Is Aldi Cheap if you buy alot of smartprice/everyday value/basics range stuff?

maman

brightonman123 wrote: »

some of the veg specials are ok, but dont over buy as shelf life a bit iffy.

It may be better buying what you need, each day from a local market..

You need to compare your complete shop and not just focus on the price of curry sauce. If you're doing your whole shop in Asda it's likely you'd save money in Aldi as their fruit and veg is much cheaper, particularly the weekly Super Six but be aware of what brightonman says as sometime the veg doesn't last as long. It's unlikely you'll get everything you need in Aldi so depending how far you need to travel for a top-up in a major supermarket then the travel costs need to be built in too.

flubberyzing

I don't shop in Aldi/Lidl that often, but haven't found them to be any different price-wise than the cheapy range in Tescos, which I'm already buying.

meer53

There's no curry powder in my curry.

Garlic, cumin, coriander, paprika, cinnamon, turmeric, cloves, cardamom pods, all from jars. I hate jars of curry sauce, they all taste synthetic to me.

Much cheaper to make your own.

medusasmummy

flubberyzing wrote: »

I don't shop in Aldi/Lidl that often, but haven't found them to be any different price-wise than the cheapy range in Tescos, which I'm already buying.

the prices are the same as the value or smart price stuff, but the quality of the products is more on par with the own brand or speciality range

ALIBOBSY

For me its a quality thing eg. Aldi's tinned tomatos may be a couple of pence more than Asda/tesco, but there is no comparison. Aldi's are tasty and thick. T & A value stuff are watery and bitter. I think sometimes people move to the value stuff for price and put up with how bad the products are as you get used to it. For me I prefer better tasting, better quality products.

Look at Aldi's washing up liquid-as good and better than fairy liquid, so lasts ages for under 80p a bottle. Swapping to value from that would be false economy as you would use alot more.

Then again I no longer get meat from ANY of the stores.

We have a wonderful local meat farm shop, with free range, high welfare, locally produced meat that is the same price or cheaper than the big stores and once you taste the better quality you realise just how much the big stores are shafting us both on price and quality.

I still reckon though if you swapped a whole shop to Aldi, you would save overall and most surveys back this up, there is a reason they got all those which awards lol.

I find very little I can't get from Aldi or Lidland their ranges keep being expanded. At lidl last week I noticed they have a range of "health foods" so seeds/dried fruit etc, all alot cheaper than Mr T et al.

I am just having a brew with a Lidl "sonday" biscuit which IS a choco leibinz-side by side they are identical and blind taste the same, plus they are both made in the same town of Neckarsulm (where balsen have a massive factory lol). Aldi have cake slices from the same factory as Mr Kipling and as I understand it the beans are now HP beans.

So basically top quality ie, branded/finest etc for around the price of value, plus special offers, and I find less and less I need from the big stores anymore.

I would say give it a go one week and see.

Ali x

ALIBOBSY

Looking at seed/wholefood prices at the other stores online I will have to check Lidl again. I THINK the bags of pine nuts were £1.49 (certainly £1 something), all the big stores are listing at £2 and upwards for 100gs and I think the lidl bag was bigger-certainly wasn't smaller.

Ali x

nakmeister

Around half the things I buy are smartprice including tea, tins, packets, pasta, rice, biscuits, cat food, softener, meats, cheese, frozen etc except where brands are reduced to a similar price. When I go to Aldi I spend around £50 instead of £85. This is mainly because there is less choice and fewer things to buy. Also I feel Aldi is far better quality, so over the last couple of months I have started to shop there regularly instead of infrequently.

Also our curry sauce is 79p. This is tikka or korma and tikka/ korma in Asda are around 90p. Obviously the smartprice one is less. The two part curry sauce where you fry the powder with the meat and add the sauce is £1.29.

So for me, you might need to buy a few things elsewhere (Daz for me, although I have bought Almat this week and will see how it does), but this is 1 shop out of 4 for me and Aldi really is very very good.

HTH

Fire_Fox

Buy the better quality sauce for the same price and dilute it until it's more like a Value/ Smartprice.

I make my own curry sauce using dried spice blends from the World Foods section of the supermarket or an Asian shop, cheapest curry powder in Tesco is Natco brand at 4p for 10g compared with 10p for 10g for the Value stuff. Add canned tomatoes and/ or tomato puree, block creamed coconut (sometimes coconut milk powder or dessicated coconut), frozen garlic puree. You could use some Smartprice dried fruit if you wanted something a little sweeter.

Asda curry sauce contains water first and foremost
"Water , Tomato Puree from Concentrate , Modified Maize Starch , Vegetable Oil , Sultanas (2.0%) [Sultanas, Vegetable Oil] , Creamed Coconut (2.0%) , Curry Powder (1.8%) [Coriander, Turmeric, Rice Flour, Fenugreek, Cumin, Mustard Flour, Ginger, Salt, Black Pepper, Paprika, Chilli Powder, Nutmeg, Fennel] , Sugar , Salt , Onion Powder , Acidity Regulator (Lactic Acid) , Garlic Powder , Chilli Cayenne Pepper , Turmeric , Sweetener (Saccharin) ."

meritaten

I do most of my shop at Aldi and top up every few months at Tresco. I have tried the 'Value' ranges at both Tresco and Adsa and tbh - I much prefer Aldi. the quality is so much better.
I have seen people posting that the fruit and veg isn't as good - their Local Aldi must have a crappy manager! ours is excellent! all the fruit and veg is fresh and perhaps a little underipe (which isn't a bad thing to me) but the quality of it is there.
I don't want to save pennies by eating substandard food! before the advent of Lidl and Aldi I bought the value ranges - as I couldn't afford anything else. but now, me and OH think we eat like kings on value prices!

gallygirl

ALIBOBSY wrote: »

For me its a quality thing eg. Aldi's tinned tomatos may be a couple of pence more than Asda/tesco, but there is no comparison. Aldi's are tasty and thick. T & A value stuff are watery and bitter. I think sometimes people move to the value stuff for price and put up with how bad the products are as you get used to it. For me I prefer better tasting, better quality products.

A bit embarrassed to say I actually conducted a comparison today - splashed out on Cirio (2 for £1 in Sainsburys) which I used to buy on offer before I found Aldi's 33(?)p Sweet Harvest ones. Results:
Toms appearance - Cirio wins, a few bits of skin attached to the stalk end on Aldi. Cirio toms a little larger
Juice appearance - Cirio slightly darker red, but both very thick. Winner - Aldi as the Cirio looked a bit unnatural, probably being unfair to it
Flavour - quite different. Cirio sweeter. Would prefer it if drinking as a tomato juice (which I don't). Aldi's would be better in a Bloody Mary I think. For cooking, no difference.
Overall - v little difference so Aldi wins hands down on price.

Hey, rock'n'roll on a Sunday night or what :rotfl: