What your choice of Lancs supermarket says about you

Now that term has started, we’ve all begun to settle into our routines again. Students are flocking to the various supermarkets in Lancaster for their weekly shops, but with that comes an important decision: which one to use?

Each definitely has a unique vibe, and the choice you make is something you should wear with pride (or shame). After all, it is a bit of a flex on your flatmates to have a fridge filled with M&S food.

Here, we’ve rounded up what your answer to this ever-so-important question says about you.

Aldi

Affordable. Accessible. What’s not to love? If you shop at Aldi then you are definitely someone who knows what’s up.

You like to save your money for other things such as Sultans, that 3-4-£6 VK deal on a Wednesday, or trying out those new potato waffles from McDonald’s (spoiler alert – they are delicious), and you don’t care about having the fanciest food out there, so long as it tastes good and you can still afford to spend money elsewhere.

It’s hard to categorise a specific type of student to Aldi, but one thing is certain; you definitely spend a good portion of your time browsing those middle aisles to see what bargains you can score.

Lidl

If you shop at Lidl it can only mean one of three things:

You live past the bus station and Aldi is too far of a trek. You also hate staying on campus late because that walk from the bus station just seems like too much at the end of a long day. At least you’ll never have to worry about how you’re getting back to Bowerham from Sugar though, or;

You just cannot live without the Lidl Bakery (completely understandable), or;

You take the Aldi vs. Lidl debate way too seriously and fall down heavily on the side of Lidl. You don’t care what anyone says, that walk is worth it to get what you consider better products and better deals, and you scour the Lidl Plus app every Thursday to see what new deals you can pounce on.

Sainsbury’s

You live on campus and make full use of the free Sainsbury’s bus every Wednesday. You probably made the decision a long time ago that hiking up to Aldi and then coming back to spend a fiver in Sainsbury’s for the receipt was just too much effort for you. If the spar on campus ran out of something, you wouldn’t walk to Central to check there too, and you probably hate how far away your lectures are from your accommodation on campus.

If you live in town, you like to pride yourself on “quality food”, but you just can’t justify the price of the more expensive Lancaster shops on a student budget. You aren’t made of money, but what you do have, you like to use well.

That being said, Aldi could really surprise you and you should defo give it a shot in the near future to stretch that money even further.

Iceland

Perhaps the most obscure supermarket in Lancaster (so obscure, that we almost forgot to add it to the list), you probably haven’t even noticed it exists unless you pay special attention when walking through St Nics.

If you go here you are a no-fuss kind of person. You probably had to Google if there even was one in Lancaster, but now that you have found it you live exclusively off frozen ready meals and the frozen Greggs range (it’s cheaper than the campus one).

You consider yourself hopeless in the kitchen and are also most likely going to take a back seat for the flat Christmas Dinner (maybe you can decorate?)

Tesco

You get along really well with your flat and do weekly online shops with them, purely for the convenience of the delivery and being able to split the cost of milk more easily.

That is the only excuse for doing your weekly shop in Tesco in Lancaster. The tiny Tesco Express doesn’t have enough variety for you to be having a different menu next week, and unless you’re super serious about your Clubcard Points then you really should branch out a bit.

Bowerham Spar

If you do your weekly shop here then you live in Bowerham and are too busy/lazy to go into town for shopping.  What matters is convenience and you don’t care about the cost or variety, the closest shop will do. You probably miss online learning because you got to save that precious time commuting and put it to better use.

Either way, the 100 and the 4 will take you right to Aldi and the center of town, and you can even get the bus back if you don’t fancy the hill.

On-campus Spar/Central

You live on campus. Similar to the Bowerham Spar, you just could not care less about cost, the convenience of shops just being right there trumps all for you.

If you don’t live on campus and still do full weekly shops here you have no excuse other than just wanting to get off the bus and get home. You like doing everything on campus during the day and then getting home to roll straight into bed. Honestly, you should probably consider moving back to campus, it might make you a lot happier.

M&S

Classic Marks and Sparks. Similar to Booths, you have a taste for the finer things in life, and like to flaunt your cash to show it. You probably enjoy branded fashion items and you are passionate about Percy Pigs to a fault (whether you love or hate them). Slap-bang in the center of town, convenient access to Common Garden Street, and high-quality ingredients. What more could you want?

You also probably hate the Aldi publicity team for all their jokes about the M&S lawsuit on Twitter (Colin the Caterpillar is no joke.)

Booths

Booths is the Waitrose of Lancaster.

There, I said it. If you shop here then you are both made of money and like to spend time around a lot of old people.

Seriously though, have you ever actually seen a student walk into Booths and walk back out with anything?

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