Bargain Basement Food & Ethics

later12

Poll coming

I was at a low cost supermarket chain this evening and had a look around.

Although low cost meat and vegetables are a Godsend for families in the recession, especially those with young children, it left me wondering about the average consumer, and what he or she thinks about low cost grocery items.

Specifically, I'd be interested in finding out whether or not you shop in these low budget stores (in Ireland mainly Lidl and Aldi), and whether your decision to shop there or not to shop there relates to the cost, the quality of the food itself, or perhaps you are concerned about the ethics.

By the latter, I mean concerns over how the staff involved in production and retail are treated, and or about how the food itself has been sourced.

An interesting article on Lidl from The Guardian, raising some ethical questions about their produce (although in the interest of balance, the article neglects to mention that other supermarkets may treat their staff just as badly).
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2007/mar/14/businesscomment.supermarkets

flyaway.

We shop in Lidls sometimes. We won't buy everything there but some of the stuff is okay. We'd probably shop there more often but it is not even remotely close to us.

saa

No - for financial reasons, I just have so much money what if someone saw me, I would just hope the ground would open up and swalley me howell.

I don't have an issue with the food, I buy less junk I'm more efficient. But some things taste different.

The problem is I wish I could go to every supermarket and pic and mix things I like :~)

Aldi-
red pesto
frozen meat/veg
whiskey
39/69 fruit and veg deals
wraps

Lidl
Sugar free muesli
green packet white chocolate with nuts and crispy bits
milk is lovely compared to tesco or supervalu/dunnes especially
bakery
grated mozzarella 1.49
brown pasta!
wedges

All things that are cheaper and are tasty shít,
lidl and aldi is always cheaper would defo spend 30-50% less there.

saa

I can't buy the ethical considerations as its an issue within all supermarkets and I need to buy food If I refuse to shop there I have Tesco which can't be better and its sad but there are no independent food stores where I live

AstridBean

When you're on a tight budget, ethics often need to go out the window sadly.

Tesco is disgraceful when it comes to fresh meat and veg. I once bought a packet of mince there and the next day it was grey and when I opened it I retched with the stink from it.

Just look at some of the veg there too, it is almost always rotten.


Aldi has great meat and Veg, its way cheaper and its all from Ireland AFAIK.

Chuck Stone

So workers who are ill treated will move on and LIDL will have to find a new worker.

The weak become heroes and the stars align.

Mr Benevolent

Ethics, schmethics. Fook that. They're cheap and good.

Aldi's better than Lidl though.

/controversial

admiralofthefleet

Edz87 wrote: »

Tesco is disgraceful when it comes to fresh meat and veg. I once bought a packet of mince there and the next day it was grey and when I opened it I retched with the stink from it.

Just look at some of the veg there too, it is almost always rotten.


Aldi has great meat and Veg, its way cheaper and its all from Ireland AFAIK.

the Aldi beef angus steaks are the best of any supermarket

the groutch

I'm pretty open minded and have tried a good few different products in Lidl.
The museli as mentioned above is pretty decent, but there's been alot more misses than hits.
If I do shop there now it's mainly brand name stuff on offer, and non food items

Aoifey!

Tesco is closer, so I go there.

Sky King

I buy almost everything in Aldi. I think it is an extremely well run operation.

Why should I subsidise other outlets' inefficiencies?

saa

Yeah its pretty obvious Aldi and Lidl are cheaper, all the others lower certain products so while you're saving on one offer you're paying more on multiple items to make up for it.

Anywho I am trying to get better at being cost efficient going to Spar/Centra.. offers do help, basic foods eggs, milk.. spar apple raisin oat honey cluster cereal 1.89 one of my favourites, because what is with cereal being 5 euro a box and bread being 2.50 naw not having that.

Hate buying frozen food in convenience stores, but Spar coke is nice.
Sorry gone off the point but I think its relevant.

somefeen

Its always lidl for me
I dunno why anyone shops in Tesco to be honest unless they're looking for name brand stuff.
Tesco's two for one deals and all that are usually bull**** and the club card thing is the stupidest thing ever.
I went on a spending spree in Lidl once after I came into a bit of money. I went around the whole shop going "I want that, I'll have it" got to the till and it still only came to 15 quid. Do the same thing in Tesco and its gonna be ridiculous.
Like someone else said, I usually get a 30-50% saving in lidl and when they do have name brand stuff its usually cheaper.
Tesco's meat is ****; doesn't last long enough and neither does their veg.
Lidl is way more efficient to, no crappy music playing constantly, less people getting in your way.

the groutch

saa wrote: »

Hate buying frozen food in convenience stores, but Spar coke is nice.

from America, f*ck yeah!

