Lidl - the shop for curries and prunes! (Lidl)

Member Name: Steedoo

Product:	Lidl
Date:	09/08/09 (79 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Value for money, a few items you can't buy elsewhere, weekly specials

Disadvantages: Shopping trolleys only, no baskets. Smaller product ranges than bigger stores

I would echo most of the comments from previous reviewers about value for money at Lidl. I particularly like:

Fruit juices and smoothies, good value both in the one litre cartons and small packs for lunch boxes.
Their chilled curry and Chinese and rice range is excellent value, with plenty of meat. Not a great deal of choice but they are made by Noon who supply other supermarkets. They have Thai red and green curries as well which I haven't seen in other shops. I have noticed however that Asda are muscling in on this now with budget priced curries at £2 or so.
The chocolate range is good. Their Mars bar equivalents taste near enough to the real thing and are much cheaper. Not so keen on their Snickers equivalent as I think they skimp a bit on the caramel.
They sell fresh ground coffee in double packs which is a good idea because it keeps better than a single big pack. The price has gone up a lot - 18 months ago this was under £2, now they're £3.50 or more. Nice coffee, though, Guatemalan and Kenyan blend I think.
Their tea range deserves mention - packs of peppermint tea at about 60p, and some flavoured redbush teas for about 80p which I have not seen anywhere else. The orange flavoured ones I think are the nicest.
A lot of reviewers mention the fruit and veg, but the dried fruit is good too, with big tubs of prunes at about £2. They have these in Aldi's too, under a different brand name. They seem much cheaper than elsewhere.
It's also worth keeping an eye out for their weekly specials, like their men's trainers which appear occasionally and which are only a tenner.

I'm not so keen on their cereal bars, which are too cardboardy for me and the fruit flavourings always seem too synthetic and overpowering. But part of the fun of shopping in a place like Lidl's is trying new products!

Comments have been made by others about the lack of choice, and personally I find their range of beers very limited, but then again sometimes this can be a good thing as it means you don't spend time trying to decide between brands!

I do find the lack of shopping baskets a real chore. I know this is all about keeping costs down (as with the small number of staff in store.) Lidl's do have smaller size trolleys available, unlike Aldi which only has the one large size, but there have been a couple of occasions when I haven't had any pound coins on me and I've had to hunt round for a cardboard box in the shop to carry round my purchases. Luckily I was only buying a few things at the time!

Summary: Worth a look if you've never tried one.