The weekly shopping trip

[tintinthegingertomcat]

I decided over the weekend to do my weekly shop at Lidl and Iceland instead of Asda just to see the difference.

My local Lidl has just re-opened following a re-fit and to be honest it was absolutely heaving with people, more than I have ever seen down there before. Even people who weren't short of a bob or two were shopping there. It was that busy you could hardly move so it just goes to show that people are choosing Lidl and Aldi more and more. I got a ginormous bag full of stuff including meat, chicken and the weekly veg for just under £12. Their veg is at least half the price as the other supermarkets.

I then went to Iceland and got more meat, fish and lots of other stuff including some "just in case" meals for £25.

All in all this weeks weekly shop has come in at £36 - and to be honest lots of it will last weeks.

Just thought I would share this with you lovely ladies.

If you can, try looking in Lidl and Aldi - they are German based companies and really do have an amazing choice of christmas goodies that the brits dont produce - their stollen is AMAZING.

[tintinthegingertomcat]

PS...........just in case you were wondering............no I dont work at either shop

[xtf70]

I want to reiterate what the last poster said about Aldi - I use it infrequently during most of the year but right now they have a good range of Christmas goodies available, with a further range coming on 3rd December, according to their brochure

Only one problem though - they don't replenish the Christmas stock very much, so once it's gone it's gone

[bitsnknots]

We use Mo**isons and A*di.  We used to spend more at Mo**sons but now it's the other way round.  Last week, we spent less than £10 at Mo**sons but we spent about £44 at A*di.  They do get quite a lot of bargains but they don't replace some of the stock at A*di.

[captainbovine]

I shop in Aldi every week, they're fab. Their chocolate knocks spots of Cadburys especially since the yanks got hold of the firm. They have a lot of good stuff but true, once it's gone it's gone.

I like Homebargain too, ooooh I love that shop, OH dreads me going in it!!! they have loads of stuff in there you can't resist. I don't buy the groceries though.

You can save a fortune in these shops, the big supermarkets must be bricking it by now....

[ed_blackadder_1]

I go to Lidls once a week, I agree about their Stollen it's lovely and half the price of where I work, also their salad stuff (Coleslaw) and continental meat is lovely and a good price. At Christmas we buy their beers, stollen and various other bits. Sadly we don't have an Aldi within 40 miles.

Our nearest Morrisons and Asda are 12 miles away so not really cost effective to go there, and don't like Sainsburys and don't find it very cheap, and the offers are usually the same there as in everywhere else.

We have had a new B &M open in the last week, quite good stuff in there at very good prices, went in to look around and ended up spending £40 on Christmas prezzies, decs and wool (£1.19 for 100g).  Local stores will be noticing them around I think, planning permission has just been granted for a Homebargain store on the other side of town, so waiting for that now.

[bitsnknots]

I like Home Bargains as well CB.  You can get some good bargains there.  I love Aldi's chocolate as well.  We get the dark chocolate which only costs £0.30 so you can't complain about that.  I think that their chocolate drink isn't as good though now as it used to be but their decaf coffee is alright though and it's cheaper.

[tintinthegingertomcat]

Within a ten minute drive of my house I can get to Aldi, Lidl, Morrisons, Tesco, Asda, and Iceland. Sainsburys is a 20 minute drive away.

My son has seen on the Aldi advert their gingerbread house so may get that for him.

I agree that the other supermarkets must be a little worried now about the two german companies.

In my local town there is a fabulous greengrocers who has the freshest stuff around but only worth going if I am actually going into town for something else.

[alisonsvintagechicboutique]

Love Lidl 

Love their....

Frozen prawns

Deluxe mayo (black pepper and garlic)

Jars Italian sliced mushrooms in oil for salads

Tins chopped tomatoes

Dark chocolate

Big jars of sliced beetroot

Mini stollen packs

Christmas chocolates - vanilla cream filled christmas trees

Mozzarella cheese

Ready to bake twin pack baguettes

Frozen breaded brie and camembert

French skinny fries/chips

Scampi

Clothes pegs - lol these are rare as hens teeth but if you need pegs and see them buy them!!  

And a wonderful array of fresh fruit and veg - most loose which is great (unlike Aldi where most in plastic).

