Aldi vs Lidl, which is best?

terra_ferma

I've now stopped shopping at Lidl although I really love the products because of their parking rules. You can only park for 1hr, and once I stayed for 5mins over after doing a large shop I started getting threatening letters trying to extort £80 from me! (and the car park was half empty...).
I just ignored them and didn't pay, but I don't fancy being treated like that, while I can just go to Aldi and not have to worry about parking.

harryhound

I am lucky in that I have both within a 5 minute walk of each other.

I get the impression that usually Lidl is a bit cheaper but possible more of a pile it high and flog it cheap attitude like market stalls; whereas Aldi seems to put more thought into the job.

However this week I went in to buy an Aldi special but checked out both shops.

Came back unusually with nothing from Lidl, though it did have car roof bars (for cars with the manufacturers roof bars already fitted along each side of the car roof).
I bought a set of these ali bars about two years ago and have found then really useful, my memory is that the price was £25 and is now £27 - if you see a further end of season discount you won't buy better for the price.

Aldi was unusually piled high with specials on further discount.

My extra purchases were:

[These are unit prices I don't do 387 gram nonsense, where the packaging keeps on changing, pound shop style, just to confuse the punters. One litre of liquid is about the same as 1 kg of a solid]

£££
1.30 / ltr Brown source squeeze.
1.23 / ltr ketchup
0.75 / Kg Porridge oats.
1.50 / ltr Mayonnaise.
0.40 / ltr Vinegar malted
2.99 / Pr hard Kneelers
0.99 / Atlas AA British Isles 2014 [?!!?] road atlas with the Aldi shops marked in it.

As I drove back from 5 days holiday last week, I stopped and got 4 pints of milk. Silly me I was charged £1.95 by a local garage; had I called in en route at an Aldi, the Atlas would have almost paid for itself.

Rich85

Hi,

After reading on this forum about how people have saved loads of money with no or little drop in quality I decided to check out Aldi and Lidl on my day off.
I didnt buy anything just had a look round both shops and to be honest I must admit I wasnt that impressed.

I usually, based on my detailed accounts breakdown :money:. spend on average of £37 a week on food shopping, including cleaning stuff dishwasher tablets etc etc. everything bought from Morrisons.

I know its not a huge amount but I live on my own.
I was just looking at seeing if I could shave a bit off this as ive been through everything else.
Not because I have to stick to a strict budget but im just trying to save a bit. lets face it, its easier to spend than it is to earn!

anyway:

Aldi:, Id say that it was significantly cheaper on some items than I was expecting, Bread was the main one Im used to paying £1.45 for a full size loaf but Aldi had similar for less than £1.
Veg was also very very cheap Id say carrots were around half the price compared to what im used to paying in morrisons. but the limitation was that nothing could be bought loose ( unless im missing something)

I wasnt so impressed with the fresh meat department. I often buy diced lamb for a Lamb hotpot but aldi didnt do it. Nor could I find Steak Mince although the regular beef mince was alot cheaper than morrisons.

Lidl, I dont think is for me at all. there were alot more named brands for a very minimal saving. again the meat section was limited but atleast they baked "some" bread instore.

I dont know if these shops are for me really, the savings that I think I could make are barely worth the risk of buying the things to try. and going to more than one shop would get real old real fast.

I cant help feeling that Im missing something tho, Aldi was really busy. should I just take the risk and fill up a basket with say £10 worth of stuff and try some things?

dlusman

Rich85 wrote: »

I cant help feeling that Im missing something tho, Aldi was really busy. should I just take the risk and fill up a basket with say £10 worth of stuff and try some things?

All food "likes" are subjective - so only you can answer this question. But in general yes , judging by other threads on these forums most people seem to prefer the own-brand aldi/lidl stuff to other supermarket own-brands.

richardw

Was the bagged size of veg too big for you?

Was there any lamb that you fancied that you could dice at home?

I've seen steak mince in Aldi, perhaps it had sold out on your visit.

elsien

I find it works best for me if I go and see what they've got in the fresh veg and meat rather than go with a set shopping list in mind.
Choice is more limited than the big supermarkets, especially if its all bagged and there's only one of you. Plus I don't think the veg always keeps as well. But if things are on offer, I buy lots and freeze them. Flexibility and offers are the key, for me. But I never do a big weekly shop anyway. I'd rather call in every couple of days on my way home and see what they've got. And things like the fair trade tea, for example, are definitely cheaper.
And I prefer lidl to aldi as the queues are much shorter. And the majority of the fresh meat has the red tractor logo. It is a different way of shopping though, but each to their own.

Rich85

richardw wrote: »

Was the bagged size of veg too big for you?

Was there any lamb that you fancied that you could dice at home?

I've seen steak mince in Aldi, perhaps it had sold out on your visit.

yeah the bagged veg was a bit much for me.
if I recall the carrots were 35p which is REALLY REALLY cheap for what you were getting but I would have to force myself to use them up, maybe not such a bad thing but I would be cooking to freeze in order to use them up. I could always just use what I want and throw the rest out but to be honest I hate the idea of that.

I found the lamb sections very restrictive at both Aldi and Lidl I dont know why because they had loads of beef, pork and chicken.
I could have at a push bought lamb on the bone but i would have had to buy two packets at £2.50 each to get enough meat off and 450g of diced lamb at morrisons is only £4.50 ish so no saving to be had really.

It comes down to am I willing to shop in more than one shop in order to have the savings, and I suppose yes I am
Aldi and Morrisons are basically over the road from each other

MrsE_2

I dont like eithef of them for meat nor Adsa.
But I love Lidls instore bakery the lidls near where I work once a fortnight has a lovely bread baked fresh.
They do some great offers on fruit & veg and they sell bizarre useful things as specials you might strike lucky with.
I got 6 small fizzy flavoured mineral waters for £2.
Lidls do good half price deals on 4 items at the weekend.

elsien

For the big bags of carrots, etc, I use what I want, then make the rest into soup to freeze. Or use the green bags pound land used to sell that keeps food fresher for longer - to my surprise, they do actually work.
And I go to other shops as needed, I couldn't just shop on aldi or lidl. But as I only need a few items from elsewhere, its quite quick to whizz in and out, so not as bad as it sounds.

DCFC79

Why dont you give 1 or both a trial run to see if its your thing.