Good and bad buys from Aldi and Lidl

charlie-chan

Eliza wrote: »

Oh dear, normally I sing Aldi's praises, esp the meat. However yesterday I bought a small fresh chicken ready for my visitors arriving tomorrow for the week so we can have salad and sandwiches during their stay. Cooking it now and instead of the usual gorgeous roast chicken smell pervading the house I don't really know how to describe it. Wet dog maybe? It's awful. The chicken isn't completely cooked yet and it looks pretty normal, but I think it's egg mayo sandwiches (my own bantam eggs) for the next week. Not sure what to do. It was £3 or thereabouts which is quite a lot of money for me. I can't go back to Aldi with a cooked and prodded chicken in a bag can I? Anyway, I won't get the chance with visitors. The wrapper in the bin says Aug 14th so it should've been fine. Such a disappointment.

Liz

I do believe the storage of the meat can be a problem. I did go into my local Aldi store last week to buy meat and there was a pallet of chilled meat ready to be on the shelves.

I thought I would touch one of the packets inside the boxes and they felt warm . I am going to buy my meat from elsewhere in future as I cannot afford to spend £2-£3 just so I can dispose of it as it has gone off.

Eliza_2

Yes I've wondered about that before but just thought I was being a bit fussy. I often buy the chicken thighs which have always been nice but thought a whole chicken would be better value as I could live off soup etc after the visitors had gone. I must say when buying it I felt a bit queasy, the way they're all piled higgledy piggledy, reminiscent of scenes from an abattoir, I can't see how the cold from the fridges can get through to the one in the middle of the pile. Perhaps that's the one I picked. Those chiller cabinets don't feel cold anyway and maybe mine had sat there overnight or longer.

It takes a lot, a real lot, for me to throw food away. Usually a few strong spices and it's edible. But not this. It's sitting outside in the rain to cool then into the bin.

Now where's that vegetarian cookbook?!

renegade

nwc389 wrote: »

Aldi kitchen roll - decent strong squares, a 4 pack for 99p is excellent value
Aldi red salmon 1.99 for a tin - very nice
Used Aldi for the first time last week and was very impressed .

I have been paying £2.19 for Red Salmon for a couple of months now at Aldi.

VfM4meplse

cutestkids wrote: »

Just noticed this thread seems to have been put back in the Gone Off section, I wonder why as it is updated just about daily ?

Random software glitch (not a good one) I am told. Red?

Eta: well done, red. You are so efficient! :T

PenguinOfDeath

Eliza wrote: »

Cooking it now and instead of the usual gorgeous roast chicken smell pervading the house I don't really know how to describe it. Wet dog maybe?

Funny you should say that, I bought some proscuttio from Aldi a couple of weeks ago, opened it a few days later and got the same wet dog smell...it tasted fine but the smell persisted a few days later when re-opened (sealed with cling film). Weird.

redfox

VfM4meplse wrote: »

Random glitch (not a good one) I am told. Red?

another thread decided to take itself off without permission :mad:

Now retrieved and back were it oughta be

redfox

cutestkids wrote: »

Just noticed this thread seems to have been put back in the Gone Off section, I wonder why as it is updated just about daily ?

they're not being 'put' there. It seems to be a most irritating 'feature' of this forum software that threads sometimes move, at random, between their boards and sub-boards. Just let me know by PM if you see any that disappear of their own accord and I'll get the lasso out and round them up again

System

charlie-chan wrote: »

I do believe the storage of the meat can be a problem. I did go into my local Aldi store last week to buy meat and there was a pallet of chilled meat ready to be on the shelves.

I thought I would touch one of the packets inside the boxes and they felt warm . I am going to buy my meat from elsewhere in future as I cannot afford to spend £2-£3 just so I can dispose of it as it has gone off.

With fresh food, you only allowed to work from pallets or rollers for a maximum of 30 minutes outside them being in the chillers in the back. With the combination of the large pallets, Aldi seem to put their fresh food to be delivered and the skeleton staffing policy, meaning having to leave to go on a checkout for 5-7 mins. These boards are out for over 30 mins.

From what I have noticed from shopping in the big 4, they have 15-20 lines per roller pallet and this is adequate to do in 30 mins. Aldi's fresh food boards have 30+ and only one shop assistant to do it all. Many of the big 4's fresh food employees are not till trained because of this.

It only needs a few people to become ill from meat and other fresh products not been followed by the 30 min rule, bad publicity and Aldi would need to change things.

Next time you see a pallet of fresh food in Aldi, touch it and if it feels warm, question a member of staff if they think it's warm. Trading Standards will love this.

Doc_N

ScarletMarble wrote: »

With fresh food, you only allowed to work from pallets or rollers for a maximum of 30 minutes outside them being in the chillers in the back. With the combination of the large pallets, Aldi seem to put their fresh food to be delivered and the skeleton staffing policy, meaning having to leave to go on a checkout for 5-7 mins. These boards are out for over 30 mins.

From what I have noticed from shopping in the big 4, they have 15-20 lines per roller pallet and this is adequate to do in 30 mins. Aldi's fresh food boards have 30+ and only one shop assistant to do it all. Many of the big 4's fresh food employees are not till trained because of this.

It only needs a few people to become ill from meat and other fresh products not been followed by the 30 min rule, bad publicity and Aldi would need to change things.

Next time you see a pallet of fresh food in Aldi, touch it and if it feels warm, question a member of staff if they think it's warm. Trading Standards will love this.

I think you've hit the nail on the head - and this would also account for the milk going off well before its use by date. The Aldi cool chain needs a lot of work if it's going to come anywhere near the standards of the major supermarkets. That would cost a lot of money, and Aldi do not like costs.

Much more of a problem in the summer, of course, and particularly in hot weather, but hot weather shouldn't put food safety at risk.

System

Aldi does not seem to understand that you need to invest to improve things, become more successful and prevent legal action.

If they do not invest money into improving the cold food chain, they will face serious legal action from people becoming ill or even dying from food poisoning from food not stored properly in the food supply chain.