Aldi, Lidl et al...
These establishments have come in for a bit of stick on these pages in the last few days. Whilst I wouldn’t argue that the quality of some goods is debateable, in other respects you can get a good deal if you’re prepared to stick your neck out and overcome ‘brand snobbery,’ especially when it comes to food. My own philosophy is that if you don’t try something, you won’t know what it’s like. So I’ve tried a number of products and been perfectly satisfied with them, often more so than established brand names, and at a fraction of the cost.

However, I remember listening to a Scottish comedian (whose name escapes me just now but I can see his face – appears on numerous panel shows, wears glasses) recounting a trip to his local Lidls and witnessing the local neds shoplifting*. As he said, just how pikey do you need to be to shoplift from Lidls? Can you imagine the scene:

“ Jimmy, bring the van round, I’ve got five quid’s worth of stuff here”!

*I have also witnessed this on a couple of occasions – the guy at the till shot after them as if he’d got a sudden attack of the squits. I’ve never seen anyone move so fast…
( Davros' Granddad a voice of calm reason in a world of spastics., Tue 8 Jan 2008, 16:13, 11 replies)

Frankie Boyle?
Do I get a prize?
( Devil_In_Tights the *real* DiT!, Tue 8 Jan 2008, 16:20, closed)

as I posted a few pages ago
the lasagne is lovely, but it still makes you fat.

Frankie Boyle is great too, him on "Mock the Week" rocks.
( Jeccius Steam Borderlands 2 junkie, Tue 8 Jan 2008, 16:25, closed)

Frankie Boyle...
that's the feller! Thanks. I had his voice in my head when writing this but just couldn't place him...

If you're ever round my way, and manage to find my house, you can have a tin of Aldi carbonara as a prize... never had it myself, but the boy reckons it's lovely!
( Davros' Granddad a voice of calm reason in a world of spastics., Tue 8 Jan 2008, 16:32, closed)

Deal!
:)

*does some interweb wizardry*

*locates Davros*

*Awaits Carbonara*
( Devil_In_Tights the *real* DiT!, Tue 8 Jan 2008, 16:44, closed)

Frankie Boyle
is funny as hell, and he has nice glasses
(JasperSinister is offering two tickets to the gun show, Tue 8 Jan 2008, 16:47, closed)

Lidl desperation
We were in Lidl a few months ago and watched an asian man (with most of his extended family in tow) haggling over how much free bread he could have.

An aside - Lidl are the only shop I've ever seen give away produce that is going out of date rather than bin it. Good on their management.

They left the store while we were getting in the car with a trolley literally FULL of enough bread to constipate an elephant (nothing else though), and appeared to be grumbling about their haul.

I resisted the temptation to pelt the tight bastard with pennies.
(Greencloud Wanted to go fishing on, Tue 8 Jan 2008, 17:20, closed)

Lidls is fucking ace
I love lidls.

I'm writing this sipping some nice Perlenbacher lidls own pilsner, 4quid for 6 500ml bottles and it tastes great.

I've got a lidls DVD player with dolby 5.1 output and will play any dodgy downloaded weird filetype you can imagine, and even reads off memory cards. Which cost 30quid. Five years ago. And is still going.

Their pizzas are lush. Tuna steaks for a couple of quid which are gorgeous, and frozen argentinian steaks are great.

Best of all though, is the random bargains in there - it's not often you drop by your local supermarket for some milk and walk out with a chainsaw.

Though I did actually see a guy shoplifting in there, a bottle of ketchup. And he got caught. And banned. Banned from lidl, it doesn't get much lower than that...
(inflateable, Tue 8 Jan 2008, 21:22, closed)

Jeccy is confused
between Aldi and Lidl. We don't have Aldi here but Lidl's lasagne is the best I've ever bought, including those in restaurants. Only home made lasagne is better. You get a kilo of the tasty treat for about 2.50, 1.70 when they have a deal on. That easily feeds my family of four.

They also do an ace range of cheeses and cold cuts, their cleaning products are the bomb and the flat pack furniture they do is always sturdy and easy to assemble. As was said above, if you can overcome brand snobbery and the pikiness of the place you can get a real bargain. Just avoid any fresh produce from there like the plague, since it is most likely plague ridden, in there among the mush and the mould.

There's no shame in buying 20 quids worth of stuff in Lidl, when you know what to shop for, to supplement the rest of a weekly shop, especially not when you're poor and that 20 is saving you another 40.
(posthumous mince is tiptoeing through the tulips, Tue 8 Jan 2008, 21:27, closed)

Lidl and Aldi offer some fine gear.......
Netto however is utterly shit.
(Leonard Hatred briefly did some work on, Tue 8 Jan 2008, 21:29, closed)

Absolutely
Both are great for basic staples and once you've sussed out the products you like you can't go wrong. You do have to go to the larger chains or specialist shops for some things, but I've seen my monthly shopping bills halved as a result, leaving more money for beer n stuff. Hurrah, result etc.

I did once get some diving gear in Lidls, which was a bit bizarre...
( Davros' Granddad a voice of calm reason in a world of spastics., Wed 9 Jan 2008, 9:30, closed)

Cycling gear
Aldi do all that Crane Sports gear. I got a pair of SPS compatible cycling shoes for £9 .... down from £14 and they're 100% as good as a pair of similar Sidi shoes that cost me £90. Also a pair of Crane cycling gloves for under £3 (yes, three) which are every bit as good as a £30 pair I had before. I promise I will never wear another brand of shoes or gloves.
( Ramsay Tupper, Wed 9 Jan 2008, 10:04, closed)