The only probs with Lidl and Aldi is that they dont get consistent same stock.  I suppose that keeps life interesting but its annoying if you want to buy something again and they never have it.  Lidl once did a cherry juice in a carton - it was lush.  Only ever saw it once though.  

Last Christmas my Lidl sold out of Christmas chocs and stollen quite quick  - Im stocking up now!!!

[alisonsvintagechicboutique]

Btw - if you like gin, the Aldi 'Cromwell Gin' got a silver taste test award in the International Spirits challenge.  It equalled Bombay Sapphire blue gin in quality and also Harrods gin and is a lot cheaper.  Of course I had to test for myself and I quite agree!!  

[guardpig]

It depends on what you want.  Now our Lidl have put a massive(partbaked in store) bread area in.  That has left hardly any space for the old seasonal offer so it is all Xmas food and choccies etc.  Since their fruit and veg isn't a patch on the veggie stall I only go to Lidl if I particularly want something.  They used to be cheap, their meat was fab but now it is the same price or dearer than asda or tesco i shop where convenient. Basically i wouldn't even try to do a week's shop at Lidl but then I rarely manage a weeks shop anywhere.

Now where can I get FRESH non-Hovis bread from regularly?.  Our local shop's bread was so fresh it was practically straight out the oven, it still is but it's all Hovis!.  Local supermarkets are all a day behind the shop and it doesn't last as long(cheaper mind) and we reckon Lidl is 2 days behind!. Any recommendations?

[alisonsvintagechicboutique]

Do you mean a fresh granary loaf when you say 'Hovis'.  Sainsburys do a nice granary loaf on their bakery counter - in large and small size options.  You can get it cut but I always have a whole loaf.  I wish more places did granary french sticks/baguettes.  

[guardpig]

Nope, I mean the old fashioned plastic wrapped wholemeal, medium sliced, that fits nicely in the toaster and the sandwich bags LOL.  

OH has an odd stomach and granary loaves do not suit him or anything with seeds on top - we had a lovely bakery loaf from Asda back end of last week and he's had the runs for 4 days now. Neither him or son like doorstep sarnies and getting somebody to cut the loaf in our local supermarkets is like prying blood out of a stone.  The preferred loaf is warburtons but the lads will accept kingsmill.  Apparently the shop didn't have any call for Warburtons brown sliced - well since they only ordered 2 loaves a day, we bought one and the other one disappeared soon after it would naturally indicate that nobody wanted to buy them.

[guardpig]

Oh and Sainsburys is out despite being about 400 yards away because when they revamped the store they put lots of white, chrome and glass in and I can't keep either eye open long enough to find my way out.  

[duck_a_lorange]

Tesco and the Coop do Warburton's wholemeal, though I just buy the small loaf.

I like Lidl for fruit and veg, Mozzarella, tiramisu, and really excellent quality shelled Californian walnuts, better than M&S and cheaper too.

We only got a local Aldi recently. I like their tiramisu, sliced cheese, goat's cheese, ready to eat salmon, and some of their frozen meals, though they are too salty to have often. They also had really good (British) daffs and tulips in spring, but their flowers now aren't so fresh. The fruit is a bit variable, too.

[ilove2patch]

Whenever I go into Aldi I wonder why I don't go more often. I like lots of the things they sell so should make the effort.

[cat-knitter]

I like my Aldi .... its almost on my doorstep but hate the fact you can never nip in quickly for one or two things, they get so busy but still hardly ever have more than two tills open, you have to queue at the checkout for so long    I often wait until early evening rather than face the huge queues, the problem then is shelf fillers blocking the aisles ....... & empty shelves

[fionajohnston]

you're all making me jealous in shetland tesco where i work(and get a 10%discount) is 40 miles away and a smallish co-op which unfortunately has went down since tesco and thats it a ferry journey of 12hours to anywhere else

at least the scenery and peace makes up for it

[guardpig]

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@duck_a_lorange wrote:

Tesco and the Coop do Warburton's wholemeal, though I just buy the small loaf.

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Our local Tesco, Sainsburys, morrisons and Asda all do Warburtons and other brands but they are just not FRESH, ever.  The bread is always hard around the crusts and gets harder overnight and then OH only eats the middle bit and wants to know why I don't buy fresh bread. Reckon they are freezing it in storage because it is like the bread was at christmas when I was a lot younger.

[hansrey64]

I cannot stand lidl or aldi for food shopping. I rather stick with Morrisons!!