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

rhcp

I buy the ham offcuts and always freeze them.  Not sure why they say they are not suitable for freezing, they have always been fine.

Brie

Lidl coleslaw and potato salad are still the best of the bunch by far.  Much preferable and cheaper than Waitrose.  I love the M&S potato salad but it's half the size of the Lidl one and the OH prefers the Lidl one so that's an extra vote for it.

maman

Brie said:

Lidl coleslaw and potato salad are still the best of the bunch by far.  Much preferable and cheaper than Waitrose.  I love the M&S potato salad but it's half the size of the Lidl one and the OH prefers the Lidl one so that's an extra vote for it.

Thanks for the heads up @Brie, which potato salad do you recommend? I can see a number listed, with yogurt or creme fraiche and others. 🤔

harz99

Pollycat said:

Doc_N said:

dealyboy said:

I have to declare an interest, I am a Money Scraping Expert meaning I really only buy own labels and the supermarket brand names.

I generally find Aldi and Lidl no cheaper or better quality than the other supermarkets:
- 200g tomato puree in a tube: Aldi 49p Lidl 55p Sainsbury's 50p
- sardines in tomato sauce: Aldi 45p Lidl 55p Sainsbury's 60p Asda 39p
- whisky 1litre: Sainsbury's Crag & Glen £16.30 Lidl Balmuir £15.99 (very smooth)
- large eggs x 10: Home Bargains £1.65, Lidl £1.79
- chicken thighs (skin on): Sainsbury's 2kg £4.30 Lidl 1.6kg £4.29
- bacon off cuts: B&M £1.50 907g Lidl £1.70 1kg
- extra mature cheddar: Waitrose £4.75 750g

- bread, produce, tinned veg similarly priced

I would buy chocolate and beer / cider from Lidl but not spirits, wine or other alcoholic drinks from Lidl or Aldi with better prices at other supermarkets for known brands. Tesco is better for toiletries.

I’d certainly agree with you that by shopping around you can match Aldi and Lidl on price, and sometimes on quality.

That takes time though, and for consistently good quality and low prices across the board,with a reasonable range of goods, fresh, frozen and otherwise, Aldi and Lidl are pretty well unbeatable.

When you do shop around, you need to take fuel costs into account. And time.
I wouldn't want to spend time shopping in Aldi, Lidl, ASDA, Waitrose, Sainsbury's AND Home bargains.

Exactly, Aldi 2 miles, Asda 2.5 miles, Home bargains & Lidl 3 miles, all in a straight line so i either head for Home Bargains and work my way back as tequired or just to Aldi only. Opposite direction Sainsbury's 5 miles, Tesco 6.5, Lidl and Aldi 7 miles, very rarely i go that way.

maman

Like @harz99, I'm fortunate in having all the stores listed very close to home. It still takes time though so I tend to stick to Aldi weekly for most things (Sainsbury's for the ever decreasing number of things Aldi don't sell) and just visit the other stores occasionally and buy long life products for the store cupboard. Farmfoods, for example were selling cannellini beans at 19p a tin last week.

dealyboy

@harz99 said:

@Pollycat said:

@Doc_N said:

dealyboy said:

I have to declare an interest, I am a Money Scraping Expert meaning I really only buy own labels and the supermarket brand names.

I generally find Aldi and Lidl no cheaper or better quality than the other supermarkets:
- 200g tomato puree in a tube: Aldi 49p Lidl 55p Sainsbury's 50p
- sardines in tomato sauce: Aldi 45p Lidl 55p Sainsbury's 60p Asda 39p
- whisky 1litre: Sainsbury's Crag & Glen £16.30 Lidl Balmuir £15.99 (very smooth)
- large eggs x 10: Home Bargains £1.65, Lidl £1.79
- chicken thighs (skin on): Sainsbury's 2kg £4.30 Lidl 1.6kg £4.29
- bacon off cuts: B&M £1.50 907g Lidl £1.70 1kg
- extra mature cheddar: Waitrose £4.75 750g

- bread, produce, tinned veg similarly priced

I would buy chocolate and beer / cider from Lidl but not spirits, wine or other alcoholic drinks from Lidl or Aldi with better prices at other supermarkets for known brands. Tesco is better for toiletries.

I’d certainly agree with you that by shopping around you can match Aldi and Lidl on price, and sometimes on quality.

That takes time though, and for consistently good quality and low prices across the board,with a reasonable range of goods, fresh, frozen and otherwise, Aldi and Lidl are pretty well unbeatable.

When you do shop around, you need to take fuel costs into account. And time.
I wouldn't want to spend time shopping in Aldi, Lidl, ASDA, Waitrose, Sainsbury's AND Home bargains.

Exactly, Aldi 2 miles, Asda 2.5 miles, Home bargains & Lidl 3 miles, all in a straight line so i either head for Home Bargains and work my way back as tequired or just to Aldi only. Opposite direction Sainsbury's 5 miles, Tesco 6.5, Lidl and Aldi 7 miles, very rarely i go that way.

Good points in general but in my case (like Harz) I am fortunate to have large shops/stores close to each other with free parking available outside. I drive to these once a week (4 miles away) to exercise the car, so this includes Sainsbury's, Home Bargains, B&M, Iceland, Lidl and Aldi, with Tesco Extra half a mile up the road. For Waitrose and Asda (plus a medium sized Sainsbury's) I walk 15 minutes from home.

As an MSE'er of course I shop on a Tuesday to gain the 10% off at Iceland, but I do find that they're a little more expensive so I generally just get a whole roast chicken for @dealyboy's cat.

Sea_Shell

YoungBlueEyes said:

The Aldi ham offcuts - I've bought them once and they're better quality pieces of ham than the packs of sandwich slices. You do have to use them quickly though, you can't freeze them and they really do go off in a couple of days.

If you can use quite a lot of ham/beef/chicken quickly I definitely recommend them.

Which product is this exactly?

maman

This is the ham version @Sea_Shell (chicken and beef also available).

Penguin_

Brie said:

Lidl coleslaw and potato salad are still the best of the bunch by far.  Much preferable and cheaper than Waitrose.  I love the M&S potato salad but it's half the size of the Lidl one and the OH prefers the Lidl one so that's an extra vote for it.

We get the deluxe coleslaw, it's the only bit of naughtiness in our work salad lunches! It's the best coleslaw around.

PLRFD

I wonder if it says not suitable for freezing because it’s already been frozen once ?