Food for Thought

Food is part of the travelling experience; we like to eat well and we like to try new things. Therefore, without having to spend astronomical amounts on food, we don’t want to be looking at the pennies and compromise on the quality.

When reading the stories of people who have done this kind of trip before they seemed to focus on budget and recommend shopping at Lidl or Aldi to make the trip less costly. Not wanting to be a snob but we didn’t want to consider those supermarkets as our first options.

Our estimations for food costs, based on how we eat in the UK was £100 per week excluding eating out, which we had planned to do once a week for variety and culture. For the first couple of weeks we shopped mainly at Sainsbury’s and Morrison’s and, very occasionally, at Tesco (when there was no other store around); the weekly shopping was higher than estimated. That didn’t worry us too much; we knew we were always going to incur upfront costs when stocking up the fridge and the food cupboards;we expected costs would smooth out over time.

At home our regular supermarket is Sainsbury’s. It is a large superstore, and literally just around the corner. When we were working, we were short of time and, therefore, the convenience suited us well.

Nonetheless, every time we passed a Lidl or Aldi store we remembered other travellers’ advice and, interestingly, there were always a fair amount of motorhomes at the car park. So, we decided to check one out The first one we came upon was an Aldi, so we had a browse without actually buying. Two things caught our attention. One, that the prices were between 20% to 30% lower than in the big four supermarkets (Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Tesco and Waitrose). Two, that the low prices applied across the entire food range.

The next time we needed to shop we stopped at a Lidl. We bought our usual stuff: pasta, rice, couscous, juices, milk, chicken fillets, salmon, bread, marmalade, jam, and snacks for lunch (such as houmous, packed salads, quiches, etc) and we spent around £30 compared to £50 that we would have spent at Sainsbury’s. However, we waited to try them all before jumping to any conclusions about changing shopping habits, I must say, we were slightly suspicious on the quality

Surprisingly, the quality didn’t differ much from our usual supermarket, not even on juices or snacks. So, the following week we went back to Lidl, this time, being brave enough to buy a couple of bottles of wine. Even with these, where we would normally spend £6 to £7 per bottle in Sainsbury’s, here we were spending £4. The selection in Lidl is not so good, so when we want to have nice fish or seafood we would revert to the big four, or hopefully when abroad, somewhere more local. However, for normal stuff, Lidl and Aldi is definitely better value for money.

Here is some food for thought. Gary and I have been discussing how Lidl and Aldi can make money with such low prices.

We have been into at least five of their stores and they all have exactly the same layout: at the entrance, cereals on the right side, followed by the bakery section.. The frozen food is in the middle, close to the camping section. So, there isn’t a great deal of thought to display the food in a strategic place to encourage people to buy more.

Maybe this is what it is about. If the profit margins are low due to lower prices, they must be focusing on volume to make money and, therefore, they want lots of customers coming into the stores but spending as little time as possible doing their shopping. By setting up all the stores with the same layout, customers know exactly where things are and they won’t have to waste time looking for them. Outside the store, one of their straplines to differentiate themselves is that they are the quickest shop.

We can see why, and it is an interesting selling point, no frills, speed, and for the essentials this is great. Does it erode from the joy of the experience though?

Another area where we think they must be making costs savings is on staff. You won’t see many of them around, mainly because their stores are quite small. Also, there is no fish or meat counter so there is no need to employ extra staff to maintain them. Due to the absence of queues (as discussed on our point above) they only need a couple of tills open, so no need for lots of cashiers.

Our latest thought was about customer service. When I go to supermarkets where I know I am going to pay a premium, such as Sainsbury’s or Waitrose, I expect good customer service, for example, charming shop assistant at the fish counter, giving us free pieces of garlic butter after spending quite a bit on our tuna steaks. However, I wouldn’t care less if the cashier at Lidl’s till doesn’t smile at me or tell me: “Good afternoon, how are you today?”

And today we visited The Cooperative. We’ve always liked the Coop mainly they always offer reduced priced goods, items close or at the end of their use by dates. We scooped loads of stuff at a quarter original sale price. Hummus for 27p. Most of it was reduced, and reduced heavily. Sainsbury might reduce by 25%, but Asda only 10%, why the big difference. Now our experience of Asda is that often the shelves seem half empty. Do they stock light, knowing that most families will need the item, won’t have the time or inclination to pick it up from somewhere else and therefore are more likely to up-buy. We  mainly go to Coop because we know they heavily reduce and we expect it, so is this self fulfilling

If you have shopped at Lidl or Aldi before, would you like to share your experiences? What do you think about our thoughts?

We are really starting to like Lidl

SM