Good and bad buys from Aldi and Lidl

paulineb_2

Theres an aldi and lidl in my home town and I much prefer Aldi to Lidl.

kittykitten

I've never been to Aldi before but finally after months of waiting (longest new build ever!) the new Aldi near me opens next week.

So I was hoping people could recommend what's good & what to avoid? I'm not just talking about prices, I usually shop at asda so am used to cheap supermarket shopping, it's more about what's nice, and what's not?

Thanks in advance.

sammikins

The fruit is good but you need to check punnets carefully.Also best to eat in a couple of days. I like the coleslaw and fruit juices as well.

ariba10

Try it all in turn and do not be put off by brand names you do not recognise.


(Chocolate to die for)

sammikins

sammikins wrote: »

The fruit is good but you need to check punnets carefully.Also best to eat in a couple of days. I like the coleslaw and fruit juices as well.

Also we like their dried filled pasta and passata.

paulineb_2

They have a decent wine selection. Cereals as well. I buy their antipasti quite a lot. They do a tortilla wrap kit for about £1.49. Crisps are also ok.
Their fruit juices are cheaper than some of the bigger brands, about 65p a carton.

I have an aldi quite near me and I shop in it often. If you like Pimms they do a copy for £5.99, thats the price in my area anyway, they also do a cheap baileys copy and its nice enough.

They also have quite a lot of foods that are there on the short term, tins and jars.

welsh_mummy

We like most things fro Aldi's but the favourites are the meatballs, pasta sauces, sweet chilli sauce and the muller corner style yoghurts plus my OH likes the crumble style yoghurts. But we didn't like the cottage cheese and some of their chocolate puddings!

Best to try a few things first then build on that.

Also find the fruit much better quality than most supermarkets x

fionajbanana

Aldi Spiirals - like Kinder Bueno but more chocolaty! You get 7 single bars for 99p. Love their dark chocolate with huge amount of hazelnuts for 99p

Their Actimol drinks are fab at half the price of that brand

Doc_N

welsh_mummy wrote: »

Also find the fruit much better quality than most supermarkets x

I'd have to disagree with you on that. Like many others here I'd say the fruit and veg is patchy. It's OK, usually, provided you eat it quickly, but it doesn't keep well. And the onions are poor quality, with a fair number of bad ones - likewise the Jersey Royals.

The milk containers often leak because of broken seals, which means off milk from time to time.

And the Lidl luxury muesli is far fruitier, nuttier and better than the Aldi one.

Apart from these minor points, though, Aldi takes some beating. Pretty much everything comes from there these days, with top-ups at Waitrose. The wine selection's particularly good. And the pricing is honest and straightforward - unlike the deceitful, dishonest and almost fraudulent pricing tactics used at Tesco.

RHYSDAD

We have Sainsburys, Waitrose, Lidl, co-op and Iceland in our town to choose from and I can't believe we've left going to Lidl so long! All that money wasted in Sainsburys.....

We love:
the twix lookalike bars
Tinned tomatoes, pasatta and tomato puree
The toasting waffles, 55p for 12!
The prosciutto is more or less Parma ham for £1.49 I think
The ice creams are great, 12 mini magnum lookalikes for £2
The wine and lagers are good
Nappies are excellent
Everyday value wholemeal bread is good
Fruit and veg usually very good apart from one shrink wrapped head of broccoli going yellow very quickly and had to sling :-(
We tried the scotch beef 1/4 pounders this weekend and we very impressed and a damn sight cheaper that my butcher

To be honest there isn't anything I can think of off the top of my head that isn't good.