Lidl or Supermarket?

tamsworld

Hi everyone,

Currently we have the choice between Tesco and Sainsburys, and I do all my grocery shopping in Tesco as I find its cheaper generally than Sainsburys. However I am shortly going to be moving to a town where they have a Lidl.

I have heard that Lidl is good value for money, and ideally I would like to do all my shopping in one place so that I can save money on the petrol, as well as make money savings on the food itself. But is this too much to expect do you think, in terms of range? For example, I have been told that you can't guarantee what you will find in Lidl, so if I had ten things on my shopping list and found all of them one week, I may only find 7 or 8 of them the next week. Does this sound about right?

Do Lidl offer any deals/coupons in newspapers etc that I can pick up, or is it just the case that everything in store is just cheaper than elsewhere?

Thanks in advance,
Tams

huckster

Lidl offer lower prices and better quality, provided you are not tied to buying branded goods. e.g Kelloggs cornflakes. For most items, they sell their own brands and occasionally you will find well known brands.

They don't do coupons as far as I know, but I reckon that a trolley full of items in Lidl, will be about half of the cost, as you would spend at another supermarket.

I would thoroughly recommend using Lidl, if you don't have fussy kids that will only eat certain brands. Often produce from Lidl beats those offered by rival supermarket in many tests that are done. There wine selection is very good and there are some real bargains.

milliemonster

It depends what you buy, I disagree that you can't get the same things every week, Lidl's variety is reliable and they stock the same produce week in week out but with different offers, branded goods are no cheaper than the main supermarkets generally in my experience, their meat and poultry is good but there is little variety compared to the main supermarkets, no fresh fish, fruit and veg is cheaper, I would also disagree that a shop from lidl would be half the price of the main supermarkets, again it depends what you buy as to whether you would even save anything.

I can't do a full shop from Lidl and that's not because I'm a brand snob, more that they don't have the full range of choice of goods that I need, I tend to go for specific things I need, their version of greek yogurt is better than Totals and much cheaper for instance.

OrganicNancy

I am sure I saw an advert a few weeks ago where Sainsburys claimed they are now the cheapest supermarket. I might be going batty though.

OrganicNancy

Also- are you sure your LIDL is not close to another supermarket? Our LIDL is opposite our Tesco. My mum's ALDI is a roundabout away from her Tesco...I get it doesn't always work like that though :P

Edwardia

Think of Lidl as a deli.. Krakowska sausage, chorizo, salami, Black Forest ham, Brie, Camembert, part-baked ciabatta, European biscuits, rooibos tea, Parmigiano reggiano (cheapest), naan, pitta, goat's cheese, prosciutto di Parma (cheapest), whole smoked mackerel, Boczek, dill pickles, antipasto, potato salad in creme fraiche, premium coleslaw, whole free range chickens, pickled morello cherries, passata, big Cornish pasties, Norwegian and Scottish smoked salmon, Scottish mussels, organic Heirloom tomatoes, frozen nasi goreng..then it's excellent. The veg is good too, the aubergines look beautiful.

However, if you're looking for cornflakes, baked beans and pasta shapes as a continental supermarket IMO it does these less well.

If you like foreign beers you'll find lots. The wine is pretty dire though.

Lidl does some really good offers on non food stuff anything from plants to camcorders.

If you want organic all you'll find is milk, tomatoes and carrots.

ALIBOBSY

I prefer Aldi TBH and find I can pretty much do my weekly shop there (although I also use a couple of local farm shops for meat and veg/dairy-both amazing quality-better than the best brands at any supermarket and still cheaper than the big boys or at the least better "value")

I go to Lidl onlt now and again, say once a month or perhaps 3 wks. Mine is next door to a B & M bargains and pound stretcher so I do the 3 at once. I stock up on good offers. I find Lidl seem to always have the pepsi on around 99p a bottle and its ony occasionally the big store have a better offer. The walkers crisps seem to always be on offer there as well lol.

