Lidl, what's the quality like?

artvandelay48

Hi, I've heard that Lidl routinely undersell Tesco et al for prices on produce but what is the quality like? And with all the scares about steroids in budget chicken, woudl you buy meat from there?

jor el

Pretty much the same as Tesco/Dunnes/etc. The only thing I didn't like from Lidl were the microwave hamburgers. Whatever ones I got were horrible.

Try 'em and see, you've not got anything to loose.

IsThatSo?

We do the bulk of our shopping in Lidl, only using Dunnes/Tescos for the few bits we like there that we can't get in Lidl.

I find the quality good. If I was buying meat there I would buy the expensive stuff e.g we had the organice minced beef for dinner this evening and it was good

If you are a household that needs nappies then the nappies are excellent (though not suitable for overnight use).

I find their biscuits, coffee, frozen foods, yogurts, cheeses that kind of thing, great value and great quality.

The fruit and veg can go off quite quickly, but only a couple of days faster than other places. I have brought fruit back to all the major shops for going off within a few days of purchase, so its all much of a muchness. They have a great selection of veg with stuff like butternut squash and sweet potato that are not as readily available in the other chain stores.

The best thing to do is go try it. You will quickly figure out what you like and don't like and save a few bob on the way

Sainttoff

Find their fruit and veg good, their bread is good and their potatoe gratin is excellent!

Toilet roll and tissues are all good.

BUt do remember alot of their food is nice to taste but contains alot of calories, ie yogurts and potato gratin, coleslaw etc!

Their big steak and kindey pie contains alot of calories

cormie

Pretty much all cheapo meat is pumped full of hormones. Not sure of the extent of such acts in Ireland but it does happen. I'd be very wary of eating any cheap meat. Just go to youtube and do a few searches on the subject and you'll probably go off meat altogether :pac:

trailerparkboy

cormie there meat is excellent you are just brainwashed by the big supermarkets by thinking that if its cheap its no good, ure wrong there meat is far cheaper and a lot superior than tesco for example.

burgess1

Most of their stuff is very good.

jor el wrote: »

The only thing I didn't like from Lidl were the microwave hamburgers. Whatever ones I got were horrible.

What did you expect? :P

mahamageehad

Lidl rashers and sausages are very cheap- sausages a pound for about 1.20 and 8 rashers for about 2euro. They are also from Irish farms. Go figure!!

I cant rave enough about lidls frozen dinners especially the roast beef dinner for students, only 1.99!

For girls lidls cosmetics and shower gel etc and incredibly cheap and very high quality.

Lidl really excels if yuor preference is for sweets and chocolate, the Lidl version of Mars bars are WAY nicer than the real thing!!

Hope that helped OP

spank_inferno

Agree with previous posters.

They have very good quality amongst the bulk of their range.
Their weak link is still the meat though.
They carry a label called "fairview farm" and its good for chicken but not so good for the red meats.

riverbarrow

thank god for lidl and aldi .they made other supermarkets drop their prices.lidl food is first class

trailerparkboy

try the aldi 14 day mature steaks there unreal the best i have ever tasted they excatly like restraunt steaks.

riverbarrow

cormie get a life .lidl meat is lovely

riverbarrow

aldi and lidl meat really lovely,they cannot afford a scandel. cormie get a life if you worked on a trawleryou would never eat fish again.

antoinolachtnai

Which meat on the Irish market is pumped full of hormones?

How did you find out that cheap meat is more likely to be pumped full of hormones than expensive meat?

Blackrocks

If you're rushing, the lamb cutlets in Lidl are very good and exactly HALF the price of Tesco and Dunnes. approx 11.90 in tesco and 5.79 in lidl! Try them, they're irish too!

penexpers

I get most of the shopping in Lidl/Aldi but I still buy meat in the butchers. Butchers usually works out cheaper and has better range.

