Good and Bad Buying at Lidl and Aldi (***Please don't expire***)

cognoscenti

pumpkin89 said:

Doc_N said:

Says it all, really, doesn’t it?  It’s only when you’re obliged to shop with the other supermarkets that you remember just how expensive they still are. Waitrose, where we used to shop, pre-Aldi, is just ridiculous.  And none of them provide any better quality than Aldi and Lidl on most products.

Many Waitrose products don't have an equivalent in Aldi or Lidl.  I normally shop in Waitrose and am not able to do a full shop in either of them, though there are select bargains to be had.  If you're doing it the other way round, i.e. trying to buy your usual Aldi/Lidl shopping in Waitrose, yes it will seem expensive.

I agree because personally I can't do a full shop in either Aldi or Lidl because there are still too many things they do not have equivalents of; their ranges are still too restrictive.
They are useful for what range they do and generally the quality is reasonable if not good and you still have to watch prices because they aren't always the best option.

Doc_N

pumpkin89 said:

Doc_N said:

Says it all, really, doesn’t it?  It’s only when you’re obliged to shop with the other supermarkets that you remember just how expensive they still are. Waitrose, where we used to shop, pre-Aldi, is just ridiculous.  And none of them provide any better quality than Aldi and Lidl on most products.

Many Waitrose products don't have an equivalent in Aldi or Lidl.  I normally shop in Waitrose and am not able to do a full shop in either of them, though there are select bargains to be had.  If you're doing it the other way round, i.e. trying to buy your usual Aldi/Lidl shopping in Waitrose, yes it will seem expensive.

I used to shop in Waitrose, with occasional forays to Aldi and Lidl. As the years went by, the trips to Waitrose reduced and the trips to Aldi increased. In the end we found that Aldi could provide around  90% of our requirements, with Waitrose providing the balance maybe once a month.  There’s no real difference in quality - just the range.

The visits to Waitrose just reinforced the view, confirmed by Which?, that the prices are very high, even for basics.  As just one example, the Waitrose Essential honey is almost twice the price of the almost identical Aldi equivalent.

pumpkin89

Doc_N said:

I used to shop in Waitrose, with occasional forays to Aldi and Lidl. As the years went by, the trips to Waitrose reduced and the trips to Aldi increased. In the end we found that Aldi could provide around  90% of our requirements, with Waitrose providing the balance maybe once a month.  There’s no real difference in quality - just the range.

The visits to Waitrose just reinforced the view, confirmed by Which?, that the prices are very high, even for basics.  As just one example, the Waitrose Essential honey is almost twice the price of the almost identical Aldi equivalent.

Sure, but I don't buy much of the Essential range.  e.g. for honey, I would choose a specific type such as orange blossom, Yucatan, Zambian.  I know you can get great prices at Aldi and Lidl if you only want basic products, but I don't think it's fair to say there's no real difference in quality, as you aren't comparing against the higher quality Waitrose products.

Doc_N

pumpkin89 said:

Doc_N said:

I used to shop in Waitrose, with occasional forays to Aldi and Lidl. As the years went by, the trips to Waitrose reduced and the trips to Aldi increased. In the end we found that Aldi could provide around  90% of our requirements, with Waitrose providing the balance maybe once a month.  There’s no real difference in quality - just the range.

The visits to Waitrose just reinforced the view, confirmed by Which?, that the prices are very high, even for basics.  As just one example, the Waitrose Essential honey is almost twice the price of the almost identical Aldi equivalent.

Sure, but I don't buy much of the Essential range.  e.g. for honey, I would choose a specific type such as orange blossom, Yucatan, Zambian.  I know you can get great prices at Aldi and Lidl if you only want basic products, but I don't think it's fair to say there's no real difference in quality, as you aren't comparing against the higher quality Waitrose products.

I agree with you on the more esoteric items - only Waitrose are likely to stock these, and that’s why we still use Waitrose every month or so.  I’m comparing standard items, and the price difference for Stilton cheese from exactly the same creamery for example is remarkable. Likewise the charcuterie.

Pollycat

Doc_N said:

pumpkin89 said:

Doc_N said:

I used to shop in Waitrose, with occasional forays to Aldi and Lidl. As the years went by, the trips to Waitrose reduced and the trips to Aldi increased. In the end we found that Aldi could provide around  90% of our requirements, with Waitrose providing the balance maybe once a month.  There’s no real difference in quality - just the range.

The visits to Waitrose just reinforced the view, confirmed by Which?, that the prices are very high, even for basics.  As just one example, the Waitrose Essential honey is almost twice the price of the almost identical Aldi equivalent.

Sure, but I don't buy much of the Essential range.  e.g. for honey, I would choose a specific type such as orange blossom, Yucatan, Zambian.  I know you can get great prices at Aldi and Lidl if you only want basic products, but I don't think it's fair to say there's no real difference in quality, as you aren't comparing against the higher quality Waitrose products.

I agree with you on the more esoteric items - only Waitrose are likely to stock these, and that’s why we still use Waitrose every month or so.  I’m comparing standard items, and the price difference for Stilton cheese from exactly the same creamery for example is remarkable. Likewise the charcuterie.

