The Real Reason Middle-Class Mums Love Aldi

[Austin Allegro]

I stopped reading when I saw '£85- for my weekly shop.'

This is the ultimate 'fauxterity' article.

There's so much of this about. For instance, I recently wrote a little book on moneysaving which has had some moderate success on Amazon Kindle. But the bestselling book on the subject is a fauxterity title heavily promoted in the daily press, which has tips on saving money on your ski holidays. designer handbags etc.

[eztiger]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2339253/Battle-supermarkets-The-real-reason-middle-class-mums-love-Aldi.html#ixzz2VtfzKdKF

'From the bizarre items they stock (‘Would you like a bicycle saddle with your baguette, Madam?’) to the chaotic layout and infuriating lack of assistants, Aldi seems, at first glance, to offer a gruelling shopping experience.

It is certainly a far cry from the glossy Waitrose store I usually frequent.

Yet now seems the time to sweep supermarket snobbery aside and give Aldi a chance.

For last week it emerged as the overall winner in a taste test of own-brand foods conducted by trade magazine The Grocer.

Aldi came out top in 16 categories — more than Waitrose and M&S combined — with gold medals for everything from its bacon to its brioche.

With praise such as this, not to mention bargain prices, it’s no wonder the middle classes are hot-footing it there in droves and that Aldi, which originally targeted more socially deprived areas, is now opening up in Newbury, Winchester, Ely and Cowes on the Isle of Wight.

With no branches near my home in South London, I head off to a store in Walton-on-Thames, the sort of town where ladies lunch and gents play golf.

There, standing out like a sore thumb beneath the shadow of 12th-century St Mary’s church, lies Aldi. It looks like the sort of council-run place where you’d go to get a verruca removed.

The inside isn’t much better, with strip lighting that fails to lift the gloom and piles of stock in the middle of aisles making it hard to navigate my wobbly trolley.

At 9.30am, the twinset and pearl shoppers are nowhere to be seen. Instead, the store is full of pensioners all making a beeline for the famous ‘special buy’ section, where you can get all sorts of strange stuff (such as the aforementioned compression bandages and head torches).

But I have to admit the food is impressive. A 200g punnet of cherries — a fruit that usually costs more than gold — is £1.79, and they look impossibly juicy.

As well as the cherries, there’s English rhubarb for 69p, a pack of four avocados at £1.49 and on-the-vine tomatoes for 69p.

Bagged salad is also good value. A generous bag of baby leaf salad is just 79p, as is the rocket.

There are plenty more middle-class staples available too: brie, Parma ham, chorizo, houmous and fresh pesto are all present and correct in the chiller cabinet.

In most cases, there’s only one type of each — but there’s actually something quite liberating about not having to dither over 16 different varieties.

The choice of teas, coffees and breakfast cereals is similarly limited but includes Diplomat teabags — one of the lines Aldi has just won an award for.

At £1.39 for 60, they’re nearly half the price of the Twinings Everyday Tea I usually drink.

Aldi has also been much praised for its bread and baked goods, and I have to say the range is not only impressive but crazily cheap.

Four delicious-looking all-butter croissants are only 55p, while the gold medal-winning French Marble brioche looks irresistibly fluffy.

All shoppers have their items that they are just not prepared to skimp on — and for me it’s chicken and loo rolls.

At £3.99 for four breast fillets, the chicken is the cheapest I’ve seen for a long time — but it just doesn’t look very nice.

It’s not free-range, and I suspect that by the time it comes out of the oven the pumped-up breast will have shrunk to a bite-size dog treat.

As for the loo roll, well let’s just say I’ve seen sandpaper that looked softer.

I try to remind myself that beggars can’t be choosers, and that while I’m not exactly on the breadline, I could do with trimming back my food bill.

Although I live alone, I spend around £85 on my weekly shop at Waitrose — and that rarely includes red meat or alcohol.

Aldi has been found to be 40 per cent cheaper than Waitrose — and an annual saving of £1,700 isn’t to be sniffed at. That’s two weeks in Spain.

An hour into my Aldi shop, I am beginning to spy the odd well-heeled Surrey wife: their immaculately blow-dried hair, J Brand jeans and Tod’s loafers are a dead giveaway.

However, rather than buying their entire weekly shop at Aldi, they are nipping in for one item. Booze.

Heading to an aisle stacked high with wines, beers and spirits, I feel I’ve uncorked the secret to Aldi’s success.

Alcohol is something that Aldi does well. When their £3.69 Spanish red wine Toro Loco Tempranillo was voted one of the best in the world last year, you couldn’t get it for love nor money. Today they have a supply in but it’s going fast.

