Savings money on weekly shop

MarzipanCrumble

I love Aldi too.  Nuts, chia seeds, maple syrup, their aged parmasan, their wine (often recommended in the broadsheets).  But then again I shop at S'bury, Waitrose and Morrisons - occasionally M&S and Tesco.

If buying an item that I might save on i.e. for clothes washing or FeverTree Tonic I will check on where I can find it cheapest.

Nebulous2

We are impatiently waiting for a new Aldi to open. At the minute our nearest big supermarket is 18 miles away. We do have a small Tesco, but its stock is limited. We would have welcomed any big supermarket, but certainly don't regret that it happens to be Aldi.

The discounters don't have as much of a price advantage as they used to have, but their quality is very good in most areas. Aldi and Lidl have a lot of local food, including meat, which is worth supporting, whereas a lot of the meat in most other supermarkets is imported. 

Lidl does a round loaf, called a GI cob, which is baked in store and has become a particular favourite of mine. With the Lidl app we often get a free bakery item and that would generally be my top choice. 

Both Aldi and Lidl have a strong selection of craft beer, and again they support smaller, sometimes local, breweries. That is an area where their pricing has a significant advantage over other supermarkets.  The others will do one or two "Aldi Price Match" beers, but most of their selection is uncompetitive. 

Organgrinder

Markets can of course always be good for fruit and veg etc.

I don't tend to use them as I work on market day, but in school holidays I do sometimes.

I also buy "wonky" fruit and veg. Onions are onions! Well not quite but you know what I mean.

I also think I have more than enough time to see if there are any deals to be had. 

If you look at big business pricing strategies (I used to work for a large food retailer) they love non-switchers. It costs a company nothing to keep you. Indeed, loyalty card holders who are frequent shoppers will see fewer or less value offers when compared to less frequent customers. 

Sometimes I will do things like compare prices of items I consider premium products. Eg. Free range chicken. Aldi or Asda often come out cheapest here. Eg £9.00 v up to  £18.00 for same weight in more expensive establishments.

I'll hardly ever pay any more than I have to for anything I consider a commodity,. I honestly believe it allows me a better lifestyle overall eg holidays, weekend breaks, treats etc.

Albermarle

Both Aldi and Lidl have a strong selection of craft beer, and again they support smaller, sometimes local, breweries. That is an area where their pricing has a significant advantage over other supermarkets.  The others will do one or two "Aldi Price Match" beers, but most of their selection is uncompetitive. 

If you prefer traditional type ale rather than craft beer, then the choice at Aldi and Lidl is not great.
Also craft beer tends to be significantly more expensive than traditional ale in all supermarkets. Someone has to pay for all the garish packaging !

Nebulous2

Albermarle said:

Both Aldi and Lidl have a strong selection of craft beer, and again they support smaller, sometimes local, breweries. That is an area where their pricing has a significant advantage over other supermarkets.  The others will do one or two "Aldi Price Match" beers, but most of their selection is uncompetitive. 

If you prefer traditional type ale rather than craft beer, then the choice at Aldi and Lidl is not great.
Also craft beer tends to be significantly more expensive than traditional ale in all supermarkets. Someone has to pay for all the garish packaging !

What do you call traditional ale? 

There's a confusing (for me anyway) crossover between real ale and craft beer. I just drink it, I don't worry about the labels. We get some traditional real ales I know from my youth,  like old speckled hen. We also get a selection I think of as real ale from places like the Orkney brewery, Dark Island, for instance. I like really dark stuff, stout and porter, and sometimes get some interesting options to try, particularly when either Aldi or Lidl are doing a beer festival. 

This is an area where Scotland is very different. We simply don't get, nor drink, a lot of what I think you may mean by traditional ale. Minimum pricing has also changed the market. The cheap industrial ciders that were often favoured by people with an alcohol problem have disappeared. I assume people weren't buying them, when you could have better quality stuff at the same price. 

I have a friend who catalogues and posts a picture of every beer he drinks. He is at well over 400 beers now. He seems to buy most of his in Morrisons. I'm sure they would offer more variety, but there will be a 30p per 500 ml bottle disadvantage compared to Lidl. 

Nebulous2

Organgrinder said:

Markets can of course always be good for fruit and veg etc.

I don't tend to use them as I work on market day, but in school holidays I do sometimes.

I also buy "wonky" fruit and veg. Onions are onions! Well not quite but you know what I mean.

I also think I have more than enough time to see if there are any deals to be had. 

If you look at big business pricing strategies (I used to work for a large food retailer) they love non-switchers. It costs a company nothing to keep you. Indeed, loyalty card holders who are frequent shoppers will see fewer or less value offers when compared to less frequent customers. 

