Good and bad buys from Aldi and Lidl

Scritti

Finally got around to trying Aldi's porridge (Harvest Moon) today.

After a lifetime of only eating Scott's Porage Oats (the porridge of my childhood), I decided to finally try something else and, being a huge Aldi fan, their stuff seemed like the one to try first, especially as it's about 40% cheaper.

I'm becoming a bit of a broken record now but, yep, it was lovely.

I never would have believed it but I actually preferred it to Scott's. The oats are finer (almost Ready Brek-like) which made it silky smooth and creamy.

We're all porridge mad at work so I bought an extra box for my colleagues to try it - everyone agreed that it was nicer and three people gave me money to get them a box each as they don't have a car or a nearby Aldi. The only people who didn't go mental over it were the ones who have golden syrup or other "sachet" porridge which is a lot more expensive.

So yet another "staple" gets moved to my Aldi shopping list. I now have almost no reason to go to the other supermarkets except for some My Supermarket Savvy Buys and the occasional trip to Lidl for a few items.

Never bothered with the £5 off £40 vouchers before as I always struggle to spend that much as it's all so cheap but will definitely do so from now on. It's always near the end of the month when I've traditionally been broke but, now I've got my finances going in the right direction, I'll be doing a big Aldi shop with this voucher each month - can't wait!!

Swampy3k

Not for everyone but Aldi does good Motorcycle Kevlar jeans for a snippet of the price of £30 (with knee protectors), to put it into context, a pair of Draggin jeans (named brand) cost £90+

skitler

Davie-G wrote: »

Not for everyone but Aldi does good Motorcycle Kevlar jeans for a snippet of the price of £30 (with knee protectors), to put it into context, a pair of Draggin jeans (named brand) cost £90+

I got the boots they had there the other week and the under trousers are great, the boots are comfy and great value at £30, I saw the jacket and trousers and the do look really good quality but im ok for them at the moment.

mcculloch29

The bike jackets were in my Aldi with a small reduction - a fiver or so, it's possible other stores have reduced them as well. They looked wonderful quality. I cycle and all the Crane sports gear I have bought has been sturdy and good quality.
I bought an easy - grip drinks bottle the other week, it's the best sports bottle I've had. Leakproof and well-made.

mcculloch29

Scritti wrote: »

Finally got around to trying Aldi's porridge (Harvest Moon) today.

After a lifetime of only eating Scott's Porage Oats (the porridge of my childhood), I decided to finally try something else and, being a huge Aldi fan, their stuff seemed like the one to try first, especially as it's about 40% cheaper.

I'm becoming a bit of a broken record now but, yep, it was lovely.

I never would have believed it but I actually preferred it to Scott's. The oats are finer (almost Ready Brek-like) which made it silky smooth and creamy.

We switched to the Everyday Essentials porridge in the paper bags, and although it isn't fine grained like the Harvest one, it IS top notch. Certainly doesn't taste like a 'value' product. My absolute favourite Aldi cereals remain the premium muesli range though. They are all so nice that I eat them as trail mix. Or with plain yogurt. They just seem a bit too good for milk!

~Chameleon~

mcculloch29 wrote: »

The bike jackets were in my Aldi with a small reduction - a fiver or so, it's possible other stores have reduced them as well. They looked wonderful quality. I cycle and all the Crane sports gear I have bought has been sturdy and good quality.
I bought an easy - grip drinks bottle the other week, it's the best sports bottle I've had. Leakproof and well-made.

The biking gear has been drastically reduced in the store I use to for the past few weeks. Look great quality but I have no need of them.

Happygreen

I bought waterproof trousers at Lidl at a good price, then they had a sale (giant boxes full of stuff) and I found another pair for £ 1. good quality.

Scritti

mcculloch29 wrote: »

We switched to the Everyday Essentials porridge in the paper bags, and although it isn't fine grained like the Harvest one, it IS top notch. Certainly doesn't taste like a 'value' product...

Thanks for the heads up. I've loved every single Aldi breakfast cereal that I've tried. I don't feel the need to buy Kellogg's (or whatever) ever again. I honestly can't tell the difference between Aldi's Corn Flakes, Rice Krispies, Shredded Wheat etc from the branded ones. It baffles me when some people say they taste like cardboard or whatever. I do wonder if their brain tells them this because they know they're not the originals.

I'm just SO happy with Aldi right now. Like many people, I used to hate shopping with a passion. Might have been tempted by the whole online delivery thing at one point but my ex does that and she moans about the near-out-of-date stuff she's constantly sent so I don't trust them. So I was well pleased when I started trying Aldi and couldn't believe the prices and how it seemed a lot less stressful.

Fast forward a few years and it's a bit more stressful than before due to the extra customers but that's balanced out by the increased product range. It's gone from almost a "top-up shop" place a few years ago to easily my main supermarket (proabably get 90% of my shopping there).

I used to think of Aldi & Lidl as kind of the same thing but no more. Lidl has really stood still for me. Any direction that they have gone in (increased "Deluxe" range being the most obvious - slice of reindeer anyone? -- anyone??), I'm not a fan of. They do sell some nice stuff but there's very little in there that I can't get a version of (often a better version) in Aldi. There's no way I could do anything like a full shop there so just pop in once a month or so for the odd thing. Love the Half-Price Weekend though and wish Aldi would copy it in some way. I love that the prices are what they are with no BOGOF bull**** going on but Lidl's Half-Price Weekend has often tempted me in to try something new and I'd love it if Aldi had something similar in place.

So it's Aldi all the way. And the more people that insist that it's rubbish and they can't see the savings over shopping in Tesco the better. The places are starting to get seriously rammed with customers these days and I can only think it's going to get worse. I never would have imagined that I would ever cheer on the success of a massive multi-national corporation but I do with Aldi because they're one of very few large companies (alongside Lidl) that I don't feel is secretly shafting me in the **** every time I make a purchase.

sharond101

There Harvest Morn weet bicks are also identical to the real thing. Not the nut cornflakes though, crunchy nut are quite different imo.

VfM4meplse

Tried the tomato and chilli chutney from Lidl and wouldn't recommend it. No heat in it whatsoever, just very sweet. - just like a jam in fact.