Is lidl/aldi a rubbish quality food store?

unwashed potato!

unwashed potato!

unwashed potato!

Soldato
Joined
12 Feb 2006
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Surrey
I'd never tried either before but always curious because they get plenty of chatter. Tried I think lidl for the first time a few weeks back. Just for snacks, not a proper shop. I bought lidl version fo hula hoops. Terrible quality, horrible feeling in my mouth. I bought soreen malt loath lidl version. I couldn't eat more than 2 pieces before throawing it away. I tried 2 only because I felt obliged to keep going but it was so bad and dry and nasty.

I bought something else I forgot now and that too wasn't good.

So am I just doing it wrong or are those stores really just cheap quality food? I thought the discounts came from the way the store is runand the unbranded food. But seems on those I tried I was wrong and the ingredients are just rubbish and poor quality

Should I avoid the copy cat items? What can people recommend?
 
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It can be a bit hit & miss. Aldi is definitely better than Lidl. I buy loads of fresh veg and stuff from them as it's generally quite good, and their sirloin steaks are also good.

Also, their fake Dominos garlic dips in the fridge section are *chef's kiss*

I also buy loads of cold drinks there, the orange stuff is quite good.

Also Aldi's toilet paper is the best, the purple one.
 
Some of their frozen stuff is great and one of them (i always get them mixed up) has a 10/10 BBQ sauce that tastes like the old McDonalds BBQ sauce.

I find they fall short on fresh produce though. The meat, veg and fruit always feels a step behind other stores.
 
For Lidl at least their Deluxe range is usually very good, especially for cured meats, cheeses, sausages, olives etc.

Their weekly specials are often pretty good, and their fresh fruit and veg is pretty comparable to other super markets.

I don't really buy much in the way of snacks or overly processed foods so I can't really comment on that... apart from their Magnum/Solero knock offs which are great and about 1/2 the cost.

Also buy their knock off Fanta/7Up and they're pretty good.

The fry up I just had for dinner (don't judge me) was entirely from Lidl:

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It's totally hit and miss some stuff is absolute garbage other stuff is epic.

The big delux stone baked pizza's in the chilled section, best supermarket pizza's. As mentioned above, the fake Fanta is great, cheese generally good, meat generally fine and bakery generally fine.

Their Jordans Country Crisp cereal knock off, bad, the Tesco own brand version is miles better. Some sauses we have had have been bad, I tend to avoid the really cheap processed food generally and some of it just looks bad.

I see people say the fruit and veg is good but that really isn't my experience. The quality isnt as good as the big supermarkets, tends to be smaller and its not really any cheaper and it doesn't seem to last as long.

For me the issue comes back to my first line, its the inconsistency. You could pick up some stuff you've not had before and it could be epic, it could be garbage and it ruin your meal. You roll the dice every time you shop.
 
If you have a newborn, the Aldi baby range of stuff is brilliant and far cheaper than other brands.
Most of the Aldi equivalent products are pretty close, or close enough that you don't mind the lower prices.

As others have said, try stuff out and see. I hate their pesto, but their squash concentrates are bang-on, for example.
 
ttaskmaster said:
If you have a newborn, the Aldi baby range of stuff is brilliant and far cheaper than other brands.
Most of the Aldi equivalent products are pretty close, or close enough that you don't mind the lower prices.

As others have said, try stuff out and see. I hate their pesto, but their squash concentrates are bang-on, for example.
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+1 on the children's range in Aldi, the nappies are by far the best too.
 
I generally am fine with the quality in Aldi but then I buy little processed food. An exception is their ultimate burger. Cereals, biscuits, fresh meats, lamb and beef, fish, cheese are all of the same quality as elsewhere and quite a bit cheaper in some instances. I buy my weekly beer and occasional scotch or port which again are good quality and reasonably priced. I do go to a bakers for my bread and also the local market for sausage and some veg.
Whatever fits in my bicycle basket.
 
ttaskmaster said:
If you have a newborn, the Aldi baby range of stuff is brilliant and far cheaper than other brands.
Most of the Aldi equivalent products are pretty close, or close enough that you don't mind the lower prices.

As others have said, try stuff out and see. I hate their pesto, but their squash concentrates are bang-on, for example.
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What do you need for a new born that aldi sell? Mine is now 6 months. But I can't see how aldi would sell my partners breast milk any cheaper than she makes it :p
 
I normally shop at Asda as we don;t have a lot of choice near me

As I go twice a week I know most of prices, decided to try Aldi and was really surprised that is was noticeably more expensive, also they had less choice but a lot of the fresh stuff appeared better quality
 
Yeh, no problems with Aldi here.

Been shopping there for years, meat, beer, cheese, vegetables, etc, all good.

One exception is their Xmas turkeys, had a bad one a couple of years ago, and a quick Google suggests it's a recurring theme.
 
Junglist said:
I find they fall short on fresh produce though. The meat, veg and fruit always feels a step behind other stores.
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Funnily enough I find Aldi fresh stuff better than Tesco, and Asda I think.

My local tesco where I shop the most often the quality of the meat is terrible, pumped up full of salt water and expensive.
 
A lot of Aldi / Lidl stuff is just rebadged. Fruit and veg is good but may have a shorter shelf life. Meat is the same as most other places. Cheese can be hit and miss, they clearly do not use the same supplier all the time. Sometimes the extra mature cheddar is top, sometimes not so good. Juice, frozen stuff, yoghurt etc all the same as elsewhere.
 
Some stuff good, some stuff less so. Our experience is the opposite to @Diddums x being that stuff from Lidl is better quality than our Aldis.
Quality side, we generally like their stuff too in terms of taste, more so than a lot of the other supermarkets. And their Italian meats are pretty good.
 
Kelt said:
Yeh, no problems with Aldi here.

Been shopping there for years, meat, beer, cheese, vegetables, etc, all good.

One exception is their Xmas turkeys, had a bad one a couple of years ago, and a quick Google suggests it's a recurring theme.
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We took a punt on an Aldi 'Deluxe Bronxe Norfolk Turkey Crown' last Christmas and it was really good for £30. We have a local producer of Turkeys which cost over £100 and they were not as good as this one.
 
It's a totally different proposition buying, say, a sirloin steak - which at the end of the day can only differ so much, to purchasing something that's pretending to be a Twix.

Part of it is that you've got so used to the product tasting exactly that way that anything else feels off. I drank a fair amount of diet coke as a kid, so full sugar Coca Cola to me tastes awful, just totally unpleasant and sticky. Doesn't mean it's bad, just what I'm used to.

Most of what I buy in Aldi are raw ingredients, I've tried a few branded knock-offs and probably 30% of the time I'm happy to swap out to that, but nowhere near 100%.
 
I've not used either in a few years, not because I found their food poor, but because getting home delivery became a priority. I found some of their grub super smashing great!

But since long covid, neither of us have the energy to wander to the supermarket to do food shopping in person.
 
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