Discount grocery stores

I agree re: on line shopping for bigger stuff, it's easy and quicker than driving 10 miles to my nearest store.

I buy all the everyday stuff online, once a week, from Sainsbury's. After that I'll pop into the local Morrisons or M&S if I'm in the bigger town (10 miles away) Lidl is even further, and I completely recognise the description of a grotty Asda - ours is dreadful and badly run too.

The online shopping is great - I don't want to walk round a shop buying loo rolls and washing powder. Boring!

I love Lidl. Freshest fruit and veg by far round here, good coffee, some excellent wines and "foreign" weeks so we can buy stuff that isn't French.
Lots of things in the middle shelves that you never knew you wanted, but turned out to be really useful. Prices are much lower than the supermarkets here.
Wish they would sell fresh milk though.

Lidl has won a food retailer of the year award (or something like that) trumping all the others including Waitrose.

I must admit I haven't compared the prices of Aldi and Lidl brands with other stores own brands, although I'm always surprised how little I've spent. But I do think that their brands are generally better quality and taste nicer. I've never had a problem finding a selection of dried or fresh herbs in either of them and they both have good ranges of antipasti.

someone said that ASDA was like the Jeremy kyle show, that had me laughing and I haven't laughed much today, I do like asda but yes some of the shoppers do arrive in their 'jamas' and grotty tracksuits, yelling a the kids but that's a reflection of life in general today. Our Asda is built next to an upmarket estate but in reach of a huge council estate so there is a mixture. However I will say our asda is very clean, the aces are always in view and at any time the staff will call for someone if you report a spillage or mess, the belts are cleaned and in the past I have asked for the belt to be cleaned before putting my items on it and the operator has been willing to do this. 100% to asda for cleanliness.

Some years ago DD saw/read an interview with one of the senior managers in Aldi/Lidl, which said that they do not have 'own brands' because if they did customers would compare their prices with' own brand' prices in other supermarkets, not to Aldi/Lidl's advantage.

Instead they made up brand names, different ones for different products and customers then came in and compared the price of the branded goods in their shops with branded goods in the major supermarkets and, because the unknown brands in Aldi/Lidl were essentially 'own brands' they were much cheaper.

In other words*crun*, you are right, customers are not comparing like with like - and that is deliberate Aldi/Lidl policy.

Within 2.8 miles of our house we have Tescos and Coops only, several of each in various sizes. Our nearest "other" is Sainsburys at 2.9 miles. It's an hour's drive to Waitrose and they don't deliver round here. Imagine how delighted I was to hear we're getting a new supermarket half a mile away - another ruddy Coop. I'm envious of the choice some of you have, and am eternally grateful for online shopping.

I find our Aldi (the only 'budget' shop in our town) horrendous! It is small, badly laid out and I could never do my whole week's shop there as they don't have lots of the things I would want to buy eg, they don't have a GF section at all! Their selection of dried herbs seems to be mixed herbs or mixed herbs!

DH goes because he likes the Rioja!

I'd love a Waitrose!

I have been splitting my shopping between Lidl, Morrisons & Waitrose for quite a few years now!

A few thoughts, Lidl W5 washing up liquid beats fairy into a cocked hat, and much cheaper, although Lidl did have Fairy on offer at a great price not long ago. Lidl steak (esp. the rib eye) is damn good. Another silly thing, I bought some more of their washing up sponges today, as the Waitrose own brand felt "slimy" !

Lidl currently have good quality basmati rice at 10k for just over £10 they did something a few months back with "sacks" of onions, we just get a couple of friends together, but between us and share it out.

When Lidl opened a few years ago I wrote out a shopping list, and took it round Tesco, Sainsburys and Lidl. Tesco were cheapest on almost everything, with Sainsburys cheaper on a few items, and Lidl on nothing at all. When Morrisons opened I did the same again, with the same result.

