Wife does the bulk of her shopping in Morrisons which I'm not overly keen on because I think the quality is nothing great and selection at best mediocre.
I've popped into Lidl a few times and quite liked the quality and prices on offer but I'm no expert. Just how much cheaper is it to shop at Lidl or Aldi over the other big four ? Worth the effort ?
I've got a bit more time on my hands these days so interested in doing some shopping and hopefully saving a few quid.
In case anyone wonders why I have more time these days it's because I retired at the end of October.
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Enjoy it!
Both Lidl and Aldi are cheaper than any of the big four and you could expect to save anything up to 25% on your weekly shopping depending what you buy.
The range in both the discounters is less and you might struggle to get everything you need but the quality will be good. They are cheaper because they are more efficient and a cheaper business model not because they sell crap. Of the two discounters Aldi do what they do and its the same model throughout Europe. Lidl have adapted there stores more to the UK market with a big focus on fresh and in my opinion are the better of the two but as a supplier I might be slightly biased.
Whilst not everything is cheaper in Lidl & Aldi I reckon 95% of it is so it's well worth doing. Two things to be mindful of though:
- They don't accept credit cards, so you have to stay in budget.
- The have an annoying habit of displaying their prices above the goods rather than underneath them which is traditional here. So you have to be careful when doing your price checks.
We used to spend just over £100 in Morrison and that dropped to around the £80 by shopping between the two when we first switched.
It's surprising how much space is wasted in supermarkets with big branded goods that don't come close to Lidl's.
P.s Their meat is very good, their own brand cheeses i.e mainly the camembert is shocking though it turns to a jelly when cooked instead of an oozey godliness.
Lidl claim to have good standards for meat and fish welfare but just like big supermarkets there is no way of knowing for sure the welfare of the final product. Try to use a butcher if that's an issue like it is for me.
You can sometimes find a good deal in 'dry products' such as cleaning, cereals, cooking products (oil, spices), tea & coffee, and toiletries. Either name-branded stuff at discount prices or a very reasonable equivalent.
And, of course, real ales. My local Lidl has fantastic deals on some of my favourite bottled ales.
The missus and I can often do a weekly shop for around £20-30 in Lidl.
The fresh produce is as good as you'll get elsewhere, and invariably better in a lot of cases.
You can also pick up a pair of hiking boots, a countersink bit set, a set of reflective badges for your bike and a 5 man tent.
It's a lot cheaper at Waitrose as their security is poor.
Definitely worth shopping around rather than going to one place for everything
"Darling, can you see where Basil and Rosemary are?"
"Aren't the herbs on aisle seven?"
"No sweetheart I'm trying to find our children!"
Meat- butcher failing that waitrose
Fish - fishmonger failing that morrisons
Fruit & veg- morrisons
Beer, spice mixes, free paper- waitrose
Overall sainsburys as nearest
Very popular now.
Still try to get all our meat from the butcher though.
Aldi do some great fakes. Their version of kettle chips taste better than the actual thing in my view. They're great for things like that.