Cheapest Supermarket in Belgium (2026): Colruyt vs Lidl vs Aldi

A question that comes back frequently with my readers and people, in general, is how they can save money on groceries. Food and water are essential to survive, so it’s hard to imagine saving money on this. But it’s possible! In this article I will guide you through the marvelous world of grocery shopping (in Belgium at least 😉 ). On top of that, I compare Colruyt and Lidl head-to-head on my actual bi-weekly shopping list, and cover where Aldi fits into the picture.

My selection is based on my actual bi-weekly shopping. I take Colruyt and Lidl as both are known for being cheap yet still offer a range of generic and name brands. But which is cheaper?

Quick note on prices: the comparison table below is from 2021. The relative differences between stores have stayed broadly consistent, but absolute prices have gone up since then. I’m updating this with 2026 figures and adding an Aldi column soon — scroll down to the Aldi section for more context.

A few things to note on grocery shopping in Belgium

Before we head to the supermarket, it’s important we make sure we have everything to make it efficient AND cheap. Here are my suggestions to help you get the most out of your trip and euro’s:

1. Do meal planning: I’m sorry, I’m making it hard for you out of the gate. It’s arguable the first step before you actually even set food in a grocery store. Important note as a parent of young kids, I know it’s not always easy to plan ahead due to hecticness of life. So, read this with “if you can” in mind. If you plan ahead, it saves you time and headache during the week having to rush to the store at 5 pm on an empty stomach and just grab whatever you feel like. This will almost always end up expensive impulse purchases.
2. Have a list! An obvious second if you do the first. With a meal plan in mind, you can list out the ingredients you need. Note, I’m not saying it’s easy, and if you can’t meal plan due to lack of time, the list is the first thing and will take longer. But I cannot stress enough how important this is to prevent impulse shopping. With a list in hand, even if it’s without a meal plan, you are less likely to wander through the aisles and grab anything that tickles your fancy.
3. Take enough boxes and bags: Shopping for the week, usually means lots of stuff to carry to and from the car or cargo bike. On top of that, supermarkets and most grocery stores in Belgium charge somewhere between 10 cents and 50 cents for simple thin throwaway bags to reusable stronger plastic bags. Try to have your own grocery bags on you so you don’t end up buying yet another bag for the pile of bags at home, or be ready to being an professional juggler.
4. Keep a coin or similar shaped item at hand: only a handful of stores still lock their carts but if you happen to go shopping at one of them, it doesn’t hurt to have a coin or something flat and long enough to “unlock” the cart.
5. Go during off-peak times: To get fresh bread and to be sure all items are still in stock, it’s important you try to go in the early morning or at the very least during off-peak times. Luckily (but less so for the workers, I know) stores have longer opening times and “thanks” to a new law, stores are allowed to be open 7/7.

My bi-weekly grocery list (2021 prices)

Key takeaways for your groceries

The first big caveat is that these prices can fluctuate at any time due to local or national promotions. For example, the minced pork meat was on promotion at Lidl for 1kg while it wasn’t at Colruyt. Another example, Iglo fish stocks were on promotion at Colruyt for the XXL pack, but Lidl didn’t have it.

Since these prices change weekly, it’s impossible to have it up to align correctly; nevertheless, it should give a good indication.

So what else can we get out of this list? Several general points:

• Colruyt is almost always the same price as Lidl if you stick to their ‘Everyday’ and ‘Boni’ brands

• Take a pack of 6 wraps, for example; 0.99 at Lidl and 0.99 at Colruyt, but in the latter, it becomes cheaper if you get three packs.

• Yogurt is 0.01 cheaper per L at Colruyt.

• Hummus: 1.09@Lidl <> 1.09@Colruyt, but if you buy 3, it becomes 1.04.

• Colruyt doesn’t have cottage cheese and uses Danone, while Lidl does, which makes the price difference quite large. This applies to some other products as well. Fish sticks are cheap at Colruyt if you get Everyday, but become more expensive if you get Iglo.
• Premade soup is the same price at €2.09/L

The list goes on, but it is a toss-up between Lidl and Colruyt. However, I have noticed 2 key takeaways:

1. Stick to Everyday as much as possible and look at the red prices in Colruyt to make your list cheaper than Lidl. Realize that it’s harder to do at Colruyt as they have a lot of brands as well. You can rapidly fill your shopping cart with other stuff, and then the bill easily doubles -I kid you not-.

2. Meat and frozen veggies in general it’s cheaper at Lidl. However, I have noticed that especially the slightly more special things such as breaded chicken breast or Schnitzel are of poor quality at Lidl. Also, meat is only cheaper if you get it on promotion, which, to be frank, some type of meat is at any moment at Lidl.

What about other stores?

Colruyt and Lidl aren’t the only grocery stores out there, of course. Delhaize and Carrefour are the other two big players. I didn’t mention them because they are categorically more expensive. Now, that is not to say you should never do groceries there; these two chains are sometimes the only ones with more specific products.

“Exotic” products

Specific stuff such as Dulce de leche, which my wife and I like to have on pancakes, can only be found at Carrefour and Delhaize. We don’t get this every month, but I think you can see how this inflates your grocery bill fast! Yes, it’s expensive; 2.49. 

One of the most extreme examples I can think of is fruit. Grenadillo at my local Proxy Delhaize costs €2.99 a piece!

What About Aldi?

Aldi comes up every time grocery costs come up with readers. It sits in the same price bracket as Lidl, sometimes below it depending on the category, but with an even more stripped-down range. Smaller stores, fewer brands, no frills.

From my regular shopping, Aldi tends to be a bit cheaper than Lidl on basics: pasta, rice, tinned goods. Meat is also competitive. Where it falls short is range. If you’re looking for a specific brand or product, there’s a decent chance Aldi doesn’t stock it.

I haven’t done a full basket comparison yet. That’s coming. I’ll update this post with actual numbers once I’ve run the same shopping list through an Aldi store. For now: if you’re purely optimizing for the lowest possible weekly bill, Aldi is worth adding to your rotation alongside the Colruyt and Lidl numbers above.

No Bio products, for now

A big hole this comparison has is Bio products. To be honest, I looked around, but there just weren’t as many products, especially at Lidl. Don’t get me wrong, they were there, just not a whole lot. Colruyt had more also not soo much.

Colruyt does have its bio stores called bio planet, where you only have bio. So I will tackle this caveat through that store. I will compare bio to non-bio.

Conclusion

Overall, what is important to remember is that Colruyt has a larger range of products than Lidl, so you can more easily be tempted to get A-brands, and if you don’t buy in bulk, then your shopping cart can get expensive fast. If you stick to the basic ‘Belgian’ classics, Colruyt is good and sometimes even cheaper than Lidl.

Lidl is suitable for frozen products and meats on promotion but of subpar quality. Other generic products such as pre-made wraps and poultry are decent.

Would I recommend one specific store? I shop most of the time at Colruyt. Thanks to the mix of a-brands and the generic Colruyt ones, I can choose what I want to cheap out on and what is worth my money.

But unfortunately, there isn’t a real shortcut to the cheapest grocery bill. To get the best deal, you have to shop at both Colruyt and Lidl( or Aldi).