Lidl: still a 'deep discounter'?

LairyMary

I've been umming and aahing about trying Lidl or Alid for a while now... I would be more up for it but my other half can be a bit of a food snob, much to my purse string's dismay :-( I'm tempted to buy fruit and veg from there and see if he notices as it does seem as though I could save a bit of money. I tend to buy things like spinach regularly - does Lidl/Alid sell stuff like that or just tomatos/peppers etc? I usually just nip into sainsburys which is on my route home and would have to make a special trip out of my way as so would be nice to know before I go... Cheers in advance!

Fire_Fox

LairyMary wrote: »

I've been umming and aahing about trying Lidl or Alid for a while now... I would be more up for it but my other half can be a bit of a food snob, much to my purse string's dismay :-( I'm tempted to buy fruit and veg from there and see if he notices as it does seem as though I could save a bit of money. I tend to buy things like spinach regularly - does Lidl/Alid sell stuff like that or just tomatos/peppers etc? I usually just nip into sainsburys which is on my route home and would have to make a special trip out of my way as so would be nice to know before I go... Cheers in advance!

Aldi sell fresh spinach cheaper than the supermarket, not sure what you mean by 'stuff like that' tho.

Edwardia

My local Lidl sells the shinest best looking aubergines you will ever see, Heirloom tomatoes, wild rocket, spinach, bagged salads which aren't Iceberg, as well as stuff like Norwegian smoked salmon, proper prosciutto di Parma, whole smoked mackerel.

blackbelle_2

LairyMary wrote: »

I've been umming and aahing about trying Lidl or Alid for a while now... I would be more up for it but my other half can be a bit of a food snob, much to my purse string's dismay :-(

Go for it; try it .... shop without your other half if necessary then decant/disguise! Most packaging doesn't say 'Lidl' on it anyhow, so you could always tell him that Mr. T/S/A has introduced a new continental foods shelf

I can't comment on the fruit and veg since I'm only going to be checking them out next week, but believe me, from the list of items I purchased above, there is absolutely no sacrifice in terms of taste of taste or quality, quite the opposite as I have found them to be excellent.

I am using up poultry, meat and fish stores from my freezer this week, so the Lidl biscuits and chocolates were a bit of a diversion from my intended shopping list , but from now on I am going to make Lidl my preferred purveyor of deli meats, dairy and muesli - and probably much more - will have to see how next weekend's shopping and eating goes

Middy

Ooh those cherry jaffa cakes sound yummy.

The nearest Lidl from me is 5 miles away, but awkward to get to due the roads.

blackbelle_2

Edwardia wrote: »

My local Lidl sells the shinest best looking aubergines you will ever see, Heirloom tomatoes, wild rocket, spinach, bagged salads which aren't Iceberg, as well as stuff like Norwegian smoked salmon, proper prosciutto di Parma, whole smoked mackerel.

Thanks Edwardia, some great items to look out for!

I AM kinda fussy about my fruit and veg - there are two grocers in town, but one I will not buy from, as their stuff deteriorates significantly in less than a week, despite being stored properly at home. The other grocer's stuff lasts much, much longer, so I buy from them.

I meal plan and therefore do usually get my veg used up within a week, but sometimes even the best-laid plans can change, and so I like to buy the freshest-possible products.

Since there seem to be conflicting accounts of the freshness or otherwise of Lidl fruit and veg, I am guessing that quality varies by store or region.

blackbelle_2

Middy wrote: »

Ooh those cherry jaffa cakes sound yummy.

They were. Too much so. Not buying them again!!

Edwardia

Another point re: food snobbery.. the Evening Standard found that people were doing Lidl dinners to raise money for charity ie they would buy the food from Lidl to make food for dinner from scratch and donate the difference to a charity.

After their friends had scoffed they would reveal that the food came from Lidl and ask guests to donate what they thought the food they had eaten was worth, as well. The journo did one and no one had any idea the food came from Lidl, by the taste.

I'm not saying that every product is Waitrose level but a lot of it is.

blackbelle re the veg, my local Lidl gets fresh veg in every day and judging by the car park and the sheer amount of veg I see people with, I think it has a pretty high turnover. But don't be tempted by the clementines with leaves on in crates, just before Christmas - they usually go mouldy

sharnad

Can't really compare as you didn't put weights on stuff. Our lido still has plenty of bargains

blackbelle_2

sharnad wrote: »

Can't really compare as you didn't put weights on stuff. Our lido still has plenty of bargains

Appreciate it's a rough comparison, since we're not comparing prices on identical products, never mind identical product weights.

However, on mysupermarket.com, I did try to select produce weights which were as close to the Lidl produce weights as possible; if you read my original post it said, 'keeping the quantity sizes as close as possible', although I admit that I didn't work out prices on a gram for gram basis

I tried to get as close as possible though, as I have a genuine interest in establishing whether Lidl are in fact significantly cheaper.

What for you are the key Lidl bargains you mention, and how do these compare to the mainstream supermarkets IYO?