Slunk

Our house buys most stuff like biscuits, snacks etc in Lidl/ Aldi but recently a few people told us to try to meat and other stuff and it is very nice. Tried to Irish Angus steak and the lamb shanks from aldi and were delicious. Also tried the pizzas from lidl and they too are very nice. Same with rashers. It all comes from a pig so whats the difference. We will be doin a lot more shoppig in these two shops from now on. And not just the household & snacks. Think 6 galtee rashers now costs approx 4.80 in dunnes and in aldi a pack of rashers is 2.80 I think. Big savings on them alone

brianthebard

They had Organic mince from Lidl at home last time I was down, but it was still very poor compared to a butcher's minced steak. I hate buying meat in any supermarket, its never as good as it should be. Plus 90% of the time you are buying foreign meat, often repackaged as Irish.

thebman

Most of their stuff is either unbranded (rebranded, whatever you want to call it) stuff that you'd find in Tesco anyway.

Most of the meat, bread, milk etc.. is Irish since it is cheaper to get it from here because the stock would go off too quick if they brought it over from somewhere else.

The only real difference is their shop is their warehouse and their non-branded pizzas won't kill you unlike Tesco's :P

brianthebard

Sorry but that's completely untrue, most of the lamb I've seen on sale is from New Zealand. Their milk is from NI, their beef could be from anywhere (hint: probably Brazil). There's no fear about importing produce from abroad, refrigerated ships have been sending meat from NZ and Australia for a century now, its not a big deal for supermarkets to import anything they want.

josh59

Slunk wrote: »

Our house buys most stuff like biscuits, snacks etc in Lidl/ Aldi but recently a few people told us to try to meat and other stuff and it is very nice. Tried to Irish Angus steak and the lamb shanks from aldi and were delicious. Also tried the pizzas from lidl and they too are very nice. Same with rashers. It all comes from a pig so whats the difference. We will be doin a lot more shoppig in these two shops from now on. And not just the household & snacks. Think 6 galtee rashers now costs approx 4.80 in dunnes and in aldi a pack of rashers is 2.80 I think. Big savings on them alone

I beilieve the Lidl (and Aldi) fresh chicken is supplied by Western Brand in Mayo - a former work colleague's mother looked after the Lidl and the Aldi accounts. Aldi state on their website that their meat is supplied by AIBP ( Larry Goodmans crowd). Most of the bread in Lidl is supplied by a number of bakeries in Northern Ireland - in Dublin at least Aldi got their bread from a bekery in Phibsboro I think but now some of it at least looks like it's supplied from a bakery in Co. Meath - posssibly Spicers in Navan. Some of the bacon products in Aldi come from Co. Kilkenny - I know the guy who prints the lables for the bacon factory. From where I'm originally from in the South East Aldi get their vegetables from local wholesalers. Aldi stated on the radio that they now source 40% of their products in Ireland - wonder what percentages Tesco etc sourcce ?

mickoneill30

Their pizzas are great. I don't know if they import the meat from the moon or not but they taste good and they're cheaper than the big brands in the supermarkets.

sprinklesspanky

artvandelay48 wrote: »

Hi, I've heard that Lidl routinely undersell Tesco et al for prices on produce but what is the quality like? And with all the scares about steroids in budget chicken, woudl you buy meat from there?

Personally, I find it's hit and miss. Some of the stuff I've bought is decent but I find much of it is flavorless... however, if you're a smoker you won't notice!

I do my fruit and veg shopping at the Smithfield market or on Moore Street. I go to the butchers for my meat, the reason is I find the package deals they offer are very good value for money. A butcher on Camden street does various package deals that usually include more than enough meat for two for a week at price of €15 to €20. The only thing we'll buy at Lidl, or Tesco is our bits.

brianthebard

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/damning-report-says-meat-falsely-labelled-as-irish-126675.html

Just a sample of the misinformation happening in stores.

kmick

Lidl
Fresh fruit and vegetables
Cheese
Hams and Cold Cuts
Chicken Wings

Butcher (Tony in Rathgar)
Meat

Aldi
Parmesan Cheese
Hams and Cold Cuts
Sausages
Asparagus
Nappies
Organic Snack Bars

Dunnes
Everything else.

olaola

I usually buy fruit & veg, cured meats (parma ham etc) and parmesan in Lidl/Aldi. The toiletries and toilet roll aren't great. Esp the washing up liquid.
I would pop over to Tesco once a month and get my brand household items there. Try to get to a butcher for meat - am not too pushed on Lidl/Aldi or even Tesco for meat & poultry.

cormie

trailerparkboy wrote: »

cormie there meat is excellent you are just brainwashed by the big supermarkets by thinking that if its cheap its no good, ure wrong there meat is far cheaper and a lot superior than tesco for example.

