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Things to look out for in Lidl and Aldi

I'm fine with lidl
Veg can have it's off days but I am generally buying something to use within the next couple of days.
Tomatos better than the likes of tesco and sainsburys but not as good as waitrose
Meat is fine, but I only really buy chicken on the bone and I don't like beef.
Pork belly is good (slow long cooked).
I don't buy their frozen meet. I tried it once about 15 years ago and it was revolting. Don't buy frozen veg.
Even though lidl veg looks a bit 'uneven' at times, it tastes noticeably better than tesco and sainsburys. Overall I rate lidl quite highly.
 
Their frozen fish is fine.

I discovered basa at Lidl, but then I googled it and found out how it is farmed so I now avoid basa. (It's catfish farmed using awful methods in the Mekong River.) :(

My fish strategy is to buy really good fish from the Waitrose fish counter when it's reduced. Alternating Lidl and Waitrose shops works for just about everything.
 
littlebabyjesus said:
Their frozen fish is fine.

I discovered basa at Lidl, but they I googled it and found out how it is farmed so I now avoid basa. (It's catfish farmed using awful methods in the Mekong River.) :(
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Oh. It's the frozen fish that I hated.
THough I think I have only had the salmon. Fish fingers are fine, but I very rarely buy those.
 
littlebabyjesus said:
Their frozen fish is fine.

I discovered basa at Lidl, but then I googled it and found out how it is farmed so I now avoid basa. (It's catfish farmed using awful methods in the Mekong River.) :(

My fish strategy is to buy really good fish from the Waitrose fish counter when it's reduced. Alternating Lidl and Waitrose shops works for just about everything.
Click to expand...

We are fortunate enough to have a fish van that comes each week. The fish is that day's landing. Not cheap, but well worth it as an occasional treat.
 
ATOMIC SUPLEX said:
Oh. It's the frozen fish that I hated.
THough I think I have only had the salmon. Fish fingers are fine, but I very rarely buy those.
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Haddock is fine. Basa is really good, but totally unethical.

I get wild Alaskan salmon from Waitrose when it's reduced to half price. Still not cheap, but it's fantastic.
 
littlebabyjesus said:
I get wild Alaskan salmon from Waitrose when it's reduced to half price. Still not cheap, but it's fantastic.
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I bagged an absolute shit load of Lidl salmon this morning £2 each for 500g. The fresh stuff from lidl has been just as good as waitrose imo.
There were so many goodies this morning it was bonkers. I had to scrap buying anything I came in for because I had to carry home a rucksack and two bags of quality reduced meats (I had to make a second trip for veg and there were still some reduced items).
 
Tend to only buy bananas from Lidl, these are usually good, sometimes get clementines etc in the winter when they’re in season which are iffy more often than I’d like.

I get soft fruit in the summer but always eat it on the day I buy it

We don’t seem to get any more sharan fruit / kaki / persimmon any more down in Devon which is a shame as they’re the other fruit I really like

Veg is fine, mainly get mushrooms and onions, other veg is usually frozen as I don’t eat it quickly enough being a single person household

Meat - quite like the sausages and meatballs otherwise mainly buy chicken which is always bland as said above
 
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ATOMIC SUPLEX said:
I bagged an absolute shit load of Lidl salmon this morning £2 each for 500g. The fresh stuff from lidl has been just as good as waitrose imo.
There were so many goodies this morning it was bonkers. I had to scrap buying anything I came in for because I had to carry home a rucksack and two bags of quality reduced meats (I had to make a second trip for veg and there were still some reduced items).
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Wild salmon or farmed?

I'm pretty sure Lidl salmon is farmed in NW Scotland. I wouldn't be in a rush to enocourage that industry or eat large amounts of the stuff. It's a bit grim the Salmon farming industry and so is the produce from it mate.
 
My Lidl staples are the walnuts , pickled onions, baby tomatoes , snacking cucumbers, tonic water in small cans, olives, flowers & salt n vinegar stick crisps.

Bread is rubbish & bought only as last resort. On Saturday I did the walnut run & bought 10 bags!
 
moonsi til said:
My Lidl staples are the walnuts , pickled onions, baby tomatoes , snacking cucumbers, tonic water in small cans, olives, flowers & salt n vinegar stick crisps.

Bread is rubbish & bought only as last resort. On Saturday I did the walnut run & bought 10 bags!
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The low GI cob thing is pretty tasty when fresh. The sourdough one isn’t bad either. The rest, I’m happy to miss.
 
