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Aldi.
A. It's cheaper and actually edible. Once was a snob now a convert of many years.
B. I prefer no choice. One beans. One sweet corn. Etc etc. Get overwhelmed if I go to a big supermarket these days.
Occasionally sainsbury's for bits and bobs. Always come out with one bag full that costs £60 and think to myself that in Aldi that would have filled a trolly.
Lidl, Tesco and Roys. Not necessarily in that order.
Each have their own merits.
Mostly Tesco but also Aldi (primarily for meat), I'd go to Aldi more but the car park is often full and I can't stop myself buying useless crap from the middle aisle. There's no local Deli or Independent baker/butcher unfortunately (would never do a full shop at a Deli but would be nice for some things)
Feel Sad that I'm the only one that uses Iceland.
I also very rarely go into our small co-op. It has decent bread when the family run bakery is shut.
Harrods Food Hall
Harrods Food Hall
😀
We bounce between Ocado and Sainsbury's. With Ocado we always get the free delivery slots and they use electric vehicles around here, which is far better than us winding up a 2.0l diesel for a 6 miles round trip to the Supermarket, not to mention the saving on our time.
If Mrs K has a week where she'll naturally drive past Sainsbury's she does that.
We actually find shopping with Ocado cheaper because we are slamming the "normal" shop on a list and not being attracted by instore offers / the small of *insert comfort & hunger promoting smell of your choice here*
Manchester's Unicorn
Feel Sad that I’m the only one that uses Iceland.
Bet you’re not.
They sell Greggs sausage rolls and steak bakes*
Binners’ll be all over that
*also Sausage Bean and Cheese melts which my oldest son is obsessed with.
Aldi, Sainsburys and Co-op are the only ones in town.
A big shop normally starts in Aldi as that's the favourite and far cheaper. Then next door to Sains for the few things that we can't find in Aldi.
Co-op only gets a visit on a Sunday evening when we realise there's not enough bread or milk for Monday morning.
And I can't go in a Lidl without buying one of the goats cheese and tomato flat bread things from the bakery. They were 2 for £1 this week. I was in heaven!
Morrisons for us, started doing it online as well. Feel it's the best blend of choice and price.
Worked for Sainsburys for a while, seemed to be the same as Tesco just more expensive..
Used to do the shop at Lidl, but found that the fruit and veg didn't last as long as elsewhere, so had to do a shop every 5 days, instead of weekly. Also seemed like every week there was something that I couldn't get in Lidl, so had to go to Tesco/Morrisons anyway.
In best to worst locally:
Lidl - quick in and out. Has most stuff. Bakery. Higher cocoa chocolate. Next to Majestic for booze.
Tesco/Sainsbury - ok, similar. Maybe Sainsbury's edges it as you don't have to faff with paying for parking then reclaiming at the checkout.
Waitrose - utter abomination. Your life will be destroyed by the passive-aggressive smugness of wicker-basket equipped shoppers dithering over some over-priced lifestyle nonsense. Avoid unless absolutely necessary.
Lidl - cos it's nearest mostly, but also due to having easily the best tomatoes, cheese and ham selection (at sensible prices, of course) as these are items I eat every day for luncheon.
Lidl, although the one we moved near to recently is crap. Aldi is nearby too but I don't like how they wrap 2x apples or carrots in plastic so if you need more you have to buy loads of plastic.
The lidl we used to go to was opposite a sainsburys, so we'd lidl shop and then pop over sainsburys for the odds and sods that lidl had run out/didn't sell.
Aldi for the big shop (plus who-knows-what from the Aisle of Mystery)
Sainsburys for the odd thing we can't get from Aldi.
The local Morrisons is head and shoulders above the rest for fresh fish though, so sometimes there, for fish.
Lidl have noticeably reduced the plastic packaging on their food (eg. pizzas (those huge, amazing, stonebaked ones) come with a cardboard base, instead of polystrene)
Favourite = Sainbury's. To maintain it's aspirational middle class status it's slightly more expensive than Tesco, but it's a nice enough shop, the tills are well staffed, it's now got Scan as you Shop which doesn't treat me like a crimial like the tesco version, honestly it's not a 'random check' if you do it everytime. The big bonus with Sains is their own-brand stuff is usually really good so I save a bit over Tesco over-all (who's own-brand it patchy). It also sells everything I need.