I'm not talking specifically about Lidl, I'm just saying in general, if meat is cheap, the animal has most likely been pumped with some sort of hormone to make it grow faster. As I said, I'm not sure of the extent of these practices taking place in Ireland, but I'm sure it does happen here. It definitely happens elsewhere so why wouldn't farmers do it here? It is a business after all. Check this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KXZu65HpUA (quite extreme and shows some graphic content)

"In the 1950s, it took 84 days to raise a five-pound chicken. Due to selective breeding and growth-promoting drugs, it now takes only 45 days. Such fast growth causes chickens to suffer from a number of chronic health problems, including leg disorders and heart disease. According"

Now I wouldn't want to be putting that kind of food into my body no matter where I bought it.

riverbarrow wrote: »

cormie get a life .lidl meat is lovely

I've never tasted it so I can't comment on that. I'd just be wary that's all.

riverbarrow wrote: »

aldi and lidl meat really lovely,they cannot afford a scandel. cormie get a life if you worked on a trawleryou would never eat fish again.

I'm not stating any facts that Lidl meat is reared this way, I'm just saying to be wary of cheap meat as there is probably a good reason it's so cheap.

antoinolachtnai wrote:

Which meat on the Irish market is pumped full of hormones?

How did you find out that cheap meat is more likely to be pumped full of hormones than expensive meat?

It is more likely. It makes business sense. Meat that is certified organic and freerange is less likely to be pumped with hormones than broiler meat. They are for different markets and appeal to different people and that's why the more expensive meat can still be sold. However most people will go for the cheapest product.


I'm not posting to get into a huge debate. I'm just saying be wary of cheap meat. There's no real way of knowing for sure how the animal you're eating was treated but the end price would have some indication of the production costs.

Scottie99

I found the mince poor, if you like like the taste of fat in your mouth then its for you. I even drained the mince in the browning process

antoinolachtnai

http://www.fsai.ie/legislation/food/legislation_vetmed.asp#hormones

The use of growth hormones in farming is in general terms not allowed, even in cheap meat. Hormones are easily detected, and his herd will be slaughtered if a farmer is caught using them. That is why it does not make 'business sense' to use hormones. If you have any suspicion that hormones are being used, then you should report it to the FSAI. If you don't have any real suspicion then you are just spreading FUD.

Instinctively it makes sense to think that if something is cheap, that it is more likely to be made to a low standard. For sure, if you are buying goods that are untraceable, this might be the case But is this really true when you buy from a place like lidl? There are other ways to cut costs apart from lowering standards. Margins on food in Ireland seem to be pretty substantial. (I am not saying standard are great or anything, but there are more likely to be problems in the handling of meat in the supply chain than in the breeding, and paying for better quality meat won't make any difference to that problem, in fact slower moving and unpackaged products are more likely to end up with problems as far as I can see.)

thebman

antoinolachtnai wrote: »

http://www.fsai.ie/legislation/food/legislation_vetmed.asp#hormones

The use of growth hormones in farming is in general terms not allowed, even in cheap meat. Hormones are easily detected, and his herd will be slaughtered if a farmer is caught using them. That is why it does not make 'business sense' to use hormones. If you have any suspicion that hormones are being used, then you should report it to the FSAI. If you don't have any real suspicion then you are just spreading FUD.

Instinctively it makes sense to think that if something is cheap, that it is more likely to be made to a low standard. For sure, if you are buying goods that are untraceable, this might be the case But is this really true when you buy from a place like lidl? There are other ways to cut costs apart from lowering standards. Margins on food in Ireland seem to be pretty substantial. (I am not saying standard are great or anything, but there are more likely to be problems in the handling of meat in the supply chain than in the breeding, and paying for better quality meat won't make any difference to that problem, in fact slower moving and unpackaged products are more likely to end up with problems as far as I can see.)

