What's the meat / chicken like from aldi? Is it good quality and treated well? I get

irishsid

What's the meat / chicken like from aldi? Is it good quality and treated well? I get my meat from the butchers, but after seeing the price in aldi it's hard to say no (unless it's bad meat).

Gloomtastic!

It was a simple sort of question, no need for the absolute nonsense. Any more and there will be sanctions. We're not AH you know!

The Gloomster!

Gloomtastic!

With my Mod hat hanging up......

I've bought virtually all of our meat from Aldi for the last 7 or 8 years and only once or twice has there been an issue with the quality. Some of the regular foodie posters here, myself included, will mention that the meat was from Aldi as a mark of respect that you can buy top quality produce for a fraction of the price you'd pay at your local butcher.

Not sure how they do it, but I'm sure glad they do! :P

foxatron

I get chicken from lidl and aldi the whole time never had an issue. I get the rib eye steaks in lidl a bit too. Taste great and good value.

DJIMI TRARORE

Not a thing wrong with it,butchers overcharging for the exact same meat

august12

irishsid wrote: »

What's the meat / chicken like from aldi? Is it good quality and treated well? I get my meat from the butchers, but after seeing the price in aldi it's hard to say no (unless it's bad meat).

had duck fillets this evening for dinner, lovely. Often buy the rib eye steak, they are really nice as is stewing steak. Bought stuffed lamb today for Easter Sunday. Will report back here with an update on that. Stick to the quality cuts of meat and bord bia guarantee.

irishsid

Thanks everyone, I'll be trying some chicken thighs tomorrow so, and a beef joint for Easter. ðŸ‘

The beef is grass fed and the chickens free range yeah?

Gloomtastic!

irishsid wrote: »

Thanks everyone, I'll be trying some chicken thighs tomorrow so, and a beef joint for Easter. ðŸ‘

The beef is grass fed and the chickens free range yeah?

With the bird flu scare at the moment, no commercially reared chickens are being raised outdoors.

Whispered

Ive had a few incidents of bad meat from one particular Aldi (the older one in Naas) but I assume it's a storage issue rather than an issue with the meat itself.

I've also heard confusing things about the fish. Something along the lines of it saying its Irish but when you look at the small print it's caught elsewhere then packaged in Ireland. (I could have that mixed up slightly maybe someone else can clarify). Tesco do the same though. I bought "Atlantic salmon" and on the inner packet it was a "product of China". So I'd imagine it's common practice.

rawn

Whispered wrote:

I've also heard confusing things about the fish. Something along the lines of it saying its Irish but when you look at the small print it's caught elsewhere then packaged in Ireland. (I could have that mixed up slightly maybe someone else can clarify). Tesco do the same though. I bought "Atlantic salmon" and on the inner packet it was a "product of China". So I'd imagine it's common practice.

You're correct. It is also sold as "fresh" but has been frozen and defrosted. That's in Lidl, I assume Aldi have similar practices.

dibkins

I don't think the steaks in aldi are anywhere near as tasty as they used to be:/ For a while they had delicious Free Range chicken breaks, skin on and peg bone in, but no longer!

irishsid

dibkins wrote: »

I don't think the steaks in aldi are anywhere near as tasty as they used to be:/ For a while they had delicious Free Range chicken breaks, skin on and peg bone in, but no longer!

But are the every day thighs, breasts, drumsticks, pork chops any good?

Dial Hard

irishsid wrote:

The beef is grass fed and the chickens free range yeah?

All Irish beef is grass-fed, with some supplementary feed in winter.

As has already been mentioned, no EU chickens can be reared outside at the moment. But when that's not in place, Aldi have both free-range and battery chicken, just like any other supermarket or butcher.

MarkR

Nothing wrong with any of it, as far as I've tried. Angus steaks are my favourite. :-)

vicwatson

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

With the bird flu scare at the moment, no commercially reared chickens are being raised outdoors.

I imagine this will change in ROI v soon as DEFRA in GB have relaxed these sanctions

niallam

Whispered wrote: »

I've also heard confusing things about the fish. Something along the lines of it saying its Irish but when you look at the small print it's caught elsewhere then packaged in Ireland. (I could have that mixed up slightly maybe someone else can clarify). Tesco do the same though. I bought "Atlantic salmon" and on the inner packet it was a "product of China". So I'd imagine it's common practice.

Defrosted Cape Hake from Namibia or South Africa, Defrosted Cod from Russia or Norway. Word defrosted doesn't accompany the food name in their advertising so consumers are none the wiser until they maybe (or hopefully not) notice the small print on the pack.

