Aldi... what do you recommend?

inforfun

It is really easy to make yourself
Cucumber, yoghurt, garlic, mint or dill, bit of olive oil salt and pepper.
Grate the cucumber and leave it leaking for a while.
Then add everything together and put it in the fridge for a bit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVlIExa-xek or like this guy

Dial Hard

SmallTeapot wrote:

Do Aldi sell tzatziki dip? This is something I’d love to try if they do

I don't think so. Lidl have it semi-regularly with Greek specials.

inforfun wrote:

Grate the cucumber and leave it leaking for a while.

Salt the cucumber rather than adding it later. It draws the water out.

54and56

SmallTeapot wrote: »

Do Aldi sell tzatziki dip? This is something I’d love to try if they do

Nope but really easy to make with Aldi Greek yoghurt.

RhubarbCrumble

lassykk wrote: »

Ah crap. if you find ones in Dealz/Lidl will you let us know here? Cheers

I haven't been into Lidl since. Dealz didn't have them, but I got them in Eurogiant, so if you have one near you, you should be able to get them there.

fin12

The smoked haddock fish cakes with cheddar cheese are lovely.

snowgal

We just tried the Seabrook fire eater smokin hot crisps, feck there’s some heat off them! First one or two ok, but then it begins to hit, I really like them but they’re really damn hot!

dmc17

snowgal wrote: »

We just tried the Seabrook fire eater smokin hot crisps, feck there’s some heat off them! First one or two ok, but then it begins to hit, I really like them but they’re really damn hot!

Got the Trinidad Scorpion Chili flavour :eek: Serious heat off them! Left them in a bowl on the table hoping the housemates would help themselves to a few

Tigerandahalf

Is Aldi not stocking the Calypso once a day suncream any longer? It was like the more expensive P20 stuff.

McMurphy

whiskeyman wrote: »

Hoping for good feedback. I love merguez!!

Fried a couple of them last night,, and they were absolutely lovely.

I also cooked a couple of their Peruvian chilli burgers (was a nice evening) and they were smashing.

Definitely top of my list for my next BBQ.

Thargor

Anyone tried the vegetable sausages in the chiller cabinet? Fresh not frozen, they look like actual sausages and the ingredients list is very short, must give them a go.

Ben Done

Thargor wrote: »

Anyone tried the vegetable sausages in the chiller cabinet? Fresh not frozen, they look like actual sausages and the ingredients list is very short, must give them a go.

There were the Gosh branded ones in 2 flavours (sage & onion and red pepper), and I saw ones recently something like curried cauliflower or some such..


Are these like 'pretend meat' sausages, Quorn-style?

s7ryf3925pivug

fmul9798 wrote: »

Recommending to avoid... they replaced the Moser Roth chilli individual chic bars in pack with a single slab in "new" packagin.
Cocoa content down from 52% to 47%, completely different recipe and taste. Thumbs down and now dropping a regular purchase item for me....

They've also changed the vanilla white chocolate bar. Gone from particularly nice to something neither I nor my wife would eat.

miamee

Ben Done wrote: »

There were the Gosh branded ones in 2 flavours (sage & onion and red pepper), and I saw ones recently something like curried cauliflower or some such..


Are these like 'pretend meat' sausages, Quorn-style?

They don't have a meat texture (more crumbly) and they don't pretend to taste like meat so I'd say no.

54and56

Anyone else think it'd be great if Aldi (and other supermarkets) adopted the type of receipt on the right?

igCorcaigh

54&56 wrote: »

Anyone else think it'd be great if Aldi (and other supermarkets) adopted the type of receipt on the right?

That's brilliant. However, it does use more paper.

I'd like to see electronic receipts, the customer's identity could be retrieved from a loyalty card and the receipts displayed in the supermarket's app.

Although I'm not certain about any legal requirements for a printed receipt.

SozBbz

igCorcaigh wrote: »

That's brilliant. However, it does use more paper.

I'd like to see electronic receipts, the customer's identity could be retrieved from a loyalty card and the receipts displayed in the supermarket's app.

Although I'm not certain about any legal requirements for a printed receipt.

I'd say theres an obligation to offer a printed receipt, if the customer wants. A lot of coffee shops/restaurants now ask if you want one, and if you say no, then nothing gets printed which is obviously great for reducing waste.

