Aldi snobbery

Rmeek

I shop in both and like various items in both stores. I think the biggest plus point for both is their 'no frills' approach. There are no 'special offers' piled up on the ends of aisles to tempt you and there are few choices with regards to individual products. There is one type of chopped tomatoes, one type of each biscuit pretty much! Not 10 different types of cookies and 20 different types and flavours of chopped tomatoes! haha! It takes me 20 mins to get around and I have halved my shopping bill with a bit of careful planning of meals and snacks on a daily basis. I find their fresh produce to be excellent and the quality is great! Far better than supermarket 'special offers' that aren't really! I hope that with a few more weeks tweaking I can reduce our shopping bills further. Full marks to both Aldi and Lidl!

WhiteHorse

The recession is definately biting.

In the last 6 months, my local Aldi has gone from being deserted to always busy. So much so in fact that Aldi (who are notorious tightwads, remember), are taking on extra store staff.

hago6000

Aldi is ace!!! I always come out with so much stuff and spend so little. I buy all my veg there now as Asda and other places have increased their prices so much.

I always buy there wine and cider. Has anyone noticed that 12 packs of Taurus cider have disappeared? I think its better than strongbow. I guess its for the best they have disappeared as need to lose a few pounds. Dont really rate their milk as the fridge they are in doesnt seem to get very cold and the milk doesnt last long.

All their cooked meats for sandwiches are great as they have so much variety and their cured meats are great too. Had some fab rib eye steaks too last week which were much cheaper than anywhere else.

Look out for special buys. Iv got the aldi app on my phone and it tells you whats coming in. e.g chinese stuff for chinese new year.

Its just ace. like their jack daniels copy too. amarretto also.

hago6000

OOOOh and dont forget on MSE homepage its saying there is going to be a voucher for £5 for Aldi tomorrow in the Daily Mirror. Have to spend £30 but thats still really good. Ill be looking out for that one!

lizd87

Decadent_Debtor wrote: »

J

One confession though - I'm a total condiments snob! I have to get good old Heinz Ketchup and HP Sauce.

So, sauces aside, I am well and truly and Aldi man.

.

Good on you. However, I challenge you to a blinded taste test! I bet you wouldn't notice the difference - certainly with the Aldi (Bramwell's) Ketchup!
My and my fiance are trying to do that with any of the aldi products that we can't get over the snobbery with! We haven't found anything worse yet - although i have only been a convert about 6 weeks! But i'm trying to go around converting everyone i know. I'm in my final 4 months after 6 years at university - i just wish i'd discovered it sooner! for a year i had an aldi and an asda at the end of my road and stupidly used to walk over to asda for their poor quality rubbish and horrible shopping experience!

showmethemoneyuk

I was just about to mention a taste test too! Grab an anti-aldi/lidl fiend the next time they visit, and place two identical items from different supermarkets on that table for that ultimate test. I live up in the highlands so everyone here is just happy to have food when the local farms arent running.. :rotfl: I do have relations however that live down in Marlow that will ONLY shop in M&S. Shameful. I would definately argue against the whole idea of M&S goods being of "superior quality" as many like to state. The aldi/lidl snobbery is the funniest thing Ive ever heard-staff initially believing that their customers just want to save money when they take their own shopping bags in, only to realize that they do so only to keep up their upper class label, as every customer is taking in an M&S bag to hide from their friends where they really shop :whistle: Perhaps the areas in which these supermarkets were built may not have been the best choice :silenced: ?

I think its obvious that some of the output in lidl and aldi is pretty much on the same level with most other supermarkets own brand output, particulary when it comes to tinned goods (eg thinner sauces used within to save money compared to the other brands), but for fresh food and dairy I dont think you can fault. You can argue against certain products not tasting as good (as strongly) as their big name equivalents, for example aldis own "snackrite" crisps that use a curiously similar logo to walkers ..but with there being no artificial flavours or preservatives, the lack of E numbers may be a big plus to many. As for the issues with popular supermarkets poorly paying their suppliers of many goods, I believe at some point or other, all big name supermarkets have been found guilty of something, or have been related in something shameful. They all use so many suppliers that its almost impossible not to-whether they simply arent paying their workers enough or are related to using sweatshop factory labour in bangladesh (a la primark). Whether they actually knew if these suppliers were doing it is the real concern, and if they did, why they didnt react. Even the heavenly M&S to many is no angel
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-479571/The-High-Street-sweatshops-Primark-M-S-factories-India-pay-13p-hour.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/08/gap-next-marks-spencer-sweatshops

We all know supermarkets are out there to make as much money as they can, whether its your upper class M&S or (supposedly!) working class Aldi. Its no excuse, but unfortunately its how the industry works, and perhaps always will. I support Aldi and Lidl as they do a good job in selling local products at a good price, and much of their frozen output is easily on par with other supermarkets too

wellblechstrumpf

15 years ago or even more, the "Aldi snobbery" was the same think in Germany, but nowheredays it is widely accepted to shop at Aldi, Lidl, Netto. Germany is full of discounters :-) But Germans are cheap in the amount of money they spend on food, which has other bad effects.

Anyway, it is probably widely know that the companies producing branded goods also produce the non-branded for Aldi, Lidl.
In Terms of joghurt or milk products you usually find a EG number. This is one way to trace the real producer behind the no-name brand. It is tougher for non-dairy products.
But even at Sainsbury's you will find such things. Example: Basic tomatoes have the same owner code the tomatoes of their middle range. Why would somebody buy the more expensive stuff?

Doc_N

wellblechstrumpf wrote: »

Anyway, it is probably widely know that the companies producing branded goods also produce the non-branded for Aldi, Lidl.

Indeed so.

We had a nice piece of Stilton from M&S recently (produced by Tuxford & Tebbutt Creamery).

We had an equally nice piece from Aldi (also produced by Tuxford & Tebbutt Creamery).

cepheus

Lagopus wrote: »

I like seeing the folk who put their Aldi shop into M&S bags.

My only gripe with Aldi is the fact that some of the checkout folk throw the shopping at you.

Strange because I take my Aldi bag to the other stores! In a sense I am quite proud of it up to a point since it makes you appear consumer savvy!

However, I think you still need to shop around to get the best deals and not become attached to one store! I notice Morrisons have begun to offer some more credible sounding half price deals of late.

showmethemoneyuk

cepheus wrote: »

Strange because I take my Aldi bag to the other stores! In a sense I am quite proud of it up to a point since it makes you appear consumer savvy!

Regarding M&S snobbery - they charge for shopping bags, so if I ever need to shop there, I'll take my aldi or lidl ones next time-just to enjoy the reaction from a select few customers and staff. Im not sure if 'consumer savvy' would be the first term they would likely think of to describe me :rotfl: