Lidl Vs Aldi – Which is Better?
This post may contain Affiliate Links
While I’m usually a Lidl shopper, a brand new Aldi opened up in my town last week so I decided to give it a go for our big weekly shop. In this post, Lidl vs Aldi, I am going to look at all the things we did and didn’t like about shopping there and whether we’ve turned into Aldi converts.
Lidl and Aldi are both privately owned German supermarkets that have increased in popularity in the U.K over the last thirty years.
Lidl Vs Aldi – Which is Better?
As discount retailers, there are a few ways they operate which are different from the big four supermarkets.
- Less product choice means they can get better deals with suppliers by ordering larger quantities. This saving is then passed on to the customer.
- Staff work in all areas of the shop, including tills, stacking shelves, and other duties meaning less staff are needed.
- Products are often placed on shelves still in their crates or cardboard packaging. This saves time and therefore staffing costs are lower.
The Old Aldi
The main reason we didn’t shop at the old Aldi in our town was that it was pretty small, didn’t have a huge range of products and we found we couldn’t do a whole week’s worth of shopping there.
It was also difficult to navigate due to a combination of the small-sized store and there were always crates and palettes out.
I did occasionally pop in for a quick top-up shop as it’s pretty close to my Mum’s house but the fact it doesn’t have a self-scan or basket-only tills meant I often ended up queuing for twenty minutes plus to pay for two pints of milk and a loaf of bread.
Don’t get me wrong, there are some positives.
Aldi has some great middle-of-store bargains and last year most of my daughter’s Birthday presents came from one of their toy events.
So I was quite pleased to see a new, much larger store opening up in my town. I
n discussions I’ve seen within money-saving Facebook groups I’m in, and on Instagram, the majority of people seem to prefer Aldi over Lidl. I’d always put the fact that I didn’t down to the one in my town being so small.
I’ll be honest this post is based more on my opinion than anything else. It’s not an exact price comparison, nor specific tastes or anything else. It’s just genuinely how I found things to be.
Lidl Vs Aldi – Which Is Better?
I honestly wanted to be wowed shopping at Aldi. There were some specific products I’d seen that I wanted to try and it’s always nice to try shopping at a different supermarket for new products.
However, overall we were pretty disappointed and definitely won’t be switching from Lidl. Here are some of the main reasons.
Aldi Still Had Much Less Choice
Despite being a much bigger, new store there was still a lack of products. While I get that limiting product choice is part of the business model, it still frustrating not to be able to a whole weeks shop in one place and this is more about not stocking certain products than there only being one or two choices of the items they do stock.
I also really missed the in-store bakery. Lidl has a huge bakery section filled with fresh baked goods, perfect for those weekend treats. We often buy hazelnut croissants for a Sunday breakfast or chocolate brownies for a Saturday night in front of the telly.
Poor Quality Products
We really weren’t happy with the quality of some of the products we bought from Aldi.
In particular, the custard cream biscuits were awful and even shunned by our biscuit-munching toddler.
I typically buy own-brand biscuits so this was a like-for-like comparison rather than expecting them to be brand quality.
Excessive Plastic Packaging
Talking of the custard cream, it was a 400gram pack where both ‘stacks’ of custard creams were individually wrapped in plastic inside the outer packaging. This seemed excessive and isn’t the case with the Lidl biscuits which only have the one layer of packaging.
Also with Lidl scotch pancakes, they come in a resealable packet – making them last longer and less likely to go off.
Other Reasons
There are a few other reasons too. I like Lidl £1.50 vegetable boxes which help prevent food waste and make fruit and vegetables more accessible to those on very low incomes.
Lidl scotch pancakes come in a resealable packet – making them last longer and less likely to go off. It’s a small thing but something I noticed once we were home.
There are also foodbank collections in-store at Lidl which I’ve yet to see in an Aldi store (although happy to be corrected if I’m wrong about that!).
That said I am aware Aldi does a lot behind the scenes with regards to donating surplus food.
Some Aldi Positives
It wasn’t all bad. The store, of course, was clean and bright and well-stocked. We loved both the new chicken dishes we tried and would possibly pop back just to buy those again the future, although with one of them portion size was a bit lacking.
Lidl Vs Aldi Prices
I’ll be completely honest, I don’t think there was any price difference.
I did notice the odd thing that was maybe a few pence more expensive here and there but some things were cheaper too, so overall I think it would even out.
According to Which? Aldi is usually the cheaper of the two,
Overall while shopping at Aldi was okay, there just weren’t enough benefits to make us switch over from Lidl.
I do realise I’m very lucky to have both in my town and I can choose between them!
Do you shop at Lidl Too? Here are some posts you might enjoy
Could you save even more at Lidl & Aldi?
Where to Find Lidl’s Weekend Deals and Offers
How To Find Lidl Money Off Vouchers
My Love-Hate Relationship With Lidl