In a bid to save money, I recently started shopping at budget supermarket Lidl. However, I ended up spending more.
I usually shop at one of the big four supermarkets but found price increases in Sainsbury’s increasing more than I could keep up with. This meant I decided to look at budget retailers Aldi and Lidl to see if I could save on my food shop. I chose Lidl after finding their own-brand items delicious when I’d tried them.
I downloaded the Lidl Plus App where I could make huge savings, as well as get free grocery items and thought I’d be able to save hundreds each year by making the switch. However, after shopping there for one month, I realised I was actually spending more than I was at Sainsbury’s.
Why is Lidl cheap?
Lidl is great for affordable grocery items, and the supermarket keeps its prices low by keeping its ranges simple. This means you spend less time picking between items which can help speed up your shopping time.
I’ve always loved their bakery, but have never done my full weekly food shop there so thought I would try it out to see how fresh the produce was, and how much I could save.
The Lidl Plus App provided me with instant savings as well as free bakery items such as doughnuts or rolls. These offers and savings only increased the more I was spending in store too.
However, by offering shoppers free grocery and bakery items, I was making the journey to Lidl when I wouldn’t otherwise have needed to shop. This means that although I was picking up my free items, I was also nipping around the supermarket to see if there was anything else which caught my eye and more often than not, I would spend at least £10.
The dangerous ‘Middle of Lidl’
As well as this, the middle aisles, also known as the Middle of Lidl also caught me out on a number of occasions. The Middle of Lidl products change regularly, and it’s an area of the store where you can find anything from blenders to saucepans to DIY goods. One time, I went in for a very basic food shop and ended up spending £109 thanks to finding lots of kitchen goodies in the middle aisles.
Whilst it wasn’t a necessity, I know appliances and items in these aisles sell out and sometimes never return, so I thought I would pick them up. In the end, I ended up completely skipping those aisles despite using these items in my everyday life because I was actually spending more than usual.
There are big savings
If you aren’t tempted by any of the middle aisle goodies, you could make a huge saving in the supermarket. I was used to paying at least £2.30 for a punnet of grapes, but in Lidl, they were around £1.09. Some weeks I could even grab them for under the £1 thanks to the Lidl Plus App.
Whilst I haven’t stopped shopping at Lidl completely, I tend to skip the middle aisles and really focus on the groceries I actually need, and I find the shopping experience very enjoyable.