As suggested by Chad, I thought I’d start a thread on Lidl. I’ve shopped in Lidl for years, and the bakery is to die for.
Don’t really buy much from their middle aisles, but always have a nose and see what they have.
Lidl is quite popular in Poland, and I’m a bit sad that nearest one in my town is really far away. Thing that gets me, meats. No offence, but British pork sausages are crap, and ham products are tasteless. Polish sausages or German ones, awwyisss.
When I was visiting a friend nearby the only Lidl in Brighton, I literally told her “I’ll be late, that’s my chance to go to Lidl, need to stock up”.
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I heard Lidl and Aldi are the same thing (or the same suppliers, at least). I’ve never actually stepped foot in a Lidl in all my four years here for some reason, but I love Aldi.
I’ll talk about Aldi instead, or do I have to start a new thread? 
Their bagged salads are so cheap (favourite is the bistro salad) and you can find everything easily. Only problem is that they sometimes stock the fresh food too high and I have to stand on the bottom shelf to reach it. I once saw a cucumber still wrapped in plastic that someone had attempted to take a bite out of (and was foiled by foil). Oh, and the only burger patties that I’ve liked? It’s stocked in Aldi.
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I hate Lidl, the prices really aren’t that good (they’re good, not amazing), people are rude (staff and most of the customers as everyone’s just at the end of their rope from the massive over crowding), they don’t take Amex (tho I use Monzo more now…), and they never have everything I want making that hell only a partial shopping trip at best.
I think the only supermarket I dread entering more than Lidl is Sainsbury’s.
For me? Waitrose or Tesco.
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I have so many questions. Why Sainsbury’s? My friend hates them after working there, and another avoids it since they promote the Nectar card.
I didn’t expect a supermarket debate, but for me M&S > Waitrose. Their biscuits, desserts, sweets, and drinks are solid wins. And so cheap too!
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Sainsbury’s exists in order to keep the riff-raff out of Waitrose 
credit: Alan Coren
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Sainsbury’s is overpriced for what it really sells imo.
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You just answered the question above. If I want crowded and poor quality I will get it cheap at Lidl 
Sainsbury’s is really expensive… More than Waitrose I find, and the quality of fruits and veggies is generally appalling. Employees tend to be rude as well, which I usually blame on poor working environments. People miserable in their job will show it.
At least Lidl is reasonably affordable and has some bargains.
M&S has some nice own label products but in general I find them too expensive to shop at routinely.
@GalaxyMergirl I never tried doing full shopping in Lidl, so I can’t really say much. What I do, jump in, buy few things I’ve been craving, usually from meats or sweets shelf, go out. I found meats cheaper than Waitrose/Tesco/else, the only place where I can find something decent quality/taste for similar price… is Polish grocery (Preston Circus). It’s not even a question of a price, just taste/quality.
Since I’m not frequenting Lidl, maybe every 6 months or so, I might be less ‘sensitive’ to those problems. When I visit Lidl, I’m giggling like a little girl (a feat for 5’11’’ tall) and thinking about those nice Polish things I’m going to devour within unproportionately short amount of time. 
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Lidl is amazing for that and that’s when I go in. They have some treats at a real bargain and anything fresh is generally decent quality (far better than Sainsbury’s and not as good as Waitrose; I’d say similar to Tesco) at a price usually a little better than Tesco.
The crowding and inability to get a full shop done are what drives me mad. Honestly if it wasn’t so crowded I’d probably feel very different.
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Agree with a previous post - why does British ham always taste like wet wallpaper, who craves this stuff? Fortunately Lidl have decent alternatives.
For quality olive oil (Primadonna) and excellent parmasan (Reggiano) no other supermarkets compare to Lidl on price. Their bread is very good if you avoid the store baked stuff, which is invariably junk same as all supermarkets.
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I’ve always been told by my Mum that the adverts pronounce it incorrectly, that the correct pronunciation is lee-dul, as she met Mr Lidl while working at a Lidl.
The pronunciation used in the adverts annoys her…
The queues at the Aldi in town I go to always go really fast (see relevant tweet) even though they don’t have as many open as, say, a Tesco Extra. It stresses me out when I buy too many things, since packing it all asap is impossible.
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You’re supposed to stick it all in your trolley and pack it at the packing area. It’s people like you that slow the checkout line down 
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Believe me, I’ve learnt my lesson and now hold onto my basket ever since the time I dropped a jar of tomato sauce at the checkout while trying to pack and closed up the whole lane 
they were so nice about it which made it worse . It took me awhile before I dared set foot in again!
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Funny your hang ups Meerkitten they are the mirror image of mine. Here in Rugby I moved to within a mile of a Sainsburys on the agricultural fringe of semi-urban gentility. My two girls went to good schools here and for the first time in their lived we walked together to school in minutes, instead of Volvoing to and fro 350 miles a week. But the Sainsburys grew. I liked them then partly because toget their planning permission for the store they bribed the authority, they funded a conservation project of a local beauty/nature spot (on-going). But the enlarged the store 50% it is a nightmare to navigate, expensive and chaotic - I avoid the place like crazy while using their fuel station. The equipment is faulty, their pump softwear c*** and their air line goes out-of-commission every few days. Whereas, or lovely local Lidel is special. I spend half what I would in Sainsbury (or my local Waitrose 12 miles away in Daventry) and get the freshes most exotic vegetables and fruit and cheap but quality booze. To cap it all it is full of different ethnic shoppers, baltic and Chinese or African families , often with their children.It’s a please to mix with them. Then there’s the staff; always polite, always helpful and the point of sale works with everything, Monzo, Starling Apple Pay. Something in this country is NOT broken, it feels inspiring and I want more of it.
I couldn’t agree less! You are just not buying the right stuff. My german colleagues tried to get me to like weisswurst - disgusting. Try Eversfield for sausages and ham.
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That’s not at all representative of German sausages though! (As a German, and a lover of German pork sausages, I agree though: Many British pork sausages are surprisingly good! But of course they can’t ever compare to Polish or German ones! )
What is allowed to be sold as “bread” in this country is borderline criminal, anyway! I think it should be marketed as “sponge” 
We have completely given up on bread, and are baking our own. Yummy!!!
As for Lidl (and Alid): I detest all shopping, but my wife loves them. She just recently told me: If they didn’t have them here, she’d emigrate (my wife is not German, by the way!) 
I would say, though, that despite doing almost all our grocery shopping at Lidl and Alid, we don’t save much money: She always finds something that we didn’t need in the non-food stuff to buy - in that sense they are a bit like IKEA 
But I have to say: the friendliness of staff is second to none! Most of them we know quite well (just 6 months after moving into the area!), and they are always open for a chat (somehow they still manage to chat + scan faster than the two of us together can dump everything back in the trolley), and that’s in Greater London, where most people would rather rip out their eye than look at - let alone talk to - you!
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Hyperbole my good man! I spend many weeks of the year in Stuttgart and Munich and have to suffer German ‘breakfast’ - tiny sausages that appear to be made of anything but meat, bacon cut so thin you can see through it and then cooked to death, and bread bread bread. Then a bit more bread.
I admit, that the micro ground pork sausages that you buy in Tesco etc are disgusting but artisan made, high meat content, herbed sausages are absolutely world beating.
(Being a yellabelly, I love Lincolnshire sausages, but they really do need to come from one particular butcher in Navenby - the village after the delightfully named Boothby Graffoe)
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