A shopper who used to buy most of her food at Lidl has switched to M&S for baked goods after discovering that the supermarket's 55p cookies went stale quickly, while M&S cookies lasted longer.
Discovery of Stale Cookies
Katherine McPhillips, who lives in Scotland, used to shop almost exclusively at Lidl, drawn by the bakery's tempting treats for under £1. However, her habits changed after buying £2.75 worth of cookies (55p each) for a picnic. By the time she arrived at the event, the cookies were already tough to chew, and she ended up throwing them away.
She also noticed that other bakery items, such as bread, only lasted a day or two at most. She was discarding more than half the loaves she bought, which made her question the value for money.
Switching to M&S
After complaining to a friend about the short shelf life of Lidl bakery items, she was sent a social media post about M&S cookies, which have become popular online. Despite M&S's reputation as one of the priciest British supermarkets, she visited her local M&S Foodhall out of curiosity.
She bought milk chocolate cookies for £3.10, 35p more than the Lidl cookies. She was impressed by their size—one was about the size of her hand—and described them as the richest and most buttery cookies she had ever eaten.
Longer Lasting Value
The real turning point was freshness. After sharing the cookies with friends, she forgot about one leftover cookie and found it five days later, still fine to eat. She concluded that the M&S cookies were bigger, tastier, and lasted longer, making her money go further for just 35p more.
She still loves Lidl, but now buys all her baked goods, fruits, and vegetables from M&S, as she feels she no longer has to worry about them spoiling before their time.
