Lidl

Literalmente, este espacio me salvó la vida en Cardiff. Cuando te vas a vivir fuera y sobre todo a un sitio como Reino Unido donde la libra impone toda su crudeza, te das cuentas que ir a comprar es un auténtico quebradero de cabeza. Los precios son bastante altos y la calidad en muchos productos baja respecto a lo que estás acostumbrado en España.
No es de extrañar que este salvavidas llamado Lidl esté en la zona universitaria de la ciudad, Cathays, ya que seguro le soluciona la vida a muchos de los estudiantes que residen por allí. A pesar de que de vez en cuando encontraba alguna que otra oferta en Tesco o Sainsbury’s lo cierto es que en Lidl era donde tenían mejor calidad relación vs precio.
El acceso es magnífico, situado en una buena zona, con un amplio aparcamiento y algo bastante importante para mí, aparcamiento para bicis. Es un supermercado grande, con productos de casi todo tipo, tan solo recuerdo que no tenían pescado fresco, pero tenían todo tipo de bebidas, lácteos, embutidos, frutas, productos cárnicos, cereales… a un precio razonable y con la suficiente calidad.
Como anécdota debo contar que una vez al llegar a casa abrí una botella de leche comprada en Lidl y estaba mala, se la llevé y ni siquiera la miraron, se disculparon y me trajeron otra botella automáticamente, un buen detalle.
En España no voy a menudo a Lidl pero desde luego en Cardiff era uno de mis puntos clave. ¡Menos mal que lo encontré!

I was a bit wary of going to Lidl as my mum has always turned her nose up at it.
But…
I went here recently and was pleasently surprised. It was actually ok!
The fruit and veg is mostly if not all organic and the prices are very competitive! They also sell some of the most amazing own brand chocolate I have ever tasted. Believe me it gives Galaxy a run for its money!
Another thing I like is that it is never overly busy. There are always spaces in the car park and even though the seem to have a couple of staff working they get you served in no time!

In the run up to Christmas, I make an annual trip to Lidl for German gingerbread, as it’s the best and cheapest place I know to buy it, and Christmas wouldn’t seem right without it.
Last year I even bought a couple of ‘kit’ boxes as presents containing everything you need (except perhaps eggs) to build a Lebkuchen gingerbread house — the ingredients, icing, and decorations.
If you like Jaffa cakes, look out for the packets of cube-​shaped ‘Dominos’; if you can find them, they are delicious and worth stocking up on!
other than that, I don’t often visit Lidl. The choice is a bit too limited to do a full shop there, and I’d rather avoid trips to two separate supermarkets for one shop!

Lidl has the most awful reputation around me, mainly for selling food that no one actually really wants to eat. People also complain about the lay-​out of the stores, which can mean that you spend more time doing your shopping than you’d bargained for. Which is true. I did spend quite a long time looking for plasters before I found them on the shelf above the pavlovas (it seems so obvious now — Lidl is obviously organised alphabetically!).
But that is a fairly useless comment I think, because very few people will actually do their whole shop in Lidl. It is all about being a savvy shopper. So, get your main groceries from Tesco/​similar, get your fruit and veg from one of the many local greengrocers… And then get your odd things from Lidl.
Try not to be taken in by the large bags of veg — you definitely don’t need that many carrots. Instead, focus on the dry foods — that’s where Lidl excells in price.