Aldi and Lidl...will they fall short ?

[Accy cyclist]

Its strange. Ive travelled and worked abroard, so experiencing different 'genuine' food is to be relished (and sometimes leaves you shuddering)...such as this in Egypt...

, so i'm not averse to trying different stuff.
But, I do like specific brands, Baked beans for instance, there are a choice of 5 brands in Asda, but I always buy buy the same...because I genuinely like them and more importantly DONT like the others.
Some people do have quite specific likes and dislikes, some of us are not so flexible in choosing...and for us, that's quite right and ok,

I do remember seeing the works secretary in Aldi some years ago when it was quite new. On the following day at work she almost bust a gut to tell me...'Oh I don't normally go in there, I just ran out of some things'
I thought, I don't give a hoot , you obviously do

That looks like spinach and chick pea broth. Very nice!

I have some frozen spinach and a tin of chick peas,i'm tempted to make it right now!

 

[brand]

that's all very well, but it's stretching credibility somewhat to really believe that farmers have been producing milk at a loss for years. Temporary supply / demand issues certainly, and supermarkets being utterly ruthless - yes. But farmers could very easily make more money by simply shooting all their cows and selling them for pie meat, thus making 11p per litre more than they were. Something not right here

There are no
"Temporary supply / demand issues"
Milk is sold at loss on most farms. But if
The farmer has no debt.
The quality of the land is good.
Other crops subsidising the losses.
Renting out cottages.
A shoot is very profitable although land has to be put aside for woods.
All of the latter could be subsidising his losses.
Sooner rather than later the supermarkets will have to start importing milk that won't be cheap for the consumer.
I will continue to buy 3 pints of milk from the milkman (and my pop). It's my little bit to help.....although I do love that big lump of cream on the top of the non homogenised milk on my cereal and coffee. So not being that charitable!!

 

[brand]

There is no Aldi or Lidls near me. There is a Lidl about 12 miles away not close when you have to cycle back. I use it for specials like chainsaw. Their 3 year garuntees are unbeatable. Broke the pull on the chainsaw after 2 years and 10 months. They were going to send a Courier to pick it up but instead just sent the part. Well not quite true they sent the wrong part, I rung them and the right part arrived the next day. They told me to keep the other part...a chain!

 

[brand]

I am afraid I find Morrison's by far the cheapest. It must be the stuff I buy as no one else I know does.

 

[slowmotion]

Lidl butter beans in tomato sauce are wonderful. Their stuffed vine leaves are pretty good too. The thing I like the best though is the total lack of "Retail Experience". I want to get in and out as quickly as possible. I don't want to listen to hateful musak or "Customer service to till 13, please". Besides, some stores let you leave your bike locked to the packing shelf. Try that in Tesco and an Armed Response Team will give you a double tap through your helmet (or buff).

 

[Accy cyclist]

Depends on where you are.

Depends on where you are.

No offence meant i was only trying a bit of banter.

 

[Gravity Aided]

None taken. But we have odd ways of spelling English in the States, like color, flavor, etc with no "u", and the z where an s should be, like stabilizer. Creek is pronounced crick, in many cases in the Midwest. Sink, among people with no other trace of German ancestry, is often pronounced zinc. Odd usage of a language, but probably adapted to suit needs. The United States and Great Britain are two countries separated by a common language, as Shaw once said. (in Readers' Digest, of all places).

 

[Fnaar]

Same in Shipley, it's a jammed car park (Aldi/McD's) leading out onto a major clogged A road, I cycle.

Is much of their stuff "own brand" or other cheaper brands? If it is own brand it's much better packaged and aesthetically pleasing than in other stores. Asda/Tesco and particularly Morrisons have such dispiriting own brand packaging, it screams at you that you are buying cheap, so you expect it to taste poo, so it does............

Aldi

The Morisson's one is much bigger, though

[edit] well, it was in your original post, it seems to have shrunk now....