Usually I shop at Aldi going on the bus with my little shopping trolley.

OH goes to Tesco to stock up on wine & beers and heavy stuff like multi packs of chopped tomatoes, washpowder etc.

Since coronavirus, only he has been shopping and I'm really missing Aldi's charcuterie, especially the Iberico pork.

And the giant green olives. Fab in a dry martini.

pumpkin89

Doc_N said:

Says it all, really, doesn’t it?  It’s only when you’re obliged to shop with the other supermarkets that you remember just how expensive they still are. Waitrose, where we used to shop, pre-Aldi, is just ridiculous.  And none of them provide any better quality than Aldi and Lidl on most products.

I don't disagree with what you've subsequently said about particular products being considerably cheaper.  The issue I had with your original statement is the inference that you can save a lot of money by switching from Waitrose to Aldi/Lidl.  That is only true if you happened to be buying the specific (relatively small) set of items for which they offer a like-for-like equivalent.  Otherwise, what you're really saying is that you can spend less overall by buying different things, which is almost a universal truth!  Waitrose does provide much better quality than Aldi and Lidl on many products, because they don't offer the better quality versions.

Doc_N

pumpkin89 said:

Doc_N said:

Says it all, really, doesn’t it?  It’s only when you’re obliged to shop with the other supermarkets that you remember just how expensive they still are. Waitrose, where we used to shop, pre-Aldi, is just ridiculous.  And none of them provide any better quality than Aldi and Lidl on most products.

I don't disagree with what you've subsequently said about particular products being considerably cheaper.  The issue I had with your original statement is the inference that you can save a lot of money by switching from Waitrose to Aldi/Lidl.  That is only true if you happened to be buying the specific (relatively small) set of items for which they offer a like-for-like equivalent.  Otherwise, what you're really saying is that you can spend less overall by buying different things, which is almost a universal truth!  Waitrose does provide much better quality than Aldi and Lidl on many products, because they don't offer the better quality versions.

It's very difficult to argue against this comment from Which? this month though, because it covers a wide range of goods:

We checked the prices of more than 100 items, from own-brand yoghurts and vegetables to Head & Shoulders shampoo and Nutella chocolate spread, throughout March to see how UK supermarkets compared. Discounters Aldi and Lidl were unsurprisingly the cheapest two retailers in our analysis, with a trolley of groceries costing £111 and £113 respectively. Of the larger supermarkets, Asda was cheapest, with shoppers paying £123 for an equivalent trolley of goods. Sainsbury’s, which was the cheapest ‘big four’ supermarket in 2019, came in third-most-expensive last month. Customers’ shopping would have cost £144 there; however, this was only slightly more than at Tesco (£140) and Morrisons (£143). Waitrose was by far the most expensive supermarket, charging £175 for an equivalent selection of goods – a whopping £64 more than Aldi.

pumpkin89

Doc_N said:

It's very difficult to argue against this comment from Which? this month though, because it covers a wide range of goods:

We checked the prices of more than 100 items, from own-brand yoghurts and vegetables to Head & Shoulders shampoo and Nutella chocolate spread, throughout March to see how UK supermarkets compared. Discounters Aldi and Lidl were unsurprisingly the cheapest two retailers in our analysis, with a trolley of groceries costing £111 and £113 respectively. Of the larger supermarkets, Asda was cheapest, with shoppers paying £123 for an equivalent trolley of goods. Sainsbury’s, which was the cheapest ‘big four’ supermarket in 2019, came in third-most-expensive last month. Customers’ shopping would have cost £144 there; however, this was only slightly more than at Tesco (£140) and Morrisons (£143). Waitrose was by far the most expensive supermarket, charging £175 for an equivalent selection of goods – a whopping £64 more than Aldi.

It does cover a wide range of goods, but (necessarily) only those which are sold by all the supermarkets in the study.  In other words, if Aldi and Lidl sell something, they are more often than not the cheapest places to buy it, and Waitrose is more often than not the most expensive.  I think we're agreeing on that, what we disagree on is the extrapolation that Waitrose is therefore a ridiculously expensive place to shop.

[On a side note - as it's been much debated - I question the equivalence of own-brand goods in the study.  Some will be identical in different packaging, others will be equivalent in name only.  I have had some great buys from Aldi and Lidl, but a lot that are very obviously lower quality.]

pumpkin89

I've just read the full methodology - Which excluded multibuy promotions, which makes the whole study meaningless.  In that context, of course supermarkets that don't run multibuys will look disproportionately cheaper than those that do.

Rosa_Damascena

pumpkin89 said:

I've just read the full methodology - Which excluded multibuy promotions, which makes the whole study meaningless.  In that context, of course supermarkets that don't run multibuys will look disproportionately cheaper than those that do.

We're about to hit a financial wall, and fast.

We'll see how many people can afford to shop at Waitrose then - people were already queuing at food banks and now the rest of us are going to have to decide exactly what proportion of our incomes can reasonably be spent on food. JL profit-share has gone down dramatically as it is, I think the company is going to have to do something drastic to stay in business. If it is smart and wants to stay in business, it will position itself next to M&S and not the big 4+2.