The deli stuff is good and ours has an instore bakery as well (just like the big shops is the heat up type of "bakery" but the stuff is as good as the big stores and has good prices. I find Aldi's basic stuff like fruit and veg, milk, cereals etc to be better but as we had aldi first I haven't tried all the stuff from Lidl.

They do some fab really cheap frozen pizzas which the kids like to have in. I do make home made alot of the time but sometimes its handy to have something quick to bung in the oven.

Re the savings I find by using Aldi weekly plus the local farms shops I spend around £50-£70 a week to feed 6 of us (including aldi nappies and wipes which are brill and cheap). Plus stock ups around once a month or so at the Lidl/poundstretcher etc combo where I spend £20 ish, but may be more if a good offer is on. Eg the other week they had spice racks with 12 jars of spices/herbs and the rack for £9.99. Given that those tubs are usually around 70p ish the frame was virtually free.

I still occasionally bob in to one or more of the big stores to pick up really good offers and stock up if and when they come up, but that may not be on a regular basis and isn't always food items. There are also some things you can't always get in aldi-unpopped pop corn, so cheap and easy to make and only sainsbobs seem to have them around here.

Ali x

I reckon by doing a bit of shopping around and stocking up on offers I reckon we easily cover all our food and toiletries and cleaning stuff, plus the baby stuff for around £250-£300 a month. I also reckon if we cut right back to just home cooked basic stuff I could cut that to maybe £180/£200 a month. No way I could do a full shop for the month at any of the big stores for that.

lancashiregirl

Our Lidl has a fresh bakery now, you can get 5 items for 85p, compared to Morrisons 5 items for £1.35.

I find it cheaper for bread and other baked goods, fruit and veg, meat, cooked meats, milk, fizzy pop, crisps and cereal. Indeed I use it for all these items now and it's saved me a packet.

Some things I find, (jam and peanut butter for instance) are more expensive than the value ranges are other supermarkets.

Our Lidl is a ten minute walk away, it was really quiet when it opened around 5 years ago but over the last few months it's got much busier, I don't know what I'd do without it!

cheltenhamgal

Since I have started using Lidl I now very very rarely use Tesco or Sainsburys. I can get my weekly shop in Lidl for half the price of a shop in Tesco or Sainsburys.
The majority of the time I never have problems obtaining the basics and other items from Lidl.
I love that they do different specials from around the world each week and that the meat is British. Their rump steaks are well worth it for the price and the quality.
Just be careful of the fruit though as it can sometimes be bruised although when I took a bag of apples back they immediately replaced them for me.
Lidl is within walking distance for me and I also like Aldi but that is a bus trip away

maman

I think it's possible to do all your shopping in Lidl but you may have to adjust your meal plans (especially where meat is concerned) and do a bit of trial and error on own/unfamiliar brands. OP, I think you are misinformed that things disappear from stock. Unless it's a special buy, the stock stays the same it's just not as extensive (or expensive;)) as major SMs.

I can make one car trip to either Lidl (then top up in Asda) or Aldi (and top up in Sainsbury's). The latter is my preference but I always go to Lidl at least once a month for some favourites (luxury muesli). What I tend to do is write my list from my meal plan and then write A next to the things I expect to get from there as I know the stock fairly well now. To give you an idea of what's available, if I've got a fair bit of meat in the freezer, I often find I just go to Sainsbury's for wine, fresh fish, beansprouts and Burgen bread (DHs favourite) and all the veg, fruit, cheese, tins, juice, milk, eggs, cold meats etc come from Aldi.

huckster

maman wrote: »

Burgen bread (DHs favourite)

Cheapest place for Burgen is Iceland £1 for 800 gram loaf and that is there standard price, not a special offer.

I find some of Lidl's meat to be better than other supermarket. Their lean mince steak is much tastier that other supermarkets. Their free range chickens are cheaper and just as good. They do 28 days aged steaks which are also pretty good. If you are after a big joint of meat, then yes they don't really do that.

Best thing in Lidl has got to be their Chocolate bar with whole hazelnuts for 59p for a 100g bar. Their own branded bourbon vanilla ice cream takes a bit of beating, much better than Carte dor.