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

I would shop in aldi/lidl but im not waiting 20 minutes in a 50 yard queue just to buy 10 euro worth of vegetables

Princess Peach

I love to Lidl.

I am delighted that Lidl is a verb these days.

noxqs

Food in Lidl and Aldi of select items are of higher or on par with Dunnes Store/Tesco etc. Meat is Irish and identical to equal wares in Dunnes / Tesco. Also Tesco mince meat is disturbing - the cheap mince - I accidentally bought it online for delivery and I had to bin it. Looked like 50% fat to me.

Also; Sausages, cheese, bread, cereals, vegs, jam, spreads, milk, ham, bacon, etc etc. Is pretty good in Lidl/Aldi.

Actually come to think of it the only reason I ever buy in Tescos/Dunnes is out of convenience due to my current whereabouts when I am shopping. Otherwise I'd shop exclusively in those shops as I find the quality higher or on par and the price lower. The only people who would avoid these stores are people who have some sort of social anxiety to be seen as plebs. Personally the people who would care about that - their opinions wouldn't even begin to register on my radar.

CYHSN

Shopped in Lidl once, thought a lot of the food tasted horrible so we went back to Supervalu, really depends on what you buy. The tinned beans were rank, good old bachelors.

Johro

I buy a fair bit of stuff from Aldi, not so much from Lidl, but that doesn't reflect on a lack of quality products, it's more because our Lidl rarely has more than one till open when there's long queues of people with full trolleys. It annoys the hell out of me. Can't fault the products though, or the prices.
So Aldi for some things, and the rest from Supervalu, nice fresh meat and veg, I look for Irish/local produce. Though Aldi are good for all kinds of Irish products too, especially meat, I mainly get that from the local Supervalu because they support local farmers.
As far as ethics go, I'd be far more concerned about the likes of Tesco.

phasers

I choose where to shop based on value and food quality. I'll shop in pretty much every shop except Tesco. The meat and veg in tesco is absolutely disgusting.

I spread my shopping between lidl, aldi and Dunnes generally, other places if there's a good deal. Luckily I have all three within ten minutes of my house.

Lidl for bakery and toilet roll, They sell lovely fresh dense German bread, and their jam donuts are amazing.
Aldi for dog food, veg, cereal and meat (They recently started selling giant boxes of knock off Cookie Crisp for 2.50, it's deadly)
Dunnes for brand name stuff like cleaning stuff, ketchup and baked beans

And everything else is a mixture between the three.

RE the queues in lidl and aldi, my local ones (Fonthill Road) always open another till when there's a big queue, I don't think I've ever been waiting more than five minutes and that was only because some old biddy paid in pennies.

miss_shadow

Edz87 wrote: »

Tesco is disgraceful when it comes to fresh meat and veg. I once bought a packet of mince there and the next day it was grey and when I opened it I retched with the stink from it.

Just look at some of the veg there too, it is almost always rotten.


Aldi has great meat and Veg, its way cheaper and its all from Ireland AFAIK.

The Aldi veg are full of chemicals which make the food last longer.

the groutch

what annoys me sometimes isnt the queues, but if I'm just going in for a browse and end up not buying anything, it can be hard to get out of the place because the till areas are so narrow, especially in the Moore Street one (which I no longer go into).

Wurly

I buy practically everything in Aldi. It's a great supermarket. I only go to tesco's for vegetarian food as Aldi don't do it. Also - their gluten free bread is rank so I buy the genius bread in Tesco too. I cant understand why people wouldn't shop in Aldi/Lidl. You literally save a fortune.

Johro

Princess Peach wrote: »

I love to Lidl.

I am delighted that Lidl is a verb these days.

:pac: I've seen those stickers on people's cars alright. Don't tell me you got one..

SeaFields

I thought the snobbery toward aldi / lidl died out with the end of the celtic tiger / boom. Evidently some of it still around. I shop there a good bit and find their food very good value and quality.

Ghandee

miss_shadow wrote: »

The Aldi veg are full of chemicals which make the food last longer.

Either provide me with your source for this, or I'll be forced to tell you what I think your 'full of' :cool:

pragmatic1

Aldi have really good pizza, steak, sausages, fruit n veg. Everything else is cac.

