I seem to shop at Lidl more and more these days as its convenient and great value. Clearly there are many products based on the major brands that can be just as good or even better than those they seek to copy. So thought we could all share a few tips on what to buy:
Lidl
The box of Magnum type lollys for around 6 for £1.89....bloody excellent!
orange marmalade is v good.
Oaties....(choc hobnobs) were particularly excellent.
Cherry bakewells...suprisingly almondy and delicious
South African Sauv blanc wine....quite drinkable!
ALDI
dont go there much but their Twix equivilants are every bit as good. (much better than the lidl option)
Have you spotted I have a sweet tooth! 🙁
Anyway, what are your faves??
Aldi:
Spill the Beans Coffee Porter - Lovely drop
Corale Baked Beans - Better than Heinz imo.
The box of Magnum type lollys for around 6 for £1.89….bloody excellent!
Yes but like most Aldi / Lidl stuff the quantity is smaller, not quite the same value
Aldi do great wine and a German Pils lager and of course their award winning Gin. The wife likes their Prosseco too (but good Prosseco tastes crap to me)
Their Skyr yoghurts
Their tools are very good for the price, and for the casual DIY'er you need to look no further
Meat, in particular their Spatchcock chickens and Sirloin roasting joints
Fruit and veg is perfectly acceptable, but just don't buy in bulk
Their versions of popular cereals and their super fruit and super nutty granola is lovely
Their versions of Tunnocks wafter bars, but its worth paying the small amount extra fro proper Tunnocks Teacakes
Their versions of Snickers are probably better than proper Snickers
There coffee beans are perfectly fine...as good as anything else I've had, but then I'm not a particular coffee connoisseur.
Lidl baked goods. Mmmmmm I’m salivating now...
The singularly unappetisingly named ‘low GI loaf’ is actually remarkably tasty; I’d heartily recommend it. I love all of their sweet confectionery, freshly done croissants are a particular high point.
Aldi pizza is way better than anything other supermarkets sell.
Lidl Own Brand ale is really, really nasty ... Hatherwood. Bought 6 bottles as I believed it would be good ....
Lidl Hortus Gin is very good (as is the Bourbon).
Lidl's potato sticks sour cream n chive are brilliant ...
Aldi everything is nearly always at least as good, and in many cases better than branded. Better distribution and they go straight to the factory so no expensive brand overheads to pay for. Brands that don’t offer something extra will be dead in the water in the next 10 years.
Lidl/Gelatelli Cornish Ice Cream is i think the best of the supermarket own brand cornish ice creams.
Also thing the nuts & dried fruit are good vfm in lidl...do like the Trail mix
Aldi Melton Mowbray pork pie. From the specially selected range great value.
Lidl tinned tomatoes are unbelievably good,
Aldi NZ pinot noir, like a burgundy without the pricetag
Aldi 12yr old Glen Marnoch whisky @£22 is a decent tipple
Aldi do copy's of stoats poridge bars which after some investigation are made by stoats but use margarine (with responsibly sourced palm oil ) rather than butter in the stoats one.
But are 1.69 for 4(2.49 for the stoats) and tasty . Good for in the frame bag for long rides.
Lidl wine is generally pretty good, a mate of ours is their wine consultant, and he sends us alerts when there's something particularly good coming in, the cremant de Boudeaux they had a few weeks ago was better than most champagnes and £7.99 a bottle.
They have his picture & brief tasting notes against some of their wines. A couple of years ago they had a life size cardboard cutout of him in store, when they'd finished with it we asked if we could have it. Next time he visited we had it standing in the hall when he arrived.
Aldi and Lidl vintage ciders,both 7.3 %,made by Westons,Lidl 500ml £1.15,Aldi 750ml £1.69,both very nice.
Hobgoblin gold £1.25 in aldi £1.80 anywhere else.
Lidl:
cold meats are better and cheaper than other supermarkets.
Bite Size Wheat Shreds (how do they think up these names!?) the same as the big brand but mucho cheaper
"Deluxe" I think they call it, with the black label, steaks are superb
Deluxe Orange juice with bits tastes better than than any other orange juice except freshly squeezed!
Red wine- Rioja with the grey label. Can't get enough of it.
I don't think their own brand ice cream is quite up there, but the best is the box of mini-Magnum type lollies
Agree about the Hatherwoods beers - the one with No.1 on the cap is my fave.
