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

Rosa_Damascena

Brie said:

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.

Was it any less expensive en France? I would imagine post-Euro, hypermarkets are no longer brilliant value.

Brie

Rosa_Damascena said:

Was it any less expensive en France? I would imagine post-Euro, hypermarkets are no longer brilliant value.

Well as always it's a case of checking things carefully.  The £ isn't particularly strong so that doesn't help - I saw one rate noted as £1 = e1.13.  On that basis I tend to look at things and think in ££s so if £5 is too much for something I wouldn't buy it.  Even if the price is actually e5 (or £4.20ish).  Hope that makes sense.

Geese gizzards and livers were cheap as were some sausages - OH picked out about 4 different dried ones - salami type, mostly for cooking.  Lots of frozen stuff was quite cheap but couldn't be safely brought home so got left.  I was tempted by some YS foie gras which was about a quarter of what it might cost here but resisted even though it was in tins.  

Quite frankly it's more about buying stuff that you wouldn't find here outside of Fortnum and Mason food court rather than going for absolute bargains.  Quince jam or cherry syrup that doesn't have sweetener in it were 2 star finds.  

Rosa_Damascena

Brie said:

Rosa_Damascena said:

Was it any less expensive en France? I would imagine post-Euro, hypermarkets are no longer brilliant value.

Well as always it's a case of checking things carefully.  The £ isn't particularly strong so that doesn't help - I saw one rate noted as £1 = e1.13.  On that basis I tend to look at things and think in ££s so if £5 is too much for something I wouldn't buy it.  Even if the price is actually e5 (or £4.20ish).  Hope that makes sense.

Geese gizzards and livers were cheap as were some sausages - OH picked out about 4 different dried ones - salami type, mostly for cooking.  Lots of frozen stuff was quite cheap but couldn't be safely brought home so got left.  I was tempted by some YS foie gras which was about a quarter of what it might cost here but resisted even though it was in tins.  

Quite frankly it's more about buying stuff that you wouldn't find here outside of Fortnum and Mason food court rather than going for absolute bargains.  Quince jam or cherry syrup that doesn't have sweetener in it were 2 star finds.  

Are you for real? or Roald Dahl??! 

  

Brie

Rosa_Damascena said:

Brie said:

Rosa_Damascena said:

Geese gizzards and livers 

Are you for real? or Roald Dahl??! 

  

Yup!!  love a bit of gizzard!!!  used to have a battle with my dad every christmas (& thanksgiving...) over who got all the gizzards with an extra special argument over the heart!!  love liver too - bird livers over lamb or pig but good beef liver done nicely is wonderful too.  

Pollycat

Brie said:

Rosa_Damascena said:

Brie said:

Rosa_Damascena said:

Geese gizzards and livers 

Are you for real? or Roald Dahl??! 

  

Yup!!  love a bit of gizzard!!!  used to have a battle with my dad every christmas (& thanksgiving...) over who got all the gizzards with an extra special argument over the heart!!  love liver too - bird livers over lamb or pig but good beef liver done nicely is wonderful too.  

We love to visit local supermarkets when we're on holiday, especially in the Far East.
Before Hong Kong reverted to China, we went to a local supermarket and there was lots of stuff we'd never seen for sale in supermarkets.
Including chicken feet, fish heads and (something we'd never heard of) 'pig's maw.

Brie

Pollycat said:

We love to visit local supermarkets when we're on holiday, especially in the Far East.

Before Hong Kong reverted to China, we went to a local supermarket and there was lots of stuff we'd never seen for sale in supermarkets.
Including chicken feet, fish heads and (something we'd never heard of) 'pig's maw.

Pig's maw is a bit like tripe I think?

Doc_N

Interesting reading:

Discounters Aldi and Lidl see steepest increases as prices more than double


https://www.grocerygazette.co.uk/2023/03/22/aldi-lidl-which-price-rise/

harz99

Doc_N said:

Interesting reading:

Discounters Aldi and Lidl see steepest increases as prices more than double


https://www.grocerygazette.co.uk/2023/03/22/aldi-lidl-which-price-rise/

Also, certainly in Aldi, the quality of fresh fruit and vegetables has significantly nosedived over the past year, coupled with the scam of pushing their food waste costs onto the customer by removing transparent best before dates in favour of a shop code, it ain't good...

Cornucopia

Doc_N said:

Interesting reading:

Discounters Aldi and Lidl see steepest increases as prices more than double


https://www.grocerygazette.co.uk/2023/03/22/aldi-lidl-which-price-rise/

Interesting they mention Brie (as one of three items) doubling in price, because that's the only item I can think of that even comes close.

On which basis, I would say that their headline was misleading and inaccurate.

weby72

For a few years now, my shopping has been split around 40% Aldi, 40% Morrison, 15% Tesco, 5% others.

I consider myself a canny shopper, and definitely keep a mental track of prices.

Has anyone else found that Aldi prices, especially for some products, have rocketed substantially more (proportionately) than other supermarkets?

Just a few examples, from around early 2021 to now:

Pork loin steaks - £3.89/kg to over £6/kg  (belly and chops also risen by similar percentages)
Garlic & Herb Soft Cheese - 49p to 99p
Specially Selected Chunky Oven Chips (1.5kg) - £1.79 to £2.89
12 Medium Free-Range Eggs - around 11p/egg to 19p/egg

Obviously prices across most products in all supermarkets have rocketed (hard not to think there's some price gouging along the chain), but those are in the 60-100% increase bracket.