Chuck Stone

You go into ALDI and LIDL to save a few quid and end up walking out of there with a screwdriver set or an LED torch or some other gadget :pac:

Hank_Jones

Aldi steak is class.

Go out of my way to get steak from Aldi, lovely and quite cheap, win win situation.

Paully D

Surprised to see so many people complimenting the meat in Aldi. I've always found it's the equivalent of eating a tyre. That goes for Tesco too. The best supermarket meat is SuperValue IMO.

Aldi and Lidl are great for everything else apart from meat though, IMO!

Jess16

In terms of store hygiene and food quality, Tesco has to be one of the most appalling supermarkets there is

pragmatic1

Paully D wrote: »

Surprised to see so many people complimenting the meat in Aldi. I've always found it's the equivalent of eating a tyre. That goes for Tesco too. The best supermarket meat is SuperValue IMO.

Aldi and Lidl are great for everything else apart from meat though, IMO!

Try aldi angus steak. The best steak I've ever eaten.

ballsymchugh

Chuck Stone wrote: »

You go into ALDI and LIDL to save a few quid and end up walking out of there with a screwdriver set or an LED torch or some other gadget :pac:

i went in for a browse and bought a feckin dvd player. they were the first ones to sell divx compatible dvd players back in 2003. it's still working grand. lidl sausages are almost up there with superquinn though!

later12

ballsymchugh wrote: »

lidl sausages are almost up there with superquinn though!

Really?

I've always been wary of sausage meat (now, now). It's usually full of junk, and the only really quality sausage that isn't from an independent butcher tends to be in Superquinn as far as I remember.

Interesting poll result. I know that there can be issues of ethical concerns surrounding all supermarkets, but it's just that these budget stores stock some seriously cheap produce. Some of it comes from outside the EU, from places which may have very questionable wage practices, and I do wonder how the workers have been treated along the production to retail process.

But of course as someone else quite rightly said, it's easy to think about ethics if you don't have to worry about feeding a family.

Duggy747

Aldi & Lidl have great meat & veg, a large portion of which comes from local suppliers.

Plus their chocolate is fan-feckin'-tastic.

It's handy for me considering Aldi is across the road from Dunnes so I pick stuff up from both stores.

loveisdivine

I always end up asking myself why this stuff is so much cheaper. Its not like they arent trying to make money like everyone else. They are a business at the end of they day and their main priority will be profits.
So what are they cutting down on that enables them to sell products so much cheaper.

We shop in Superquinn, but the OH works there so we get staff discount so its not too expensive.

Procasinator

loveisdivine wrote: »

I always end up asking myself why this stuff is so much cheaper. Its not like they arent trying to make money like everyone else. They are a business at the end of they day and their main priority will be profits.
So what are they cutting down on that enables them to sell products so much cheaper.

Considering they have a smaller range that is the same in pretty much all places, I'd imagine they have good deals on there products from the suppliers. They wouldn't have as much wastage as some other chains either.

Generally speaking, they operate with less members of staff. While traditional supermarkets will have delis, meat counters and lots of staff for facing and packing products and of course the tills, Lidl and Aldi have much less. Some of the reduction comes from less products, and how they display them - it much less maintenance.

Don't forget too that real quality is not the only thing that affects price - brand recognition and loyalty can increase the perceived quality of goods.

RachaelVO

I don't really shop in either, I have done, but not too often. TBH I don't actually find it much cheaper, with the exception of Beer I don't think it's that much cheaper. I don't find the quality of a whole lot of the products that high either.

Don't get me wrong, there is nowt wrong with shopping in either, they'd be handy especially if they were close to where you lived, but I still tend to find that for stuff like meat and veggies, that I get a FAR better deal going to a butcher or fruit n veg shop. All that takes is a bit of effort. They have stuff on special daily and you can get stuff for half the price you'd get it in the supermarket (no matter which one).

Cantona's Collars

Duggy747 wrote: »

Aldi & Lidl have great meat & veg, a large portion of which comes from local suppliers.

Plus their chocolate is fan-feckin'-tastic.

It's handy for me considering Aldi is across the road from Dunnes so I pick stuff up from both stores.

Afaik Aldi's produce is over 45% Irish produce which is the highest percentage in the country.

Chocolate bars are bogof in Lidl this week,yum:)

I'm probably in the majority here by saying ethics doesn't play a part in my grocery shopping.It's value for money that's more important plus Aldi & Lidl are fairly near me and both stores are beside each other which is handy.If I can get fruit & veg for 35c why would I buy it anywhere else.
I've worked in supermarkets before and know first hand the working conditions although from the outside Lidl & Aldi expect their staff to be a jack of all trades.

