Thoughts on ALDI's?

Nutrition
1

Hey everyone,

i’m a broke college student; i wanted to know what you thought of Aldi’s (those of you who are familiar with it). it’s extremely cheap…which makes me think twice about buying certain products from them: namely meat.

a thing of oats is about $1.29, yogurt about the same, etc. i don’t see how you can “fake” oatmeal or yogurt. but beef, chicken, etc. can be filled with water or additives.

lol, i remember as a kid my mom bout like 20 hot dogs for like a dollar, kind of gross…anybody think the meat is good?

2

Can’t beat the chicken breasts for $1.99 lb

3

Yeah, but is it really chicken breast?

seems “too” cheap

4

Our family has been buying Aldi chicken breasts for years. They are great on the grill. Tender and juicy. I undercook some of these on the grill and then bring them to work. I pop them in the microwave where they heat up and finish cooking. Still juicy. Very good.

5

[quote]Joseph93 wrote:
yeah, but is it really chicken breast?

seems “too” cheap[/quote]

No, it’s real. If you’re familiar with Aldi, you think about their overhead versus some of the ‘bigger’ grocery stores. I mean - they make you pay 25 cents for a CART…so they’re doing things a little different than a Giant Eagle or whatever else is by you.

If you have GFS (Gordon Food Service) by you, they have some prepared stuff that can be good as well, but just read the labels.

6

tilapia there is the best. not fishy tasting and only 3.99 for like a couple pounds

7

Aldis rocks.

8

They have lower costs because of random things such as charging for bags and stuff. Also, the stores are pretty small and have things randomly placed without much thought to display. The food has never given my family a problem.

9

Good stuff, I get my chicken/fish there. At about �?�5/kilo of chicken and even less than that for some tasty pangasius.
Also, 300gr steamed veggies for �?�1 ain’t bad :slight_smile:

More?
Canned tuna, cottage cheese, almonds and walnuts, mixed nuts …

Never had any quality problems…

10

[quote]Joseph93 wrote:
Yeah, but is it really chicken breast?

seems “too” cheap[/quote]

Yes, it’s real chicken breast. Even my local grocery store (Giant) routinely has name brand and house brand chicken breast on sale for $1.99/lb. I think it’ll happen more often now since an Aldi’s opened across the street.

11

[quote]LightsOutLuthor wrote:
Joseph93 wrote:
yeah, but is it really chicken breast?

seems “too” cheap

No, it’s real. If you’re familiar with Aldi, you think about their overhead versus some of the ‘bigger’ grocery stores. I mean - they make you pay 25 cents for a CART…so they’re doing things a little different than a Giant Eagle or whatever else is by you.

If you have GFS (Gordon Food Service) by you, they have some prepared stuff that can be good as well, but just read the labels.

[/quote]

I’m looking at the website right now. Here’s a quote about the bags and carts:

" Part of the ALDI experience is enjoying all of the money-saving rituals that come with smarter shopping. ALDI regulars have come to find our easy-to-use shopping cart deposit system downright endearing, figuring that paying too much is a much greater inconvenience. With this system, we don�??t have to assign an employee to round up carts in the parking lot, we don�??t lose expensive carts, and you don�??t have to worry about dings in your car doors from runaway carts.

You’ll find ALDI shopping carts hooked together right outside the door. As you approach the store, just insert a quarter to release a cart. When you�??re finished shopping, reconnect the chain and get your quarter back. This expense-saving tradition (no rolling carts to chase and no damaged cars!) has become a legendary part of the ALDI culture.

And as long as you’re bringing a quarter, bag even more savings at ALDI by bringing some bags from home. To help bring you incredible value every day, we don’t hire baggers or bury the cost of free grocery bags in our prices. Instead, we encourage you to bring your own. For your convenience, we do sell heavy-weight paper grocery bags at every checkout for 5¢. If you prefer, we have big, heavy-duty plastic shopping bags with handles (much bigger and heavier than supermarket plastic bags) for 10¢. Insulated bags for your frozen food items are just 99¢. And the empty cardboard cartons you’ll find throughout the store are yours for the taking�??especially convenient if you’re buying canned goods or other heavy products! "

12

I live in Germany currently and shop at Aldi on a regular basis…i dont know if its different back in the States, but buy meat there sucks. It is all frozen, not very fresh.

Yes, milk, fruit, veggies, and rice is cheap. But meat qualitity is not that good, and price is equal to prices in the States. Maybe it is just cause I am in Europe, and they have a little different system, but thats my input

13

[quote]tg2hbk4488 wrote:
I live in Germany currently and shop at Aldi on a regular basis…i dont know if its different back in the States, but buy meat there sucks. It is all frozen, not very fresh.

Yes, milk, fruit, veggies, and rice is cheap. But meat qualitity is not that good, and price is equal to prices in the States. Maybe it is just cause I am in Europe, and they have a little different system, but thats my input[/quote]

No, i totally agree. I find it strange that only one person has had a gripe with the meat quality at Aldi. Just upon inspection, the beef has a light brown look, not at all red. Also, I think the reason the chicken is “juicy” is because it is loaded with water.

I don’t know, i’d really like to be reassured, as the prices are very cheap. But it looks like i’ll stick to buying my meats at a different store.

Does anyone know if other chains buy their meat from the same source?

14

i shopped at aldi’s a bunch when i was at school.

no problems, nice and cheap for the basic stuff.

its a real ‘no frills’ shopping experience.

15

[quote]Joseph93 wrote:
tg2hbk4488 wrote:
I live in Germany currently and shop at Aldi on a regular basis…i dont know if its different back in the States, but buy meat there sucks. It is all frozen, not very fresh.

Yes, milk, fruit, veggies, and rice is cheap. But meat qualitity is not that good, and price is equal to prices in the States. Maybe it is just cause I am in Europe, and they have a little different system, but thats my input

No, i totally agree. I find it strange that only one person has had a gripe with the meat quality at Aldi. Just upon inspection, the beef has a light brown look, not at all red. Also, I think the reason the chicken is “juicy” is because it is loaded with water.

I don’t know, i’d really like to be reassured, as the prices are very cheap. But it looks like i’ll stick to buying my meats at a different store.

Does anyone know if other chains buy their meat from the same source? [/quote]

I imagine they could be a ‘franchise’ just like a fast food place…and when that is the case they could be sourcing from different places.

I was surprised to find out that the TARGET in our neighborhood was an independently owned franchise, and as a result, their prices are 5-10% higher on many items than ‘national chain’ Targets, and they don’t have to honor any of the sales that are posted in national circular ads.

What’s odd to me is that they’re basically just paying for the name, logo, and whatever level of support from Target (or the franchise) and apparently have a fair amount of lee-way to operate on their own - and apparently they use that to make more money!

16

I love Aldi, my budget would be done for if Aldi wasn’t around!

17

I like Aldi, Great food at great prices !

18

I love their frozen beef patties. $7AU/Kg and 100% beef and they even taste great! Their frozen fish fillets for $8/Kg aren’t half bad either. I once bought a 120g tray of baby spinach for only $2 at ALDI -with a complimetry lump of dirt in the bottom, so of course you always wash before use. All in all, ALDI is my budgets best friend.:slight_smile: