Good and bad buys from Aldi and Lidl

Cornucopia

dlusman wrote: »

There was a feature on the production of Wagyu burgers on this weeks "Food Unwrapped" on Channel 4 ( series 6 episode 2 - starting from around 6 mins & from 20 mins)
To qualify as Wagyu , the cows only have to be 50% wagyu ( so an animal bred from a Wagyu bull and another cattle breed )
The burger meat is ( obviously ) the offcuts from other cuts
The factory where the burgers where being made described the meat as having having been imported from "different countries" around the world.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/food-unwrapped/on-demand/

I like "Food Unwrapped" - it's the best, least pretentious food programme on UK telly.

The item about MSG in last week's programme was good, too.

Laurabar82

Aldi wins there meats are beaut ... Only prob is can't pack from till which is annoying wen there pushing food to u really quick n can't keep up

Feral_Moon

Laurabar82 wrote: »

Aldi wins there meats are beaut ... Only prob is can't pack from till which is annoying wen there pushing food to u really quick n can't keep up

That's what I love about Aldi. I can re-pack my trolley, placing similar items together (household, bottles, tins/packets, frozen, produce, fridge, bread products) just as fast as they throw 'em at me and then I go back to my car to pack everything into various bags at leisure. I usually have a full trolley too but can be through checkout in less than 5 minutes

Cornucopia

Laurabar82 wrote: »

Only prob is can't pack from till which is annoying wen there pushing food to u really quick n can't keep up

People say this about L & A, but I've never seen anyone told off for packing at the till.

In my case, I typically have one of the small trolleys and put a large cardboard fruit box in it. These are quite flat, strong, reusable, free and nearly the size of the trolley basket. Even at the pace the L & A cashiers go, I can easily put my things in the box (it doesn't take much more time than putting them back in the trolley). On occasion, the cashier will put my last few items in the box whilst I am paying with my card.

Box then goes in the car. Simple.

Feral_Moon

dlusman wrote: »

There was a feature on the production of Wagyu burgers on this weeks "Food Unwrapped" on Channel 4 ( series 6 episode 2 - starting from around 6 mins & from 20 mins)
To qualify as Wagyu , the cows only have to be 50% wagyu ( so an animal bred from a Wagyu bull and another cattle breed )
The burger meat is ( obviously ) the offcuts from other cuts
The factory where the burgers where being made described the meat as having having been imported from "different countries" around the world.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/food-unwrapped/on-demand/

One of the reasons I never eat burgers unless I make them myself

However, I do know that Aldi only use Wagyu beef from New Zealand, including in their burgers. I've had the steaks and they're amazing.

Shrimply

Cornucopia wrote: »

People say this about L & A, but I've never seen anyone told off for packing at the till.

Well the staff do try to gently discourage it...

Having previously worked in Aldi, I can see the look of despair on the cashiers face when people painstakingly bag the items as they come through the till. The tills aren't designed for that and it takes even longer because of that.

Having said that my local is now a Lidl and having worked at Aldi I'm pretty sure I could pack my bags whatever way I wanted and keep up with the cashier

People moan about it but I reckon that if the majority of customers use the system as intended, even with packing your bags away from the till you will still be out of the shop faster than in other supermarkets.

A few other tips to keep the staff happy (at least in my opinion)...

• Don't cram stuff, or pile it up (unless multiples of the same thing) on the conveyor belt.
• Equally don't place items miles apart on the belt
• Lay bottles in the direction of the conveyor belt so they can't roll along it, or fall over.
• Anything mucky (plants), heavy or bulky, leave in the trolley and inform the cashier
• If you have many multiples of the same thing leave all but one in the trolley and tell the cashier.

My pet hate in my local Lidl is that the cashier doesn't fire the Next Customer bar things up to the far end of the till. I have no idea why but it means you have to lean over everybody else and their shopping to get hold of one.

torbrex

Shrimply wrote: »

Well the staff do try to gently discourage it...

Having previously worked in Aldi, I can see the look of despair on the cashiers face when people painstakingly bag the items as they come through the till. The tills aren't designed for that and it takes even longer because of that.

Having said that my local is now a Lidl and having worked at Aldi I'm pretty sure I could pack my bags whatever way I wanted and keep up with the cashier

People moan about it but I reckon that if the majority of customers use the system as intended, even with packing your bags away from the till you will still be out of the shop faster than in other supermarkets.

A few other tips to keep the staff happy (at least in my opinion)...

• Don't cram stuff, or pile it up (unless multiples of the same thing) on the conveyor belt.
• Equally don't place items miles apart on the belt
• Lay bottles in the direction of the conveyor belt so they can't roll along it, or fall over.
• Anything mucky (plants), heavy or bulky, leave in the trolley and inform the cashier
• If you have many multiples of the same thing leave all but one in the trolley and tell the cashier.

My pet hate in my local Lidl is that the cashier doesn't fire the Next Customer bar things up to the far end of the till. I have no idea why but it means you have to lean over everybody else and their shopping to get hold of one.

Trouble with all that is that I use one of the baskets supplied and I have to pack my shopping at the till as it comes through.
Now I am quick and can keep up with most of the checkout staff but some of the tills have no-place to put the shopping as it comes through never mind my shopping bag for me to load up, in those cases I deliberately take as long as possible to load my bag and then pay.

dlusman

Shrimply wrote: »

People moan about it but I reckon that if the majority of customers use the system as intended, even with packing your bags away from the till you will still be out of the shop faster than in other supermarkets.

A

If you have a basket , you HAVE to pack at the till.

Shrimply

The basket thing is all a bit daft I agree. But they are really only meant to be used if you only have a couple of items i.e the number that fit on the end of the till after they have been scanned. If you have more why not just use a trolley? It's just as easy when you only have a few items and makes life easier for everyone. If you don't have a pound coin the chances are the cashier will have a token you can borrow.

As far as I know both supermarkets introduced baskets due to consumer demand for them.... In my opinion they should have invested the money in systems for coin free trolleys instead.

They system wasn't designed for baskets, especially ones you aren't allowed past the till point.

But why go as slowly as possible, you are inconveniencing the cashier and other customers because of a decision they had absolutely no control over, and really not achieving anything for yourself either.

torbrex

Shrimply wrote: »

The basket thing is all a bit daft I agree. But they are really only meant to be used if you only have a couple of items i.e the number that fit on the end of the till after they have been scanned. If you have more why not just use a trolley? It's just as easy when you only have a few items and makes life easier for everyone. If you don't have a pound coin the chances are the cashier will have a token you can borrow.

As far as I know both supermarkets introduced baskets due to consumer demand for them.... In my opinion they should have invested the money in systems for coin free trolleys instead.

They system wasn't designed for baskets, especially ones you aren't allowed past the till point.

I never put more in the basket than will fit into my shopping bag, what fits onto the end of the till does not get any consideration.

It has nothing to do with having change for the trolly, I much prefer to use the basket.

ETA
I go slow to make my point which I also do verbally once I am finished loading my bag.