Aldi... what do you recommend?

caviardreams

Mrs Fox wrote: »

I haven't scrolled through all the pages to see if this has been mentioned before, but does anyone else find Aldi chicken tough and tasteless, both the free-range and fresh? My SIL said the same. Even tried making curry and slow cooked them but they're still awful.

I find this with both ALDI and LIDL chicken fillets - even free range (I always buy free range). Buy most of my meat in either and find it superb but the chicken fillets are really disappointing - tried them a few times and always disappointing Have heard good reports re the whole chickens however.

Cazale

Mrs Fox wrote:

I haven't scrolled through all the pages to see if this has been mentioned before, but does anyone else find Aldi chicken tough and tasteless, both the free-range and fresh? My SIL said the same. Even tried making curry and slow cooked them but they're still awful.

The chicken in the butcher is much nicer. I only get it in Aldi if I'm stuck.

fussyonion

No, I completely disagree.

I find the chicken in Aldi, particularly the whole bird, to be really tender and full of flavour.
Huge fan. And their mince beef and pork chops are excellent too.

I find all the meat in Tesco, particularly the chicken, to be very tough and bland.

vicwatson

fussyonion wrote: »

No, I completely disagree.

I find the chicken in Aldi, particularly the whole bird, to be really tender and full of flavour.
Huge fan. And their mince beef and pork chops are excellent too.

I find all the meat in Tesco, particularly the chicken, to be very tough and bland.

+1

And all 100% Irish versus the Thai or The Netherlands chicken breasts you get in the butchers where not even the butcher knows the country of origin (in my experience in local Londis a while back, dude hadn't a clue as to country of origin which he said definitely wasn't Irish as they are too expensive to buy and sell:eek:)

I had Aldi chicken breasts in Tikka Masala tonight and they were immense, really nice texture and flavour, 291grammes for €3.00 (2 breasts) happy days !

anewme

vicwatson wrote: »

+1

And all 100% Irish versus the Thai or The Netherlands chicken breasts you get in the butchers where not even the butcher knows the country of origin (in my experience in local Londis a while back, dude hadn't a clue as to country of origin which he said definitely wasn't Irish as they are too expensive to buy and sell:eek:)

I had Aldi chicken breasts in Tikka Masala tonight and they were immense, really nice texture and flavour, 291grammes for €3.00 (2 breasts) happy days !

Very unfair on Irish butchers. londis is not a butchers, it's a convenience store. Any decent butchers worth their salt know the origin of their produce.

Mrs Fox

I love Lidl whole chicken and joints. I rarely buy fillets but when I do I don't buy prepacked butcher ones simply because I don't like how the fillets are trimmed down to meet the weigh and fit in the packaging.

Erik Shin

anewme wrote: »

Very unfair on Irish butchers. londis is not a butchers, it's a convenience store. Any decent butchers worth their salt know the origin of their produce.

Not really, they buy from wholesalers and not directly...For the most part they wouldn't have a clue

anewme

Erik Shin wrote: »

Not really, they buy from wholesalers and not directly...For the most part they wouldn't have a clue

That's very generalised...define "they"

Do you have a list of butchers who buy from wholesalers?

vicwatson

anewme wrote: »

Very unfair on Irish butchers. londis is not a butchers, it's a convenience store. Any decent butchers worth their salt know the origin of their produce.

My Londis has a full butchers counter, with a full time butcher employed, obviously yours does not.

anewme

vicwatson wrote: »

My Londis has a full butchers counter, with a full time butcher employed, obviously yours does not.

It's still a convenience store with a butchers counter, not a craft butchers.
There's a big difference.

Not sure why you think I have a local Londis?

fin12

To be honest the butchers where I live and it's own butchers shop, has two types of chicken fillets Irish ones and then foreign ones, have to ask for Irish fillets when you go there.

vicwatson

anewme wrote: »

It's still a convenience store with a butchers counter, not a craft butchers.
There's a big difference.

Not sure why you think I have a local Londis?

Not sure why you are calling a shop a store :P how and ever this is not the place for discussion of country of origin of chickens. suffice to say the butcher in my local Londis is a butcher that worked in a craft butchers for years, he knows his stuff normally, but couldn't tell me country of origin of chicken breasts except to say they weren't Irish - too expensive to buy and sell.

I like Aldi chicken breasts that I know.

vicwatson

Aldi mixed leaves in the salad sections are great for 89c, its says they are unwashed but i've been using them straight from the package for months and haven't died yet ! Great for topping off lunches. Nice selection of leaves in the packet.

Colser

vicwatson wrote: »

Aldi mixed leaves in the salad sections are great for 89c, its says they are unwashed but i've been using them straight from the package for months and haven't died yet ! Great for topping off lunches. Nice selection of leaves in the packet.