Sometimes I will do things like compare prices of items I consider premium products. Eg. Free range chicken. Aldi or Asda often come out cheapest here. Eg £9.00 v up to  £18.00 for same weight in more expensive establishments.

I'll hardly ever pay any more than I have to for anything I consider a commodity,. I honestly believe it allows me a better lifestyle overall eg holidays, weekend breaks, treats etc.

When this post started I couldn't think of any deals we used, but as it has developed I have realised we do quite a lot. I get what you are saying about not rewarding regular customers. We both have the Lidl app, but my wife almost always uses hers. Around twice a year I will get a £5 off £25 offer and we will switch to using my one for a month. She has never had that offer. 

I've a bit of a disconnect, as I don't see a direct relationship between saving and treats, which possibly comes from not budgeting. We look for value, and screw down costs, I do bank switches etc, but never think, this weekend away in the caravan was funded by Barclays. 

Albermarle

Nebulous2 said:

Albermarle said:

Both Aldi and Lidl have a strong selection of craft beer, and again they support smaller, sometimes local, breweries. That is an area where their pricing has a significant advantage over other supermarkets.  The others will do one or two "Aldi Price Match" beers, but most of their selection is uncompetitive. 

If you prefer traditional type ale rather than craft beer, then the choice at Aldi and Lidl is not great.
Also craft beer tends to be significantly more expensive than traditional ale in all supermarkets. Someone has to pay for all the garish packaging !

What do you call traditional ale? 

There's a confusing (for me anyway) crossover between real ale and craft beer. I just drink it, I don't worry about the labels. We get some traditional real ales I know from my youth,  like old speckled hen. We also get a selection I think of as real ale from places like the Orkney brewery, Dark Island, for instance. I like really dark stuff, stout and porter, and sometimes get some interesting options to try, particularly when either Aldi or Lidl are doing a beer festival. 

This is an area where Scotland is very different. We simply don't get, nor drink, a lot of what I think you may mean by traditional ale. Minimum pricing has also changed the market. The cheap industrial ciders that were often favoured by people with an alcohol problem have disappeared. I assume people weren't buying them, when you could have better quality stuff at the same price. 

I have a friend who catalogues and posts a picture of every beer he drinks. He is at well over 400 beers now. He seems to buy most of his in Morrisons. I'm sure they would offer more variety, but there will be a 30p per 500 ml bottle disadvantage compared to Lidl. 

Craft beer is not 100% clearly defined, especially as it is often misused as a marketing description, but generally is a style of beer imported from the US.
Normally it is brewed in a smaller brewery with traditional/natural ingredients, ( like real ale) but then heavily carbonated ( like lager) . Often it has a high alcohol content, US hops are favoured over UK/European ones.
It usually has some slightly daft name like Neck Oil, Juicy !!!!!! IPA etc and is nearly always sold in garishly decorated cans, although you can see it in some pubs on draught.  Plenty of experimentation with different, often fruity flavours.
Seen as more trendy/hipster orientated, and is significantly more expensive.
As you say there has been some crossover in recent years with traditional real ale, with older breweries more producing light coloured beers with US hops for example, or playing around with fruity flavours. However they tend to be less strong and less gassy than craft beer, and with not such silly names.

Nebulous2

Albermarle said:

Nebulous2 said:

Albermarle said:

Both Aldi and Lidl have a strong selection of craft beer, and again they support smaller, sometimes local, breweries. That is an area where their pricing has a significant advantage over other supermarkets.  The others will do one or two "Aldi Price Match" beers, but most of their selection is uncompetitive. 

If you prefer traditional type ale rather than craft beer, then the choice at Aldi and Lidl is not great.
Also craft beer tends to be significantly more expensive than traditional ale in all supermarkets. Someone has to pay for all the garish packaging !

What do you call traditional ale? 

There's a confusing (for me anyway) crossover between real ale and craft beer. I just drink it, I don't worry about the labels. We get some traditional real ales I know from my youth,  like old speckled hen. We also get a selection I think of as real ale from places like the Orkney brewery, Dark Island, for instance. I like really dark stuff, stout and porter, and sometimes get some interesting options to try, particularly when either Aldi or Lidl are doing a beer festival. 

This is an area where Scotland is very different. We simply don't get, nor drink, a lot of what I think you may mean by traditional ale. Minimum pricing has also changed the market. The cheap industrial ciders that were often favoured by people with an alcohol problem have disappeared. I assume people weren't buying them, when you could have better quality stuff at the same price. 

I have a friend who catalogues and posts a picture of every beer he drinks. He is at well over 400 beers now. He seems to buy most of his in Morrisons. I'm sure they would offer more variety, but there will be a 30p per 500 ml bottle disadvantage compared to Lidl. 

