My first ever Aldi shop - WOW!

Halifax81

jetplane wrote: »

This has inspired me to try Aldi again. I tried when they first opened before bar codes and the long queues and practice of shoving everything off the end into my trolley as fast as they could really used to stress me out

You still get your products flung at you however it doesn't take much to put them in your trolley and move over to the packing area. I hate going to a normal supermarket as it takes forever to get through the checkout :mad:

spacey2012

Just make sure you take a stopwatch, some only give you an hour and twenty minutes to park up, shop, pay, load the car and leave, one second over and the parking parasites they are infested with will want £70.
Make sure you use a stopwatch or timer, no excuses, you over stay you pay.

maman

paulineb wrote: »

I shop more in home bargains now than I do in aldi, but Ive shopped at aldi for many years and would always prefer them to the bigger supermarkets.

Sadly HB seems to be mainly a Northern chain. Just googled and it's 16 miles to our nearest so I might go there to stock up when I'm out and about.

Doc_N wrote: »

Not my experience in Germany. Products much the same as in the UK, and the only diference is that whilst the Germans (and everyone else in mainland Europe) regard it as a bog-standard supermarket, the ill-educated in the UK regard it as downmarket and substandard.

We've been made far too used to overpriced supermarkets in the UK - good that Aldi and Lidl are changing all that.

I'd noticed that they were a mainstream shop in Germany. Gladly the snobbishness seems to be slowly disappearing here.

I think you need to learn how to handle the check out experience. I've learned the order to put things on the conveyor ready to put them rapidly into my open bags in the trolley. if you can't mange that sort of 'speed packing' then just put everything loose in the trolley and then move aside and pack at your own pace. The quick throughput cuts down on staffing costs some of which is handed on to us as savings.

I think the caveats about parking depend where you live. Most have an upper limit (IMO plenty of time to do an Aldi shop) but done to deter people from parking there for free when shopping elsewhere. I think that's fair enough.

I do my main shop in Aldi every week. There have been threads about what to buy/not to buy. I think the best advice is 'suck it and see'. I still go to Sainsbury's and a few other places for top-ups but the proportion gets less as time goes on.

And don't you just love their adverts?;)

FOREVER21

They have just opened an Aldi in our area have used it 3 times and agree with other posters you have to forget brand names and just try the alternative brands.
My DW bought their own brands baked beans last week we usually never get any other than Heinzs when served up to our 2 boys they said" Dad these beans are different" I was waiting for the complaints but was amazed to hear that they thought the new ones were good.
So if you have a local Aldi give it a go I don't think you will be dissapointed. A bonus here is that the parking is free and not time limited.
The only down side is the speed that the goods go through the checkout, you only have to sneeze and before you know it the items are falling into your trolley or on to the floor!
I spoke to their manager about this and apparently the checkout person is timed on all their transactions and if they fail to meet the target time they face disciplinary action, so I now sympathise with them and try to keep up!

bigjoe

FOREVER21 wrote: »

The only down side is the speed that the goods go through the checkout, you only have to sneeze and before you know it the items are falling into your trolley or on to the floor!

Aldi is like going to the bingo. When you first go, you can't keep up with the numbers, but you soon get the hang of it! :beer:

davsidipp

aldi do a free-range chicken for 4.99,which is a fair size,with lots of meat on it.it is unbeatable compared to other supermarkets chickens at that price.

arbroath_lass

spacey2012 wrote: »

Just make sure you take a stopwatch, some only give you an hour and twenty minutes to park up, shop, pay, load the car and leave, one second over and the parking parasites they are infested with will want £70.
Make sure you use a stopwatch or timer, no excuses, you over stay you pay.

You must have a vast store! I can be round ours and on my way home with a week's shop in half an hour

TravellingAbuela

arbroath_lass wrote: »

You must have a vast store! I can be round ours and on my way home with a week's shop in half an hour

Me too! And in the 90's, the good old days before the 4 wheel drive brigade discovered it, I could be in and out in 15/20 mins with a week's shopping!!

Doc_N

TravellingAbuela wrote: »

Me too! And in the 90's, the good old days before the 4 wheel drive brigade discovered it, I could be in and out in 15/20 mins with a week's shopping!!

Fair point about the upmarket cars (not that 4WD are upmarket these days!) - it's pretty clear round here that the more affluent customers are far more evident now in Aldi than the Tesco next door to it.

Tesco now has a very downmarket feel to it.

renegade

I have always been a 'brand' is best person until I tried Aldi.
The things I bought amazed me, I have always used Aerial washing powder/liquid tabs not any more, Almart give me the same whiter than white brightness and softness at a fraction of the cost,the same for their colour powder,colours stay coloured losing no fading. It is brilliant.

I have now been converted than brands are not always best, but of course there are some things I will not downgrade on,Typhoo tea bags being one ( get from Wilko's £2 cheaper) Birds eye frozen foods, although Aldi have started selling some B.Eye stuff.

Yes, they are very quick at the tills but how hard is it to put everything in your trolley and get out quicker . I have my own shopper trolley and put everything in and away I go half hour at tops from start to finish.

I have saved a bomb down grading at Aldi as a pensioner I appreciate it. Tesco is now a no no , anything else I need I nip next door to Sainsbury as they are now comparable to Tesco for the things I need anyway.