I'd be in favour of the app idea, seeing breakdowns by category, especially over time would be useful. Given that aldi dont even have a loyalty card though, this might be a while away.

Actually on the issue of waste, does anyone know of a good way to get the message across to Aldi (and others) about excessive packaging and how they can be more sustainable? I feel a lot of consumers would be in favour of this but it would be good if there was some way in which consumers could have their voices heard.

I'd be willing to support retails who are making meaningful change in this area even if it cost me money.

inforfun

igCorcaigh wrote: »

That's brilliant. However, it does use more paper.

I'd like to see electronic receipts, the customer's identity could be retrieved from a loyalty card and the receipts displayed in the supermarket's app.

Although I'm not certain about any legal requirements for a printed receipt.

You can stop printing them. Just need to be able to print one if asked for one.
I think....

wonski

SozBbz wrote: »

I'd say theres an obligation to offer a printed receipt, if the customer wants. A lot of coffee shops/restaurants now ask if you want one, and if you say no, then nothing gets printed which is obviously great for reducing waste.

I'd be in favour of the app idea, seeing breakdowns by category, especially over time would be useful. Given that aldi dont even have a loyalty card though, this might be a while away.

Actually on the issue of waste, does anyone know of a good way to get the message across to Aldi (and others) about excessive packaging and how they can be more sustainable? I feel a lot of consumers would be in favour of this but it would be good if there was some way in which consumers could have their voices heard.

I'd be willing to support retails who are making meaningful change in this area even if it cost me money.

Is this thread about food anymore???

And yes, I have noticed they replaced ugly black plastic trays with paper trays for sunstream tomatoes which are lovely.

The tomatoes, haven't tried the trays yet

wonski

Thargor wrote: »

Anyone tried the vegetable sausages in the chiller cabinet? Fresh not frozen, they look like actual sausages and the ingredients list is very short, must give them a go.

They are, as my vegan friend said, vegetables in disguise.

No proteins, just vegetables pretending to be meat. They are just fine, but calling it a sausage is just wrong.

SozBbz

wonski wrote: »

Is this thread about food anymore???

And yes, I have noticed they replaced ugly black plastic trays with paper trays for sunstream tomatoes which are lovely.

The tomatoes, haven't tried the trays yet

Well, its about Aldi and what we'd buy. I'm refusing to buy things excessivly packaged so that influences what I'll try and therefore recommend!

Also given that this thread revolved around frozen chicken burgers for about 3 weeks, I don't think the odd post about packaging is that terrible.

wonski

SozBbz wrote: »

Well, its about Aldi and what we'd buy. I'm refusing to buy things excessivly packaged so that influences what I'll try and therefore recommend!

Also given that this thread revolved around frozen chicken burgers for about 3 weeks, I don't think the odd post about packaging is that terrible.

Fair enough, it's not like I haven't addressed the issue of packaging in my post.

All, not most, but all supermarkets are not food makers. They don't pack their fruit or any other product. They all get what they get, but there is an improvement. This goes down all the way to the original packers that need to do a lot of work to change their packing systems.

This cost money and takes time. If you want to see improvements have a look at the mineral water packaging. It has been changed recently for most supermarkets with the amount of plastic reduced by 20-50%, this unfortunately will be followed by customer complaints that their sports cap water cap is breaking to easily etc.

Loose fruit is expensive to source and expensive to display (on the shelf you can display 25-50 units depending on the fruit vs 60-80 when packed into trays and flow wrapped.

I hate plastic packaging, and I wish to see none of it. At this moment all supermarkets are at it and all work to reduce it. Not to save the world, but to get good press anyway. And to reduce the amount of no plastic actions being run around their stores.

As a consumer most of us look at the price and will continue to do so. Because there is no difference between Lidl, Aldi, Tesco etc... Except the price.

Tenshot

Tim Harford's '50 Things That Made The Modern Economy' podcast had an episode all about cellophane.

About 5m 45s in, there's some interesting info about supermarkets that experimented with displaying fruit & veg loose a few years ago, in response to consumer demand. It was a failure - counter-intuitively, wastage rates soared because a lot more fruit ended up spoiled or damaged.

(The entire series is well worth a listen.)