I grab a bottle and get chatting to 66-year-old Gillian Jones, who has come straight from her tennis lesson and is still dressed in her whites.

‘I only come in for the gin,’ she tells me. ‘It’s the best I’ve ever tasted, and so much cheaper than brands like Gordon’s.’

She’s right about the gin. In blind taste-tests, Aldi’s Oliver Cromwell London Dry Gin (£9.65) was rated better than brands like Hendricks and Bombay Sapphire, which are twice the price.

For the most part, Aldi sells their own ranges, interspersed with a handful of famous brands such as Haribo and Marmite. They’re also notorious for doing ‘lookalike’ ranges — products cunningly designed to look like well-known brands but at a fraction at the price.

At last I feel ready to head for the chaotic central ‘special buy’ aisles to see if there’s anything I’m missing out on

But as I’m not currently in the market for a two-man tent, a catering-sized jar of pickled eggs or a 35-piece set of spanners, I leave the bargain hunters to it and make my way to the tills.

There are only three checkouts and the shortest queue has 14 people in it. When I finally reach the front, the assistant scans my food so fast his hands are a blur.

He stacks it in a huge tower, and even though it’s apparent I’m struggling to keep up, he doesn’t slow down and several items fall to the floor.

Back home, and with my blood pressure restored to its normal rate, I’m keen to see if the taste of these gold medal winning foods makes up for the hassle of buying them.

Things don’t start well with the Diplomat teabags, which produce a weak and tasteless cuppa, although the Belmont Jaffa Cakes are indistinguishable from McVitie’s ones, which are double the price.

The brioche is as delicious as it looks, but I’m disappointed in both the chocolate and the lemon and mascarpone cheesecake that were singled out for praise. To my palate, they taste processed, not homemade.

Just as I am reaching the conclusion that shiny Waitrose is still my true love, I remember the wine and cherries.

I almost want the cherries to be dry and bitter, but they’re sweet and juicy — and the perfect accompaniment to my large glass of Toro Loco Tempranillo, which must be smoothest wine I’ve ever tasted. How on earth can it have cost just £3.69?

Suddenly I’m regretting not having snapped up a whole box of the stuff — and a load of that award-winning gin to boot.

Aldi, I have a feeling I’ll be joining the Surrey housewives and weaving my way — perhaps a little unsteadily — down your aisles once more.'

besides reading that and thinking waht a tosser,it does make you realise that middle class people need to jsutify their trip to their local aldi.I've seen more and more of that type in my local one as this depression has pregressed.

Just read this on the daily fail site and to me the article is summed up by the sentence "However, rather than buying their entire weekly shop at Aldi, they are nipping in for one item. Booze." Good job Aldi catering to the depressed 'middle class' drowning their sorrows on the sofa infront of a 52" telly puking out grand design re-runs.

[19 year mortgage 8itch]

I'm obviously a trog as I didn't rate the tempranillo very highly.

[The Eagle]

I stopped reading when I saw '£85- for my weekly shop.'

I stopped reading when I saw the Daily Fail link...

It looks like we have another paid Daily Fail shill on HPC, IRRO must have been slacking so Zanu Bob has taken over...

Edited June 11, 2013 by The Eagle

[RichB]

I stopped reading when I saw '£85- for my weekly shop.'

This is the ultimate 'fauxterity' article.

There's so much of this about. For instance, I recently wrote a little book on moneysaving which has had some moderate success on Amazon Kindle. But the bestselling book on the subject is a fauxterity title heavily promoted in the daily press, which has tips on saving money on your ski holidays. designer handbags etc.

Never bought booze at waitrose then?

[Guest eight]

besides reading that and thinking waht a tosser,it does make you realise that middle class people need to jsutify their trip to their local aldi.I've seen more and more of that type in my local one as this depression has pregressed.

Saw a lot of this when I was younger, middle class types who were property wealthy but cash poor, justifying their rustbucket cars and camping holidays as being somehow "bohemian". Get over yourself you skint ******.

[R K]

It looks like the sort of council-run place where you'd go to get a verruca removed.

- 100 points to linking to daily hate article

Surprised she could squeeze through the door frankly.

Bagged salad is also good value. A generous bag of baby leaf salad is just 79p, as is the rocket.

Like she's ever eaten a salad leaf in her life

Edited June 11, 2013 by R K

[Bloo Loo]

Im surprised they didnt call the police...."one hour into my shop"....who can spend an hour in Aldi?....

[The Generation Game]

£1,700 for two weeks in Spain for one?!?!?!?

