I live within five minutes of two major supermarkets—Aldi and Sainsbury’s—which means I often dip into both of them every day. Rather than doing a weekly shop like most people, I shop for the next day, which means I mainly buy fresh goods such as milk, fruit and vegetables, bread and meat and fish. While Aldi is my go-to supermarket because it’s more affordable, there are some items, like dishwasher tablets, that I will only buy from Sainsbury’s.
However, there’s one item, or a specific type of food item, that I will only buy from Aldi because it’s more affordable and the quality is better. Recently, my local Aldi installed a bakery. I had never tried Aldi’s bakery items before and was intrigued by the quality of the items, considering how cheap they were.
I’d always bought the odd croissant or pain au chocolat from Sainsbury’s on a weekend to enjoy a leisurely breakfast.
But if I didn’t get to the shop early enough, I always found them dry, stale, and a bit tasteless, considering the price point.
So, when I first bought a croissant from Aldi, I was sceptical. I expected the same quality but for less money.
After trying the majority of Aldi’s bakery range over the past few months, I’m hooked and won’t buy anything from Sainsbury’s bakery section again.
The main differences between Aldi’s bakery and Sainsbury’s are the variety of items and how they’re displayed.
My local Aldi has everything from Portuguese custard tarts to fresh doughnuts, pretzels and fresh bread.
My local Sainsbury’s has more Danish pastries, but it doesn’t have as many varieties of doughnuts, muffins, and sweet treats.
Both supermarkets offer the pastries you’d expect—almond croissants, pain au chocolat, chocolate croissants, chocolate twists, plain croissants and cinnamon swirls—but the ones in Aldi are covered and kept under a heat lamp, whereas the ones in my local Sainsbury’s have a flimsy plastic lid that is usually falling off.
The quality of Aldi’s bakery items is exceptional for the price, while some of Sainsbury’s items seem massively overpriced.
Two of Sainsbury’s All Butter Croissants cost £1.75, whereas I can buy two from Aldi for around £1.38 (69p each).
A Sainsbury’s crusty white baguette costs £1.35 while Aldi’s costs just 79p.
My local Sainsbury’s has a better selection of bread items than Aldi, with unique flavours and different grains.
While I do love Aldi’s bakery items and won’t be switching back to Sainsbury’s for the odd croissant here and there, this is entirely down to my own palate.
Neither supermarket bakery will compare to some of the local, independent bakeries on my doorstep, but if you’re looking for a freshly baked treat on a weekend that’s relatively affordable, I’d choose Aldi every time.
Zoe Chamberlain at BirminghamLive visited Morrisons, Tesco, Lidl, Aldi, and Sainsbury’s bakeries last year and found Lidl to be her favourite.
Meanwhile, my colleague Phoebe Cornish recently ditched her fresh bakery croissants from Lidl for a frozen version that she cooks at home.
