I might try Aldi

The smoked salmon in Lidl is better and cheaper than any of the other supermarkets and not greasy. We buy to eat and keep in the freezer. I am a bit wary of buying meat but the fish is very good.

Tonight we are having Lidl Hereford 36 day matured rib eye steak.

We have had Lidl steak most Saturday's for yonks! Only once have we had a slightly disappointing one.

I always buy mince from Lidl, clearly labelled with the fat content (20%, 10%, 5% etc) use it to make chilli, spag bol etc.

Also chicken breasts or thighs, depending on what I'm cooking (chicken parcels tomorrow)

Jaqui1 why are you "wary" of it?

Don't have an Aldi here but there is a Lidl in walking distance. Fab food at good prices, can't fault it

We have a bit of a drive to Aldi, so only visit approximately fortnightly.

We enjoy shopping there (large store with much variety) with excellent meat, fish and some ready-made desserts.

However we have noticed that prices have soared over the past few years and many items are on almost par with the main stores, Tesco, Sainsbury's etc!

Do any of you shop locally? I get meat from the local butcher, fish from the fishmonger, bread from the baker and cheeses and cream from a deli. I do this partly to support the High Street shops. We don't have a greengrocer any more but I get a veg box delivered. Our meat does not drip water when grilled unlike that from the supermarket. The fish has a totally different taste than when I buy it at Tesco. The problem, of course, is carrying it home.

Don't like Aldi but love LIdl. We have Lidl next door to a Waitrose so the best of both worlds.

Milk, butter, cheese, hams, chicken, fruit and veg plus their lovely frozen chips all from Lidl.

Meat and fish plus free coffee and paper from Waitrose. Also use their loos.

Well, just finished dinner and realised that every single thing on the plate was from Lidl!

Steak, 36 day matured Hereford rib eye (absolutely gorgeous, tender and full of flavour)

Jacket potatoes

Butter used on potatoes

Black pepper, ditto.

Sweet baby leaf salad

Deluxe Piccolo vine cherry tomatoes (been in the fridge since before Christmas, fresh as a daisy, not even a shrivel or a wrinkle!)

Deluxe Caesar Salad dressing.

Delicious!

The Aldi near me is like something out of a communist regime. Dark, small, badly stocked. Customers are something else too.

Aldi convert here! Had to shop elsewhere before Christmas as car park queues for Aldi were daft. Really noticed the much bigger bill at Sainsbury’s. Love Aldi veg, meat and choice of cheeses. Had a box of their specially selected biscuits for cheese at Christmas and they were very good. Also West Country butter with salt crystals. Find the customers the same mix of people as anywhere, but who goes food shopping for the social interaction??

Well, Purpledaffodil judging by the comment above, some people do!

Reminds me of a comment made by the late Alan Coren, "I like Sainsburys, it keep the riff raff out of Waitrose" (or something like that)

Honestly Shizam do you really think that Aldi customers are something less than those in other stores?

I shop in Waitrose, Sainsburys, Morrison's and Lidl.

Of couse, I change my appearance for each, Hermes scarf and tweeds for Waitrose (plus pearls, natch), designer jeans and Joules sweatshirt for Sainsburys, jogger bottoms and fleece for Morrisons, and pyjamas, slippers and a cardi for Lidl.

Honestly, some people need to get..........m

Saw in the news recently Aldi opening another 20 stores or more this year - must be doing something right. Reading this post I think they must source a lot of their products locally. As I already mentioned we get mainly Scottish beef and also a lot of dairy products, butter, cheese, etc,are from local producers. I suspect Lidl's are the same. I like the sound of West Country butter with salt crystals but doubt we will get it up here!!

I shop mostly in Asda because they have quite a good organic range & Aldi in UK only do a small amount.
I buy their part baked bread as they do brown, organic wines (no hangover!), low alcohol fizzy wines, cereal, organic eggs and I love to root around the middle aisles where the goodies are ?

I had to look twice at the OP - but no, it was not written by Hyacinth Bucket!

phoenix

I go to Aldi regularly and top up at Tesco /morrisons for things i cant get there . The meat is mostly british with union jack flag on the label. Fruit and veg is ok . Dont like Lidl , have found it very disorganised every time ive tried it. Aldi definitely worth a try especially if on a tight budget .

I don’t go to Aldi often as it’s almost 20 miles away. I don’t do a full shop, either. I’m wary of their meat because the fridges are often overloaded and the piles of meat are just sticking up outside of the cold area. I like their halloumi and their bloomer loaves. Also the black pepper crackers are good and chia seeds are about half the price of anywhere else.

Fruit & veg is often a bit battered-looking plus it’s mostly plastic wrapped. Strawberries, grapes etc don’t last very long, I find, and greens turn yellow quickly.

I like the organic eggs, which must be popular as they’ve started doing them in different sizes and not just ‘mixed’ boxes but our branch doesn’t do Scottish organic milk. They rarely have bread flour and before Christmas didn’t have many cake-making ingredients.

I’m not keen on their tinned stuff, as it’s often more liquid than content. I do like their frozen butternut squash, which is hard to find elsewhere.

The baby clothes & equipment from the Aisle of Weirdness are very good value.

I am no Hyacinth, just attempting a little light conversation.

I’ve just remembered their haloumi fries - absolutely delicious

OP,
please explain the use of the word professional in the title.
thanks.

I don’t like Aldi, but do go to Lidl. Not all the time though, we use Lidl, Waitrose, and Morrisons. And also Marks and Spencer’s food hall.

As I walked into Aldi Borehamwood last weekend, (not my local store)..which is opposite Lidl on the retail park... 3 middle aged and middle class woman were walking out together .

One said I've never been to a Lidl store, and the other said.. ''Oh it's not as good as this, it's sort of like a charity shop for food''. I tried to stifle my laughter

Halloumi fries, you say? :adds to list:

My DH works for one of the big supermarkets but we shop at aldi's where we not only save money (despite the employee discount he is entitled to) but overall prefer the quality of the produce.

We would recommend checking use by dates of course, but a friend complained of gone off meat and pate from waitrose that was still I date so we feel happy with our weekly shop.

I think all the the large supermarkets are variable depending on where you live. In our town the local Sainsbury’s is simply atrocious. An out of town Tesco opened a couple of years ago and fruit and veg from there are top quality, even better than Waitrose which is my supermarket of choice.

I started using Aldi the week before christmas, looking for different Christmas treats. I am now hooked, i couldnt believe the price differences. My daughter has always shopped there and constantly told me to try, now i understand why. Ours is a new branch and it has wide open aisles, plenty of beautiful fruit and veg, the cheese cabinet was very interesting and i enjoyed the shopping experience there. It is now my supermarket of choice.