When it comes to grocery shopping, most people have their go-to stores. However, for me, some weeks I'll go to Sainsbury's, sometimes I'll nip into M&S for their fruit, and other weeks I'll try out the budget supermarkets. Last year, I decided to shop at Lidl, but I ended up spending more than usual, so I reverted to the big four supermarkets.

However, I gave it another go and set myself a strict budget to stick to. But after shopping there for a few weeks, I found myself never picking up two items of food.

I love a lot of the foods from Lidl because they're super affordable and the quality is usually great. There are so many staples I rely on from there that never let me down, such as the bakery and dairy aisles. Lidl's own-branded oat milk is one of my favourite items that they sell, and it's significantly cheaper than other supermarkets.

On my recent shopping trips, though, I decided to avoid buying meat and fruit. The fruit I saw looked like some of it was already turning bad, and some of the meat had a slightly odd colour, which put me off. That said, I've bought meat from the discount retailer in the past, but opted to pick up meat and fruit from M&S instead.

When I shopped at Lidl last year, I ended up spending much more on my weekly shop than I usually do.

This was down to the middle aisles, also known as the Middle of Lidl, where you can find anything from home appliances to gardening gadgets.

On one occasion, I went in for a basic food shop and ended up spending more than £100 due to finding numerous kitchen gadgets.

While I'll still venture down these aisles, I'm much more strict on what I actually need to buy, and my food shop has significantly reduced.

I can now complete an entire food shop in Lidl for around £50 excluding meat and fruit, compared to around £75 I usually spend in other supermarkets.