[Harry Monk]

Surely it would have been easier, and would save her even more money, if she had just carried on shopping at Waitrose but just bought and ate the right amount of food for one person, instead of twice as much?

[easy2012]

I stopped reading when I saw '£85- for my weekly shop.'

This is the ultimate 'fauxterity' article.

There's so much of this about. For instance, I recently wrote a little book on moneysaving which has had some moderate success on Amazon Kindle. But the bestselling book on the subject is a fauxterity title heavily promoted in the daily press, which has tips on saving money on your ski holidays. designer handbags etc.

Probably another advertorial.

As with all shops, Aldi/Lidl is not cheap on everything and Tesco do beat them often on those that are on special offer.

Got a Nutella from Aldi that day while Tesco had it on offer and would have been 30% better off to get that at Tesco.

If one has the time and want to save - it is about pick and mix.

Edited June 11, 2013 by easy2012

[RufflesTheGuineaPig]

I stopped reading when I saw '£85- for my weekly shop.'

This is the ultimate 'fauxterity' article.

There's so much of this about. For instance, I recently wrote a little book on moneysaving which has had some moderate success on Amazon Kindle. But the bestselling book on the subject is a fauxterity title heavily promoted in the daily press, which has tips on saving money on your ski holidays. designer handbags etc.

I'm single. Tesco delivery my groceries. I took their pay-half-yearly massively discounted delivery charge offer.

There is a £40 minimum. I often struggle to hit £40, despite spending £10-15 a week on alcohol.

WTF are they spending £85 on??????????????????

[Guest eight]

I'm single. Tesco delivery my groceries. I took their pay-half-yearly massively discounted delivery charge offer.

There is a £40 minimum. I often struggle to hit £40, despite spending £10-15 a week on alcohol.

WTF are they spending £85 on??????????????????

I buy petrol at Sainsburys sometimes. I keep getting vouchers for £15 off my first £60 online shop. What to do with it? Strangely (and to go back to a previous thread) it is not permitted to buy "first stage baby milk products" with it. Not that I would - I just thought it was worth a mention.

[Austin Allegro]

- 100 points to linking to daily hate article

Surprised she could squeeze through the door frankly.

Like she's ever eaten a salad leaf in her life

A bag of baby leaf salad for 79p?

Last year I bought a bag of salad seeds at the 99p Stores for...erm, let me think, 99p.

Planted in pots on the balcony, it yielded enough for a small salad most days through last summer, and some of the plants have even survived the winter and are growing nicely again now.

Wake me up when anyone on the Mail reaches that level of money saving...

[R K]

I'm single. Tesco delivery my groceries. I took their pay-half-yearly massively discounted delivery charge offer.

There is a £40 minimum. I often struggle to hit £40, despite spending £10-15 a week on alcohol.

WTF are they spending £85 on??????????????????

Can't imagine

[The Eagle]

I come here for discussion and to elevate my mind

Seriously? If you want to elevate your mind then stop reading the Daily Fail (and any other tabloid paper)!

It's the tabloid links that have degraded this forum quite a bit over the last few years.

[Austin Allegro]

Never bought booze at waitrose then?

I drink homemade wine mostly (cost about 20p a bottle), though I do buy the occasional bottle of beer from the corner shop (costs about £1, but I live abroad).

Even if she includes booze in her weekly shopping budget (I'd class it under entertainment myself) I still can't see how she's spending £85 unless she has champagne on her cornflakes every morning.

[Austin Allegro]

The brioche is as delicious as it looks, but I’m disappointed in both the chocolate and the lemon and mascarpone cheesecake that were singled out for praise. To my palate, they taste processed, not homemade.

Home made means made at home, so it's hardly surprising is it?

[Scary]

I buy petrol at Sainsburys sometimes. I keep getting vouchers for £15 off my first £60 online shop. What to do with it? Strangely (and to go back to a previous thread) it is not permitted to buy "first stage baby milk products" with it. Not that I would - I just thought it was worth a mention.

(OT)

They're not allowed to promote breast milk substitute because "breast is best" so it's not included in promotional vouchers etc.

[davidg]

I still can't see how she's spending £85 unless she has champagne on her cornflakes every morning.

I can, she's a fat pig.

[juvenal]

Im surprised they didnt call the police...."one hour into my shop"....who can spend an hour in Aldi?....

Ten minutes shopping and the rest of the hour in the till queue..

[Diver Dan]

I can, she's a fat pig.

That isn't politically correct.

The term you should have used should have been, 'a chunky monkey'.