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

Brie

MrsStepford said:

Other things we have tried are the Seia cheese, Sol & Mar mixed frozen seafood, various olive oils, olives, artichokes, stuffed vine leaves, Cretan honey, Halloumi and Manouri cheeses. 

We treat Lidl like a deli. 

OH really rates the Lidl honey - particularly enjoys it when they get in something a little out of the ordinary.  Big spoonfuls on the breakfast yoghurt....too much in my opinion but at least it's not refined sugar.......

Quite agree with the deli - the meats and various hams are excellent.

thriftytracey

We are just back from a six week sojurn in France and we used Lidl in the Dordogne, the Loire and Normandy, with top ups from supermarkets like L'Eclerc, Carrefour and Casino.  We have been on many trips to France but I thought it would of interest to post experiences of food shopping.

Lidl is very popular in France, the shops are always very busy, however I found the price differential between Lidl and mainstream supermarkets less than it is here.  Also, food in supermarkets is generally MORE expensive than the UK, with the exception of wine, beer, cheese, mustard, jam and salad dressings, all of which we bought back with us.  We have been fortunate to have, in the past, benefited from cheap food but that is another topic - we import more per demographic than France do.

The vegetable selection in French supermarkets is not extensive.  Often the only green veg available is broccoli and french beans and runner beans.  I asked someone about this - I was told that they stock veg that is in season rather than relying on a lot of imports.  Their tomatoes are as tasteless as ours except if you buy the expensive ones which are red/green in colour 5 euros a pack of six .  Potatoes are expensive.  Iceburg lettuce 99 cents across all the supermarkets.  They do import quite a bit from Portugal and Morocco.  I have to say the cartons of raspberries at 2 euros from Portugal were delicious far more so than here, in fact the quality of fruit and veg in the supermarkets was better than here, golden delicious apples were delicious.  They also sell a lot of "Bio" or organic products, more so than here.  I do think our imports are "seconds", particularly since Brexit,

It is interesting to see how much shelf space is devoted to ham and cheese, a huge amount.  Only a small part of the aisles have ready meals, tiny in comparison to here, likewise the crisps section.  Fizzy drinks only sold in 1 litre bottles - nothing larger other than coke and not a great selection "sans sucres".

I've got all my receipts and post the prices of Lidl products below.  All prices in Euros exchange rate 1 euro = 0.85p

Carton of Long Life semi skimmed milk 0.95 
KIlo of onions 1.99 
Half a kilo of loose carrots 1.14
Haricot beans - packet 1.99
200g red pepper 0.92
Masadam cheese slices 2.89
Packet of ham 6 slices 2.21
8 Herta frankburters 2.21
Small baguette 0.35
Butter 2.25
Roquefort 2.20
1/2 dozen free range eggs 1.53
packet chocolate biscuits 1.09
Bottle of sparkling water 1 litre 0.49
Bananas 1.99 kg
Penne Pasta 0.87
Gruyere (small) 3.12
Packet of 2 chicken breasts 5.59
2 small fillets fish with lemon coating 3.69
Head of broccoli 0.99
Packet of chestnut mushrooms 0.99
St Agur cheese 2.35
Golden Delicious apples 2.49 kg
Packet of Danish Salami 1.55
Cucumber 0.99
small tub of creme fraiche 1.39

Brie

@thriftytracey
interesting comparison.  Like you we always bring back mustard, cheese, salad dressing.  We bring back less beer and wine than we used to as the price difference is much less particularly now that Lidl & Aldi are so well established in the UK.  We also always try to stop at Auchan or Carrefour as the ones we've found at Calais have spectacular veg sections as well as the most astounding array of wonderfully fresh fish.  L & A are more packaged things in my experience.  Another thing we found more recently is the coffee pods.  We always get the Lidl pods here but in France there was a greater variety which was nice to try.  I also look for the with sugar cordials as, again, there's more variety and no "sugar shame".  

thriftytracey

Yes, I agree, price differential on wines is not so good.  I find there to be good deals on "fizz", Cremant du Loire, Cremand d'Alsace etc, compared to here.

I do miss New World wines though!  Occasionally see a South African variety.  Blasphemy I know...

Brie

thriftytracey said:

Yes, I agree, price differential on wines is not so good.  I find there to be good deals on "fizz", Cremant du Loire, Cremand d'Alsace etc, compared to here.

I do miss New World wines though!  Occasionally see a South African variety.  Blasphemy I know...

Oh I do like a nice fizz.  The Alsatian ones are lovely.  But "new world".  No!  Like Californian I find them too foxy, too contrived. 

Much prefer Canadian (my locals sometimes at Aldi) or South American or African.  Or European of course.  

Rosa_Damascena

Aldi strawberries "Ella" variety are tasteless. Avoid.

harz99

Rosa_Damascena said:

Aldi strawberries "Ella" variety are tasteless. Avoid.

From where, size of pack please?

Katiehound

sounds like it might be a relation of Elsanta- I avoid them like the plague: tasteless.

Doc_N

Rosa_Damascena said:

Aldi strawberries "Ella" variety are tasteless. Avoid.

We had some “Ella” from either Tesco or Ocado/M&S and they were very good. I suspect a lot depends on how much water they’ve managed to get into them before ripening. The only ones we actively avoid are Elsanta.

I do wish it were possible to check varieties online before buying, and not just strawberries. I suppose it’s impractical, but the difference between varieties is enormous. We drive to a farm shop for potatoes, because they only grow Marfona, and that’s our favourite. Roll on September for the new crop!

maman

Went to Aldi today after 3 weeks away. Apparently, they have introduced a new policy that large trolleys can't go through self checkout any longer. I asked why and was told it's for security reasons and because the trolley is a H&S issue!

I wasn't best pleased as they have installed extra large checkouts for large shop and I was the only customer there so the assistant could have watched me if he thought I looked dishonest. 

Is this national? 🤔

Next week I'll be piling a small trolley as high as possible! 😁