Aldi, i just dont get it.

[feelathome]

I've heard so much great stuff about Aldi. So a few months ago decided to give it a try. We usually spend between £60-70 a week in Tesco or asda. Went to Aldi and spent....... £63. No saving at all. Decided to give it another try, after reading so many people on here manage to save so much money. So, went along today, found it v stressful as the till assistant practically threw the stuff at us down the conveyor belt. Finally git to pay and ........ £63 again. What am I doing wrong?

[rwepi]

Are you buying their own brand stuff or the things you recognise?

[sonlypuppyfat]

You're on your own aldi is fab

[expatinscotland]

I use Lidl as we have no Aldi near us. Big savings, especially if you go in the evening and get reduced meat (which I freeze).

[Artandco]

Same. I went to aldi spent £47 on nothing to make a meal! Just odd bit of cereal, some interesting looking snacks etc

Spent £92 at Waitrose for x2 weeks worth of meals. Mainly organic/ free range.

So £200 a month for nothing really at Aldi v £200 for everything at waitrose

[feelathome]

I think its all own brand, isn't it? I really need to save money, help!!!

[LackaDAISYcal]

ArtandCo, if you spent all that on interesting snacks and nothing for a meal, then surely that's not ALDIs fault?

I can do our weekly shop there for two plus three including packed lunch stuff for around £75. I need to go to one of the big four for gluten free stuff for me.

ALDI is limited in that there isn't as much choice as other supermarkets, but they have all the basics (as well as some lovely sweets/snacks/biscuits) and its perfectly possible to shop there exclusively and save money. The secret is in meal planning around what they sell.

[Artandco]

Have you tried ocado? Try an online shop and see what you get it at. They price much tesco and have both ocado and Waitrose own. How many people and what's your budget aim?

[rwepi]

I think if you always buy supermarket basic ranges prices will be broadly similar in Ali/lidl but imo the quality if what you're getting for the money will be much better in Aldi - comparable with the premium brands in other supermarkets

[Ruprekt]

I think you should meal plan and just buy what you need without looking at the booze section or being sidetracked.

Meatless meals like jacket potato with cheese and coleslaw, pizza, frittata etc

[TheRobberBride]

I cut my grocery bills by at leat a third when I started shopping at Lidl/Aldi instead of the big supermarkets.

What sort of things were you buying? Honstly I've never heard of anyone not managing to save money by switching to Aldi

[Artandco]

Lack - sure but if I can spend £90 ish for x2 weeks for 4 people, surely Aldi can't be that cheaper?

Or does it depend on what you buy? We mainly buy fresh fruit/ veg/ meat and fish. Very little in any of the other aisles

[feelathome]

two adults, two kids. Budget aim is just to cut down a bit, would love to spend about £50 a week instead of £60-70. Don't really want to meal plan, was just hoping to shop somewhere cheaper. Used to shop at sainsburys now Tesco, occasionally asda, but I find their fruit and veg has v short shelf life.

[mrsminiverscharlady]

Good. Aldi is getting far too busy for my liking.

[feelathome]

last week I put my Tesco receipt through mysupermarket to check other prices. Asda, Aldi and Tesco came out within pennies of each other. Perhaps its just the things we buy. Not much meat, a couple of frozen meals, lunch box stuff, cereal, fruit and beg, pasta, rice etc

[HombreLobo]

I don't know whether it's just the ones local to me but I find Aldi really frustrating. They're always out of stock of basic sort of things and no other brands/alternatives to buy. Recently I've been and they had no frozen peas/lasagne sheets/onions/potatoes!

[LumpySpacePrincessOhMyGlob]

Do you have a veg box scheme near you? I use on wand that saves loads, plus it's all local veg. To be honest if you are serious about saving you need to meal plan.

[Iris445]

Aldi is not much cheaper than buying tesco basics range, the quality is so much better though.

I couldn't feed us for £60 in tesco, well I couldn't feed us well. I buy lots of fruit, veg and basics. I don't buy processed food.

You would Need to list what you bought for us to understand where you went wrong.
I would be amazed if you couldn't save money in aldi, seriously.

[feelathome]

DH cooks, no way I can convince him to meal plan. He won't even use a shopping list, hence we currently have 12 tomatoes, two boxes of mushrooms and no bread!