Least favourite = ASDA, I don't know what is is about ASDA near me, but it's the choice of the utter scum bag, the car park is a battle ground and people bash my car with their doors. It's own brand stuff is shit and on average seems more expensive than Tesco. The staff are plain rude and just lie to me when I ask for the location of stuff, claiming they don't sell it. It's also location on a HUGE (one of the largest in the world) roundabouts that's an agro as their capark.
Closest = Lidl, I've tried to use them, I know they're cheap and pay their staff well, but they don't sell everything I want (their own-brand squash is horrible) the queues ridiculous and I don't know why so many people rave about their booze, it's horrible.
The one I actually have to use = Tesco, it's massive, at the time of it's opening it was the largest supermarket in Europe, it sells everything I need but it's just huge and very loud, I can't go in without wearing headphones or I'll be on the verge of a panic attack the whole time. The scan as you shop seems to have declared me a master criminal and I use Clubcard points to buy tickets for Folly Farm.
For some reason I live in Supermarket central, with an Lidl, M&S, Aldi, Sainsbury, Morrison and Iceland all within 1 mile. I pass a big Tesco & ASDA on the way to work so I have the choice of all the big ones.
Aldi and Lidl just crap all over the rest these days. Better quality, better service, cheaper and more efficient shopping experience. I used to use Morrisons and Sainsburys a fair bit but find myself using them less and less, and only for a few select products that I can't get at Aldi/Lidl.
I often take the kids shopping with me, and Aldi & Lidl are just so much more pleasant
+ They are two of the few shops that offer clean, working trolleys that can take twins
+ The shop is not the size of a small county
+ They confine "pester power" products generally to the "Aisle of Dreams", this makes it easier to manage with small kids. Sainsburys in particular are ****s, and put toys and other cartoon branded crap all over the shop at kids eye level which makes the whole thing a grind. See also Lidl removing cartoon characters from sugary breakfast cereals.
Very roughly in percentage usage:
65% Aldi its 3 minutes walk from home & I drive past it on the way home, I'm almost a member of staff in there as I visit so often!
30% Sainsburys its 4 minutes walk from home and has an underground car park for those days when the weather is shite.
4% Lidl I can slightly alter my route home to pass it, slight twist on stuff you usually see in store as there is a large Eastern European population in the area
1% almost every other supermarket + the occasional visit to a local Chinese supermarket?
Since Carolyn died I tend to shop every day as I don't have to plan meals so much, still like to cook in bulk occasionally though.
They sell Greggs sausage rolls and steak bakes*
Binners’ll be all over that
We've an Iceland not too far away. As you walk in they have a massive freezer of Greggs stuff, next to it is another massive freezer full of Hollands pies
Its pretty much pastry nirvana
Aldi for me, Lidl is just as close but for some reason can't get on with it.
Popped into an Asda recently and was surprised by an announcement to say that they had 'over-stocked' and were therefore giving out free veg at the entrance, just help yourself 🙂 . Have never come across that before (got some carrots and sprouts).
I go to any of them but I do like Booths in Windermere when on holiday down there.
Scotmid ( co op) was always my prefered option because of it environmental policies but now tesco took over my local scotmid and indeed scotmid seems to have got out of the large supermarket sector. Tesco I loathe for political reasons but its the only supermarket within walking distance apart from Lidl . No independent shops within walking distance.
the lidl is good for some stuff but some stuff I have to either go to tescos or go a lot further
Morrison's is handiest, although I do like a bit of artisinal sourdough, pork pies and chorizo from Booths in Ilkley when I'm passing.
We also have Keelham Farm Store, which is the closest Skipton gets to a Waitrose.
I have ASDA, Tesco Extra, Aldi and Lidl all within a mile of my house. Sainsbury's and Morrisons are the next town over, and Booths in Clitheroe is just far enough away to be inconvenient which is good otherwise I'd need to sell a kidney.
I mostly use Tesco. Occasionally ASDA as it's nominally closer but their car park is appallingly designed, you have to go round almost the entire thing to get in and out which is a nightmare at peak times (exacerbated by minicab drivers who give zero shits about anyone else and will cheerfully block off the one route out of the place).
I've only been in Aldi a couple of times and it confuses me. I don't think I've ever set foot in Lidl. I keep meaning to give them a proper trial but have never got around to doing so.
yak - don't know which waitrose you're referring but I've used 4 of their stores on a regular basis for 25 years and can't recall ever seeing anyone there with a wicker basket.
