If you’re unfamiliar with Aldi or Lidl, Reddit serves as a gateway to learning about them. The Aldi faction on Reddit tends to be louder and slightly larger by a few hundred thousand members, while the Lidl community is equally passionate about the store’s offerings.
Getting to know Lidl isn’t just about discovering tips on top-tier, incredibly affordable European baked goods—pretzel buns and pain au chocolat, anyone? Similar to r/Aldi, the r/Lidl subreddit centers on the best products you can find in-store. Curious about the kind of grocery-store rival banter that fuels these discussions, we decided to spotlight five of Lidl’s surprisingly underrated items.
Lidl’s Salted Irish Butter from the Preferred Selection — $3.69
You’ll hear a lot about the Kerrygold knock-off of the black box butter―if you listen to Lidl product chatter, that is. But it’s a good subject to eavesdrop on, since high-quality butter is the pillar of any delicious meal. Lots of users have good things to say about it, with one reviewer even saying, “No other butter compares. I love baking with it and having it straight on warm bread.” Another Redditor says they’ll even take Lidl over Kerrygold when the price is right.
Eridanous Smoked Solid Light Tuna — $2.99
Yep, this is a less than specific and less than “sexy” food, but a couple things: canned or preserved fish tends to be underappreciated. And since Europe tends to do all the canning and preserving of delicious oily fish much better than we do (with certain exceptions, of course), it’s no shock there’s a lot of love for Lidl’s little array of smoky, oily, tinned fish out there.
Greek Yogurt, Fat-Free or Full-Fat, $3.25
Fat-free or full-fat, plain or any flavor, most r/lidl and just Reddit yogurt enthusiasts (under any subreddit) have nothing but good things to say about Lidl’s own Greek yogurt line, which comes in criminally affordable at $3.25 for 32 ounces (about half the price you’d pay for, say, Fage). It’s listed among Lidl store-brand foods that taste better than branded versions, and aside from very mild complaints about some runniness, you’ll hear sentiments like “I prefer their Greek yogurt to other brands.”
Lidl’s Gelatelli Ice Cream Bars — $7.89
As one of Lidl’s roughly 80 percent private-label brands, Gelatelli isn’t limited to ice cream bars—dessert cones, frozen fruit bars, ice cream, and more are part of the lineup. Yet these ice cream bars (the Mix Classic box in particular) are celebrated across the internet for delivering Magnum-like chocolate-covered goodness at a fraction of the cost. In the Mix Classic box—still under $8 for 8 bars—you get milk, white chocolate, dark chocolate, and almond chocolate coatings. As one Reddit user put it, and many others agree, “Gelatelli’s Magnum dupes far surpass Magnum, in both the chocolate and the ice cream.”
