Exploring Lidl

I feel like everyone knows Aldi, but not everyone knows about it’s “brother” store/company; Lidl.

Admittedly, I’ve heard about it, and have always been interested, but I never had one close enough to be able to get to it easily.

Now, there is one on the way home from work. Actually, there’s about to be two on the way home as they’re building a new one, literally across the street from my school.

I’ve driven by a bunch at this point, so one night last week, I decided I just had to go in and check it all out. I determined from my trip that if you love Aldi; you’d love Lidl just as much if not more.

Aldi and Lidl are very similar to each other in that they carry a lot of pantry staples for low prices. What’s different is that Lidl carries a larger variety of products than Aldi does and they also carry a lot of name brand products unlike Aldi (most of the time). If you’re anything like my husband (and a little overly attached to name brand products) you would likely find yourself more apt to shop at Lidl than Aldi. Lidl also had a much bigger home/seasonal section that is currently filled with Christmas decorations and toys.

Now, admittedly, I didn’t really buy much when I was there since I was mostly just there to browse, but I did find a few things to try out.

Let’s check out my local Lidl…

Oh…if only I could partake. But the bakery section was huge here and all of it was incredibly affordable.

There was also an impressive selection of organic foods to choose from. Aldi usually also has organic varieties, but there aren’t this many or usually all grouped together in this way.

The meat selection is definitely better than almost any grocery store I’ve ever been to. Literally every cut and kind of meat you could possibly want was there and very well stocked.

I grabbed these chicken sausages and actually used them for meal prep for lunches this week. They’re really good. They’re fully cooked, but I threw them in a skillet to crisp up the skin a bit and they have been delicious with rice and veggies.

The home and toy department is full of all the things you likely didn’t realize you needed. (And likely don’t need…but you do you.)

All the Christmas things are out in full effect. There are tons of ornaments, gifts, wrapping supplies…all the things. And all of it is super affordable.

Tons of brand name pantry and frozen grocery staples (again if you’re like my husband and that matters to you).

I was pleasantly surprised to see makeup and skincare here. I’ve seen some random toiletries at Aldi, but this actually looks like it could be a Lidl specific line for a lot of this and it seems like pretty good quality. I didn’t purchase any of it, but if anyone has tried it, feel free to leave a comment.

I will say, Aldi’s gluten-free section is definitely bigger/more robust. This was all my Lidl had as far as a gluten-free section. I did grab a box of pasta to try just because at this point, I try all the GF pastas ever, so we’ll see if it compares to the Aldi brand.

And lastly…one of the things that will win me over anywhere…