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

https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/38-piece-angle-bracket-set-instore-aldi-from-sunday-10th-feb-299-1467906

Do they do time machines?

one day……….

maybe you could build your own

https://www.aldi.co.uk/3d-printer

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.