Avocados are one of the most popular fruits around. They had a major boom in the 2010s in the UK, thanks to a surge in wellness culture, when the trendiest thing you could do was take a picture of your brunch and post it on Instagram.

And they've continued to be a massive part of the weekly shop for so many people, myself included. I eat avocado nearly every day, whether that's with scrambled eggs on toast or in a poke bowl with sticky rice, eggs and vegetables. And because of this, I've been trying to find the best budget avocados, recently putting Aldi and Lidl to the test against each other.

I do a lot of my shopping at these two supermarkets, because I live near both of them, but also because they're great for keeping costs down. I've found both Lidl and Aldi to be fantastic for many of my weekly staples, such as Greek yoghurt, sourdough bread, salmon, eggs, coffee and oat milk.

However, when it comes to avocados, there was a stark difference in the quality. One of them refused to ripen at all for over a week, remaining rock-hard with an unpleasant taste when I did eventually get around to eating it. The other was perfectly soft and ripe the day after I took it home.

That ill-fated avocado was unfortunately from Lidl. It set me back 75p, and it was described as 'ready to eat' on the shelves, so I took it home expecting that it would be just that.

But this was not the case. In hindsight, I should have chosen a different one, so it's partially my fault for picking badly. There was nothing 'ready to eat' about this avocado at all, at least not for a week or so.

It was as hard as a rock for days on end, and I know it's difficult to tell when an avocado is ripe or not, but this was quite obviously not good enough to eat. I kept it out of the fridge, like you're supposed to, but this didn't really do much for the ripening process.

When I did eventually cut into it over a week after I bought it, it had quite an earthy smell, so I immediately knew that it still wasn't quite ripe. The stone was also massive, taking up most of the actual flesh, so there wasn't much to work with when I scooped it out.

It tasted quite bitter too, which I was sadly expecting.

However, the Aldi avocado fared much better. It cost me 70p, so cheaper than the Lidl one, and it was also packaged as 'ripe and ready'. Thankfully, this one seemed to be a lot better.

Its flesh was slightly soft, without being too squidgy. An avocado that feels overly soft to the touch is probably too ripe, and you'll find that it's gone rotten and brown when you cut into it, which is always disappointing.

The line between a ripe and an overripe avocado is extremely thin, so you need to be careful. I sliced into the Aldi avo the day after I took it home from the shops, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was perfect on the inside.

It didn't have that bitter, strange aroma that the Lidl one did, and it tasted much creamier too. I could easily mash it up with a fork, whereas the other one required a little bit more effort.

To help you avoid making the same mistake I did, here's an easy way to instantly check if an avocado is ripe or not before you bring it home from the supermarket.

According to the experts at Aldi, if the avocado is green and firm, it's not quite ready yet but perfect for taking home to ripen naturally over the next few days.

On the other hand, if the skin is darker and gives slightly under gentle pressure, that means it's ready to eat now.

The main thing to remember is to apply gentle pressure when checking firmness to avoid bruising the fruit and spoiling its flavour.