Lidl has made the use of Irish flag on imports a standard now, only country in the EU it's allowed because FSAI are afraid of them, easier close a small curry shop

meeeeh

I am not mad about fish in Lidl and I assume Aldi are similar. There is no comparison with what you get buying from fish monger's or even frombTesco fish counter. I like steaks in both and mince is fine too. I find Lidl often have bigger chicken legs than the butcher I usually go to and I would buy them there for bbqing. I get free range whole chicken in butcher's, it tends to be a bit better than what Aldi have. I don't like the Lidl one at all. The same goes for pork chops, I usually buy them on the bone in butcher's.

squonk

+1 on the fish from Aldi. I've bought it on occasion. It's been ok but nothing to get excited over and I'd sooner buy fish in Dunnes to be honest.

Otherwise I buy ALDI's stewing beef and it's fine. Their steaks are very nice. I couldn't fault them at all. The duck breasts are lovely and their children Chen thighs and diced chicken is grand. The diced chicken in Dunnes has bigger pieces but I happen to like the ALDI version.

Bateman

Another vote for the Aldi steaks

I have a couple of butchers handy on my walk to/from work so for convenience sake I use them a fair bit.

Fish - would always buy from specialist

odyssey06

Worth going to ALDI for:
+1 Steaks (especially the vacuum packed Ribeyes)
+1 Chicken Thighs
+1 Ham Fillet
+1 Smoked Salmon
+1 Specially Selected Angus beef mince

It's grand but wouldn't go out of my way for it:
+0 Lamb
+0 Duck

I'd look elsewhere:
-1 Whole Chicken (it just didn't seem to have any flavour)

Elemonator

Got steaks in Aldi on a recommendation, they were great.

I would imagine they are cheaper because stuff in packaged here/economies of scale?

I'd pass on the recommendation.

Neon_Lights

I don't know what everyones on about here it's absolutely rancid, not at all fresh and most of the time near gone off.

You're definitely best off sticking to the butchers, both in terms of the environment and the quality of meat you're getting.

odyssey06

Neon_Lights wrote: »

I don't know what everyones on about here it's absolutely rancid, not at all fresh and most of the time near gone off.
You're definitely best off sticking to the butchers, both in terms of the environment and the quality of meat you're getting.

Nonsense. Are you seriously suggesting that every butchers in the country is better than every ALDI?
I hear the sound of an axe being grinded.

I've looked into the windows of some butchers I wouldn't even buy meat for a dog in them.
Some butchers are fantastic.
There's no such thing as "the butchers", there are just hundreds and hundreds of different butchers, getting meat of different quality, and price, from different sources.

Neon_Lights

odyssey06 wrote: »

Nonsense. Are you seriously suggesting that every butchers in the country is better than every ALDI?
I hear the sound of an axe being grinded.

I've looked into the windows of some butchers I wouldn't even buy meat for a dog in them.
Some butchers are fantastic.
There's no such thing as "the butchers", there are just hundreds and hundreds of different butchers, getting meat of different quality, and price, from different sources.

No but im suggesting that a quality butchers is far superior to the toxic meat glue rancid off cuts they serve in Aldi.

Packed Supermarket meat is mostly crap and absolutely terrible for the environment both in terms of packaging and how the animals are reared. You don't get meat cheap without cutting corners.

sf80

I used to get chicken, but I gave up because the quality was inconsistent. Most of the time it was grand, but occasionally it would be inedible it was so tough.

RasTa

Their slave whole chickens are tasteless disgusting things. Fish is also tasteless.

Cakes and Ale

Been buying Lidl free range whole chickens for a good while now and there's no complaints in my house when they're roasted. Wouldn't touch any of the other whole chickens though. The only thing I've tried is the spatchcock which wasn't bad but still lacking a lot in flavour and texture.

Have recently bought lots of lamb from both Aldi and Lidl (steaks and chops) and everything was very tasty. And of course the steaks are generally very reliable.

odyssey06

Neon_Lights wrote: »

No but im suggesting that a quality butchers is far superior to the toxic meat glue rancid off cuts they serve in Aldi.
Packed Supermarket meat is mostly crap and absolutely terrible for the environment both in terms of packaging and how the animals are reared. You don't get meat cheap without cutting corners.

Oh so now it's a quality butchers. What % of Irish butchers would you say are quality? And are the rest served toxic rancid meat and destroying the environment while they are at it?

You're making some serious claims about supermarket meat.
Please provide some serious evidence that ALDI are using toxic meat, glue or rancid cuts.
Put up or shut up.

In the interests of honest disclosure, are you or a family member employed by a butchers or have any business relationship with one e.g. supply a butchers from your farm?
I have no connection to ALDI other than as a consumer.

For what it's worth your blatant agenda against ALDI is spectacularly unconvincing to me.

Cantona's Collars

odyssey06 wrote: »

Oh so now it's a quality butchers. What % of Irish butchers would you say are quality? And are the rest served toxic rancid meat and destroying the environment while they are at it?

