Good and Bad Buys from Aldi & Lidl *Do NOT Expire Please*

VfM4meplse

mcculloch29 wrote: »

At the risk of boring people, I've been on the coffee capsule hunt again at Aldi. They currently have 60 Nespresso compatible Festive Flavour capsules (cardamom, spiced, gingerbread) for £10.14.
All are gorgeous, and the cardamom seems especially nice, as I didn't expect it to be.
I got mine on free delivery, arrived via Hermes two days after they went on sale.

Cardamom coffee is delicious served strong, super-hot and with plenty of milk - a very South Indian thing. I always save my cardamom shells with the intention of infusing but never quite get round to it.

Make-it-3

Haven't been able to get the standard (cheapest) Cien shower gel for months now, the next level up the original source knock offs are almost double the price. I wonder if they will return? Stock was always sporadic.

Did try the limited edition one instead - the purple San Fransico was very nice - but that is long gone now too. The XXL bottles sometimes appear but the scents are very weak to non existent.

The other day OH was sent out for emergency cheddar and came back with Cathedral - have been using Lidl's mature for a few years now and suddenly realised how little punch it pulls in comparison.

Has anyone else realised something they are missing by exclusively purchasing Lidl/Aldi????

Doc_N

Make-it-3 wrote: »

The other day OH was sent out for emergency cheddar and came back with Cathedral - have been using Lidl's mature for a few years now and suddenly realised how little punch it pulls in comparison.

Has anyone else realised something they are missing by exclusively purchasing Lidl/Aldi????

I'd agree with you about the cheddar cheeses they both sell - used to be well up to the standard of anything else on the market in terms of bite and flavour, but even the extra mature and vintage ones now fall well short of the mark.

Once you've tried a decent non-supermarket cheddar, though, it's difficult to return to any of the supermarket ones, branded or own-label.

Make-it-3

Something has changed, the extra mature one used to be quite crumbly which can be annoying when you want slices, but the consistency of that is now the same as the others.

Doc N, I think you are right good cheddar is worth looking elsewhere for.

artyclarty

Cheese is one of the few branded things that myself and the o/h insist on getting. I have a choice of Lidl, Co-op and Tesco within walking distance and between the co-op and tesco there is always branded cheese on for about the £2-2.50 mark. If not, I just get the cheapo full flavour grated cheese from lidl.

The other thing he insists on is Branston Beans - harder and harder to find at the £1-1.25 mark (but thats a topic for another day!)

Miró

Doc_N wrote: »

I'd agree with you about the cheddar cheeses they both sell - used to be well up to the standard of anything else on the market in terms of bite and flavour, but even the extra mature and vintage ones now fall well short of the mark.

Once you've tried a decent non-supermarket cheddar, though, it's difficult to return to any of the supermarket ones, branded or own-label.

I've been buying Aldi's West Country Crunchy 25 month aged Cheddar for the last couple of years and thought it was quite good....but, after listening to a fascinating prog on R4 about Quicke's cloth-bound cheddar I decided to try that for a change. Wow! What a difference...it is gorgeous. Mind you it is expensive, (£15.50 per kilo in Waitrose :eek: as opposed to £2.29 for 250g of the Aldi cheese)

Feral_Moon

When it comes to cheese, I don't mind buying the cheaper Aldi extra mature ones for general use - toasties, grating over dishes etc - but i spend a bit more, as above, if eating with biscuits and fruit.

As for mild cheddar - waste of space! If you don't like a good strong cheddar than buy a different cheese lol

VfM4meplse

Make-it-3 wrote: »

Haven't been able to get the standard (cheapest) Cien shower gel for months now, the next level up the original source knock offs are almost double the price. I wonder if they will return? Stock was always sporadic.

Did try the limited edition one instead - the purple San Fransico was very nice - but that is long gone now too. The XXL bottles sometimes appear but the scents are very weak to non existent.

I saw some in stock in my local on Saturday so keep looking. Its the pink one - no doubt some flowery scent - and seems fine to me.

maman

artyclarty wrote: »

The other thing he insists on is Branston Beans - harder and harder to find at the £1-1.25 mark (but thats a topic for another day!)

As you brought it up;): I can still get Branston beans at around the 3 for £1 in Home Bargains or Farmfoods. the latter tends to be the best value (trays of 6) so I stock up with them as I don't go there very often these days.

VfM4meplse

Aldi’s home scent #4 (pear and freesia, I think) is pleasant but at £3.49 I can live without it.