As for 'over-priced lifestyle nonsense' the product ranges of the full service major supermarkets are almost interchangeable with little variation.
Yes, there are differences in quality of some products - Asda & Tesco have notably bad meat and fish offerings.
Tell me what over-priced lifestyle nonsense I should look out for when I'm in waitrose later today; will report back on availability.
Will also check out prevalence of wicker baskets.
Whenever I can, Booths. Bloody brilliant.
Not set foot in Waitrose since they failed to give me a reasonable explanation of why they re-scanned my self-scam basket 3 times in a row. Obviously that is hurting them 🙂
Sainsbury’s now. There is an Aldi but it’s a shit hole.
Fringe joke from a few years ago............if you want to feel slim and good looking, go shopping in ASDA.
Morrisons and Tesco for us using mostly branded stuff. Used to be 95% Tesco until Evans stopped the Clubcard vouchers.... Not much to choose between them but in our town the Tesco tends to be better stocked but not have quite as much range. Mozzers is probably a touch cheaper.
We have a Aldi. Hateful place, gave up after a couple of visits. I'd also argue that you can shop as cheaply in the rivals if you stick to own brands like you are made to do at Aldi. Every shop I did there resulted in stopping at Tesco/Mozzers on the way home to pick up something Aldi doesn't stock. Can not see the appeal.
I used to like Sainsbury's as the shops are generally well kept and the products seemed of a higher quality that justified the premium. Not sure that's the case now.
Asda is full of people who don't wash their hair according to my wife (Harrogate and Keighley).
Booths are very nice, probably my favourite but also far too expensive to use for the weekly.
Waitrose is expensive like Booths and some of their products are lovely but unlike Booths their shops look like 20 year old Tesco's (Harrogate and Otley).
We also have Keelham Farm Store, which is the closest Skipton gets to a Waitrose.
Oooooo, yeah, forgot Keelham. Lovely spot and highly recommended if you are passing Skipton on the by-pass. The boxes of off-cut ham are lovely and great value, as are the pies.
Booths is a step above all others.
I think it depends on the service you receive local to you...
For example, our local Morrison’s is awful, it’s feels dark, almost dingy, cramped & the majority of people in there seemingly go in there to use the Cafe, which is....ok.
Our local Tesco Extra on the other hand is, in my opinion, very good. It’s spacious, usually well stocked & the staff are very pleasant & friendly. It’s not an unpleasant place to go. It has s brilliant ability to rinse you if cash, but then they all do to some degree.
I think for most folk you’ll subconsciously veer towards somewhere that “feels right” for you & then get used to it. And that’s a combination of factors, your first impression being important.
Food quality regionally can differ widely, especially fruit & veg. The fruit & veg in my local Aldi & Lidl is poor, little choice & it just doesn’t last as long. Yet we’ve used Aldi & Lidl when away on holiday & they’ve been excellent, yet some Tesco branches are crap. (The one in Aviemore...dear lord).
I quite like CoOp of late, staff always seem busy but friendly & their food is decent. Locally, I prefer Lidl to Aldi but our local Aldi is just not a pleasant place to be. The staff are treated like slaves, (my niece works there). Our local Lidl is very good, bakery is excellent & staff always seemed friendly. But it’s only just turned a year old & I’ve heard a few say they are losing that customer focus that our local Tesco seem to have kept.
We have a smaller tesco near us, I use that, sells everything I need apart from Aubergine pickle which I pick up from Sainsbury on way home....oh hang on, I have a new job? Arse.
Used to use a medium sized Sainsbury's for over 25 years as it was 5 minutes walk and had everything you wanted without being like an aircraft hanger. Moved a mile and half away a few years ago so now live just off a road which supposedly has the most independent shops of any road in the UK, so now much of my shopping is done at the local greengrocer, fishmonger, baker, butcher etc. The one downside is that the only supermarkets are a couple of smallish Co-ops and a couple of Sainsbury's / Tesco Locals, otherwise its a shortish drive to an average Tesco and Waitrose or a newly opened Lidl and Aldi (why do they seem to site them almost next to each other?). Of the big 4 my preference is still Sainsbury's followed by Morrisons which I used when I worked nearby.
Just popped into the aircraft hangar that is Cheadle Royal's Sainsbury. I needed wine and was passing. I reckon the prices were higher than my usual Waitrose.