You're making some serious claims about supermarket meat.
Please provide some serious evidence that ALDI are using toxic meat, glue or rancid cuts.
Put up or shut up.

In the interests of honest disclosure, are you or a family member employed by a butchers or have any business relationship with one e.g. supply a butchers from your farm?
I have no connection to ALDI other than as a consumer.

Just came across this thread by accident, beef is butchered and packed in Clohamon in Co.Wexford by Slaney Group. More is sourced in their sister factories nationwide.AFAIK the lamb is coming from another one of their factories too.So to the ones who seem to believe that the meat comes from a shed in a far flung country,they couldn't be more wrong.

RasTa

I also steer clear of butchers who offer all that pre packed crap in a marinate at 3 for €10. Usually old meat

AlanG

niallam wrote: »

Defrosted Cape Hake from Namibia or South Africa, Defrosted Cod from Russia or Norway. Word defrosted doesn't accompany the food name in their advertising so consumers are none the wiser until they maybe (or hopefully not) notice the small print on the pack.

There is a good argument to be made that fish frozen on the ship minutes after being caught in far off waters and then defrosted once landed is fresher than fish sitting chilled in the hold of a trawler in the Irish sea for many many hours (or days) and landed "fresh".

Special Circumstances

RasTa wrote: »

Their slave whole chickens are tasteless disgusting things. Fish is also tasteless.

What were you expecting, even the name is disgusting!

Gloomtastic!

Let's please try and keep it calm folks. In Ireland, nobody is forced to buy their meat from one particular outlet so if you choose different to someone else, so be it!

As for claimimg whether meat is fit for consumption from any source,
unless you have rock-solid proof (which you won't) then please don't mention it again.

With my mod hat removed, I find taking the wrapping off any meat and letting it breath for the day in the fridge helps with flavour and texture. A good sprinkling of seasoning also helps, regardless of source.

92Grainne1992

zerks wrote: »

Just came across this thread by accident, beef is butchered and packed in Clohamon in Co.Wexford by Slaney Group. More is sourced in their sister factories nationwide.AFAIK the lamb is coming from another one of their factories too.So to the ones who seem to believe that the meat comes from a shed in a far flung country,they couldn't be more wrong.

Where are those beef cattle being transported from? Same as the lamb? We've got sheep at home, one gets sent to the local butcher yearly, its killed in a humane way, cut into whatever we order, the innards go to the dogs and nothing goes to waste. Whatever we don't want goes to the butcher for re-sale. Try to buy our beef and Pork from local farmers also. Sometimes means you're literally buying a full carcass but at least you know where it came from. God only knows what part of the country/world Aldi meat is being reared in.

Dial Hard

92Grainne1992 wrote: »

God only knows what part of the country/world Aldi meat is being reared in.

All of their fresh meat & poultry is Irish. Claiming that it's not is a fairly whopper accusation to make.

Bord Bia wrote:

All of Aldi’s fresh poultry, beef, pork and lamb is 100% traceable and sourced exclusively from Republic of Ireland farms certified under the Bord Bia scheme.

http://www.shelflife.ie/aldi-meats-the-quality-mark-in-new-bord-bia-survey/

odyssey06

92Grainne1992 wrote: »

God only knows what part of the country/world Aldi meat is being reared in.

Meet George Stanley from Co. Laois:
https://www.aldi.ie/love-ireland/lamb

92Grainne1992

Dial Hard wrote: »

All of their fresh meat & poultry is Irish. Claiming that it's not is a fairly whopper accusation to make.



http://www.shelflife.ie/aldi-meats-the-quality-mark-in-new-bord-bia-survey/

Fish? I don't fancy Tuna that was caught on the other side of the world, I'd rather fresh mackerel from Dun Laoghaire.

I think we all just need to be a bit more aware of where our chicken dippers/frozen burgers are coming from.

I don't have a massive issue with Irish reared meat, apart from the fact the average Joe Soap doesn't know exactly where its coming from. I would prefer to buy Wicklow Lamb than Donegal Lamb.

I personally like a few cuts of meat in Aldi, however would prefer to buy from the butcher. Not always convenient and it means yes, sometimes I do buy meat from ALDI.

anewme

I dont buy much meat, when I do I buy from a butchers. Agree that some butchers do that poor quality vacum pack stuff that all seems to come from the same warehouse, so try and steer clear of that. I did try the Aldi steaks once and they were ok, I dont get why people were raving about them.

I agree with the fish argument as well, something block frozen about 10 years ago does not appeal to me.

On the subject of chicken, I always buy local free range (farmers gate). I dont know how a chicken can be produced etchically @ 3.99 or whatever it is without cutting corners, ie, either the producer or animal welfare. I dont apply this just to Lidl/Aldi/Tesco etc. but to all meat.

