Aldi/Lidl Fruit and Veg

Olliebeak1951

I'm quite a 'newcomer' to shopping at Aldi - less of a 'newcomer' Lidl - and I'm generally very happy with ordinary tea / coffee / tinned stuff / regular bread / fresh meat / dairy produce that I've bought there, BUT .................. am I the only person who is quite disappointed with their Fruit & Veg? Or have I just been very unlucky?

I find that the majority of the produced is pre-packed - I prefer to select my own, for quality, amount AND less packaging. I've also found that the quality isn't as good as I've come to expect from A$DA/MrT's/Morrisons - their satsumas/easy peelers this week were absoltely awful quality - PLUS difficult to double-check as there don't appear to be any BBDates on things .

Although Aldi advertise that they sell 'gluten free items', as a Coeliac, I struggle to find them consistently enough to be able to rely on shopping there for them - what I DO manage to find are lots of GF Snacky Stuff (crisps etc), which are OK for kids or parties, but not OK for regular eating. DO HAVE TO COMMEND THEM for their GF Sausages and Luxury Pate though :j!

Lidl DO have a 'Free From Section' with a very limited choice - certainly no 'Chilled Ready Meals' or 'Free From Freezer Section'.

joedenise

I don't find their fruit and veg generally to be too bad, although I shop a couple of times a week so the fruit only usually has to last 3 or 4 days. Can't comment on the GF stuff as it's not something I have to buy.

Denise

nannywindow

Hi Ollie :wave:
I prefer prepacked as you don't know if people have touched say apples or tomatoes and not washed their hands. Yuck !
I have found Mr M's fruit awful lately, especially the raspberries which tasted chemical.

trailingspouse

No problem with Aldi fruit, veg or salad stuff over here. And I buy a lot.

I shop once a week. I tend to use the green veg and soft fruit first, leaving the root veg and the more 'solid' fruit for later in the week. But they have plenty of 'ripen in the fruit bowl' types which should last a few days. And you can keep fruit in the fridge if you want to stretch it a little longer.

Our Aldi opened here a couple of years ago, and bit by bit I've been buying more and more there. Now I basically just go elsewhere for things that Aldi doesn't sell at all. I save £25 a week (average shopping at Asda at least £75, average spend at Aldi rarely above £50).


I'm a bit confused, as on the one hand you would prefer more loose produce but on the other hand you want best before dates. You don't get best before dates on loose produce!!

tessie_bear

I have shopped in aldi for over 20 years and up until the last year or 2 never had a problem with the fruit and veg however the list of what I have had trouble with has grown...essentially

swede cant cook them they stay hard

carrot as above and they have dyed my steamer a very grim colour which is fading now I buy them from somewhere else

mushrooms go slimey and mouldy very quickly

broccoli my goodness it tasted rank

strawberries /raspberries always look mushy and on last legs

vacuum packed beetroot last lot tasted woody

peppers often moldy inside

I do however still buy and have never had probs with
bananas
kiwi
salad bits lettuce toms cucumber
onions
potatoes
plums
oranges

hth

Olliebeak1951

trailingspouse wrote: »

............ I'm a bit confused, as on the one hand you would prefer more loose produce but on the other hand you want best before dates. You don't get best before dates on loose produce!!

When I'm buying 'loose produce', I can gauge from touch and smell as to how fresh an item is, or how long it'll last.

If I must buy 'prepackaged', I prefer for it to have a BBDate to give me some idea of how long it should last. I can also buy the exact amount that I need - ie 3, not 4, as I finished up with.


My prepackaged leeks - bought Wednesday - looked fine in the packaging and when I made Leek & Potato Soup. However, I've gone to use up the last one today (Friday - 2 days later) and found that I've had to remove the outer three layers from the leek as they're dried out with 'very nasty looking' ends to them :eek:. Luckily, I was just 'using it up' - the white part in Savoury Mince and the green part to be steamed with cabbage.


Maybe I'll try a different branch of Aldi, to see if that one is any better .

PasturesNew

Their prices are keen because they prepack the food. They sell a pack, which is easier to count/stock-check/measure for performance. It also prevents more waste as fruit/veg isn't groped and dropped, or groped and discarded, as loose items are prone to. There is less waste in their chain - so less clearing up of the display/store floor by staff, less waste food disposal costs to pay ....

That's how it works... and that's why they do it.

ScarletRibbons

I find Aldi fruit and veg can go off quickly sometimes. I don't buy prepacks, apart from spuds, as I find there's more than I want.
There's a cheap greengrocer near where I live, I shop there.
Lidl is ok I think, I don't shop there as often as it's further away.

bouicca21

I don't buy soft fruit from Lidl unless I'm going to use it immediately. It goes off very quickly. The local Aldi soft fruit seems fresher, but if I want really fresh I splash out at Marks.

Prinzessilein

I don't buy fruit or veg from Lidls or Aldi.

I appreciate that things are different in different stores - I can only go buy what I have seen locally.

In Aldi the fruit was actually mouldy on the shelf...something like that puts you off going back!

In Lidls the fruit and veg looks nice, but has a VERY short fridge/veg rack life...berries for example needed to be eaten on the day, even in the fridge they were not good for eating 24 hours later.

I buy from M&S (we are seriously limited for supermarkets here!) and have never yet had any issues with shelf-life - and zero waste. (plus they are a lot more reasonably priced than people seem to think!)...and I also visit the local market where I can choose exactly what I want without any excess packaging.

Olliebeak1951

Thank you everybody for your comments :T.

I can see, very clearly, that although Aldi/Lidl have their dedicated fans, some people have found the same as me regarding the Fruit/Veg - wonder if it's to do delivery days. Possibly that they have deliveries on 'certain days' of the week .................... :undecided. Or maybe it's do to with 'storage areas behind the scenes' :think:.

As I said, I've found lots of their stuff to be equal to 'the big 4' and will probably continue to go in there for those specific items - but will stick with my 'usual two' for fruit/veg. We don't have any local markets around here (apart from one 'Farmer's Market' once a month which is extremely expensive) and one small Fruit/Veg shop which is lousy quality.

Thanks again - Ollie