I even wash the washed ones..trust issues here ðŸ˜

anewme

vicwatson wrote: »

Not sure why you are calling a shop a store


:P how and ever this is not the place for discussion of country of origin of chickens. suffice to say the butcher in my local Londis is a butcher that worked in a craft butchers for years, he knows his stuff normally, but couldn't tell me country of origin of chicken breasts except to say they weren't Irish - too expensive to buy and sell.

I like Aldi chicken breasts that I know.

It was your post that insinuated Aldi chicken as better than butchers chicken. My point i s your butchers, i.e Londis is not an independent business and should not be compared as such.


From Wikipedia
Londis is a chain of convenience store franchises operating in Ireland. The stores form a symbol group and are all owned on a franchise basis.

They use the word store, not sure why you would not know the business model "convenience store" , have not heard them called a convenience shop.

Londis is a franchise convenience store brand operating under the umbrella of BWG foods, ie musgraves, and they get their products in according to their franchise agreement.

They are not the same as a local craft butcher.

The point is, you were trying to run down Local butchers by saying they don't know their product. My response is that Londis is is not by any means a local product and to compare them to a local butcher is unfair..

While this is is a thread to say what's good in Aldi, and it's great you are happy with Aldi chicken, it should not be a thread to discredit genuine local businesses who operate differently than a franchise model.

Surreptitious

I had the hotdog stuffed crust pizza a while back. It fell apart mostly and the taste wasn't nice. Would not buy again.
I also tried the cranberry half yogurt covered cereal bars and they were quite nice, chewy and had a good flavour. Handy for a snack.

Mrs Fox

anewme wrote: »

While this is is a thread to say what's good in Aldi...

You're right. I didn't mean for the conversation to escalate to this.
To get back on track, I do love their new healthy range stock at affordable prices. Spirulina, wheatgrass, etc.

54and56

Mrs Fox wrote: »

To get back on track, I do love their new healthy range stock at affordable prices. Spirulina, wheatgrass, etc.

What is the wheatgrass product? Is it a drink? Where is it typically displayed?

Zelda247

I can highly recommend their Speciality Range Breast of Chicken, I diced some last night and added to Aldi Speciality Range Stir in Pasta Sauce, plus added some pre cooked diced red onion and red pepper, it was divine....

inforfun

vicwatson wrote: »

+1

And all 100% Irish versus the Thai or The Netherlands chicken breasts you get in the butchers where not even the butcher knows the country of origin (in my experience in local Londis a while back, dude hadn't a clue as to country of origin which he said definitely wasn't Irish as they are too expensive to buy and sell:eek:)

I had Aldi chicken breasts in Tikka Masala tonight and they were immense, really nice texture and flavour, 291grammes for €3.00 (2 breasts) happy days !

Just to add. probably nothing Dutch there bar the guy importing the chicken from Ukraine first. The so called "plofkip"
Or from Ukrainian "plofkip" factory in Veenendaal.

Be very careful with chicken from The Netherlands.
There is a reason the Dutch voted (and then were ignored) against the Ukraine/EU trade treaty in their referendum in april 2016

jenn1984

Je_suis_Jean wrote: »

What is the wheatgrass product? Is it a drink? Where is it typically displayed?

As far as I know it's wheatgrass powder and is in the first aisle between the biscuits and the breads.

vicwatson

Actually I note the mixed leaves are now 95c not 89c !

Graces7

Interesting that when LIDL started doing sandwiches, so did ALDI, where I live anyways. ALDI are better though

Same with the salad pots. I am totally addicted to the tangy cheese and pasta salad from ALDI... when I was in LIDl saw a great bowl labelled cheese pasta salad at just over E2, but it was disappointing. Even had a small fork which was deep in mayo... small layer of cheese and pasta then all salad.. needed more dressing too.. Back to ALDI for me.

freshpopcorn

Graces7 wrote: »

Interesting that when LIDL started doing sandwiches, so did ALDI, where I live anyways. ALDI are better though

I remember years ago both of them doing sandwiches but they gave them up.

jimmycrackcorm

freshpopcorn wrote:

I remember years ago both of them doing sandwiches but they gave them up.

Still do but they seem to sell quick.

Gloomtastic!

Occasionally buy sandwiches in Aldi, taste ok but full of salt!

Mystery Egg

I went to Aldi to buy ingredients for a Chinese meal - oyster sauce, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar or sherry and sesame oil - and they had none of the above.

I could not face Tesco today, so I bought a pack of Aldi's hoisin and garlic sauce. It was quite good, but it could have used a little salt and some fresh chilli to give it some zing.

freshpopcorn

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

Still do but they seem to sell quick.

I meant they gave them up a few years ago before stocking them again!

I noticed tonight Aldi has a full Irish Breakfast now for 3.99!

Mystery Egg

I got a sliced pan sourdough in Aldi yesterday and it's delicious. Great chewy-crust texture and flavour from a packet bread!

Graces7

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

Still do but they seem to sell quick.

Ah I shop as soon as they are open . ALDI do a triple sandwich pack