I’m a shopping expert – four items to always buy at Lidl and the things to avoid
LIDL is well known for being ‘Lidl’ on price with its bargain items but some are better value than others.
The cost of living crisis means that saving every penny is now more essential than ever before.
We spoke to shopping expert Karen Green who shared her tips for getting the best bargains at Lidl and what items you should avoid.
Karen is a B2B sales expert who started life as a retail buyer for Tesco and Boots.
She now uses her experience to help over 500 SME business owners and sales teams to sell more and sell better.
Here are the items you should – and shouldn’t – be buying at Lidl.
As always, remember to shop around and compare prices before you splash the cash.
What to buy
Great Taste products
Karen first suggested going for Great Taste awards winners.
Products that win this award have been selected as being great in taste, value and packaging.
For example, Karen suggested these:
- Deluxe Parmigiano Raggiano DOP – £2.45 for 200g
- Deluxe 4 Ultimate Pork Sausages – £2.49 for 400g
- Birchwood Italian Chicken Chipolatas – £2.19 for 340g
- Strawberry Extra Jam Conserve – £1.79 for 450g
Grocer Awards winners
Another way to choose what items to buy is to look at the Grocer Awards winners.
Like with the Great Taste products, this considers great tasting food.
Karen said that Lidl often comes out on top for these awards with items like the Caramelised Almonds & Sea Salt Milk Chocolate (£1.99 for 180g) and the Lidl Deluxe Corn Fed Free Range Whole Chicken (£4.99 for 1.2kg – 2.2kg) are her top picks.
Cupboard staples
Karen said shoppers can never go wrong with cupboard staples at the discounter.
The shopping expert said: “Lidl is great for basics so always buy coffee, tea, tinned tomatoes, jars of beans (they are sublime.)”
The store often sells dupes of favourites like Nutella and Nescafe coffee.
We tested some of Lidl’s dupe products ourselves including their own version of Heinz products.
While it didn’t come out on top, Lidl’s knock-offs were still impressive, and cheaper.
Alcohol
Lidl supplies a range of sparkling wines, prosecco and champagne which give the posher, more expensive brands a run for their money.
Karen said the supermarket has a “fabulous fizz Cremant de Loire for £8.99”.
She also said that if you’re after a nice red wine, then you can get a great Aussie Barossa Shiraz for just £6.99.
These are often much cheaper than other supermarkets, though keep in mind that stock and prices will vary.
What to avoid
Karen said she doesn’t think Lidl’s fruit and veg selection is worth the money.
“Its fruit and veg offer is patchy and not always the best quality so whilst I wouldn’t avoid, I wouldn’t buy expecting it last too long, ” she added.
“Often the fruit and veg are of poor quality as they spot buy so they don’t often get the best produce.
“Its frozen range is also pretty dire so head down to Iceland for that one.”
But if you do buy fruit and veg from Lidl you can grab 5kg of food at Lidl for just £1.50 – this has been praised by shoppers in the past.
She said the most disappointing product in her mind is Lidl’s own-brand pesto – she said it isn’t anything like what she expects pesto to taste like.
If you’re in need of some new bathroom staples, Karen would also avoid its own-brand shampoo and condition.
“They made my normally calm hair go frizzy,” she added.
Whatever you buy in Lidl, you can get extra savings by using its loyalty scheme.
Plus you can save cash by getting yellow sticker bargains – here’s the best time to get them.
We’ve also written about the four items you should always buy at Home Bargains – and the two you should avoid.
And Poundland has four items you should always avoid but there are four you should buy elsewhere.
Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing money-sm@news.co.uk