Aldi meat aisle horrors.

Aongus Von Bismarck · 24-08-2018 3:21pm #1

I’ve been back in Ireland for the past week, spending some quality time with my parents, and my niece and nephew. I’ve just about gotten over the huge disappointment of Galway’s lose to Limerick on Sunday. I was motoring back out from Galway this morning after an early morning hike in the 12 Bens, when I got a call from my Mother asking me to call into the local ADLI to pick up some pots of Play-Doh for my nephew (strange request, but I was very happy to oblige – I’m good like that). Turned the 6-Series around and headed back into town. Mart day today, so there were some serious specimens of muck savage around – men with beetroot red faces, tufts of hair growing on their upper cheeks, pants held up with baling twine, not a full set of teeth between 5 of them.

Now I live in Germany, but it’s safe to say I’m not a regular visitor to German discount supermarkets such as Aldi and Lidl. They have a great business model, and are very popular, but I’m not their target audience as I’ve the disposable income to shop in more artisan and high-end stores. I’ve heard some of their produce can be quite good, but I’m a passionate and talented cook so I’d rather have the choice of more than one type of mushroom for example. Think the food hall in Fallon and Byrne for those of you familiar with the Dublin foodie scene.

I had intended to get in and out there as quickly as possible, but decided I’d have a browse of the products they offer. I was genuinely disgusted to see that you can buy a large chicken for €4. Who buys such a thing? How is it possible to house, feed, medicate, slaughter, package, and distribute a chicken to a supermarket for that price? And one has to presume that there’s profit being taken by the various stakeholders along this most depressing of supply chains. I can’t help but notice that there’s a big problem with Irishmen and ‘moobs’ these days. Surely some of it must be linked to the amount of hormones and growth promoters these chickens are being stuffed with during their short and tragic life?

The litany of food horrors continued – huge packs of sickly pink looking ham branded as ‘Family Value’, bags of chicken nuggets for €1.79, microwavable mashed potato (!!), blocks of heavily processed cheese for literally nothing, baked beans for 29 cent a can. Who eats this muck, and do they ever consider the impact it is having on their own bodies, and the bodies of their families? Probably the same people who then fill the rest of the trolley with bottles of cheap wine that you could use to strip paint from a trawler.

I picked up the Play-Doh from those middle rows they have and left. I was relieved to find that some fat tradesman in a van hadn’t scraped my Beamer despite parking dangerously close to it. I’ve been appalled since though at the idea of that flaccid looking ‘chicken’ wrapped in its clear plastic coffin.

Am I missing something here? Who is the audience for this? And surely they could push the boat out and buy a free-range bird for 7 or 8 euro instead? Maybe eat less, or be more creative with what they do with leftovers?

statto25 · 24-08-2018 3:25pm

Jaysus he's back....

pickarooney · 24-08-2018 3:26pm

You're not wrong, Aongus, at some stage we're going to have to face up to what we've done with the meat industry and stop accepting the trash that passes for chicken.
That said, I wouldn't put Aldi Ireland anywhere near the top of supermarket offenders on that score.

DEFTLEFTHAND · 24-08-2018 3:26pm

Yeah not a lot of fresh produce on offer. You'd wonder what the hell we're putting into our bodies. Way too much processed food being consumed in this country.

brevity · 24-08-2018 3:27pm

Aongus Von Bismarck wrote: »

I’ve been back in Ireland for the past week, spending some quality time with my parents, and my niece and nephew. I’ve just about gotten over the huge disappointment of Galway’s lose to Limerick on Sunday.

BrokenArrows · 24-08-2018 3:28pm

Im assuming you're trolling.
If you're not then you come across as a a bit of a knob.

People buy it because not many can afford to spend £10 on an organic chicken or someother overpriced bull****.

Take your BMW and go back to Germany.

DEFTLEFTHAND · 24-08-2018 3:29pm

Certain diseases and ailments seemed to be less prevalent back in the days when this sh1t wasn't around.

goat2 · 24-08-2018 3:30pm

Aongus Von Bismarck wrote: »

I’ve been back in Ireland for the past week, spending some quality time with my parents, and my niece and nephew. I’ve just about gotten over the huge disappointment of Galway’s lose to Limerick on Sunday. I was motoring back out from Galway this morning after an early morning hike in the 12 Bens, when I got a call from my Mother asking me to call into the local ADLI to pick up some pots of Play-Doh for my nephew (strange request, but I was very happy to oblige – I’m good like that). Turned the 6-Series around and headed back into town. Mart day today, so there were some serious specimens of muck savage around – men with beetroot red faces, tufts of hair growing on their upper cheeks, pants held up with baling twine, not a full set of teeth between 5 of them.

Now I live in Germany, but it’s safe to say I’m not a regular visitor to German discount supermarkets such as Aldi and Lidl. They have a great business model, and are very popular, but I’m not their target audience as I’ve the disposable income to shop in more artisan and high-end stores. I’ve heard some of their produce can be quite good, but I’m a passionate and talented cook so I’d rather have the choice of more than one type of mushroom for example. Think the food hall in Fallon and Byrne for those of you familiar with the Dublin foodie scene.

