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

Cornucopia

It's a Chicken-off...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=notsjv0GDZg

He quite often does Aldi vs. something, but I don't think I've ever seen any Lidl products on his channel.

Farway

alsa1 said:

A bit cheeky of Lidl today to be charging different prices at the till compared to the shelves. It seems prices have increased on a range of items but the store staff haven’t changed the shelf tags.

Quilted Toilet Roll £1.59 on the shelf but charged £1.75. A few other items (Greek Yoghurt) overcharged too. Not huge amounts but not great when you get home and it’s too late!

Which is why I always check receipt before leaving the store, so far I've never had problem getting refund before I leave. I found errors usually occurred first thing in morning, rpesumbly before shop staff had time to alter the price on shelf

General_Grant

Farway said:

alsa1 said:

A bit cheeky of Lidl today to be charging different prices at the till compared to the shelves. It seems prices have increased on a range of items but the store staff haven’t changed the shelf tags.

Quilted Toilet Roll £1.59 on the shelf but charged £1.75. A few other items (Greek Yoghurt) overcharged too. Not huge amounts but not great when you get home and it’s too late!

Which is why I always check receipt before leaving the store, so far I've never had problem getting refund before I leave. I found errors usually occurred first thing in morning, rpesumbly before shop staff had time to alter the price on shelf

I'm still waiting for the shelf edge label to be changed for one product I used to buy at my local Lidl but which went up (at the till and in line with other supermarkets about 4 weeks ago.  It's now the same price at Sainsbury's where I now buy it as at least they give Nectar points (and I think it would be the same at Tesco supermarket as there is price match with Aldi).

grumbler

Anybody noticed how quality of some products dropped dramatically in Aldi?

Their strawberry jam was decent, but became absolutely inedible recently.

The Jaffa cakes used to be the best around, better than known brands, but what I've bought today is absolutely disgusting -  both the chocolate and the marmalade are MUCH more sugary than they used to be.

The only good observation is that their sultanas are back to 99p (still £1.09 in Lidl and Tesco).

Rosa_Damascena

I resorted to buying Asda standard pesto the other week. I noticed it was a) a lot less oily and b) had loads of pine nuts vs the Lidl / Aldi version I usually buy. 

pumpkin89

Doc_N said:

The point here, though, is that the recall affects all of these supermarkets, because the products all contained the same contaminated ingredients.

This isn't true.  The standard recall procedure is that when a contaminated product is identified, any product made during the same factory shift is recalled.  The ingredients may be totally different but they can't know for certain where the contamination occurred - could be an item of machinery, a refrigeration problem, a worker's glove.

Pollycat said:

It's just a case of comparing and deciding what a you like more.
Anybody who disparages something without trying it must be a bit dim.

This is true if you are mainly interested in taste. If you are concerned about ethics and/or nutritional quality, you don't necessarily need to try the product, as you can research these things online.

Pollycat

pumpkin89 said:

Pollycat said:

It's just a case of comparing and deciding what a you like more.
Anybody who disparages something without trying it must be a bit dim.

This is true if you are mainly interested in taste. If you are concerned about ethics and/or nutritional quality, you don't necessarily need to try the product, as you can research these things online.

Of course you can research 'these things online'.
I was however responding to this comment:

A._Badger said:

Anyone who disparages Aldi's products en masse (I can't speak for Lidl) is either prejudiced or has reading difficulties. The ingredients label tells you what is inside the packet and it is rare to find an Aldi alternative not at least as good as the major brand equivalent. You might not like the taste for example, but that is subjective. As a former Tesco and Sainsbury's customer, I am not sure I could say the same about their own brand products.. 

Doc_N

pumpkin89 said:

Doc_N said:

The point here, though, is that the recall affects all of these supermarkets, because the products all contained the same contaminated ingredients.

This isn't true.  The standard recall procedure is that when a contaminated product is identified, any product made during the same factory shift is recalled.  The ingredients may be totally different but they can't know for certain where the contamination occurred - could be an item of machinery, a refrigeration problem, a worker's glove.

Given that these were all chicken products, all very similar types of product, all coming from the same factory, and all recalled for potential contamination with salmonella bacteria, it’s a pretty fair bet that the ingredients were common to all those supermarkets, albeit perhaps in varying proportions.

Rosa_Damascena

Doc_N said:

pumpkin89 said:

Doc_N said:

The point here, though, is that the recall affects all of these supermarkets, because the products all contained the same contaminated ingredients.

This isn't true.  The standard recall procedure is that when a contaminated product is identified, any product made during the same factory shift is recalled.  The ingredients may be totally different but they can't know for certain where the contamination occurred - could be an item of machinery, a refrigeration problem, a worker's glove.

Given that these were all chicken products, all very similar types of product, all coming from the same factory, and all recalled for potential contamination with salmonella bacteria, it’s a pretty fair bet that the ingredients were common to all those supermarkets, albeit perhaps in varying proportions.

Varying proportions of contamination

pumpkin89

Doc_N said:

Given that these were all chicken products, all very similar types of product, all coming from the same factory, and all recalled for potential contamination with salmonella bacteria, it’s a pretty fair bet that the ingredients were common to all those supermarkets, albeit perhaps in varying proportions.

No, it isn't.  You can say a chicken breast is a chicken breast, but every retailer has its own specification in terms of animal welfare, approved farms etc.  One of the major chicken suppliers has 9 grades, and it isn't Aldi and Lidl buying grade 1.