On the whole, Lidl and Aldi have great value fruit and veg. Lidl especially carries the more unusual produce like celeriac and fennel.
However, it used to bug me when I’d take home a punnet of cherry tomatoes to find the bottom layer all fusty or I”d discover that a courgette was rotting when I took off the packaging. As I couldn’t see any use-by dates I thought it was a game of chance where you dig, Mammy style, into the crate below and cross your fingers that you’ve got something fresh.
I’ve finally cracked the code though. The dates are in a day and week format on the front of packaged fruit and veg. So, in the photo above, the passion fruit are week 35, day 3; the tomatoes are the 2nd day of week 34 and the pak choi is the 4th of week 35. So in future, just make sure you get the highest day and week on the code to avoid leaking peppers and tomatoes you’d throw at the stocks.