl and other supermarkets have some decent veg offers too just not so regularly.

Hermia

I have never heard of Home Bargain and B&M either! Are they just in one part of the country then?

I think Aldi has some good stuff, but I wouldn't do my week's shop there. E.g. I bought some lovely wine that turned out to have won a ton of prizes. I would never have got something so yummy for that price at the supermarket. I have a couple of foodie friends who say their cooked meat is the sort of quality you would get in European delis.

ALIBOBSY

The reason I like Aldi is the consistancy. Whilst other shops will do offers or be the end of line merchants like b & m et al, I know certain items I can get from Aldi at a good price and much better quality than the supermarkets "value" and in many cases "normal" brands.
As a mum with 4 kids I prefer a limited choice, a small store to whip around and the fast turnover at the checkout. The special offers are fab (especially the garden items in spring) and they have a no quibble returns policy (we bought a small handheld digital video recorder but decided the quality wasn't good enough for what we wanted-we realised we would have to stump up more cash for a named product-it was returned no questions asked and immediate refund) and the super 6 offers are another bonus.

I buy alot of basic items that are rarely on offer in supermarkets-obviously I would grab if a good offer was on, but Aldi have the items at a great price all the time. An example would be the plum toms in a tin they have been 33p for agggggggeees. They come in a yummy thick tasty tomato sauce, nothing like the watery naff tomatos most supermarkets serve up. They are as good if not better than the branded items such as napolina etc.
Basics such as plain/sr flour/bread flour/caster sugar/cocoa powder/raisins/granulated sugar are at a constant good price not up and up for 3 months then a great offer for one week.

What I reckon is for me the best bet it to "tart" the big 3 for the best headline offers and stock up, then do a once every so often into b & m etc (plus an occasional freezer stock up from a local farm shop) and see whats there as a bargain-again to stock up. I then get anything I couldn't get elsewhere or haven't got in my stores from Aldi, looking at the super 6 for offers on the fruit and veg. Then finally a trip to a local form shop for the rest of the f&v plus good quality local cheese/farm butter etc.

But I have time to shop around (inbetween sorting the kids lol) so this works best for me, if I only had time for one big shop I suspect I would have to do it differently.

ali x

epsilondraconis

Aldi - Live a little, spend a lot...

kitschkitty

I can find quite a number of things in Lidl that are either a great bargain, or worth paying a little more for, but I must admit for my regular shopping style Aldi offers few things that I'd make a trip for.

The fruit & veg on offers can be a good price, but for the effort of going there just for them, it's really not worth the small saving. Generally I stick to a shopping list and shop in Asda, sometimes Tesco, farmfoods and a few items from Iceland.

LittleMissAspie

I've never heard of B&M or Home Bargains either. I'm in Cambridgeshire. The nearest grocery stores to my house are Waitrose, Budgens and Co-op. We also use an enormous Tesco that's on the way home from work and that's pretty much it within a reasonable distance. There's much more choice if we go 10 miles or more.

I find Aldi to be full of junk food though. Full to the brim with cereal, biscuits, chocolate, pizza etc. But not much in the way of yogurt, cheese, Quorn and veggie products, salad. I can't do a full shop in there and I can't be bothered to visit different shops to get different things, it's a waste of time and petrol.

I always buy supermarket-brand foods so I don't see that Aldi is any cheaper. I agree with purplebutterfly in that oats are oats, I can rarely tell the difference between premium/supermarket/value brands. If I ate them side by side I guess I could tell, but I don't do that.