Sky King

Hank_Jones wrote: »

Aldi steak is class.

Go out of my way to get steak from Aldi, lovely and quite cheap, win win situation.

Yep, I get it about once a week. lovely. Nicely aged too. Not like that bright red bloody stuff you get in some places.

james405

Its always going to be tough to shop for "All Irish" goods with supermarket trickery and marketing jargon!

For a while i thought i was buying Glenisk yogurts to support the irish dairy and organic and took a closer look to find out they were acquired by Danone a long way back to boost their natural image! Still supporting Ireland to a degree, the farmers etc but it would be nice to be able to buy something from an all irish owned company!

Ow and yuk to the sausages thing, with food processing today and questions about origins rarely buy them! Find the superquinn ones quite lumpy!

Great article on modern food processing and factory farming, america focused do

http://www.sustainabletable.org/

Cantona's Collars

Here's a list of companies who make the own brand produce http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=70930797

Tipp Man

A good local butcher is worth his weight in gold - way better than some of the muck some of the supermarket sell

AstridBean

RachaelVO wrote: »

Don't get me wrong, there is nowt wrong with shopping in either, they'd be handy especially if they were close to where you lived, but I still tend to find that for stuff like meat and veggies, that I get a FAR better deal going to a butcher or fruit n veg shop. All that takes is a bit of effort. They have stuff on special daily and you can get stuff for half the price you'd get it in the supermarket (no matter which one).

Tipp Man wrote: »

A good local butcher is worth his weight in gold - way better than some of the muck some of the supermarket sell

Agree 100% with both these.

For example, FXB Butcher on Moore Street does lovely steak and, well, everything really, for very good prices.

stovelid

Ethical considerations?

As opposed to the benign, teddy bear-manned worker collectives of Tesco and Dunnes?

We do about 70-80% of the monthly shop in Lldi and Aldi and go to Tesco/M and S and local wholesalers (for meat and for oriental food) for the rest.

Anybody that thinks there is actually any cachet in paying more money for things like household cleaning items, biscuits or vegetables needs a brain transplant. I like to think of it as the Superquinn Sausage Syndrome: the imbecilic notion that certain supermarket goods are inherently superior because of where they're sold.

AstridBean

stovelid wrote: »

Anybody that thinks there is actually any cachet in paying more money for things like household cleaning items, biscuits or vegetables needs a brain transplant.

True in some cases but sometimes it genuinely IS worth spending more, washing up liquid being a biggie for me. Nothing but Fairy is any good, and believe me, I've tried many!

stovelid

AstridBean wrote: »

True in some cases but sometimes it genuinely IS worth spending more, washing up liquid being a biggie for me. Nothing but Fairy is any good, and believe me, I've tried many!

I don't drink it myself - just wash dirty plates with it.

Each to their own though.

RachaelVO

AstridBean wrote: »

Agree 100% with both these.

For example, FXB Butcher on Moore Street does lovely steak and, well, everything really, for very good prices.

I remember getting our Christmas Turkey in there years ago (at least I think it was there). The smell of the meats and the saw dusts. Ya can't beat it!

It is true though, if you go to your local Butcher or Fruit n Veg shop you can get great bargains. During the summer I got my husband bacon ribs, he's dutch and couldn't believe his two favourite foods (bacon and ribs) could possibly be combined in one, and I got loads of them for a few euro.

The best thing about your butcher is, if you don't necessarily know how to cook something they'll give ya good tips too.

sbsquarepants

There is really no such thing as a benign retail giant, but aldi comes a lot closer to it than any of the others that operate in ireland. Tesco, dunnes and lidl are all renowned as total cúnts, both to work for and to deal with, aldi generally speaking treat their employees and suppliers a lot better than the others.
I have of course based this largely on rumour and hearsay, but hey, that's good enough for me.:D:D
As for buying off them, i'll buy off whoever is cheapest, now's not the time to be morallistic!

sbsquarepants

RachaelVO wrote: »

During the summer I got my husband bacon ribs, he's dutch and couldn't believe his two favourite foods (bacon and ribs) could possibly be combined in one, and I got loads of them for a few euro.
.

Truly, one of the all time great inventions.
Either a bit of cabbage and mash, or curly k. Heaven on a plate!