I think the people who find Lidl cheaper can't be comparing like with like. They will be cheaper if you're comparing with regular lines, but not if compared with Tesco Everyday Value lines.

Our small town has Waitrose, Morrisons and a smallish Asda that used to be Netto. An Aldi is under construction. Looks as if we are going to be spoilt for choice!

FlicketyB maybe once? There is a tiny Lidl a couple of miles away which I went into once and never again. I seemed to be grovelling on the floor to find items, few were stacked on shelves. A much larger one is supposedly being built a couple of miles away in the opposite direction but there are problems so when that will happen is anybody's guess.

The best and cheapest fruit and vegetables can be bought from a stall at my local hospital. The problem is finding a parking space and paying £2.50 for an hour- it is not worth it.

I shop in Waitrose because of its town centre location, size, (small, by modern standards) and the limited area given to non-food products.

Because of its town centre location I can 'one-stop shop'. Go to Waitrose and get the shopping done very quickly because the store is small and efficient, go to the Building Society or bank, get to the hairdresser and visit a host of other shops present in the town centre. I can even combine a visit to Waitrose with dental appointments.

The alternatives are an out-of-town Tesco, huge, time-consuming to shop in with acres of non-food items to walk through before I reach the food. I then have to go to the town centre to do the rest of the shopping, or I can go to a rather crummy down market Sainsburys in a different town.

The selection of food offered in Waitrose, is the least of the stores attractions. It is the convenience of the store I like best.

The nearest Lidl is 20 miles away, Aldi have opened a branch in a local town I do not usually shop in, but is it worth a 10 mile round trip?

I usually do main shop monthly from Sainsburys with home delivery as nearest branch is around 30 miles away. Top up rest of the month from Tesco (10miles) or little Co-op if I'm at dd1's. Have never really taken to Lidl although DH sometimes goes in for a wander and comes out with an odd assortment of things!

Plus one for markets! We go to Chesterfield or Bakewell most weeks to buy fruit and veg from their markets. Cheaper and better than the supermarkets and a lot of it is locally grown.

Your description of your Asda sums my nearest one up completely- I went into it last week and couldn't leave quickly enough. I've never been in such a shoddy-looking store, if not downright grubby,nI won't do that again!

Aldi and Lidl's are both a 38 mile round trip unfortunately, so I rely on Sainsburys or occasionally Waitrose.

We do have a Morrisons about 12 miles away but I find their fruit and vegetables don't last any time at all.

Luckily there's a great weekly market where I work so I'm re-thinking my shopping routine- the fruit and vegetables are so cheap and fresh and there are fresh fish and meat stands too. I just need to sort out ice packs and I think I'm converted

I always used to shop in Sainsburys for my main shop. but have now changed the way we do things. Local Coop for lots of bits but Aldi for the bulk of the shopping. Their wine is excellent, and Dh says their fillet steak ( i dont eat red meat) at £4.99 is super quality. Their bacon and chicken is good prices too and is British ( dont buy Dutch or Danish). Their cooked meats charcuterie style stuff is excellent value and so is the cheese. I never shop in Tesco as I dislike the company, dont have a Morrison's and regrettably our ASDA, although quite a nice shop is like walking into a recording of the Jeremy Kyle show, yes I know it sounds awful, but last time I went in there, I was the only person without a tattoo, everyone was huge, in tracksuits and shouting at their children, someone in pyjamas at the cash point.......sorry, wont be in there again. Waitrose occasionally, but think that their fruit and veg is of indifferent quality and over priced; of all the shops theirs is the worst. We use an independent greengrocer for our large fruit and veg order, far better but realise we are lucky to have one

When SO and I were buying cheap(ish) fizzy wine for DDs wedding lunchtime buffet, we tried lots of different ones, fun. Two wedding meals here, buffet at lunchtime and formal dinner in the evening.
We settled on 3 we liked from different supermarkets including Aldi.
SO went to each of them explaining how much we needed including lots of other stuff for 180 people. i was doing the catering for the lunch.
Aldis' manager immediately offered 10% discount on everything, 2 free cases of fizzy and a 50€s worth of vouchers to use over the next year.
Guess which shop he chose ???, no brainer I think.
He needed to do two trips in the car and by phoning the shop 1 hour in advance everything was ready and some very nice staff helped to load the car.
He now goes every week to Lidl(now closest) for me and stocks up.

