Aldi... what do you recommend?

dee_mc wrote: »

I haven't seen those in ages! The peanut ones in the same range are only ok - they've got that icy, grainy quality I associate with non dairy ice cream, whereas the salted caramel ones are impressively creamy! They did a summer fruits/some kind of berry one that was pretty good too.

My local Aldi is probably one of the quietest in the country so it was probably old stock lingering. All gone today when I passed the freezer section.

54and56 wrote: »

Just bought a pack. Two of the four were rotten when I took them out of the box, mouldy and rotten underneath. The other two look like they are close to turning and need you be eaten with 24/48 hours max which just isn't acceptable.

I love Aldi but hate hate hate how often their "fresh" fruit is anything but fresh.

Lidl fruit is so much better.

Have to agree with that. Aldi fruit doesn't last most of the time.

To be fair, blood oranges don't keep well, at all.
We've had them from Lidl and had mouldy ones, too.

awec wrote: »

Bought the Italiamo Bell Pepper and Chilli soup.

Don't bother. It's awful. I was expecting like a sweet spicy soup. It's more like a tangy soup with big lumps of soggy chilli in it with almost no heat.

Italiamo? Thought that was LIDL?

In the super 6 area - pork medallions with smoked cheese and pancetta are very very nice. 25 mins in oven job done. I think they were around €2.00

Edit - turns out they are €3.99 per pack (2 in it) pricey in hindsight

I really like the Joya apples (Red Cripps)
They are the right balance between sweet and sour and have a lovely crunch without being too hard.
They are great as an eating apple but I think they would be suitable for baking too.

Do any of the people who moan about fruit veg actually look at it before buying or do they wear their masks over their eyes?

I've never had a problem with aldi or Lidl fruit and veg, but I'll always check it, look at the stalks, check underneath and if unsure, I won't buy.

Same in Tesco. An extra few seconds is all you need

Deleted User wrote: »

In my experience, Lidl is the same when it comes to fresh fruit and veg. That’s what you get I suppose with no dates on the product.

I thought that instead of using a DDMM(YY) date system, Aldi and Lidl used WWDD, ie week number day number. According to my diary, we're currently in Week 08. I expect Monday is Day 01 (don't know why they need 2 digits for 7 days - perhaps to allow for future expansion :rolleyes: ), so 0901 would be Monday next week.

Why use this system? Surely not to obfuscate the Best Before date

Darc19 wrote: »

Do any of the people who moan about fruit veg actually look at it before buying or do they wear their masks over their eyes?

I've never had a problem with aldi or Lidl fruit and veg, but I'll always check it, look at the stalks, check underneath and if unsure, I won't buy.

Same in Tesco. An extra few seconds is all you need

Don't know what you buy, but that's not my experience. I too carefully inspect all foods before buying and, in spite my best efforts, with mixed success. Just threw out a whole punnet of ripe-at-home peaches that looked lovely and healthy in store, but got all mouldy before they got ripe. And that just after I had ripened a different batch of peaches from another store, which turned out absolutely delicious in the same storing conditions. It's easier picking some other fruit and veg, but with others it's difficult. Aldi pineapples so often go bad before they get sweet enough to eat and even then they are mediocre at best - I have stopped buying them in Aldi altogether. Tesco's pineapples are way better. Lidl's avocados go bad way, way less often than Aldi's. Now, it's not that all fruit and veg from Aldi is bad, but you need to know what is worth buying there. Lots of waste in my experience.

Not the biggest fan of blue cheese, but the Specially Selected Cashel Blue is delicious, quite mild, very creamy.

I quiet like the cheeses there. The Buffalo Mozzerella is lovely. They do lovely hazelnut chocolate there and grainnes danish are nice. The prosecco's are lovely aswell. Regarding fruit and veg I prefer Lidl. The pomegranate and cherries aren't too bad in either aldi or lidl. Just to get them at the right time so they don't go off. The pizzas and the beef is nicer in Aldi though. I've found their ground coffee and decafe ranges cheaper, nicer and a better selection of herbal teas than Lidl. so its a mix bag for me.

I also do the fruit/veg shop in SuperValu. I find that Aldi is a bit better than Lidl with regards to freshness though. But not as good as Lidl in terms of packaging.

Deleted User wrote: »

I believe the WWDD they use is the date of packing the item, not the BBE date. I got some tomatoes there on Friday for example and the code on them is 0703 - and given Friday was 0805 it makes sense.

Yes, that would make sense.

Ah, I thought I had it cracked :rolleyes:

We seem to have been collecting potatoes. The bags we have from Aldi have the date as DDMM, so they're no help. A bag I bought from Lidl the week before Christmas is 5102. I must have bought them on Thursday 17th December, or 5104, so 5102 does look like the packing date.

Sorry for giving wrong information.

alwayswright wrote: »

Has anyone noticed a decline in the quality of the 24 Month Aged Cheddar?

It's not as crumbly now at all, even rubbery in texture. Has none of that crystallisation either. I won't be buying it again

It could be do with the seasonality of cow feeding/grazing in Ireland.
Same has been mentioned here before in regards to butter too.

Cows are only getting back to grazing on grass again after being on winter feed for last 3-4 months. The flavour/texture of milk, butter, cheese from winter feed would be different to summer/autumn grass grazing

The Lidl vintage cheddar, while not Irish, is lovely.
Always thought it better than the Aldi version.