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Old 04-01-2014, 21:16
degsyhufc
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You mean they actually had them in stock? I went to every Aldi within a twenty mile radius and none of the staff had ever seen them.

I was told that sometimes the advertised products don't appear because of a safety recall, so I assumed that's what must have happened. I never even found a shelf label to show that they were ever there.
That poster mentioned LIDL not ALDI
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Old 05-01-2014, 10:48
JohnnyGrumpus
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Memento dark chocolate butter biscuits.
Similar to Bahlsen Choco Leibniz Dark chocolate and just as good.
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Old 05-01-2014, 13:02
henrywilliams58
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Can you tell me what a soup maker consists of? I make a lot of soup, but I just use a hand held blender or a mechanical blender when I want a smoother soup.
That's what I thought it looked like when I opened the box and saw the blender built into the lid.

But I've been using it regularly because I leave it on the worktop rather than pack it away as I do with a blender.

The soup maker is effectively an automatic (3 programmes) pressure cooker plus blender. It switches off after 20 minutes and if not smooth enough just zap the "blend" setting for 30 seconds or so again.

So chuck the chopped vegetables, stock and stock (or dissolved cubes) plus herbs, black-pepper, chillies, onions plus chopped chorizo or roast chicken (no bones) or cooked bacon or ham or sardines out of a can, chickpeas out of a can, ... press Mode "smooth" or "chunky" and then "select"

I'd go along with these reviews on the Asda site

http://direct.asda.com/Morphy-Richar...efault,pd.html
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Old 05-01-2014, 13:08
henrywilliams58
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You mean they actually had them in stock? I went to every Aldi within a twenty mile radius and none of the staff had ever seen them.

I was told that sometimes the advertised products don't appear because of a safety recall, so I assumed that's what must have happened. I never even found a shelf label to show that they were ever there.
That poster mentioned LIDL not ALDI
Yes as indicated I bought the soup maker from Lidl not Aldi. I mentioned it in this thread in response to a post referring to Aldi vegetarian ready meals. So I said effectively do them yourself with fresh veg.

Asda have it but out of stock at the same price
http://direct.asda.com/Morphy-Richar...efault,pd.html

With a smart phone I checked on the internet before buying and it was much more expensive elsewhere.
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Old 05-01-2014, 19:22
BlueEyedMrsP
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Their multi-packs of crisps are a very good deal, £2.59 or something for a bag of 30.

I like their biscuits, wholemeal bread, pancakes, waffles, cereals, cereal bars, chocolate offerings, nuts and seeds, yogurt (natural - 45p for a big tub).

I don't care for their: shampoo, cream cheese, hard cheese, toilet roll.

Their fresh fruit and veg is okay but I have to carry my groceries pretty far from Aldi so I don't always buy my basic groceries from there.

I don't like their bagging/checkout system, although Lidl is worse. I feel like they're chucking it at you in some king of 'let's see how much stuff we can make the customer drop before they can bag it' game. I think it's because I don't use a trolley and I only buy a small handbasket of items when I'm there.
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Old 05-01-2014, 19:24
postit
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Yes as indicated I bought the soup maker from Lidl not Aldi. I mentioned it in this thread in response to a post referring to Aldi vegetarian ready meals. So I said effectively do them yourself with fresh veg.

Asda have it but out of stock at the same price
http://direct.asda.com/Morphy-Richar...efault,pd.html

