Cheap supermarkets

[idun]

I cannot say I don't use them, because I do sometimes, just not that often.

I prefer Lidl to Aldi though, although Aldi have in the past sold some half decent table wines.

And Aldi's apparently award winning mince pies, I found truly disgusting beurk!! And there have been other things I have found to be of a standard that is not acceptable in my house.

I like to shop around, love bargains too, but 'cheap' supermarkets are not necessarily my thing.

[andyh4]

I don't have a cheap Supermarket locally, but still make a point of diverting to Lidl once every 3-4 weeks.

If I were in the UK I would expect to prefer Aldi over Lidl, but here in France the preference is the reverse. I think I have explained before that Aldi is split into 2 companies and France is aligned to one and the UK to the other. In Germany we were in the area of the company that now has the UK under its wing and found it very good. On an occasional visit to the "other" one I was disappointed, as I am in France.

Visiting infrequently my purchases are directed to items that I know and enjoy - so these include things like Lidl's 4 ply toilet paper (oh how important are the most "unimportant" things in life), their bacon pieces that can be sliced for a Sunday breakfast, Frickadelle, Parmesan cheese, German sausages and if the visit coincides, perhaps something from their WIGIG range - White Balsamic vinegar, mango chutney, occasionally tools (I have most of what I need now), sometimes clothing, Christmas decorations.

Not everything they have suits me and we are into the arena of personal preferences. I find their washing detergent quite good, but their washing up liquid thin and rapidly consumed.

And that I think sums up the use of cheap supermarkets. Some of the things they have will suit you, some won't. And your choices might be very different to mine. If you have the means most will want to augment their cheap supermarket purchases with those from more expensive outlets. And let's be clear, sometimes the cheap supermarket offering can be more expensive than the regular offering. We could spend our entire lives investigating, researching, testing and comparing and in the end......................

................ I would rather relax a bit and accept that sometimes I could have bought a better product for 2c cheaper somewhere else.

[Judith]

Like Andy, I find the loo rolls better quality as well as better priced in the cheap supermarkets, and so far it's has been Aldi for ease of access ... but I recently visited Lidl (in France) with my sister who likes it in the UK, and found it had improved considerably since my last visit several years ago, and so that may be on the list now too.  However, almost all my day-to-day shopping is done in my local Casino supermarket, mainly  because Lidl and Aldi and the larger Carrefour all necessitate a longer trip, so do it when must rather than weekly and for things that Casino don't stock.  It is a medium sized supermarket, not the smallest, and not the largest, and as I personally know the directors, it's good to call in and see them too.

[DraytonBoy]

We usually split our shop between Lidl and Leclerc who are only 200m apart, thinking about it we are quite spoilt with four supermarkets and Noz all within 10 - 15 mins of home.

[Chancer]

Have the choice of Lidl, Aldi, Intermarché hyper, Super-U, Casino and Netto within a mile.

 

I never use the big 2 except for something special or specific that I cant find in the ard discoonters.

 

Both Lidl and Aldi have moved from the town centre to flagship new stores on the rocade, lidl was on my doorstep before but I am happy that I now have to drive as I dont get the drunken cassoces with their cannettes of 9.6% lager brawling on my doorstep any more, the new Lidl is quite honestly superb as big as the biggest grand surfaces management parachuted in and now te staff who to be fair were always hard working are polite and attentive, it has a superb boulangerie/patisserie (of no interest to me) and a really nice foyer with seating and the best coffee ever for 50cts you can also get a free 20 minute charge of your electric vehicle while you are shopping.

 

The Aldi has nothing to offer, its just bigger than it was but no different apart from selling allegedly fresh bread, I only go there for my coffee dosettes.

 

All my cleaning materials for the apartments come from Netto with the washing machine detergent and the 4 ply loo rolls from Lidl, and yes they are really good!

 

What i like about Lidl and Aldi is their "one need, one product" strategy, I hate having whole aisles of yoghurts etc in the grand surfaces, Lild and Aldi will sell but one, it will usually be the best quality and the best price.

[idun]

Good friends of mine go to Aldi once a month and buy all their cleaning products, including clothes washing products.

So I decided to give their clothes stuff a whirl.

My son and I were making his bed up, and I started sniffing the air, and asked if he had puked in his bedroom and not cleaned up. He got uppety and said no, and we continued making the bed, it was then that I smelt the quilt cover and it was that...... and so I sniffed the clean fitted sheet we had just put on and that was the same.

Same same with my bedding.

Everyone assures me that they have never had this problem, but I have not got a strong stomach and nearly threw up myself with the sickly sick odour.

Had trouble getting rid of the smell, but managed in the end and never had the problem  since or before, come to that.

Getting a bit 'sick' of friends making suggestions about this, but what is there to say, it happened, c'est tout...... but won't be again[:-))]

I will try Lidl toilet paper....... just wondering though......... is it OK for fosse septiques in France........ ?

[Théière]

Idun, have to agree about Aldi's award winning mince pies. The pastry was under done, 25 mins in the oven improved them no end. We also had an odour from some washing product but that was from one of the regular super markets. Lidl UK's luxury muesli is way above other more expensive shops. The Turkish yogurt was also cheaper and far better than Waitrose offered. France of course is a different fish kettle, bags of nuts twice the price of UK.