 

[BigonaBianchi]

I hope they don't become just another huge out of town megastore. Thier strength.and appeal is quality stuff at cheap prices, but its also like the corner shop...can't beat it for in and out bloke style shopping.

 

[brand]

Lidl butter beans in tomato sauce are wonderful. Their stuffed vine leaves are pretty good too. The thing I like the best though is the total lack of "Retail Experience". I want to get in and out as quickly as possible. I don't want to listen to hateful musak or "Customer service to till 13, please". Besides, some stores let you leave your bike locked to the packing shelf. Try that in Tesco and an Armed Response Team will give you a double tap through your helmet (or buff).

" I want to get out as quickly as possible" Well the latter is true for most people but more due to less choice. Even for me, someone who has to read the label on everything before buying.

"some stores let you leave your bike locked to the packing shelf". I wasn't aware of that but it seems quite practical the way the store is set out. Would I be pushing my luck if I brought my cycle trailer in as well!!

. " I don't want to listen to hateful musak"
Erhh what are you talking about how can music be hateful? Must admit I wasn't aware they had musak in Morrison's or the co-op. At least not the ones I go to.

 

[brand]

I hope they don't become just another huge out of town megastore. Thier strength.and appeal is quality stuff at cheap prices, but its also like the corner shop...can't beat it for in and out bloke style shopping.

Unlikely as that is not there appeal. I don't think they have a big enough range. Their is one in the Arndale centre which is very large but it seems to sell the range is no different and it is in the centre of town.
I have noticed wrongly stocked stores for the area there in. A manchester one selling wood bombs which quickly ran out in Mablethorpe but there was still had loads in stock in Manchester. Also insufficient stock in mablethorpe of item more likely to be sold in rural areas. A petrol brush cutter out of stock in 4 hours. I rung in advance for a new electric chainsaw and they put it away for me. All the others were gone by the time I cycled there. That was a Lidls.
A 30 year port was still on sale in an in Aldi in Manchester 9 months after it was stocked. This was because they had the empty boxes on the shelves but they couldn't find the bottles!! Every time I went to Manchester I checked. Eventually they found them. The first one I drunk the second one is now 33 years old. Can't bring myself to drink it!!

 

[brand]

[QUOTE 3384383, member: 45"]I once spotted coats for horses in the Lidl branch in Kings Heath, Birmingham.[/QUOTE]
Let me know when you see them on offer again. The horses at the top of my garden could definitely do with new ones!!

 

[Gravity Aided]

as @slowmotion said, muzak does get a bit old. In Kroger, they play advertisements for Kroger-as well as some better music, but why do I need ads for Kroger, if I am already there? Preaching to the choir. At our local Aldi, if there is a need for more checkers, or an assist in aisle 13, they just yell. Oh, and one of the guys working there whistles, so I guess that's their version of muzak.

 

[gbb]

As promised, I went to the refurbed Aldi in Stanground today. Its a good deal bigger and better to get around.
I saved £5 on a spend of £35. Many items were comparable in Asda, altgough bananas ans Nestle cereals were markedly cheaper at Aldi, most of the rest was just a few pennies difference, maybe 10 or 20p occasionally.
So it equates to what, maybe 15% cheaper ?
Carparking was easy despite an almost full carpark, tills were quick.....
only 3 items were dearee in Aldi, even then, they were comparable items, not exact matches.
On days I had plenty of time, id shop in both Aldi and Asda, to get both the savings AND the items I want / prefer from Asda, but time is a luxury, I suspect for speed, I'd just do Asda and pay the fiver extra.
After my doubting, I concede Aldi is really quite good. All I have to do now is eat it and see if the taste / quality makes it worthwhile.

 

[4F]

I can report that myself and Mrs 4F will be doing our weekly shop in LIDL tonight and making our usual saving of approx £ 30 on our trolley load as we do every week.
Out of our shop there are only 3 regular items that we cannot get which we will get from Co-Op sometime over the weekend.

I find that the experience is a whole lot nicer than the previously weekly battle that we used to make at Tesco trying to battle your trolley against all the staff picking for the home deliveries.