With a smart phone I checked on the internet before buying and it was much more expensive elsewhere.
That looks impressive. However, money is tight and I already use a pressure cooker, so I'll stay with the status quo.
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Old 05-01-2014, 19:27
BlueEyedMrsP
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After tonight's dinner I can report back that the frozen Specially Selected Angus beef burgers are delicious, especially in Aldi's cheese topped baps
Ooh, their cheese-topped rolls ARE good.
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Old 05-01-2014, 20:07
degsyhufc
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I don't like their bagging/checkout system, although Lidl is worse. I feel like they're chucking it at you in some king of 'let's see how much stuff we can make the customer drop before they can bag it' game. I think it's because I don't use a trolley and I only buy a small handbasket of items when I'm there.
I tend to only buy two or three things at a time and take my own bag so pack at the checkout but what you're supposed to do is put the shopping back in the basket/trolly then move to the back counter to tansfer to your bags.
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Old 05-01-2014, 20:24
henrywilliams58
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I tend to only buy two or three things at a time and take my own bag so pack at the checkout but what you're supposed to do is put the shopping back in the basket/trolly then move to the back counter to tansfer to your bags.
Yes that's the supposed Lidl / Aldi system. It can speed things up if everyone does it.

The newer more central Aldis (e.g Kilburn in London) though don't have that space at the back and packing is at the checkout.
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Old 05-01-2014, 20:37
henrywilliams58
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I am just sipping on an Aldi Advocaat at £3.99 reduced from £4.99. the Tesco own brand costs £8.00 and the Warnink's costs £13.

I haven't had any for 30 years and am loving it with an ice cube.

Probably great poured over a Christmas Cake or Ginger Cake.
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Old 05-01-2014, 21:17
Peter_CJ
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I tend to only buy two or three things at a time and take my own bag so pack at the checkout but what you're supposed to do is put the shopping back in the basket/trolly then move to the back counter to tansfer to your bags.
Only have two criticisms of ALDI - one is the silly little checkouts, and the fact that they scan things as if it's an Olympic challenge (I know they say they get timed on it, which is dafter still, as they usually have to wait for customers to catch up at the end anyway).

The other is their warranties, which I have found to be quite unreliable - Lidl warranties are far better.

Other than that, I think ALDI are OK.
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Old 05-01-2014, 22:43
henrywilliams58
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Only have two criticisms of ALDI - one is the silly little checkouts, and the fact that they scan things as if it's an Olympic challenge (I know they say they get timed on it, which is dafter still, as they usually have to wait for customers to catch up at the end anyway).

The other is their warranties, which I have found to be quite unreliable - Lidl warranties are far better.

Other than that, I think ALDI are OK.
That's a surprise. I have a Medion netbook, laptop and desktop from Aldi and the customer support has been support. And there is a 3 year guaranty - like Lidl.
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Old 05-01-2014, 23:15
dslrocks
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Good stuff:

Specially selected ham quiche
Meats - chicken, beef mince, steak - always fresh with a long life, unlike Tesco whose stuff seems to expire in a handful of days.
Their own brand pringles taste as good as the branded one.
Chocheur chocolate sticks with filling, delish and love a continental taste.
Staples are fine too - eggs, milk, orange juice - to be fair you've got to be doing quite badly to get these wrong.
The bacon rashers, unsmoked.

Not so good:
Warranties on electrical items - as they're so busy in store they've got no time for after-sales care if the item breaks. The helplines provided are often premium 0845/0844 numbers (so cost more to call from mobiles). The technical support was based in Denmark and sent the wrong item (it took around 5 days for delivery), which didn't work, and then shipped the right item which didn't last for long either.

It's a shame the warranty wasn't up to scratch as the original item was very good until it broke down.

For those who are complaining about the till operators scanning fast, no doubt they're targeted hard on scans per minute. The packing benches after the checkouts are provided to pack at your own leisure, hence why the end of the till is short.

I don't think it's a concept that as a country we've grasped as we've been conditioned to pack at the end of the till for years and chat about our lives with Vera at the checkout - old habits die hard!?

I can see the logic in it, people (in theory) get through the till faster and they can move onto the next person.

I always shop with a basket and pack stuff in a box when it's scanned so I can just carry it to the car and straight into the kitchen when I'm home. If you're a fussy packer then just put it back into your trolley and take as much time as you need at the packing benches to arrange your bags.
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Old 06-01-2014, 00:07
henrywilliams58
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That's a surprise. I have a Medion netbook, laptop and desktop from Aldi and the customer support has been support. And there is a 3 year guaranty - like Lidl.
I should have written "the customer support has been superb"

But with a Lidl Tablet I called the customer line and was answered in German and he couldn't speak English. We managed somehow to communicate in a mixture of German and English.

