Lidl or Asda own brands - what's cheapest?

arkonite_babe

I don't have Aldi in Northern Ireland, and will only be able to experience Asda in the next few weeks when they rebrand all the Morrisons/Safeway stores, so my vote has to be with Lidl. The only thing I didn't like from there was the baked beans, to me they have a "cinnamon" taste

I will update my views after Adsa opens

newfunk

Lidl may not be a pleasant place to shop, but at their prices, U have to shop there!

I actually think the quality of the food is good too...

megasaver

I have lived near a Lidl for nearly 5 years and never ventured into it until earlier this year. The main thing that kept me away was the "snob" value, it seemed soooooo downmarket. Well I am happy to report that after being convinced to try it out (after reading rave reviews about some of the products on MSE) I love the place! Whenever I go, I just imagine that I am abroad on holiday and shopping, I just forget that I am in England. The thing that keeps me going back however is that the food is sooo much better (and believe me I am fussy and my OH is even fussier!) and tastier. As with everywhere, if you avoid the really cheap stuff in there you will be very surprised, I was!

One last thing, shopping in Lidl made me realise just how "brainwashed" I am when I go into "normal" supermarkets, where I tend to buy the same thing week in week out, without having to think very much - shopping on Autopilot I now call it.

Asda: I have used vouchers for things I haven't bought and the money has been taken off. I believe you can use vouchers for up to 10% of your shopping - but have never tried it. I am sure someone will correct me if I am wrong. HTH

nicki_2

I'm going to go against the grain here ... We have an Aldi and an Asda opposite each other. We used to do all our shopping in Aldi before the Asda was built now I shop in Asda and rarely go into Aldi (although I do still get the weekly email with offers just in case ). I buy mostly Smartprice items from Asda, occasionally their own brand (usually only if there isn't a smartprice option) and I can honestly say that I prefer to shop in Asda. Okay so the quality of the goods might not be as good, but since I prefer to stick to good old fashioned recipes or add my own herbs/spices anyway the taste of the products doesn't bother us. Besides, since I do the shopping the rest of the family have no choice but to eat what I buy and I'm so tight with money at the minute I squeak My attitude is "If you don't like it, don't eat it but you'll have to go hungry as there is nothing else to eat" - major advantage of cooking from scratch is that there is rarely "snack" food in the house therefore not so much eating between meals so the family is more likely to eat the meals put down infront of them

Zziggi

Bogof_Babe wrote:

My only complaint about these Europe based companies is they never say "suitable for vegetarians" on their labels, even though presumably some of their stuff is.

Very true! and also just so much has pork/ham 'bits' in them. A problem if you don't eat pig meat. Also, a lot of items contain pork-based products even if they don't actually contain lumps of meat (if you know what i mean). I used to live in germany and from my experience they just don't have a clue about vegeterianism or dietry requirements for religious minorities! (i was once served a pork sausage in a dish, explained i couldn't eat pork so it was chopped up for me, mixed in with the sauce and presented to me. They honestly thought that would be OK!) Maybe they don't bother to label up items as ''suitable for vegeterians' because so few are?

Mind you, look up a few key words in an English-German dictionary and then look at the ingrediants list on the side of the packets, this should help.

Having said that shopping in Lidl/Aldi is a great way to save money and learn a language - you can pick up german words very easily by regular shopping there.

bargainqueen_2

Zziggi wrote:

Very true! and also just so much has pork/ham 'bits' in them. A problem if you don't eat pig meat. Also, a lot of items contain pork-based products even if they don't actually contain lumps of meat (if you know what i mean). I used to live in germany and from my experience they just don't have a clue about vegeterianism or dietry requirements for religious minorities! (i was once served a pork sausage in a dish, explained i couldn't eat pork so it was chopped up for me, mixed in with the sauce and presented to me. They honestly thought that would be OK!) Maybe they don't bother to label up items as ''suitable for vegeterians' because so few are?

Mind you, look up a few key words in an English-German dictionary and then look at the ingrediants list on the side of the packets, this should help.

Having said that shopping in Lidl/Aldi is a great way to save money and learn a language - you can pick up german words very easily by regular shopping there.

I'm sorry but I completely disagree with this statement. I am exactly 50% German and 50% English and I don't prefer one to the other, but as I grew up in Germany I was quite able to be vegetarian without any probs at all. Lidl in Germany is heaps better than it is in the UK, but as I lived in England for 5 years I got used to what they did/ didn't have. Germans are about as clued up about veggies/vegans/halal/etc as every other nation but their mainstream goods are aimed at mainstream people, hence people who eat meat.
Anyway, sorry Zziggi didn't mean to cause trouble, Lidl and Aldi are in my opinion great places to shop, and if all else fails if ya need a translation just pm me and I will provide it xx BQ

catkins

I shop in Tesco, Farm Food, Aldi and Lidl and like them all. I am opposite to most of you in that I absolutely detest Asda. I have been in several and a lot of them seem dirty, also their fruit and veg is not usually of very good quality and does not keep.

madfrenchgirl

yeah and you find the shelves empty and the sheap eggs bashed, and the staff always telling you, "it s not my aisle!"

oh and you trip and fall on their milk.

Penny-Pincher!!

Hi

I have my shopping delivered fortnightly by Asda and overall there quality is OK. We have a Lidls down the road and must admit there price and quality of products are very good. Some of there tinned foods I can get cheaper at Asda using there SP products. I prefer Lidls ham, cheese, frozen fish, ice cream, coffee mate, jam, yogurts to asda though.

Its a personal choice and what one person likes...another doesnt. Maybe you can try a couple of things a week and do a comparison between the two. I would rather spend a few pence more in Lidls for nice quality tasting ham than the SP ham is Asda as it will only get wasted otherwise, but then there are products that are pennies in Asda (tinned toms 13p, spagetti 11p) that I wouldnt buy in Lidls..if you know what i mean..lol.

PP
xx

ashmit

Really - I have always found that the quality of Lidl tinned toms far, far beats the quality of Asda's - SP or otherwise. I have only bought Lidl for ages but have always been happy with them - but rarely so when I bought from Asda.