Women aren't allowed own herds :P
Or they are and women are allowed use hormones without the herd being slaughtered.

brianthebard wrote: »

Sorry but that's completely untrue, most of the lamb I've seen on sale is from New Zealand. Their milk is from NI, their beef could be from anywhere (hint: probably Brazil). There's no fear about importing produce from abroad, refrigerated ships have been sending meat from NZ and Australia for a century now, its not a big deal for supermarkets to import anything they want.

It does affect how well it will sell though. You can usually get Irish meat if you check it at least in Aldi you can anytime I was there.

cormie

antoinolachtnai wrote: »

http://www.fsai.ie/legislation/food/legislation_vetmed.asp#hormones

The use of growth hormones in farming is in general terms not allowed, even in cheap meat. Hormones are easily detected, and his herd will be slaughtered if a farmer is caught using them. That is why it does not make 'business sense' to use hormones. If you have any suspicion that hormones are being used, then you should report it to the FSAI. If you don't have any real suspicion then you are just spreading FUD.

Instinctively it makes sense to think that if something is cheap, that it is more likely to be made to a low standard. For sure, if you are buying goods that are untraceable, this might be the case But is this really true when you buy from a place like lidl? There are other ways to cut costs apart from lowering standards. Margins on food in Ireland seem to be pretty substantial. (I am not saying standard are great or anything, but there are more likely to be problems in the handling of meat in the supply chain than in the breeding, and paying for better quality meat won't make any difference to that problem, in fact slower moving and unpackaged products are more likely to end up with problems as far as I can see.)

Once I see a page with that much text to read, I quickly close it :P but if it says hormones aren't allowed, then that's good to hear but when you say "in general terms" what do you mean?

I see in the UK, there's a lot of concern over tesco value chickens (which may be the same ones we stock here?). If you look here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7230959.stm and here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-512628/TV-chefs-fury-Tesco-sells-chickens-just-1-99.html it says:

Meanwhile, research funded by Defra suggests more than a quarter of broiler chickens have difficulty walking as result of their high growth rates.

The study of 51,000 of the chickens, intensively bred specifically for their meat, found that at about 40 days old 27.6% exhibited "poor locomotion" and 3.3% could almost not walk at all.

•A standard broiler lives for 39 days, down from more than double that 30 years ago. A shed holds 40,000 birds which eat and sleep ? it is dark for one hour a day ? in a space smaller than A4 paper. Leg injuries or slow growth mean about five per cent die or are culled. A third of the rest will be in pain by the time they die, the RSPCA says.

So if it's not hormones, then what is it that's cut the production time in half over the past 30 years?

antoinolachtnai

When I say 'in general terms' I mean nearly nearly always. It's not my specialized subject, but like everything else in drugs and testing, there are going to be exceptions. No doubt there are some loopholes somewhere. There are certain trace levels allowed, and I suppose you could argue over these.

I am not an expert on chicken production either, but I would think the saving is achieved by limiting opportunities for exercise, using a specific diet, and selective breeding. It is not harmful to human health, in the way hormone use might be.

(I am not saying that this is an acceptable practice, just that it doesn't necessarily involve hormones.)

cormie

Yeah it's a bit dodgy alright, but some how they've cut the growth time in half and that would scream "stay away" to me from cheap meats. With the specific mention of leg injuries in the below reports, as far as I've read, this is due to their legs not being developed enough to be able to support the extra weight/fat from them growing twice as quick. I'd just be very wary eating this kind of mass produced meat. Even without the hormones, eating chickens and the likes kept in such cramped conditions with bad pneumonia levels etc would be a bad idea in my mind.

thebman

cormie wrote: »

Once I see a page with that much text to read, I quickly close it :P but if it says hormones aren't allowed, then that's good to hear but when you say "in general terms" what do you mean?

