Bargain Basement Food & Ethics

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

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!

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 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.

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.

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/

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!

I don't find Aldi or Lidl to have inferior quality stuff so I don't see any reason not to shop there. They source a lot of stuff from Ireland and the rest seems to come from Europe so their as local as you can get in this day and age.

Wouldn't have everything I need though which is the real problem with them, that and they par their shops in awkward places out here in the west so they're a pain to get into and out of.

sbsquarepants wrote: »

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

Ah yeah, "proper" dinners as my Nanny used to say.

We always used to have bacon ribs on a saturday night, watching whatever was on (generation game, pot black...) with a bottle of red lemonade, and then a bar of dairy milk... Was magic!

Not a big Aldi fan unless we're having a party and need half decent finger food.

Lidl on the other hand is great for veg and some meats. Nothing wrong with their mince, they have good lamb chops and great ham fillet type thing for less than €5; decent selection of cheeses at a good price; excellent lunch meat; cheap cleaning supplies although herself reckons fairy does last lots longer, and all their perishable goods are sourced locally. Frozen veg is fine too as is their tinned tomatoes (we make all our own sauces from scratch) but I would only buy Batchelors or Heinz beans. Similarly if you want mint sauce or proper english mustard you wont get it here.

The good thing about Aldi / Lidl is if you like things like fetta cheese, fresh parmesan; gherkins; chorizo sausage, etc they're reasonably priced as opposed to other stores who sell same as 'specialist' food.

For 'proper' meat, i.e steaks, roasts, etc can't beat a proper butcher although I do recommend this place highly if you've a bit of room in the freezer.

Lidl / Aldi also have some very drinkable wines at very reasonable prices and often have special deals on good french wines, e.g. Sancerre / Chateauneuf du Pape.

For beers Centra do great deals and Superquinn have an excellent selection of proper speciality / craft beers at 6 for €12, i.e. €2 a pop. O' Briens also have a great selection and are reasonably priced for same.