My Shopping Experiment, Sainsburys v. Lidl
Other
Popped in to Lidl with a friend last night as she wanted a couple of things. Decided i would go back today for my big shop.
First thing to say is that i could only get a third of the items on my list. Sometimes it wasn't that they didn't have something similar but often too large or, surprisingly, too expensive.
Overall the things i did get were cheaper than sainsburys equivalent, £23.07 rather than £28.89 but that was mainly because i didn't buy things that i knew were cheaper in sainsburys.
The one thing i really noticed was the vanilla extract i got was 89p whereas it was £2.30 in sainsburys. I couldn't help wondering if it was vanilla essence rather than extract! Bread, milk and eggs were exactly the same.
Anyway, i am not going to do two lots of shopping in two stores to save a small amount so will be sticking to sainsburys for the size, variety and cheaper items. Do you have similar comparisons?
Yep. We shop nearly everywhere. It depends on the products we want and where we are going that day anyway. We get our main shop from Sainsburys as we collect nectar points, I prefer meat from there and frozen gluten-free food (husband is coeliac). I find household items like cleaner, toilet roll good value in Asda. We have a Tesco extra round the corner and use Clubcard for some things. Started to buy water and sauces from Aldi. Not Lidl so much but they are good for salmon fillets! Sainsburys have definitely increased a lot of prices and I either downbrand or look for yellow sticker items. Also just adjust what I buy what week according to what is on offer.
JLouM yes, I actually noticed the lovely looking salmon in Lidl but as I had recently bought some I passed by. This Lidl is very near to me so will deffo use again, but maybe not for my main big shop. I too collect nectar points and always get lots extra on the app with my favourites.
Lynibis I mainly shop at Asda (4 bus stops away) and Iceland (7 minutes walking) down the road from my home. I do a small weekly shop at Tesco (30 minutes away including walking to their superstore) and occasionally Sainsburys (superstore) if I am into the mood for a 45 minutes bus journey or I am given personalise points for various items. I prefer Sainsburys fruits and vegetable - 5/5 regardless of the costs. I have got several loyalty cards for various shops. Morrison is the worst of them all. I hardly shop at Aldi although there is a store ten minutes walking distance from my home. Their stock doesn't appeal to me. Lidl doesn't appeal to me either even though there is one 20 minutes away (locally by bus) and another 15 minutes away in another area by bus.
I do my main shop at Lidl, there are a few items I get from Aldi and then go into Asda for certain items and very occasionally Tesco. I use the Lidl App each time I shop and I save extra on my shop that way too. Our nearest Sainsbury is about 35 minutes away so never really use it.
Iv not done a big shop in a while as we've been using Hello Fresh subscription & just ordering extra bits from Tesco. I did pop into the Food Warehouse (Iceland) last week for the first time in ages. I was shocked how much prices in there have gone up. I do sometimes pop to Aldi & Idon't find it to be any cheaper than Tesco.
Lidl and aldi are no more the cheaper supermarket. Also with Sainsbury’s and Tesco you can collect points which I think really helps. I shop at Tesco mainly as it’s close and the Clubcard prices.
I agree with you on the stock they have. If you do change store from your normal one you are going to have to change your brand or item. I find it is not worth shopping around unless they are in walking distance of each other.
eyeballkerry I needed to restock my baking ingredients and they had no real choice of flour, no glace cherries and only sprinkles, no other cake decorations. I then had to go to Sainsbury's for nearly two thirds of the shopping on my list. Will only use Aldi/Lidl for odds and end in future.
I tend to rotate where I shop because each supermarket has things it does better or cheaper than others plus by rotating I often have a voucher to use. Last Lidl shop I did I had a £5 off £25 offer on my lidl plus app. Next shop which I will do this week I have a £18 off £60 Sainsburys voucher for home delivery. Last week I had a £4.50 off £30 shop voucher for instore use. Some of the Lidl stuff is appalling quality though. Their vanilla ice cream is horrible watery ice cream and very bland. The Morrisons vanilla ice cream is fantastic for about 40p more and very creamy.
You have to remember with Lidl and Aldi a higher percentage of their products are imported which does more damage to our economy before you even factor in all the profits going back to Germany. Both Aldi and Lidl like to feature the Union Jack in marketing as much as possible but the reality is it is much more damaging as more of their processed food is imported. Most of us are price sensitive of course but there is getting on £100k of national debt now for every single working person in this country. This has to be serviced with interest payments so public services are being cut back like the police, NHS, etc. So many people think they can just export their money without consequences and its not good for the environment to import so much processed food either. However like most I'm trying to achieve the most with my £'s but its short term thinking with long term consequences.
My favourite supermarket is definitely Tesco though as in Yeovil we have a very large Tesco with a wide range of goods including a lot of value range items plus they do a huge amount of decent offers so I get to try different foods while its 50% off. Unfortunately because the store is hugely successful with a huge footfall their short life reductions are rubbish because they don't need to reduce them that much to move the items. I must admit when I go into Tesco Metro stores which are much smaller with a more limited range especially value items I am not as keen to say the least. The value and convenience drops hugely. Whatever happened to that Russian supermarket that was going to be cheaper than Lidl and Aldi? It was in the news a year or so back and then nothing.
Yeah i find that lidl can be hit and miss as half the time they don’t have the items you want. Aldi seems to be more consistent
Join for free to get genuine deals, money saving advice and help from our friendly community
Chief Bargain Hunter
