Wainy316 Posted April 24 Share Posted April 24 Done Aldi and Lidl in another thread and now for the other end of the scale... The whole concept of Waitrose. Just why? Paying more for exactly the same items just because it's Waitrose. I kind of get they may try and advertise their own brand stuff as high quality (whether it is, is another thing) and charge it at a premium but normal branded stuff e.g. Yorkshire Tea, just costs more for no reason whatsoever. Why would anyone, even rich people shop there out of anything other than it being the closest shop and they need to grab a few bits? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genie Posted April 24 Share Posted April 24 2 minutes ago, Wainy316 said: Done Aldi and Lidl in another thread and now for the other end of the scale... The whole concept of Waitrose. Just why? Paying more for exactly the same items just because it's Waitrose. I kind of get they may try and advertise their own brand stuff as high quality (whether it is, is another thing) and charge it at a premium but normal branded stuff e.g. Yorkshire Tea, just costs more for no reason whatsoever. Why would anyone, even rich people shop there out of anything other than it being the closest shop and they need to grab a few bits? I assume it’s to not have to rub shoulders with riff raff in store? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisp65 Posted April 24 Share Posted April 24 6 minutes ago, Wainy316 said: Done Aldi and Lidl in another thread and now for the other end of the scale... The whole concept of Waitrose. Just why? Paying more for exactly the same items just because it's Waitrose. I kind of get they may try and advertise their own brand stuff as high quality (whether it is, is another thing) and charge it at a premium but normal branded stuff e.g. Yorkshire Tea, just costs more for no reason whatsoever. Why would anyone, even rich people shop there out of anything other than it being the closest shop and they need to grab a few bits? I’m feeling a bit victimised here. I shop in… Waitrose, M&S, and Lidl. It’s really different shops for different things and some of the stuff in Lidl is excellent. Their cheapo chocolate is far superior to the usual branded shit and just a different animal to main supermarket cheapo chocolate. Their fresh noodles, pak choi, samosas etc is cheaper than anywhere else and no obvious difference in quality to me. But then, the parmigiano in M&S is actually cheaper and better than the one in Lidl. There’s a kikkoman soup base I can only find in Waitrose and nowhere else. M&S takeaway is the best supermarket takeaway. Some Lidl wine is really good. But the La Chouffe beer in Waitrose is cheaper than I’ve seen anywhere else locally. The one thing I personally do avoid like the plague, mid ranking supermarkets. The local Morrisons and Tesco shite. And full of riffraff. I guess we’re lucky having the time, money, and transport to be able to shop around. We don’t really do ‘the big shop’ or get an order in to be delivered or any of that stuff. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVFCDAN Posted April 24 Share Posted April 24 Morrisons really is the best of no worlds imo. Most things very expensive, range of foods not great, very heavily weighted on cakes/junk food, branded foods seem to cost more than other shops. Their meat is fairly priced and they have a good craft beer selection and that’s about it. My weekly shop gets done in lidl mainly. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mottaloo Posted April 24 Share Posted April 24 I usually do my big shop at lidl in mere green.....as long as @Xela doesn't spot me and chase me out of town first 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted April 24 Moderator Share Posted April 24 19 minutes ago, chrisp65 said: Their cheapo chocolate is far superior to the usual branded shit and just a different animal to main supermarket cheapo chocolate Aldi wins that one in our house 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted April 24 Moderator Share Posted April 24 Another one that argues in the face of Lidl / Aldi being inferior is Parma Ham, they both sell it far cheaper than the others and as its a PDO product the quality is always on the right side of the threshold. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisp65 Posted April 24 Share Posted April 24 Just now, bickster said: Aldi wins that one in our house Yeah the Aldi here is a bit further away and on a roundabout with 4 sets of traffic lights, that’s why the Lidl wins that one. The Waitrose is directly opposite a good coffee shop. M&S is directly on my commute. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted April 24 Moderator Share Posted April 24 18 minutes ago, AVFCDAN said: Their meat is fairly priced Every bit of meat I've bought in Morrisons has been shite. File under Sainsburys in the charlatan column both of them pretend to be something they aren't And Morrisons use of yellow lighting also pisses me off Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted April 24 Moderator Share Posted April 24 Lidl grass fed steaks - as good as any you'll find in the majors Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted April 24 Moderator Share Posted April 24 2 minutes ago, chrisp65 said: Yeah the Aldi here is a bit further away and on a roundabout with 4 sets of traffic lights, that’s why the Lidl wins that one. The Waitrose is directly opposite a good coffee shop. M&S is directly on my commute. Waitrose is effing miles away now, so we nip in if we're passing and stock up on the few products they stock we can't find elsewhere. Giant greek beans mainly now they've seemingly stopped their own brand couscous Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StefanAVFC Posted April 24 VT Supporter Share Posted April 24 Lidl over here are at war with one of the Polish chains, even to the point where their entire branding now is how they're better than the other. They even started sending texts about specific products being cheaper in their shop. Weird behaviour. Lidl is my go to though. They have contracts with craft beer places. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony Posted April 24 VT Supporter Share Posted April 24 I used to work doing QA in a frozen veg packing (KW) factory. Quality-wise: 1) M&S 2) Sainsbury's/Tesco - identical input, different bags. 3) Morrison's 197) Mixed veg from anyone 198) Farm Foods Can't comment on anything else. Oh, except that frozen peas/broad beans are the freshest you'll ever get and are awesome. Everything else loses its texture, so spinach is fine as it loses texture when you cook it anyway. Chips mostly OK too. Anything else will probably taste good, but have a squishier texture compared to fresh. In short, never buy fresh peas or broad beans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted April 24 Moderator Share Posted April 24 I should also point out that since we've started doing a Gousto box for 5 days a week that I'm saving a fortune, getting a much more balanced diet and visiting supermarkets far less Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted April 24 Share Posted April 24 (edited) It could be expectation , you go into Aldi and Lidl expecting it to be cheap crap and are pleasantly surprised when it isn't ... As someone involved in blind testing all I can tell you is that when we blind test their products v some other stores and brands , Aldi and Lidl pretty much always come last , on the whole it tends to be the major brand that comes first , there are some exceptions , Waitrose own brand OJ tends to out perform Tropicana for example .( though if you are a regular buyer of those products , In a lot of cases you'd would be able to identify it by the familiarity of its appearance or taste ) .. One of my regular projects is visiting every supermarket chain and purchasing some product for internal testing , as part of it I usually have a good mooch around the store , Lidl do some excellent macaroons , Asda have the strawberry cheesecake flavour Milky bars , Aldi do a great crème brulee nougat and some fairly sizeable Big Daddy steaks .... generally I'll eat any brands I'm not fussed , but the Aldi fake peanut M&M's are not as good at the real thing , their Seal bars are as good a penguins though Edited April 24 by tonyh29 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobsons Choice Posted April 24 VT Supporter Share Posted April 24 1 hour ago, chrisp65 said: I’m feeling a bit victimised here. I shop in… Waitrose, M&S, and Lidl. It’s really different shops for different things and some of the stuff in Lidl is excellent. Their cheapo chocolate is far superior to the usual branded shit and just a different animal to main supermarket cheapo chocolate. Their fresh noodles, pak choi, samosas etc is cheaper than anywhere else and no obvious difference in quality to me. But then, the parmigiano in M&S is actually cheaper and better than the one in Lidl. There’s a kikkoman soup base I can only find in Waitrose and nowhere else. M&S takeaway is the best supermarket takeaway. Some Lidl wine is really good. But the La Chouffe beer in Waitrose is cheaper than I’ve seen anywhere else locally. The one thing I personally do avoid like the plague, mid ranking supermarkets. The local Morrisons and Tesco shite. And full of riffraff. I guess we’re lucky having the time, money, and transport to be able to shop around. We don’t really do ‘the big shop’ or get an order in to be delivered or any of that stuff. I shop in Lidl and Aldi, but I must concede that their fresh meat, while not bad quality, does not last well, even in the fridge. Chicken in particular has a very short home shelf life. Last time I shopped in Tesco the quality of everything was garbage. Way worse than the so called budget options. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisp65 Posted April 24 Share Posted April 24 6 minutes ago, tonyh29 said: It could be expectation , you go into Aldi and Lidl expecting it to be cheap crap and are pleasantly surprised when it isn't ... As someone involved in blind testing all I can tell you is that when we blind test their products v some other stores and brands , Aldi and Lidl pretty much always come last , on the whole it tends to be the major brand that comes first , there are some exceptions , Waitrose own brand OJ tends to out perform Tropicana for example .( though if you are a regular buyer of those products , In a lot of cases you'd would be able to identify it by the familiarity of its appearance or taste ) .. One of my regular projects is visiting every supermarket chain and purchasing some product for internal testing , as part of it I usually have a good mooch around the store , Lidl do some excellent macaroons , Asda have the strawberry cheesecake flavour Milky bars , Aldi do a great crème brulee nougat and some fairly sizeable Big Daddy steaks .... generally I'll eat any brands I'm not fussed , but the Aldi fake peanut M&M's are not as good at the real thing , their Seal bars are as good a penguins though It was always a similar thing with cars wasn’t it? Skoda always out performed Mercedes on the old JD Power surveys. But it was often the case that a Merc with a squeak went straight back to the garage, whereas a Skoda driver would just turn the radio up, cos its a Skoda. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genie Posted April 24 Share Posted April 24 1 minute ago, chrisp65 said: It was always a similar thing with cars wasn’t it? Skoda always out performed Mercedes on the old JD Power surveys. But it was often the case that a Merc with a squeak went straight back to the garage, whereas a Skoda driver would just turn the radio up, cos its a Skoda. Plus the Merc was carrying a lot more latest tech (stuff that could go wrong), whereas the Skoda did not. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisp65 Posted April 24 Share Posted April 24 1 minute ago, HKP90 said: I shop in Lidl and Aldi, but I must concede that their fresh meat, while not bad quality, does not last well, even in the fridge. Chicken in particular has a very short home shelf life. Last time I shopped in Tesco the quality of everything was garbage. Way worse than the so called budget options. That’s a good point on dates. One of the reasons we abandoned the local Tesco and Morrisons was how tiresome it was that pretty much everything in there was always short use by dates. Wouldn’t be so bad now with 2 of us shopping for our evening meal, but a massive pain when shopping for 4 for a week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobsons Choice Posted April 24 VT Supporter Share Posted April 24 Just now, chrisp65 said: That’s a good point on dates. One of the reasons we abandoned the local Tesco and Morrisons was how tiresome it was that pretty much everything in there was always short use by dates. Wouldn’t be so bad now with 2 of us shopping for our evening meal, but a massive pain when shopping for 4 for a week. During Covid we switched to shopping for at least 2 weeks at a time (at 9pm-recommended), which we have done ever since. That pretty much rules out getting any fresh chicken. Although the meat at Lidl is a little better than Aldi on this score. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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