Im lucky in that money is not an issue and id rather pay more but eat less to get higher standard product.

kylith

92Grainne1992 wrote: »

Where are those beef cattle being transported from? Same as the lamb? We've got sheep at home, one gets sent to the local butcher yearly, its killed in a humane way, cut into whatever we order, the innards go to the dogs and nothing goes to waste. Whatever we don't want goes to the butcher for re-sale. Try to buy our beef and Pork from local farmers also. Sometimes means you're literally buying a full carcass but at least you know where it came from. God only knows what part of the country/world Aldi meat is being reared in.

It's not feasible for most people, especially in cities, to do that though.

I'm willing to bet that not a scrap of meat butchered for Aldi gets wasted either. They probably waste less than you do: The meat goes on the shelf, the offcuts and offal go to making pet food, skins for leather, and the bones can be used in everything from wallpaper paste to tattoo ink.

Neon_Lights

Dial Hard wrote: »

All of their fresh meat & poultry is Irish. Claiming that it's not is a fairly whopper accusation to make.



http://www.shelflife.ie/aldi-meats-the-quality-mark-in-new-bord-bia-survey/

I think there's a few misconceptions here, the board bias quality mark doesn't mean it's Irish it just means it meets an approved standard set by board bia. It would need a qas label to assure this.

Just because the meat was 'sourced' in Ireland doesn't necessarily mean its origin is indeed Ireland. It just means it was slaughtered at minimum on an Irish farm, perhaps reared for a certain time.

If you look at the case for example with Callan bacon(an Aldi supplier) for example they were using imported pork as part of their production and still slapping it with the bord bia label. Even overlooking Irish producers.

cutthegrass

anewme wrote:

On the subject of chicken, I always buy local free range (farmers gate). I dont know how a chicken can be produced etchically @ 3.99 or whatever it is without cutting corners, ie, either the producer or animal welfare. I dont apply this just to Lidl/Aldi/Tesco etc. but to all meat.

I read somewhere before that stores sell whole chickens at a loss in order to get customers in. Anyhow for a 1.2Kg whole chicken it's only a couple of euro extra for a free range.

anewme

cutthegrass wrote: »

I read somewhere before that stores sell whole chickens at a loss in order to get customers in. Anyhow for a 1.2Kg whole chicken it's only a couple of euro extra for a free range.

Its not a couple of euro more expensive, the ones I buy are 12.99 or 14.99 as I buy from a local farmer. It takes a bit of an effort for me to get to farm gate, so I only buy when I get a chance to take a drive out. Some of our local decent butchers, stock free range chickens from a local woman as well.

I understand loss leaders, Also, is the same for the 49p veg, do the farmers get paid proper amounts. Milk? Where does it end.

At the end of the day, someone pays the price for driving down the cost of produce be it the workers picking the produce, the farmers, or the animal. Consumers need to educate themselves and make fully informed decisions. For example, I used to buy lots of smoked Salmon, until I found out it was coming from Chile and there were issues with lice etc. Now I only buy very infrequently (as its much more expensive), from a small irish cottage type producer.

I buy local turkey at Christmas and famer told me that the chicks he buys before any rearing can be more expensive than a mass produced end product blast frozen in Brazil.

odyssey06

I'm going to rephrase the OP's original question because the answers are going in the direction of "free range" produce versus mass production.
Is the produce in ALDI, versus free range produce, of lesser quality and of more harmful impact?
I'm going to say YES. And this answer applies just as much to all Irish supermarkets and most produce in most Irish butchers (on the assumption that most of the produce in your average butcher isn't going to be free range for starters).

I live in Dublin city, it's simply not realistic to compare what you're going to get if you have to buy your meat in a big city versus living in the country and buying direct from a local supplier.
It is realistic in the context of this thread to compare the farmed fish available in ALDI versus the farmed fish in fishmongers.
It is not realistic to compare wild caught fish versus ALDI fullstop.
So let's compare like with like.

Is the produce in ALDI, versus the produce in your average butcher, "bad meat", of lesser quality and of more harmful impact?
I'm going to say NO.

Is the produce in ALDI, versus the produce in your average Irish supermarket, "bad meat", of lesser quality and of more harmful impact?
I'm going to say NO.

So really it all comes down to the quality of the butcher you are comparing against.
Maybe you're fortunate enough to have an excellent local butcher available that you trust.
But if you're not, then random ALDI store versus random butchers, unless you are specifically shopping for free range produce, my answer is that you have no reasonable grounds to expect ALDI meat to be "bad" or of lesser quality or of more harmful impact.

Sue Pa Key Pa

We would get 90% of our fresh meat in Aldi. Never a problem. Steaks are great. I don't, however, like their chicken breasts. I find them tough, almost chewy