Aldi more expensive and quality declining?

Cornucopia

ZiQi wrote: »

The packaging may have changed due to Aldi changing the suppliers for a lot of their items, sourcing cheaper companies / cheaper recipes.

No - they are exactly the same except for the box. I ought to try making my own, really.

Maybe the price of red ink has gone up?

ALIBOBSY

HappyMJ wrote: »

Green beans are primarily a summer vegetable so will be more expensive in winter. What were they priced at this time last year?

If you grow them at home it's likely you will get a decent crop between June and September...only 4 months. You will need to prepare them for storing so you have them year round....such as pickling or freezing.

Frozen ones from the stores are probably cheaper this time of year and as above poster said they are a summer veg so will be cheaper in summer. I find by starting early under cover and use of fleeces we can get beans from late may to early nov (barring freak weather patterns), but we live in a pretty sheltered area and almost have a bit of a microclimate going on (we are semi rural and its mostly farmland around here-now I know why lol) so it can depend on you local conditions. But even in a few months climbing beans can produce a heck of alot of pods from each seed. Lidl are good for cheap seed.

They grow a british version of "french" beans around here called "bobby" beans, but you only see them in the farmshops, they are bigger than their french cousins and much more hardy, trying to get hold of some seed.

Easy to grow and a massive crop for little effort-but I digress lol.

In answer to the original question I would say compared to Tesco and to a lesser degree the other stores no I wouldn't say Aldi had gone up in price, in fact certain items I use often have gone down in the last 6 months. None of the massive price rises seen at Mr T for sure.

Ali x

ALIBOBSY

Cornucopia wrote: »

Has anyone noticed how much quieter it is in L & A than in the big supermarkets?

This is a joke right? I have been complaining this morning as our Aldi was absolutely packed, but when we popped in for petrol the Tesco car park looked very quiet. At Christmas you had to queue to park up for Aldi, but the bigger stores although busy were noticably quieter than previous years. However I don't see Lidl as busy as Aldi near us, but its still alot busier than it was 12 months ago.

Best F&V is from our local farmshop especially the locally produced stuff, but I do get the offers in A/L if they are good as our local shops seem to be good quality. Also knowing a local farmer who produces for Mr T and the way they are treated by them I prefer to avoid theirs.

Ali x

Cornucopia

ALIBOBSY wrote: »

This is a joke right?

Not at all. My local Asda is manic at most times of day - noisy and the noise bounces across the entire store because of the very high ceilings. They also play Asda FM, or whatever they call it.

And Tesco where I used to live in London was like a refugee camp stores in the middle of a war zone.

By comparison L & A locally are both havens of tranquility - though I do tend to go first thing Saturday morning, when there is no one else there.

ALIBOBSY

Cornucopia wrote: »

Not at all. My local Asda is manic at most times of day - noisy and the noise bounces across the entire store because of the very high ceilings. They also play Asda FM, or whatever they call it.

And Tesco where I used to live in London was like a refugee camp stores in the middle of a war zone.

By comparison L & A locally are both havens of tranquility - though I do tend to go first thing Saturday morning, when there is no one else there.

You are so lucky, I remember the days before ev1 else seemed to "discover" Aldi. I suppose it may depend on the area the shops are in. I actually live in a semi rural area on the edge of a small town in the north. Fairly affluent, but nothing like the SE eg. a nice 4 bed detached with a garden in a good area for around 180k-200k. The markets and farm shops still do well around here so I guess there is an element of being prepared to hunt around for the best deals ingrained here lol.

Ali x

barbaraemmerson

I definitely think prices have gone up in both Aldi and Lidl - substantially - it is noticeable that when Aldi first did the £5 off voucher it was on a £30 spend - then it went up to £35 spend - today it was £5 off a £40 spend!!! so even they know prices have gone up!!!

LisaLou1982

The large family pack of mushrooms have definately creeped up in price!! In october they were £1.29 - now they are £1.49. Quite an increase!

Fire_Fox

ALIBOBSY wrote: »

You are so lucky, I remember the days before ev1 else seemed to "discover" Aldi. I suppose it may depend on the area the shops are in. I actually live in a semi rural area on the edge of a small town in the north. Fairly affluent, but nothing like the SE eg. a nice 4 bed detached with a garden in a good area for around 180k-200k. The markets and farm shops still do well around here so I guess there is an element of being prepared to hunt around for the best deals ingrained here lol.

Ali x

Might also be the size of the store and range of products? I live in a deprived city yet our Aldi is quiet much of the time, but it is small (site shared with another discounter, it only has three aisles). Home Bargains is also small but that is often pretty busy especially after school, sells a lot more rubbish tho.

Towser

Even if they are getting more expensive what is the alternative? I can't get everything from the market.

Aren't they still the cheapest of the cheap? If not do tell 'cos I could do with reducing my bill more.

It sounds as if it does depend on the management of the store as to freshness.

ALIBOBSY

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Might also be the size of the store and range of products? I live in a deprived city yet our Aldi is quiet much of the time, but it is small (site shared with another discounter, it only has three aisles). Home Bargains is also small but that is often pretty busy especially after school, sells a lot more rubbish tho.

Ah, well ours are both those purpose buildt "full size" stores, or at least I have rarely seen bigger stores when travelling in the UK.
Our Aldi now has 6 checkouts and they are usually all on, all the time. They are planning to expand the store and add at least one more checkout and over 2000 more lines so I have heard.

I wonder if its the length of time the stores have been around. Until about the early 80's there were no supermarkets in the town and the nearest was an Asda store about 20 mins away. There was then a store buildt after the old market and co-op were knocked down and the site redeveloped. This was things like carrefour and the like none of the big four. This then got knocked down and they buidlt the Tesco extra in 2002. The other stores - Morrisons, Aldi, Lidl and Poundstretcher followed shortly after. Finally the old kwick save after being a netto for a couple of years became an Asda smaller store last year. So I suppose there wasn't time for people to become too used to shopping in one store before the others arrived.

I have also noticed here people tend to be alot more loyal to local stores and the local wood/diy merchants and shops seem to have been little hit by a homebase by Morrisons and a large B & Q 10 mins away.

TBH I reckon all products in all stores have had a creep in prices, but relative to the other stores I still believe Aldi and Lidl to be alot cheaper, certainly enough to make it worth a swap to someone who currently does all the shopping in one of the big stores.

Ali x