Buy Now...

I was born in Europe and my job has had me living in various countries. For the past few years I have been based in UK. I already knew of Lidl and Aldi who have lots of stores in Germany and other nearby countries as well as a number of other chains that do not seem to be around UK.

In UK big chains such as Asda, Tesco and Sainsburys seem to dominate. However there is good coverage by Lidl and Aldi if looking at their web sites (details below) is anything to go by.

If you register on their sites they will email you their weekly specials. I say weekly but in the case of Lidl this is now on Monday and Thursday. Lidl seem to send details 7 days before the offer so an offer sent on Thursday 9^th will go on sale on Thursday 16^th a little confusing until you are used to it. Aldi send on the Saturday prior to the following Thursday so Saturday 11^th for Thursday 16^th.

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Both companies are standard supermarkets but do not expect the large range of well known brands, however I find their foods are very good. The special offers will normally not be food items but clothing, household, and electrical items. Both stores seem to have occasional computer offers that look good value, but I have not purchased any.

Word or warning if you specially want an item get there early - like when they open - on the day of the offer or you could well not get it.

I am lucky to have a Lidl near where I work and also to have some ability to work flexi time. So often on a Monday or Thursday I may start a little late. As for Aldi I have a friend who lives near one so for special items I ask her help.

So now onto what I want to tell you about. Last summer - not on a special day - I was buying a few bits in my lunch period and digging through the remains of the bins where the specials are stored. I found wedged between two items something that at first glance looked a little like a small electrical screwdriver. It turned out to be a digital thermometer on a card.

I don't know about you but I have always found a thermometer hard to read so as I seem to remember at £2.99 I purchased it. I tested it when I got home and then did nothing more.

Last week I was attacked by a nasty virus and this thermometer became very useful as it enabled me to keep check of my violently swinging temperature from 35c to 39.5c and perhaps most important as I had problem with light as that hurt my eyes a lot having a quick glance at the LED display and switching off enabled me to read it far quicker than the thin line on the ordinary type. I have seen these types of thermometer in chemists but not at £2.99.

Links www.lidl.co.uk and http://uk.aldi.com/