Mumbai or Manila might have been cheaper and more effective for a tech call centre.
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Old 06-01-2014, 00:09
Peter_CJ
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That's a surprise. I have a Medion netbook, laptop and desktop from Aldi and the customer support has been support. And there is a 3 year guaranty - like Lidl.
I think they have different services - I've had a couple of Delta items that have been faulty, and the response was useless, so returned for a refund - they weren't that old.

Also had a torch that had a 3 year warranty, and it was replaced by a simpler and cheaper model, and I couldn't then get a reply out of the company. Which sounded like a company doing general warranty work from a warehouse, really unprofessional.

Had a Medion USB that went after 18 months, having been used a few times only, but that only had a 12 month warranty.

Had a strimmer replaced without any problems.

Lidl use Silver-Crest quite a lot, and I have found them very good, never had a problem, they just send a replacement.
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Old 06-01-2014, 00:17
henrywilliams58
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The bottom line is I have a soft spot for Lidl and Aldi and their prices and quality are usually better than Tesco, Sainsburys at al. And best of all no fake "half price" BOGOF deals where the product has been doubled or more in price before the reduction.
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Old 06-01-2014, 00:36
Peter_CJ
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The bottom line is I have a soft spot for Lidl and Aldi and their prices and quality are usually better than Tesco, Sainsburys at al. And best of all no fake "half price" BOGOF deals where the product has been doubled or more in price before the reduction.
Yes, I agree. Shopped with ASDA for 25 years, but the Walmart smart-a$$ tactics got the better of our relationship, i.e. roll it forward 20p and then back 10p.

I enjoy browsing through the hardware stuff at Aldi and Lidl, and reckon I save at least 20% on ASDA food prices.

These days I cherry-pick, so do Sainsbury's once a month and stock up on their value items, then Aldi around every three weeks, pop into ASDA now and and then for a few choice regular items, but mainly Lidl most weeks.
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Old 06-01-2014, 03:36
henrywilliams58
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I am just sipping on an Aldi Advocaat at £3.99 reduced from £4.99. the Tesco own brand costs £8.00 and the Warnink's costs £13.

I haven't had any for 30 years and am loving it with an ice cube.

Probably great poured over a Christmas Cake or Ginger Cake.
The Advocaat works very well as an ice cream / cake / pudding sauce. I'll get another bottle.
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Old 06-01-2014, 05:21
david16
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The bottom line is I have a soft spot for Lidl and Aldi and their prices and quality are usually better than Tesco, Sainsburys at al. And best of all no fake "half price" BOGOF deals where the product has been doubled or more in price before the reduction.
People paying £2 for 2 non offer price and then still playing £2 for 2 for the exact same items when BOGOF is applied overnight at Tesco and Asda e.g. just aint true.

The price individually on a non offer item may have gone up a bit before it becomes a BOGOF but not doubled in price and then a BOGOF slapped on it.

It'a more that certain items increase in price considerably for a day or 2 and then there's a roll back a little bit with Asda and Tesco promoting these items as a bargain.
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Old 06-01-2014, 06:35
BlueEyedMrsP
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I tend to only buy two or three things at a time and take my own bag so pack at the checkout but what you're supposed to do is put the shopping back in the basket/trolly then move to the back counter to tansfer to your bags.
As I said, I don't use a trolley if I only have a few items, and at the Aldi near me, you're not allowed to carry your handbasket to the front of the checkout, you have to leave it at the back after you've put your items on the conveyor belt. I always have my bag(s) ready but I still think they're on some kind of stop-watch challenge.
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Old 06-01-2014, 12:46
Isambard Brunel
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Sometimes, you need to fight fire with fire.

Psych yourself up, get your bag ready and then grab the items out of their hands as soon as they beep them over the machine. The moment there's the slightest of delays, bellow, "Come on. Come on!" and continue to grab the items until they're all beeped.

