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

KxMx

It can be hard with fruit and veg to judge, yes you can taste the difference in freshness, but are you eating different varieties, and just prefer the one you ended up with in Sainsburys? 

Red grapes, I won't touch Flame from any supermarket with a bargepole, but Crimson I will pick first (if available) every time. Thompson are my preferred green variety. 

There are also several different varieties of Strawberries, Elsanta are poor texture and flavour wise- thankfully they have become less commonly available in recent years. 

Cornucopia

KxMx said:

It can be hard with fruit and veg to judge, yes you can taste the difference in freshness, but are you eating different varieties, and just prefer the one you ended up with in Sainsburys? 

Red grapes, I won't touch Flame from any supermarket with a bargepole, but Crimson I will pick first (if available) every time. Thompson are my preferred green variety. 

There are also several different varieties of Strawberries, Elsanta are poor texture and flavour wise- thankfully they have become less commonly available in recent years. 

All good points, but the information provided on these products isn't great.   

I suppose what we're talking about is the basic "boy meets strawberries" consumer experience of:  "if I have £1.29 which option is likely to give the best overall result".  I'm sure a proper foodie journalist could give a more scientific appreciation, but I think for our "good or bad buys" purposes it's good enough.

Katiehound

I steer clear of Elsanta strawberries: look good, taste like....... nothing! I've even been known to not buy ant strawberries if that is the only variety available.

LindsayT

KxMx said:

Cheese thins are back after a long absence at Lidl...Unfortunately at a much higher price of £0.99.
I personally think they are better than the branded alternative,  now not that much cheaper though. 

I liked these a lot but after looking for them for months and convincing myself they were not getting them in again, I bought 3 packs of the branded ones when Sainsbury had them on offer for 90p.
Not a patch on Lidl's, so was pleased to read this post but in my local Lidl this morning, there wasn't any and no empty space or shelf ticket for them.

harz99

KxMx said:

It can be hard with fruit and veg to judge, yes you can taste the difference in freshness, but are you eating different varieties, and just prefer the one you ended up with in Sainsburys? 

Red grapes, I won't touch Flame from any supermarket with a bargepole, but Crimson I will pick first (if available) every time. Thompson are my preferred green variety. 

There are also several different varieties of Strawberries, Elsanta are poor texture and flavour wise- thankfully they have become less commonly available in recent years. 

i tend to look for the country more than fruit variety, Western Cape or Spain for grapes, the South American ones never seem very sweet or ripe most of the time.

Doc_N

There is a very good point being made here about varieties of fruit and vegetables, and this is one of the few areas Aldi and Lidl can’t compete fully with larger stores - simply because the business model’s based on limited lines.

Tesco, for example, have a Finest range of grapes, and until we tried them we hadn’t realised how much better they are than the standard varieties sold by Aldi and Lidl.

harz99

Doc_N said:

There is a very good point being made here about varieties of fruit and vegetables, and this is one of the few areas Aldi and Lidl can’t compete fully with larger stores - simply because the business model’s based on limited lines.

Tesco, for example, have a Finest range of grapes, and until we tried them we hadn’t realised how much better they are than the standard varieties sold by Aldi and Lidl.

Certainly Aldi have a more premium brand of black grapes but don't advertise it as such, the clue is that the punnet is 400g not 500g like the standard varieties...

Doc_N

harz99 said:

Doc_N said:

There is a very good point being made here about varieties of fruit and vegetables, and this is one of the few areas Aldi and Lidl can’t compete fully with larger stores - simply because the business model’s based on limited lines.

Tesco, for example, have a Finest range of grapes, and until we tried them we hadn’t realised how much better they are than the standard varieties sold by Aldi and Lidl.

Certainly Aldi have a more premium brand of black grapes but don't advertise it as such, the clue is that the punnet is 400g not 500g like the standard varieties...

They do indeed. I have some in the fridge. But they don’t have premium green or red grapes - at least not at the moment. 

We did a very successful click and collect order the other day, which included some really excellent prosciutto (just checked the price per kilo though, and it’s on a par with Waitrose!) and the usual absolute bargain 85p chocolate bars. The problem though is the number of unavailable items, and that one thing rules it out as a replacement for Tesco deliveries. Tesco can usually substitute, but Aldi can’t or won’t.

mebu60

I bought the Aldi 1.5kg bag of wonky carrots today, have been fine in the past, the odd stumpy carrot thrown in. Today's bag had four carrots which were a bit wonky plus loads of bits of carrot! The bits are awkward / difficult to peel let alone present as carrots with dinner. Very disappointing. I will donate to a friend as treats for her dog and nip into another supermarket tomorrow to buy some normal carrots. 

I also bought the lemon sole in garlic & herb crumb that someone mentioned the other day. We will be giving that a go on Monday. Hopefully with nice carrots alongside other accompaniments. 

maman

I bought price matched carrots from Sainsburys this week as I'd forgotten while in Aldi. Unfortunately @mebu6, they too were much as you described, lots of bits and some exceedingly wonky shapes. 🤔☹️