What/What Not to Buy at Lidl/Aldi

We go to lidl every week now - the hubby loves browsing the equipment etc and i find the pressed apple juice is the juniors favourite , we also love the icecreams to the detriment of our figures !! Junior also loves the chicken slices with herbs around the edge . We buy all our breakfast cereals there too. the veg and fruit are ok too.
we do supplemental shopping in Dunnes Stores , or super value
 
Just spoke to a colleague briefly today: she shops at Lidl and spends only €40-€50 per week on all her grocery shopping (family of 3) is this possible? I know Lidl is good value for Ireland but 3 people living on €6 - €7 per day.
 
Airtight said:
Just spoke to a colleague briefly today: she shops at Lidl and spends only €40-€50 per week on all her grocery shopping (family of 3) is this possible? I know Lidl is good value for Ireland but 3 people living on €6 - €7 per day.
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We are a family of 4 and shop in Lidl/Aldi mainly. We cook from scratch, don't really eat crisps, biscuits and the like and I shop very carefully these days. I can get away with €80 per week but this would not be a 'big shop'; it would be mainly veggies (lots!), fruit, cheeses, bread, tinned tomatoes, milk etc. No cleaning materials, meat, ice cream and definitely no specials! €40-50 is possible at a minimum but I would be very surprised if this is the average week in week out.
 
Colin Pope in the Irish Times today - Pricewatch column - says Aldi's goats cheese is best value for money - and it is!
 
Aldi's matured angus striploin steaks are consistantly good. Nice barbequed, still very pink. They also do a very good value freerange chicken. Also frozen wild salmon, cod and jumbo prawns, very handy in the freezer. For our family of four we spend about 120 per week, but would have to buy more milk, nappies and gluten free pasta/bread, so total shopping bill for week would be about 150. Because I have coeliac disease everything we cook is pretty much from scratch and the gluten free stuff adds considerably to our weekly shop. Still though do not know how some people do it for so much less. No alcohol in that bill either as we really only ever drink wine and we get that in bulk once a year in France.
 
No alcohol in that bill either as we really only ever drink wine and we get that in bulk once a year in France.
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Apart from the odd Crémant.

To paraphrase Shakira: those posts don't lie.

Marion
 
We get Tarragona from Lidl. Full bodied and beautiful at the right temp. Aldi's equivalent would probably be Chemin du Pape. The smonked salmon, pates, some cheeses and Nan breads are excellent - to name but a few. As is the cold meat selection. The deep frozen fish are exceptional. And some of their desserts/choco biscuits are orgasmic.
 
I've posted about this before but it's worth doing so again. Aldi's Tierra Del Sol Cabernet Sauvignon Reserva is an excellent wine. The ordinary Tierra Del Sol is about €5.99 and the Reserva is €9.99. Great value. And Mrs. Foutish says that the Tierra Del Sol Sauvignon Blanc Reserva is wonderful too. €9.99 also.
 
Vanilla:



Because I have coeliac disease everything we cook is pretty much from scratch and the gluten free stuff adds considerably to our weekly shop.
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On the offchance that you/or others are not aware:


From Revenue.ie


Coeliac Patients


Relief in respect of the cost of gluten-free food for coeliacs is an allowable expense for the purposes of a health expenses claim. As the condition is generally ongoing, a letter [instead of prescriptions] from a doctor stating that the taxpayer is a coeliac sufferer is acceptable. If receipts are requested such receipts are not confined to those from a chemist - receipts from supermarkets, etc., in respect of such qualifying expenses are also acceptable.

Marion
 
Airtight said:
Just spoke to a colleague briefly today: she shops at Lidl and spends only €40-€50 per week on all her grocery shopping (family of 3) is this possible? I know Lidl is good value for Ireland but 3 people living on €6 - €7 per day.
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I feed a family of 5 for about 80 euro a week in Lidl and no junk is bought!
 
I can't quantify this to any great degree to be honest but I just think that Lidl have become a little more expensive over the last year anyway - anyone else think that.
 
Aldi's Angus burgers with Dubliner cheese go down very well in our house(can't really comment on them as i'm a veggie)

Aldi's Specially Selected Irish luxery layer yogurt's (from west cork) are really nice, especially the strawberry one's.

Aldi's cereals are great value too and are very hard to distinguish from branded ones taste wise.

and finally...

Aldi's fully Organic fresh soups (made in kerry iirc) are very tasty and €1 cheaper than an identical soup found in Tesco
 
Aldi's Angus Steaks are divine too! Not cheap at €11.99 for two striploins but they're the kind of steaks you wouldn't complain at being €25+ for in a restaurant.
 
Vanilla said:
Not questioning you, but genuinely how do you do that?
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I don't buy a single processed item, all our meals are made from absolute scratch. And pretty much everything we buy is gone by the end of the week. (Its not always the most exciting eating, but no one has overly complained yet!)

We don't buy busicuits, crisp etc. And we stick to chicken and mince - the least expensive end of the meat range.

I'm always amazed myself when the check out person tells me the total, and its gotten to the stage that on the odd occassion when I am quoted a bit over 80 euros, I get quite annoyed
 

Well done you !

I do this too but it is much easier for me as there is only the Dog and myself to feed.
( Most of the cooking for the week is done on Saturday morning ).

Even things like organic chickens ( much cheaper in N.I. than Rep. ! ) turn into great value when you do this. Use thighs & legs for casserole, roast remainder and use whats leftover for lunchtime sambos during the week when everything picked off boil up for stock.

Have you tried using the bacon offcuts that Aldi & Lidl sell for 1.99/kg ? Some of the packs are full of rashers others can be used for lardons or in pea and ham soup

Of course if you need the demon drink then this mindset falls apart as a decent glass of wine will cost more than the food for an entire weekend !
 
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