What is Lidl like as a supermarket

We have every supermarket nearby, but I always choose to go to Lidl or Aldi first. Cereal, wine, almond and oat milk loads cheaper than elsewhere. Much smaller - why do you need whole aisles of crisps or chocolate like in our big Sainsbury’s?

I love Lidl. wish there was one nearer, more convenient to me. I go to v busy inner city ones, the staff are v patient, as I avoid the self=scanning. I end up arguing with the machine.
Lidl in-store bakery is excellent. also their indiv fruit trifles, also do raspberry one; low cal ice cream; hot smoked salmon, looks/tastes like poached, not rare slimy.
I like the fact there is limited choice. there is plenty enough. when I was young, this would have been thought a vast and marvellous cornucopia of goodies/ essentials.
I actually find the usual large supermarkets depressing. they are too big, and like temples to excess and consumerism.

Oh the ALDI Chocolate. Their Moser Roth line is really good. I am not one for the usual very sweet chocolate.
Our local Aldi is not too far.
However our nearest small Tesco has become very good over thè last few months now and It has a really good selection of deli meats and cheeses now . That is going to shake up some of the older stores.

We only have a ASDA local which is really boring . Even the bigger ASDA supermarket about six miles away is really uninteresting. You can get a general
Range of foods that are good quality but boring.

I shop in Lidls along with other supermarkets. I shop there because the things i buy are good quality and cheaper prices, eg groceries such as organic carrots and broccoli, delicious continental cheeses, cheddar. Pan au chocolat which my grandson loves for weekend breakfast. They sell pole and line caught tuna which is tinned and better than many other brands and again cheaper. And I haven't mentioned the weekly deals!

I like lidl but there is nt a lot sf choice and sometimes you can't get everything you wsnt. The quality is fine though and the price is great

Brilliant supermarket. It seems to be easier to find British produce in Lidl's than some of the British supermarkets, Tesco and Sainsbury. I can buy British bacon in Lidl, but in Tesco etc., it is all Danish and I don't like the way they treat their pigs. I buy my Scotch and wines from Lidl, great prices and good taste. If there is a minus, it is that there are few staff, on the floor, should you wish to make an enquiry. They do open checkouts, if there are too many queueing. Good free parking, at my local one. Definitely my favourite supermarket. I do, however, have to go to Tesco/Sainsbury for items, such as buttermilk

I go there because of the prices - but don’t enjoy the experience or the long queue.

Wish we had one nearer as I would use it in preference to Aldi but like them both

I like both Lidl and Aldi. Lidl have a great bakery (where Aldi doesn't) and they also sell a certain amount of Branded goods, such as Heinz Baked Beans and Fairy Liquid. In both stores there are often "special buys" of branded goods too (Dove, Nestle/Thornton's etc.) I would definitely suggest that the original poster tries Lidl and see what is on offer.

I get a lot of my basics at Lidl as they are good value but I tend to go elsewhere for fruit and veg as it just doesn’t seem to last so well, which is an important consideration when there is only one to use it up.

The checkout queues at the Aldi where I shop are well controlled. When the queue reaches a certain number, a new till is opened. When I see a queue growing, I hang on in the certain knowledge that a new till will open very soon and usually manage to get to the head of that queue.

I agree with Greenfinch.
Customer a Service in our local Lidl is not good.
If an assistant doesn’t understand what you are asking for he or she will say they haven’t got it.
Their hummus (or is it houmous?) is great though as is their chocolate .
Try their pomelos - wonderful.
I had never heard of them before going there.
Flowers are excellent value too.
Well worth a visit
(My favourite supermarket though is Iceland .
They sell Gregg’s sausage rolls..)

We have a fairly new Lidl near us and the checkout is as leisurely and as slow as major supermarkets. They did rush everyone at one time but this seems to have stopped now. I would recommend their aged rib eye steaks which are really great. Also good value for many other things. I would however say their fruit and veg don’t last as long as those from major supermarkets, but they probably haven’t been stored for months in ‘prime’ conditions.

annaram1 the fresh produce that doesn't have a sell by date has the date that it is put out on the label so that you can use your own judgement as to freshness. It is expressed as 4 digits: week number and day. Today is the 2nd week of the year and it's about day 5 of the week....so today's code would be 0205.