No idea how much individual things cost, but my shop is always about £20 cheaper than the equivalent in Sainsbury's. And I can ride to Lidls and dump it all in my trailer 🙂
Lidl black forest ham, stilton, orange not from concentrate wi the bits and with my grinder set properly their kilo bags of beans give a cracking crema for my flat white
angle brackets:
2 quid each in B&Q
https://www.diy.com/departments/hardware/brackets/angle-brackets/DIY580661.cat (i know b&q silly expensive)
38 pack of angle brackets £2.99 in Aldi
Do they do time machines?
They both sell a single malt Islay whisky for less than £20.
+1 for the vintage cider.
Plenty of nice dark chocolate in both Lidl and Aldi. I like the chilli flavour.
Also sorbets, mango or lemon or a few other flavours in Lidl.
Lidl sometimes have peanut flips, which are like peanut wotsits, they are great.
Didn't we do this about two months ago?
Anyway:
Lidl Perlenbacher Pils, chocolate ice cream, bratwurst (for making currywurst), German ham, Low GI fresh bread, double chocolate doughnuts, chocolate hazelnut croissants, fruit & veg.
Aldi fresh orange juice
Didn’t we do this about two months ago?
Yup.
Lidl rollmop herrings; coated peanuts; chunky ham slices; malties cereal.
Aldi 2 litre diet coke for 20p a bottle.
... Must start using them both again, getting drawn in to the "easy option" of the more local Sainsburys and the discount vouchers they send me eg. this week and last, £8 off a £40 shop.
Melksham has had both for some years, while Chippenham has had to make do with Sainsburys and Morrisons, both are too far to be convenient enough to walk to, with a reasonable size Tesco in the town centre and an Iceland not far from that. At last Lidl are building a new store about half a mile along the road from me, and Aldi are going to build a store near the station! Huzza! Spoilt for choice, it seems. 😄
Didn’t we do this about two months ago?
Yup.
sorry.... missed that! Anyway, agree on the Perlenbacher pils and that GI bread. Also, try the tomato soup, I wasn’t sure about first, but now prefer it to Heinz.
Aldi Cinnamon Square cereal.
Absolutely foul.
Lidl. Thier own brand dolce gusto capsules are a bargain.
Aldi. Most stuff is really good. The fresh pizza is next level
Aldi's restretto and lungo nespresso pods, currently going for £1:60 for 10
Fully agree with whoever mentioned the spill the beans coffee porter...its really good (made by Brains Brewery btw)
The ciabattas are good too
The things to avoid or be careful off is the bags of salad which appear to have a shelf life that can be measured in minutes, their equivalent of Soreen loaf is somewhat inedible and the Muller-Lite clone yoghurts which were quite frankly horrible (and the trauma of that experience hasn't worn off yet meaning I haven't tried the Skyr stuff yet)
their equivalent of Soreen loaf is somewhat inedible
Agree with you there, some things they still need to improve on.
the lidl deluxe spicy salami sourdough pizza is spot on.
Aldi’s restretto and lungo nespresso pods, currently going for £1:60 for 10
This^^^^ fraction of the cost of bigger brands
Didn’t we do this about two months ago?
Yup.
And then some.
Anyhow, in the spirit, their (Aldi) ground coffee seems to have improved from a few years ago.
as above you generally have to be aware that sometimes it's just smaller size that makes it appear cheaper than elsewhere. Having said that Aldi £1.59 microwave curry range is cheap and tasty enough for occasional lunch at work and just the right portion size for me.
Not been in a Lidl yet
Aldi's 'Norpak' is a much cheaper but identical version of Lurpak butter/spread. Also their 50p 'Hike' protien/energy bars are pretty tasty; I take one on most rides.
<p>Foil ready meals are exactly the same as ones found in Morrisons but with different sleeve. In fact most stuff is probably rolling out the same factories as elsewhere.</p><p></p><p>Definitely a bit of shenanigans going on at Lidl though, two bottles of fabric conditioner sitting next to each other, old one is 80 washes, new one is 60. Only difference appears to be how much they are telling you to put in. Sneaky.</p>
Lidl's purple ground coffee is awesome. The South African pinotage is good too.
Avoid stuff with palm oil/fat in it though, please. Check the ingredients, it only takes 30s or so.
Lidl Own Brand ale is really, really nasty … Hatherwood. Bought 6 bottles as I believed it would be good
It was designed and originally brewed by Wytchwood, although I believe its now brewed by another part of Marstons.
The ruby ale is a slightly weaker version of the original cask Hobgoblin before the recipe change.
The ones to avoid are any Shepard's Neam beers that you only see in Lidl as it always seems rubbish.
Aldi coffee is rank. So is their gin and tonic. Meat seems good, yoghurts, fruit and veg ok.