I love Aldi and Lidl. Great value for certain items. Chocolate, biscuits, cleaning products, fruit and veg, butter, some of the french cheeses are the ones you can buy in France wine, beer, fruit juice, frozen raspberries and ice cream, tins of chickpeas Also flowers and plants are good, I bought some lovely stocks and Lilies in Aldi - Sainsburys is way overpriced in comparison. I reckon I save about £100 per month when I shop in either of these stores. Mind you I do sometimes sneak into Waitrose or M and S...

I noticed today that Aldi had sets of ceramic pans for around £24, in case anyone's interested. They also had little pans which they labelled as 'tapas pans'. I'd already bought a ceramic frying pan in Home Bargains this morning, for around £4.

I am a fan of Asda, partly as I live near but I like the staffs attitude and the prices.

However we have and aldi and Lidl and I have used both of them, I find the fruit and veg at both stores are good quality and the freshness in unbeatable, I also like the chocolate. I don't like the fresh bread section in Lidl being open for anyone to handle the products, I only ever buy the wrapped items. However I find the prices are not cheaper than asda apart from the tinned food. You can get a small tin of beans for a few pence etc.

The jumble sale effect is true but I cant complain as the last time I went to Aldi I got a denim skirt for £3, nice tough denim will wash and wear well. ive also had tshirts which weren't good quality, tools and garden items.
If you have plenty of time to root around you can get bargains but on a weeks shop I think Asda is best value and as I am on sick pay at the minute I am definitely on a budget.

Lidl opened 16 shops here in Southern Cyprus a couple of years ago and it has changed the whole supermarket shopping scene. One big chain went to the wall as shoppers realised they had been putting up with lousy service and over priced goods. The one up market chain has expanded and opened new shops and is a joy to shop in, it even has a contract with Tesco to stock over 1200 items inducing some of there Finest range. So thank you Lidl, and by the way, love your own brand cheese and bread!!

We tend to use Sainsbury's for the things we can't get in Lidl's. And Lidl's fruit and veg no cheaper than Sainsbury? That's not my experience, many fresh items beating Sainsbury by quite a large margin - this week cucumbers are 29p each, avocados 69p. Also fresh fish - 2 salmon steaks for £2.59 - usually £4 or £5 in Sainsbury. As for the unfamiliar brands, they are generally so much cheaper that it's worth trying and you could be pleasantly surprised by some of them - we have been.
And now they have an in store bakery - I bought a couple of Vanilla Crowns last week (you know, the Danish pastries with custard in the centre). They were 29p each. I popped into our local Co-op a few days later and they were selling exactly the same pastries, same size, for 89p . In Sainsbury they come in packs of 2 for £1.20.
Another thing I like about Lidl's is that they don't throw hundreds of free carriers at you, but make a small charge (3p I think). BUT, unlike the ridiculously flimsy things that the main supermarkets use, that generally fall apart after one use and are not even usable as bin liners, Lidl's ones are big, strong bags, definitely re-usable (I'm not talking about their stronger Bag for Life types, these are just the standard ones).
I admit these stores are very different from the mainstream supermarkets, and need getting used to, but we are converts now!

I bought three things on my trip to Lidl - some fruit and nuts mix, a bottle of Prosecco and a small mixed grain loaf. The fruit and nut mix which we opened after dinner - the nuts were soft and probably stale - we have thrown that to the birds, the bread was ok no different to any other store probably cheaper at 69 pence and we will have the Prosecco today. As we have a party to do in August if this is Ok I probably will buy some more - will let you know.