Craft beer is not 100% clearly defined, especially as it is often misused as a marketing description, but generally is a style of beer imported from the US.
Normally it is brewed in a smaller brewery with traditional/natural ingredients, ( like real ale) but then heavily carbonated ( like lager) . Often it has a high alcohol content, US hops are favoured over UK/European ones.
It usually has some slightly daft name like Neck Oil, Juicy !!!!!! IPA etc and is nearly always sold in garishly decorated cans, although you can see it in some pubs on draught.  Plenty of experimentation with different, often fruity flavours.
Seen as more trendy/hipster orientated, and is significantly more expensive.
As you say there has been some crossover in recent years with traditional real ale, with older breweries more producing light coloured beers with US hops for example, or playing around with fruity flavours. However they tend to be less strong and less gassy than craft beer, and with not such silly names.

I'm with you with much of that, except for the pricing. Much of the stuff I get isn't significantly more expensive, although minimum pricing may play its part in that.

Brewdog sponsored a CAMRA beer festival in their early days, but fell out with CAMRA very publicly later as they did not want to be constrained by the limitations of what constituted real ale. 

Black isle brewery offer some of their more popular beers in either keg or cask format, so you can have the same beer as a traditional real ale, or you can have it colder and gassed. 

You still haven't told me what you were calling traditional ale. I assumed you meant something like bitter that you get in draft in pubs in England, but now I'm not so sure. 

Albermarle

Nebulous2 said:

Albermarle said:

Nebulous2 said:

Albermarle said:

Both Aldi and Lidl have a strong selection of craft beer, and again they support smaller, sometimes local, breweries. That is an area where their pricing has a significant advantage over other supermarkets.  The others will do one or two "Aldi Price Match" beers, but most of their selection is uncompetitive. 

If you prefer traditional type ale rather than craft beer, then the choice at Aldi and Lidl is not great.
Also craft beer tends to be significantly more expensive than traditional ale in all supermarkets. Someone has to pay for all the garish packaging !

What do you call traditional ale? 

There's a confusing (for me anyway) crossover between real ale and craft beer. I just drink it, I don't worry about the labels. We get some traditional real ales I know from my youth,  like old speckled hen. We also get a selection I think of as real ale from places like the Orkney brewery, Dark Island, for instance. I like really dark stuff, stout and porter, and sometimes get some interesting options to try, particularly when either Aldi or Lidl are doing a beer festival. 

This is an area where Scotland is very different. We simply don't get, nor drink, a lot of what I think you may mean by traditional ale. Minimum pricing has also changed the market. The cheap industrial ciders that were often favoured by people with an alcohol problem have disappeared. I assume people weren't buying them, when you could have better quality stuff at the same price. 

I have a friend who catalogues and posts a picture of every beer he drinks. He is at well over 400 beers now. He seems to buy most of his in Morrisons. I'm sure they would offer more variety, but there will be a 30p per 500 ml bottle disadvantage compared to Lidl. 

Craft beer is not 100% clearly defined, especially as it is often misused as a marketing description, but generally is a style of beer imported from the US.
Normally it is brewed in a smaller brewery with traditional/natural ingredients, ( like real ale) but then heavily carbonated ( like lager) . Often it has a high alcohol content, US hops are favoured over UK/European ones.
It usually has some slightly daft name like Neck Oil, Juicy !!!!!! IPA etc and is nearly always sold in garishly decorated cans, although you can see it in some pubs on draught.  Plenty of experimentation with different, often fruity flavours.
Seen as more trendy/hipster orientated, and is significantly more expensive.
As you say there has been some crossover in recent years with traditional real ale, with older breweries more producing light coloured beers with US hops for example, or playing around with fruity flavours. However they tend to be less strong and less gassy than craft beer, and with not such silly names.

I'm with you with much of that, except for the pricing. Much of the stuff I get isn't significantly more expensive, although minimum pricing may play its part in that.

Brewdog sponsored a CAMRA beer festival in their early days, but fell out with CAMRA very publicly later as they did not want to be constrained by the limitations of what constituted real ale. 

Black isle brewery offer some of their more popular beers in either keg or cask format, so you can have the same beer as a traditional real ale, or you can have it colder and gassed. 

You still haven't told me what you were calling traditional ale. I assumed you meant something like bitter that you get in draft in pubs in England, but now I'm not so sure. 

Bitter as a description is not used much anymore, even south of the border. Most pubs/bars have quite a choice nowadays, so you normally order it by its name.
So I would consider something like Old Speckled hen, 'traditional' and some other well known known brand names, such as Doom Bar, Boddingtons, Greene king IPA.
Basically not very gassy, alcohol content around 3.5% to 5%, and not served very cold.
Some of the newer traditional style ales have a bit of craft influence, being a lot paler in colour and more bitter, but still good.

Probably better stop there as we are digressing from the thread subject somewhat !