I see in the UK, there's a lot of concern over tesco value chickens (which may be the same ones we stock here?). If you look here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7230959.stm and here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-512628/TV-chefs-fury-Tesco-sells-chickens-just-1-99.html it says:

So if it's not hormones, then what is it that's cut the production time in half over the past 30 years?

Evolution?? :pac:

dade

use aldi all the time, get bread, biscuits, chocolate, fruit and veg, salad and cold cuts and always cheaper than tesco. i tend to shop around for the meat though coz most weekends one will have some sort of deal on.

can't use their shampoo or washing power though I have poxy skin

Tawny

Grand.


Really bad cocopops though.

ejmaztec

The only complaint I have about Lidl is their bread. I imagine that eating a polystyrene ceiling tile would be about the same as eating a slice of that stuff.

antoinolachtnai

cormie wrote: »

Yeah it's a bit dodgy alright, but some how they've cut the growth time in half and that would scream "stay away" to me from cheap meats. With the specific mention of leg injuries in the below reports, as far as I've read, this is due to their legs not being developed enough to be able to support the extra weight/fat from them growing twice as quick. I'd just be very wary eating this kind of mass produced meat. Even without the hormones, eating chickens and the likes kept in such cramped conditions with bad pneumonia levels etc would be a bad idea in my mind.

Well, there are moral reasons, for sure, and there might be some nutritional or taste benefit in a differently reared chicken, but I don't think you can say that it is in and of itself a direct danger to human health. It certainly isn't a danger to the extent that hormones are, or bad handling practices. Also, it's hard to say conclusively that paying for a more expensive product will necessarily get you a less intensively broiled chicken.

BreeVdK

Lidl

Good:

Fruit/Veg/Sweets/Biscuits/Cosmetics/Cleaning Products and Detergents/Wine/cheese/toilet rolls/kitchen paper/orange juice (orange carton), coca cola (usually cheaper than Tesco/Dunnes etc), pasta/fajhita pack/corn flakes/ice cream/cod fillets.

Bad:
Bolognese sauce was absolutely rank

FearDark

Lidl lasagna... oh my god mmm

cormie

antoinolachtnai wrote: »

Well, there are moral reasons, for sure, and there might be some nutritional or taste benefit in a differently reared chicken, but I don't think you can say that it is in and of itself a direct danger to human health. It certainly isn't a danger to the extent that hormones are, or bad handling practices. Also, it's hard to say conclusively that paying for a more expensive product will necessarily get you a less intensively broiled chicken.

Depends I suppose what your definition of danger to human health is. It wont (I hope) land you in hospital instantly, but will probably do more bad than good to your health over time, but so will most things people eat. Diet is a very important factor to our well being and I just don't think it's something people should be saving pennies over personally. But that's just my opinion

the groutch

jor el wrote: »

Pretty much the same as Tesco/Dunnes/etc. The only thing I didn't like from Lidl were the microwave hamburgers. Whatever ones I got were horrible.

Try 'em and see, you've not got anything to loose.

Sounds like McColgan's

Solair

Chickens have been bred to grow very fast and they are also overfed with ultra high protein diets to ensure that they do. It's nothing to do with growth hormones, it's just feeding them unnatural foods.

The result is grossly overweight chickens.

Dispatches on Channel 4 revealed that there were really bad quality chicken products on the shelves of ALL of the UK major supermarkets, they weren't by any means an issue that was focused on discounters.

The major problem with this kind of chicken is that it is very high fat content as effectively you're eating a couch potato chicken that never gets any exercise and eats vast amounts of the wrong foods.

thebman

Solair wrote: »

Chickens have been bred to grow very fast and they are also overfed with ultra high protein diets to ensure that they do. It's nothing to do with growth hormones, it's just feeding them unnatural foods.

The result is grossly overweight chickens.

Dispatches on Channel 4 revealed that there were really bad quality chicken products on the shelves of ALL of the UK major supermarkets, they weren't by any means an issue that was focused on discounters.

The major problem with this kind of chicken is that it is very high fat content as effectively you're eating a couch potato chicken that never gets any exercise and eats vast amounts of the wrong foods.

