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

Rosa_Damascena

KxMx said:

I've been put off Lidl cheese after always enjoying it from there.
Two 400g blocks of Red Leicester purchased several months apart both poor, hardly any flavour and texture akin to rubber.
Ended up grating it all up for use in baking. To be fair most of it was intended for the cheese grater, just not all! 

 There was a previous thread here which noted that Aldi cheese was waxy rather than crumbly. I don't mind it, but having tried the equivalent mature cheese from Morrisons (equivalent price when I bought it, so may have been on offer), I much prefer it. Better in texture and taste. 

Sea_Shell

Aldi cheese texture is a bit random.

We get the extra mature cheddar (purple wrapper) and sometimes it's crumbly and sometimes creamy.

Same "brand" but probably comes from more than one producer/manufacturer.

KxMx

As mentioned, never had a problem with Lidl cheese until recently, been buying it from there for years. Had a crumbly texture, sharp nutty flavour bite, exactly how Red Leicester should be. 

Now Iceland cheese is ALWAYS creamy, so I only go for mild/mature cheddar and not RL in there. 

Cornucopia

I've not bought block cheese for quite a while - I do have the Aldi Mild Cheddar slices, which are probably some kind of cheese heresy, but I like them - mild and creamy, and in their current iteration... waxy (they have been crumbly in the past).   Currently £1.39 for 200g, which is way, way cheaper than Lidl's larger pack equivalent.   There is also a Sainsbury's (Mary Ann's Dairy) price match equivalent, which is also quite nice.

Aldi's Brie now seems to be back to stay, finally, although at a much higher price than in the past.  Last week they actually had both the new branding "Cremiere de France" and the old "Tours de Paris" side-by-side, although who knows the secret of Aldi (and Lidl) brand names?

maman

I'm pleased to hear that the Aldi French brie is back. 🤞 that Camembert and Gorgonzola could make a return. 😋

Doc_N

Cornucopia said:

…although who knows the secret of Aldi (and Lidl) brand names?

I wish they’d drop them and just do what other supermarkets do - own label basic/standard/luxury. Using their own Aldi and Lidl names. Things have surely moved on after all these years to persuade people that there’s nothing remotely inferior about Aldi and Lidl. Particularly when all the Tesco made up fake brands like Creamfields are so obviously inferior products.

maman

I might be missing your point @Doc_N, but Aldi do differentiate. I was thinking of their Everyday Essentials range compared with, for example, Specially Selected. Isn't that what all supermarkets now do? 🤔

Doc_N

maman said:

I might be missing your point @Doc_N, but Aldi do differentiate. I was thinking of their Everyday Essentials range compared with, for example, Specially Selected. Isn't that what all supermarkets now do? 🤔

I was meaning the fake brands that they both use - though probably Lidl do it more than Aldi. Aldi have perhaps been better at getting their brand across to the public. And certainly to Waitrose customers.

wild666

KxMx said:

I've been put off Lidl cheese after always enjoying it from there.
Two 400g blocks of Red Leicester purchased several months apart both poor, hardly any flavour and texture akin to rubber.
Ended up grating it all up for use in baking. To be fair most of it was intended for the cheese grater, just not all! 

I buy Lidl 900g mature block for £4.69 it lasts me just over two weeks the other mild block meant I was using more cheese to get the flavour.

Brie

Was fortunate enough to get to a Lidl in France on Saturday on our way back from holiday.  Maroille cheese was available which I've never seen here, as well as boudin blanc.  We shall not be starving for a few weeks yet!!!

In the past it was due to Lidl and Aldi in the UK that we stopped doing much shopping in Europe when on hols as we could get so much here so cheaply - wine in particular and some of the nice French & German stuff.