SozBbz

wonski wrote: »

All, not most, but all supermarkets are not food makers. They don't pack their fruit or any other product. They all get what they get, but there is an improvement. This goes down all the way to the original packers that need to do a lot of work to change their packing systems.

I generally agree with you and I know its not straight forward, but I can't help but feel we could do better.

However I disagree on the highlighted point. The supermarkets are the power in those supply chains. They will dictate how suppliers present their goods for sale.

Ultimately as you say they are mostly all the same and while consumer opinion is important, we also need the cost of dealing with the excess packaging to somehow work its way back to the supermarkets to get them to make meaningful change IMO.

I buy as much from loose as I can. I feel like in some small way that if whoever does the buying for Aldi or whoever notices that loose produce has become more popular it might give them a nudge in the write direction!

Odyssey 2005

wonski wrote: »

They are, as my vegan friend said, vegetables in disguise.

No proteins, just vegetables pretending to be meat. They are just fine, but calling it a sausage is just wrong.

:)

wonski

Another experiment that failed was putting Best Before dates on fruit and vegetables. Tesco In UK has decided to drop it for dozens of their line while Irish supermarkets are only catching up with them to have the dates on.

Most stupid idea ever if you asked me.

Will take at least 3 years now to scrap it.

SozBbz

wonski wrote: »

They are, as my vegan friend said, vegetables in disguise.

No proteins, just vegetables pretending to be meat. They are just fine, but calling it a sausage is just wrong.

This is like the EU wanting to rename all veggie burgers as veggie discs..... IMO thats more wrong. What would a sausage become? Veggie tubes? Ew, no thanks, sounds gross!

SozBbz

Tenshot wrote: »

Tim Harford's '50 Things That Made The Modern Economy' podcast had an episode all about cellophane.

About 5m 45s in, there's some interesting info about supermarkets that experimented with displaying fruit & veg loose a few years ago, in response to consumer demand. It was a failure - counter-intuitively, wastage rates soared because a lot more fruit ended up spoiled or damaged.

(The entire series is well worth a listen.)

Its worth pointing out that while this packaging saves food waste in the supermarkets, it probably causes more waste in our households.

The amount of times you have to buy 6 apples when you only want 2/3. You don't eat stuff in time so it ends up in the bin. Also a lot of prepackaged stuff is bad value for single people.

IMO its not clear if packaging reduces waste or if it just transfers the waste from the supermarket to your home.

rubadub

Tenshot wrote: »

about supermarkets that experimented with displaying fruit & veg loose a few years ago, in response to consumer demand. It was a failure - counter-intuitively, wastage rates soared because a lot more fruit ended up spoiled or damaged

Loose stuff is often very poorly put out in supermarkets, begging for customers to start rooting and damaging stuff. A 16 year old supermarket lad daydreaming about what field he will be drinking in tonight is not going to take as much care as a green grocer displaying his own produce where any damage comes out of his pocket.

wonski wrote: »

Another experiment that failed was putting Best Before dates on fruit and vegetables. Tesco In UK has decided to drop it for dozens of their line while Irish supermarkets are only catching up with them to have the dates on.

I love the dates! - only since I often get unripe bananas in tesco being sold off for nothing as they are out of date on that day.

wonski

SozBbz wrote: »

I generally agree with you and I know its not straight forward, but I can't help but feel we could do better.

However I disagree on the highlighted point. The supermarkets are the power in those supply chains. They will dictate how suppliers present their goods for sale.

Ultimately as you say they are mostly all the same and while consumer opinion is important, we also need the cost of dealing with the excess packaging to somehow work its way back to the supermarkets to get them to make meaningful change IMO.

I buy as much from loose as I can. I feel like in some small way that if whoever does the buying for Aldi or whoever notices that loose produce has become more popular it might give them a nudge in the write direction!

They, and all other supermarkets, have the powers. But ultimately the price and quality are important.

Think about a box of loose apples travelling from South Africa, USA, France or Chile being just dropped into the boxes and ferried all the way to Ireland. Unfortunately they have to be packed to be delivered in at least acceptable condition. At least they now use recycleable trays. With plastic film, but you can't replace it really. Then there is labelling rules so labelling individually becomes an issue.

igCorcaigh

It's a scalability issue, isn't it.

Anyway, don't want to go OT.
Perhaps this warrants a thread of its own (mods).