I use Lidl for various cupboard staples and snacks, rather than fresh produce and meat/fish (which I find is better value and lasts better from ASDA which is the next bus stop along, or if I am shopping on foot I go to Morrisons to save the bus fare)

Stuff I buy from Lidl - some of their special regional weekly stuff, staples like rice, pasta, stock cubes, packets of stuffing mix, cornflour, salt, tinned tomatoes/kidney beans/baked beans (their baked beans are excellent and I can't tell the difference between them and Heinz), alcoholic drinks and soft drinks, crisps, biscuits, sweets and chocolates.

I very rarely go to Lidl and emerge with a weeks worth of meals, it's more stocking up the cupboards and getting some cheap treats type thing.
 
Re pasta & rice I buy this plus washing up liquid , detergent, olive oil & much more from a refill place to save plastic but also because it’s cheaper on the items I buy. It’s over my price point for nuts so they are from Lidl.

I’m fortunate that I have one about a mile away.
 
zora said:
What is people's experience with freshness of produce from Lidl?

I really only ever go in for my annual haul of German Christmas chocolates. Mostly because there isn't a Lidl near me, but also because of what I thought might be prejudice about the quality of their stuff. Did a big shop the other day there anyway, and it was worse than I feared.

Bag of apples - every single one had multiple big bruises. Three large onions- first one I cut into was completely rotten inside. Lemon, net of four or five - one mouldy within 3 days. And, kinda the worst - a sealed and in date pouch of pita bread. It had slightly suspicious looking pinprick-size white spots, but I thought it might just be flour that they put on to make it look rustic...not so...a couple of days later the pinpricks had mushroomed into 10-pence-size spots...boak!

For me, it was mainly an annoyance (and sort of put me off of the rest of my purchases in case of further nasty surprises...) but for someone who is really counting their pennies, it could make things really hard.

I think someone mentioned questionable quality of meat upthread...
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Following on from this, I opened a microwaveable rice pouch yesterday from the same shop from a month ago, and out came loads of blue-grey mould. Super-boak 🤮.

It's actually almost boak-worthy enough to put me off my Christmas chocolates which were in fact fine, as were the walnuts. But yeah, this is way way beyond "badness" compared to any other supermarket I have ever shopped in. Might stick to Aldi...
 
I saw some oil paint. acrylic, and watercolour sets in Lidl this morning. I didn't see a price but they can't be that bad if it's Lidl right?
Also oil pastels.

I'm going to grab some for my daughter (GCSE art)
 
Spymaster said:
That's unlikely to be a freshness/date issue as those vac packs will last for ages. More probably the packet was damaged or the food was contaminated somehow before it was packaged.
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I know, but that makes it worse, if anything! Much worse than the actual fresh produce having a short-shelf life, as someone put it.

I had something like this happen maybe once or twice in my entire shopping life (or maybe not at all, I can't recall a specific incident), so for a pack of pita breads and a rice pouch from the same day's shopping to be mouldy inside...let's just say it's not endearing me to go back.
 
Spymaster said:
That's unlikely to be a freshness/date issue as those vac packs will last for ages. More probably the packet was damaged or the food was contaminated somehow before it was packaged.
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yep, the pouch will have been pierced at some point, not just gone off. I actually had a similar experience recently in Aldi, but noticed before i go to the till that the rice was all green in within the packet.
 
Thread derail but I have just scored a family pack (15) of Cadburys Mini Rolls for 40p in Sainsbury's.
Someone brought them into work yesterday & said they were only 40p & I forgot to look on the way home last night.
Tonight I remembered & the shelf was empty but did have the 40p offer on the strip but just along on the floor was an unopened box so I opened it & now have 60 mini rolls for £1.60. :thumbs:

Worth checking if anyone visits JS.
 
MrSki said:
Thread derail but I have just scored a family pack (15) of Cadburys Mini Rolls for 40p in Sainsbury's.
Someone brought them into work yesterday & said they were only 40p & I forgot to look on the way home last night.
Tonight I remembered & the shelf was empty but did have the 40p offer on the strip but just along on the floor was an unopened box so I opened it & now have 60 mini rolls for £1.60. :thumbs:

Worth checking if anyone visits JS.
Click to expand...
Sainsbury's?

SAINSBURY'S???

Post reported.
 
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