[rwepi]

Agree to only way to make big savings,unless you're buying lots of luxuries, is to buy less. With meal planning its astounding how much less you buy

[Bubbles1066]

If you already buy supermarket value or own brand stuff you won't notice much difference between Aldi and the other supermarkets in terms of price. Morrisons value beans and Aldi own brand beans etc are the same price. Where you save is if you normally buy brands. I buy value everything but still go to Aldi as well as Morrisons as Aldi things are often nicer than supermarket value. If you can't get a supermarket value or own brand, Aldi will nearly always be cheaper than a brand. There are other savings too; Aldi lentils are 20p cheaper than Morrisons own brand etc.

[Rattitude]

OP, were you led astray by Aldi's middle aisles?

[Iris445]

^^
batch cooking can save you loads.
Home cooking can save you loads over processed.
Switching supermarket.

Meal planning will help but it's not the only way to save money.

[feelathome]

No rattitude, nothing from those odd middle isles. I'll dig out the receipt later and check exactly what we got. We usually get Tesco own brand perhaps that's why we are not seeing a difference

[feelathome]

ok, this is the list of what we brought today:
milk, flour, greek yogurt (wouldn't usually get his, but it was sooo much cheaper then anywhere else) coleslaw, lasagne sheets, potato wedges, cheese, cliced chicken breast, meat free burgers, eggs, gammon, tortilla crisps, wine, tissues, raisins, meatballs, lasagne sauce, fisherman's pie, baby sweetcorn, wraps, apricots, houmus, tuna, mushrooms, washing up liquid, fromage frias, potatoes, tins of sweetcorn, apples, cauliflower, cannellini beans, pack of salad, pineapple slices, tomaotes, museli, fish fingers, ciabatta, chocolate coins (for xmas stockings), cold relief capsules, fruit juice, pasta, kidney beans, small juice cartons for lunch boxes, soft cheese, kitchen roll, washing liquid, tomato puree, passaa, baked beans, cat food, mushy peas, grapes, carrots, shreddies, bananas, oliveoil, onions, bagles.

i know its not all fresh produce to cook from scratch, but it is the same as we buy elsewhere. the point was to save money on our shopping, not to change the way we shop/cook/eat.

am i a lost cause?

[Artandco]

That sounds like quiet a lot of food tbh.

Our online shop today, £67. We won't do another big shop for 2 weeks. Except maybe another bottle of milk, odd veg prob £10 max. So round up to £80 over 2 weeks. £40 a week. Below will make breakfast and dinner for 14 ish days, lunch at work, and cupboards have supplies like pasta/ herbs/ Random tin of something we might use ontop

1 Alpro Hazelnut UHT Drink
1 Baby New Potatoes Waitrose
2 Cawston Press Apple & Ginger Juice
1 Dove Care Indulging Cream Bath
1 Fairtrade Small Bananas Waitrose
1 Geeta's Mango & Chilli Chutney
1 Honey Nut Corn Flakes essential Waitrose
1 Hovis British Farmers White Rolls
1 Italian Arborio Risotto Rice Waitrose
1 Kallo Just Bouillon Chicken Stock Cubes
1 Kallo Just Bouillon Vegetable Stock Cubes
1 Kallo Organic Beef Stock Cubes
1 Kallo Organic Chicken Stock Cubes
1 Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce
1 Lemons 2 Pack Waitrose
1 Natural Sparkling Mineral Water essential Waitrose
1 Ocado Medium Free Range Eggs
1 Sweet & Nutty Raisin, Almond & Honey Oat Clusters Waitrose
1 Twinings English Breakfast Tea Bags
1 Ultra Soft Toilet Tissue White essential Waitrose
1 Cucumber essential Waitrose
1 Jazz Tray Pack Apples Waitrose
1 Mild Baby Spinach Waitrose
1 Ocado 2 British Free Range Chicken Breast Fillets
1 Ocado 4 Sea Bass Fillets
1 Ocado Carrots
1 Ocado Chestnut Mushrooms
1 Ocado Chives
1 Organic Houmous Waitrose
1 Organic Kiwi Fruit Waitrose
1 Perfectly Ripe Avocados Waitrose
1 Rachel's Organic Greek Style Natural Split Pot Raspberry
1 Rachel's Organic Greek Style Split Pot Mango & Passion Fruit
1 Soured Cream essential Waitrose
1 Spinach Mornay Waitrose
1 Super Bright Stir Fry Vegetables Waitrose
1 Tenderleaf Salad Waitrose
1 Yeo Valley Organic Semi-Skimmed Milk
1 Chicago Town Takeaway Limited Edition
1 McCain Crispy French Fries
1 Seriously Fruity Sorbet Raspberry