Where food shopping is an Olympic sport

I love the value offered by the German discount supermarkets. Shopping in Aldi or Lidl can save you a packet compared with Tesco, Sainsbury's, ASDA and, in particular, Waitrose.

But boy, oh boy do you need the patience of Job when it comes to checkout in these Germanic outlets.

It’s like an Olympic sport, with both supermarkets wanting customers to handle their purchases four times –putting the shopping in the trolley, then emptying the trolley onto the conveyor belt, putting it all back at break-neck speed into the trolley before retiring to the front of store to pack purchases into your bags.

I have lost count of the number of times I have been told not to pack my bags at the checkout.

And of the number of times I have ignored them and carried on.

My reader may be wondering why, if I don’t like the system, I continue to use Aldi and Lidl.

Because they are the Ryanair of food shopping – you have to suffer poor customer service if you want value for money and low prices.