You need to already have money concealed in the hand holding the bag open, and before they have a chance to look at the screen and ask you for the total, thrust the money into their hands.

At this point they usually look quite startled, especially the Polish and other eastern European workers because they've never seen a Brit move so fast, not even on telly. They then get quite flustered trying to match your speed, getting the change and receipt ready.

Naturally you already have your open hand stuck right out, demanding the chance and receipt, which you snatch from them as soon as they get it close to your hand.

Finally, you politely thank them and shoot off like a rocket, making way for the next customer, who's invariably a slowcoach, only adding to the perception of your glory.

Repeat this several times and eventually the entire line-up of till staff will learn to both fear and respect you.


PS. Before Christmas, they had a batch of German egg pasta tagliatelle, 500g for £1.59. They came in a tall plastic bag with a label tied to the end with string, but I forget the name. It was delicious, despite having less egg in it than my normal pasta. Sadly, by the time I went back to stock up on them, they were sold out. But I'm sure they'll have another batch one day.
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Old 06-01-2014, 13:22
henrywilliams58
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People paying £2 for 2 non offer price and then still playing £2 for 2 for the exact same items when BOGOF is applied overnight at Tesco and Asda e.g. just aint true.

The price individually on a non offer item may have gone up a bit before it becomes a BOGOF but not doubled in price and then a BOGOF slapped on it.

It'a more that certain items increase in price considerably for a day or 2 and then there's a roll back a little bit with Asda and Tesco promoting these items as a bargain.
The real price at which products are meant to sell and target margins are set are the fake "half price" BOGOF prices. Supermarkets don't expect to sell much at the doubled (or more) prices before the regular fake discount.

If you look at products on mysupermarket.co.uk you will see the classic signs of zigzag pricing by most supermarkets. By contrast Aldi prices are pretty constant and true.
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Old 06-01-2014, 14:45
BlueEyedMrsP
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Sometimes, you need to fight fire with fire.

Psych yourself up, get your bag ready and then grab the items out of their hands as soon as they beep them over the machine. The moment there's the slightest of delays, bellow, "Come on. Come on!" and continue to grab the items until they're all beeped.

You need to already have money concealed in the hand holding the bag open, and before they have a chance to look at the screen and ask you for the total, thrust the money into their hands.

At this point they usually look quite startled, especially the Polish and other eastern European workers because they've never seen a Brit move so fast, not even on telly. They then get quite flustered trying to match your speed, getting the change and receipt ready.

Naturally you already have your open hand stuck right out, demanding the chance and receipt, which you snatch from them as soon as they get it close to your hand.

Finally, you politely thank them and shoot off like a rocket, making way for the next customer, who's invariably a slowcoach, only adding to the perception of your glory.

Repeat this several times and eventually the entire line-up of till staff will learn to both fear and respect you.


PS. Before Christmas, they had a batch of German egg pasta tagliatelle, 500g for £1.59. They came in a tall plastic bag with a label tied to the end with string, but I forget the name. It was delicious, despite having less egg in it than my normal pasta. Sadly, by the time I went back to stock up on them, they were sold out. But I'm sure they'll have another batch one day.
Or I can bring my own stopwatch and a friend and time them while staring intensely at the clerk on the till. Need to invest in some serious-looking camouflage gear first.
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Old 06-01-2014, 19:29
jazzyjazzy
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My Aldi in North Wales has brilliant check out staff and they never rush you and are very polite. We go in there about 3 times a week and never had a problem.
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Old 06-01-2014, 20:28
Isambard Brunel
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Just tried their 'Diplomat' pure green tea, going at 99p for a box of 40 bags.

The branding is a rip-off of Twinings (which is a nice green tea) but that's where the similarities end. It tastes somewhere inbetween brewed tea and brewed muesli.

Save your money and either get Twinings or Clippers green tea, or Aldi's normal Gold Label tea, which is much nicer.
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