Aldi’s restretto and lungo nespresso pods
The Lidl ones are crap though, at least in my machine. Taste OK, just that the plastic pods don't work very well.
Castle and Crag single grain whisky £10.99 isn't bad at all. <span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">Love their dry roasted peanuts. Microwave brown rice, quinoa and bulgar wheat for 90p. They do a nice Madras curry sauce too.</span>
Baked Beans, as they are Euro beanz so actually taste a bit tomatoey rather than just sugar.
Lidl low GI cob is farkin awesometastic!
tinas: Shepherd Neame ie Bishops Finger IIRC, not tried that, their 1698 is definitely not rubbish but I have never seen that in Aldi. It's petty strong, normally pop over the road into Aldi for beers as they have a good selection on offer.
aldi do sell Tribute for £1.29 a bottle which is fast becoming my standard beer as i find it very pleasant and universally drinkable now Waitrose have stopped doing Wold Gold and only sell Scarborough Fair.
The Lidl ones are crap though, at least in my machine. Taste OK, just that the plastic pods don’t work very well.
Recently revised pod design has a foil cap top and bottom - so they now work a lot better than they used to. I reckon that the Modena Lungo ones (blue/black cube packaging) make a good-enough cup of coffee for the office at a reasonable price.
Recently revised pod design has a foil cap top and bottom
They might not have made it to Spain yet, pretty sure at least the top is plastic still here.
tinas: Shepherd Neame ie Bishops Finger IIRC, not tried that, their 1698 is definitely not rubbish but I have never seen that in Aldi. It’s petty strong, normally pop over the road into Aldi for beers as they have a good selection on offer.
You missed the bit
The ones to avoid are any Shepard’s Neam beers that you only see in Lidl as it always seems rubbish.
Bishops finger and 1698 are both great beers. 4-4-2 which I've only sen in lidl makes budweiser seem to have taste. Dunno if it's just how they dispose of stock or if Lidl set a price and they just brew to it but there have been a few horrible Shepards neame beers in there.
ahh not seen that, the only one I remember seeing in one of those stores is the purple logo of Bishops Finger in Aldi.
Aldi champagne
£10 and I like it as much as some £30 bottles I’ve tried (I’m no expert though!)
In fact if I’m going to a friends for dinner I’ll often take a bottle to make it look like I’m wealthier/more generous than I actually am
The beers vary by area. They have a decent range of William Bros beer here. Seems there's a few made exclusively for Aldi - had a "Re#Dial" tonight, quite drinkable anyway.
The boxed Jaffa cakes at Aldi are soooo much nicer than the Mcvities equivalent.
Lidl -
Stoopwafel - pack of 10 is £1.50 or less
Chocolate - pretty much all their bars of chocolate are excelllent. The milk fruit and nut gets a lot of buys
Greek yoghurt with coconut.
Sourdough loaf (though they’ve nearly always sold out when I go in)
The Wheat Beer they’re stocking at the moment is good (though the non alcoholic version isnt)
well I'm just excited that I get an Aldi opening just down the road from work on the 23/8. This means I don't have to drive 8 miles to one which sort of wipes out all the possible savings!
Our Aldi has just been refitted, now it's nicer inside than the Sainsbury's over the road from it. Sainsbury's tired and there are always checkout queues.
We still have to get a few things in Sainsbury's and it takes just as long to get 30 items as the 40 odd we get in Aldi.
The boxed Jaffa cakes at Aldi are soooo much nicer than the Mcvities equivalent.
+1 We bought some McVities ones last week and they are so stodgy compared to Aldi ones, the main ingredient is Glucose-Fructose syrup too (although to be fair that's the reason for not getting preserves or Squash at Aldi as they are full of it).
not sure if i posted this here before but......
in Aldi and there was a guy restocking their own brand herbs n spices. he was wearing a Schwarz branded fleece. when I asked if he was moonlighting, he stuttered a bit saying he should have changed before coming in but he'd been in the Tesco over the road. Apparently, the Aldi stuff is made in the same factory in France as the Schwarz ztuff.
Lidl islay blend single malt (Ben Bracken) is betterer than the Aldi one, but both worth a shout at £17.95
If I run out of raw food for the dog Aldi whole chickens are a great value substitute. Don't know what that says about the quality of the chickens, but I don't think I'd eat one........
Lidl Herring fillets in Apple and cream sauce are a lunchtime favourite.
ldi stuff is made in the same factory in France as the Schwarz ztuff
oh man Schwarz isnt even German then
its all lies!