Well you are what you eat

Very fitting saying for a lot of people who are also coach potatoes and probably chickens too :P

cormie

Solair wrote: »

Chickens have been bred to grow very fast and they are also overfed with ultra high protein diets to ensure that they do. It's nothing to do with growth hormones, it's just feeding them unnatural foods.

The result is grossly overweight chickens.

Dispatches on Channel 4 revealed that there were really bad quality chicken products on the shelves of ALL of the UK major supermarkets, they weren't by any means an issue that was focused on discounters.

The major problem with this kind of chicken is that it is very high fat content as effectively you're eating a couch potato chicken that never gets any exercise and eats vast amounts of the wrong foods.

Right so that's probably how they get around the hormones, just feed them the equivalent to a supersize McDonalds, every day, all day, for their whole lives, so much so their own legs can't support their weight and crumble under pressure. Now personally if I was a cannibal, I'd be waiting outside a health food shop for my next victim rather than McDonalds

MOH

Solair wrote: »

Chickens have been bred to grow very fast and they are also overfed with ultra high protein diets to ensure that they do. It's nothing to do with growth hormones, it's just feeding them unnatural foods.

The result is grossly overweight chickens.

Dispatches on Channel 4 revealed that there were really bad quality chicken products on the shelves of ALL of the UK major supermarkets, they weren't by any means an issue that was focused on discounters.

The major problem with this kind of chicken is that it is very high fat content as effectively you're eating a couch potato chicken that never gets any exercise and eats vast amounts of the wrong foods.

This reminds me of Alan Partridge

Alan: Well, listen, I'll tell you what the point is. You have big sheds, but nobody's allowed in, and inside these big sheds are twenty-foot high chickens. Because of all the chemicals you put in them.
[While Alan talks, Peter shakes his head, gathers his stuff together, and goes to leave.]

Alan: And these chickens are scared. They don't know why they're so big. They go 'oh why am I so massive'? And they're looking down on all the other little chickens, and they think they're in an aeroplane because all the other chickens are so small. Do you deny that?
[Peter has left]
No. His silence, I think, speaks volumes.

Our man in Havana

FearDark wrote: »

Lidl lasagna... oh my god mmm

+1 It is excellent.

I find the fruit and veg is of variable quality. Very hit and miss.

I find the chicken breasts to be as expensive as Dunnes, Tesco etc.

Other than that the rest of the stuff is good value and good quality. The only problem is that people open packets and throw stuff everywhere.

missmatty

I'm a big fan of Lidl and Aldi, been shopping there for years. Finally I'm cool :pac:

Lidl mainly these days as it's the nearest. I like their wine, cheeses, yoghurts, sweets/biscuits (but so bold!), tissues, washing powder, coffee, breaded fish, etc. The odd thing is mank of most of it is absolutely fine.

TarfHead

missmatty wrote: »

I'm a big fan of Lidl and Aldi, been shopping there for years. Finally I'm cool :pac:

Lidl mainly these days as it's the nearest. I like their wine, cheeses, yoghurts, sweets/biscuits (but so bold!), tissues, washing powder, coffee, breaded fish, etc. The odd thing is mank of most of it is absolutely fine.

I have had a couple of bad experiences with both ALDI & LIDL with wine & beer. Can anyone recommend a label or brand for me to try ?

I prefer ALDI to LIDL for the range of cheese and antipasti-style deli products. I'm a recent convert to the 39c pack of Ginger Nut biscuits !

Check out www.lidltreats.com for recommendations and recipes using product sourced in LIDL/ALDI.

Alun

Bond-007 wrote: »

I find the fruit and veg is of variable quality. Very hit and miss.

I've found quite the opposite in fact. Veg that I've bought in Lidl has far outlasted anything I've bought in any of the other supermarkets.

cormie

Alun wrote: »

I've found quite the opposite in fact. Veg that I've bought in Lidl has far outlasted anything I've bought in any of the other supermarkets.

Is that a good or bad thing though I've always wandered. Sure it's convenient, but how is it lasting so long? Without any knowledge on it, my first guess would be more chemicals sprayed onto them?