Thankyou All so much

I'm a big fan of Lidl and do a lot of my shopping there. I'm not a slave to big brands & am more than happy to buy unknown brands which are usually as good if not better than the more expensive well known brands - their muesli is absolutely the best, for example! Unlike Americanpie, I've found their meat to be excellent. For Christmas we had a superb rib of beef, dry aged & 28 day hung, which was better than any other from a supermarket & even surpassed a recent purchase from the local butcher. Still a lot of snobbery going on about Lidl & Aldi but it's not as bad as it was - everyone, regardless of income, likes a good bargain and consistent good quality and value for money.

I love Lidl and do most of my shopping there, topping up at Waitrose or Sainsbury’s when it’s something Lidl don’t sell. They do frustrate me though when they drop lines, never to return. I used to get organic cheese for instance, and whole meal bread flour, neither of which have ever come back. Other things vanish for a month and then reappear. If they disappear from my nearest Lidl they will not be in any other of their nearby shops either.
They don’t stock according to the area they are in and when I pointed out that snow shovels, taking up a lot of room, were a bit pointless in London where we hardly ever see 5mm of snow, a manager agreed but said the same stock goes out all over the country regardless.

We love Lidl, here in Torquay and in France, where my husband has his main home. A second branch is opening soon even closer to my flat! I shop for everything I need every 10 days or so and rarely spend more than £50. Their wholemeal farmhouse bread is very tasty.
Being a lark, I often shop early in the day (7.30 am) when it is quiet. Customer service is good - members of staff have helped me to the car before now with heavy items like an oil filled radiator. Faulty goods are willingly refunded.
I rarely go anywhere else except for Dr. Oetker pizzas or Oatibix which I only occasionally find in Lidl.

I've got one nearby which is 'ok' but not super. There is obviously less choice and they often don't have what I want.
Sometimes it's difficult to get round as they have those big trolleys in the aisles to stock the shelves. There can be long queues at the checkouts. Some of the non-food offers are very good though and I sometimes go in for those.

I love Lidl, and my husband buys all his wine there. They have a fantastically good wine buyer, and prices very reasonable.
I do find there is not always a huge choice for fresh stuff, so no good going in with a specific list but if you are prepared to wing it when you get there, you do really well. Their prices really are a lot cheaper than the other main supermarkets. I'm amazed at how little I spend in there sometimes!! Am not on first name terms with Aldi though!

I do not believe these two are the be all and end all of supermarkets and will occasionally shop in these but then I do the same in the major supermarkets in my area.I agree many items in these two are cheaper but then if they are not the brand I prefer then I would rather pay that bit extra and get what I want but then I am not a young mum with a family to feed or no doubt would be singing a different song.

A lot of stuff in Lidls is much cheaper than the equivalent in Waitrose, where I used to shop all the time. For instance toilet rolls, about half the price of Waitrose. Lidls don't have much in the way of organic fruit and veg and the ones they do stock have no sell by date. So I go to Waitrose for those. I buy a lot of chocs and other sweet things as I have a sweet tooth, Their chocs are very cheap. Their jelly is the same price as Waitrose but they only have 3 flavours. Milk and wine is cheaper at Lidls. I think I save a lot by shopping most of the time at Lidls.

Shopped in Lidl a few times. Felt like walking into an austere storage warehouse. Quite depressing really. Things may generally be cheaper but they don't always have everything you need so you end up going to Tesco (or similar) anyway.

I used to go for a few items and would get other things while I was there. The meat I have had was fine, as was cooked meat and cheeses, plus bread. Not at all impressed by the veg.
Hideously allergic to their cleaning products!

Think you need have a good memory re prices as not everything is cheaper.

I hardly go now. I would combine it with a visit to family who have now moved so I'm no longer passing and making a special trip wipes out any savings.

I prefer Lidl to Aldi but I only use it for a top up every two weeks. They sell filtered milk which we use which is a lot cheaper than Cravendale. For my main shop I use Ocado and have it delivered fortnightly. On line shopping is great not tempted by ‘bargains’ that you don’t need.