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

Doc_N

Rosa_Damascena said:

The range of Christmas cheeses at Lidl is very limited, not a patch on Aldi. Will need to go out of my way to get my hands on some tomorrow.

How very true that is. And that applies to the range of cheeses too. Aldi have a hugely wider range of continental cheeses than Lidl, and it’s one of the main reasons we choose Aldi. That and the much better customer service.

maman

You're right about the cheeses @Rosa_Damascena and @Doc_N. I still had to go to Sainsburys (for Emmental and smoked cheese) though as over the last few years there seem to be more cheese slices stocked in Aldi than pieces of cheese. 

Rosa_Damascena

Lidl wasn't too busy first thing this morning. Local gulls aren't stupid though - they migrate inland to where the food is. I spotted an immature one (nowhere near as big as those that have ventured as far from the sea as my back garden!!) getting a birds eye view of events from a car roof:

The only things I need from Aldi now ahead of Christmas are cheese and the Baileys ice cream dupe.

Eta: the toffee yum and brownie flavours of Irish cream liqueur at Lidl are now reduced to under £5 (£4.49 I think but don't quote me) - much as I love sugar, I gave them a miss as they are bound to be offensively sweet.

MouldyOldDough

I bought a few waxed cheeses from Aldi last Christmas and half of them turned out to be mouldy under the wax - despite being well within use-by-date !!

silverwhistle

Doc_N said:

. Aldi have a hugely wider range of continental cheeses than Lidl, and it’s one of the main reasons we choose Aldi. That and the much better customer service.

I go to both on a slightly random basis and find Lidl better for cured meats, but I must speak up for their Gorgonzola piccante which is very good. I also got a Pave' d'Affinois Bleu and a Spanish blue truffle cheese at Lidl too. Avoid their tasteless Emmentaller slices!!

maman

Yes @silverwhistle, I went to Sainsburys for a piece of Emmental rather than buy slices. l. Personally, I like the gorgonzola dolce, it's very like dolcelatte. 😋

Rosa_Damascena

Confession, I have bought plenty of packs of Emmental slices from Lidl in 2025 - strangely moreish despite smelling like vomit!

i went to a large Sainsbury's and Tesco yesterday evening and both had dispensed with their cheese / deli counters .

Loads of meat inc turkeys, oven prep sides and appetisers in the chiller cabinets at 30% off in Aldi at 8am this morning. No red stickers on the cheese as yet but there were plenty of the standard Christmas selection boxes (1lb of mixed cheeses including 2 sharp cheeses, a blue cheese, one cranberry and one Brie-like waxed cheese) reduced to £1.99. No Ballycastle ice cream, but I am content. 

Brie

No cheeses of note at Lidl today (or M&S or Tesco) and certainly none discounted.  I did get a piece of half price salmon (bbd 27/12).

As for French Lidl - a great selection of Nespresso type pods including extra strong espresso.  And there was so much in the freezer section we would have loved to buy but between the expected several hours in the car til home plus the ban on cheese and meat being brought in to the UK we couldn't risk it.  Not that anyone asked anything about what we had in the car.  They didn't even ask to see my immigration code that they're supposed to check every time I enter the country now. (don't panic, I'm a non Brit so doesn't apply to most of you)

maman

Out of curiosity @Brie, does the ban only apply to fresh meat. I'm hoping to get to France in the new year and love the tins of duck confit. 🤔

Brie

maman said:

Out of curiosity @Brie, does the ban only apply to fresh meat. I'm hoping to get to France in the new year and love the tins of duck confit. 🤔

the bits on gov.uk stated dairy and meat.  I don't recall anything about fresh or anything.  BUT it does specifically state that fowl is not considered meat - so your duck confit should be fine but you might want to check there's no pork included.  And what fat is included.  fyi - Auchan had big bags of duck legs in fat - too big for us to use in one go, maybe 8 whole legs?  We got duck breasts instead - 2 for E8 seemed quite cheap to me.  Besides the OH does a good job of preserving legs for cassoulet.  

But as I said there was no questions about this so I don't know how careful they are being about it all.  I began to panic when we were able to board the tunnel early and I hadn't eaten my sandwich which included cream cheese and my OH's had ham.  Granted the sandwiches didn't actually make it to the UK but that might not have mattered to someone being overly bureaucratic.

Ah - found the page you need - Bringing food into Great Britain: Meat, dairy, fish and animal products - GOV.UK