I had intended to get in and out there as quickly as possible, but decided I’d have a browse of the products they offer. I was genuinely disgusted to see that you can buy a large chicken for €4. Who buys such a thing? How is it possible to house, feed, medicate, slaughter, package, and distribute a chicken to a supermarket for that price? And one has to presume that there’s profit being taken by the various stakeholders along this most depressing of supply chains. I can’t help but notice that there’s a big problem with Irishmen and ‘moobs’ these days. Surely some of it must be linked to the amount of hormones and growth promoters these chickens are being stuffed with during their short and tragic life?

The litany of food horrors continued – huge packs of sickly pink looking ham branded as ‘Family Value’, bags of chicken nuggets for €1.79, microwavable mashed potato (!!), blocks of heavily processed cheese for literally nothing, baked beans for 29 cent a can. Who eats this muck, and do they ever consider the impact it is having on their own bodies, and the bodies of their families? Probably the same people who then fill the rest of the trolley with bottles of cheap wine that you could use to strip paint from a trawler.

I picked up the Play-Doh from those middle rows they have and left. I was relieved to find that some fat tradesman in a van hadn’t scraped my Beamer despite parking dangerously close to it. I’ve been appalled since though at the idea of that flaccid looking ‘chicken’ wrapped in its clear plastic coffin.

Am I missing something here? Who is the audience for this? And surely they could push the boat out and buy a free-range bird for 7 or 8 euro instead? Maybe eat less, or be more creative with what they do with leftovers?

A great description and to the point,

Sirsok · 24-08-2018 3:31pm

You bought play- doh from aldi instead of an artisan toy maker ...you pleb ..... god I weep

Woke Hogan · 24-08-2018 3:32pm

People have conditioned themselves into thinking that 1) they need to eat meat every single day of the week and 2) they have an inalienable human right to have said meat sold as cheaply as possible. Ignorance and laziness, excused with the typical "how do you expect me to feed my family" bull****.

Here's a suggestion: buy a cookbook.

goat2 · 24-08-2018 3:33pm

There is a whole difference between strawberries we buy at our local veg shop, to the ones we buy at Supervalu or Aldi, the local farmer shop strawberries have the strawberry flavour as well as looking like a strawberry, but Supervalu and Aldi strawberries just look like strawberries, without the taste

Rubberchikken · 24-08-2018 3:34pm

The original post is a bloody essay. No way am i reading that. Off to cut the hedge:P

Potential-Monke · 24-08-2018 3:34pm

Not-even-thinly-veiled 'I have money' post.

I find the meat and chicken from Aldi quite good for the price. Better than Tesco and Dunnes anyway. Their steak mince is really nice. Yeah, the prices do make me wonder, but shur we're going to die anyway, might as well make it cheap on the way there.

I've never had food poisoning or any other food related mishap from Aldi meat. Can't be that bad.

Kevin Finnerty · 24-08-2018 3:36pm

Play Doh from Aldi. Shillings must be tight.

Who put the petrol in the dad's "Beamer"?

The Backwards Man · 24-08-2018 3:37pm

This prodigal return reminds me of when they introduced Scrappy Doo.

All the charm and originality of the earlier series fcuked out the window for the sake of a few cheap laughs aimed at the lowest common denominator.

AllForIt · 24-08-2018 3:38pm

Aongus Von Bismarck wrote: »

I’ve heard some of their produce can be quite good, but I’m a passionate and talented cook so I’d rather have the choice of more than one type of mushroom for example.

Excuse my ignorance but what do you mean by a variety of mushrooms? Do you mean like big ones or small ones?

Treepole · 24-08-2018 3:40pm

Kevin Finnerty wrote: »

Play Doh from Aldi. Shillings must be tight.

Who put the petrol in the dad's "Beamer"?

There's absolutely nothing wrong with the Play Doh from Aldi.
It tastes exactly the same as the free range stuff.

padd b1975 · 24-08-2018 3:42pm

AllForIt wrote: »

Excuse my ignorance but what do you mean by a variety of mushrooms? Do you mean like big ones or small ones?

How do you know the difference between mushrooms and toadstools?

If you're cooking with toadstools, everyone drops dead.

© Tommy Cooper RIP.

freshpopcorn · 24-08-2018 3:43pm

I'm from a farming background and town.
I know plenty of farmers who's happily buy their meat in Aldi or other supermarkets. Some supply them and others don't and they feel like they know what there getting.

meeeeh · 24-08-2018 3:44pm

Let me guess, somebody was reading Aldi thread in Food forum and decided to write a Ross O'Carroll Kelly about it.

con___manx1 · 24-08-2018 3:45pm

The same crap u described happens in germany and every other country. Germany have a low unemployment rate but a high percentage are paid **** all. Plus it has 80 million people the place is jammed and they work the absolute bollix out of u in most jobs. There efficiency **** wrecks my head. Our it will be grand attitude suits me better.

Verity. · 24-08-2018 3:46pm

The Bollocks · 24-08-2018 3:48pm

Ask my bollocks. Go to a different shop or butchers if you dont like what you see in Aldi.

freshpopcorn · 24-08-2018 3:48pm

Angus one bit of advice I'd give you is if your ever in the market for an organic chicken I'd recommend keeping your own and slaughtering them. It's the only real way you can get the quality you want.