View Full Version : More Reasons to Shop at Aldi
I try to make a stock-up trip to Aldi every few months (their store is really out of the way from where I live) and one thing I've noticed is that their cans don't have those dangerous plastic liners with BPA. Here's an article by Dr. Jim Mercola about BPA and how to avoid it:
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/03/25/even-bpafree-plastics-leach-endrocrinedisrupting-chemicals.aspx
Scary. I've been trashing my old plastic freezer containers and substituting the BPA-free ones (Glad and Ziplock) but I may halt in place and get glass instead.
Re Aldi, I've also noticed that their honey comes from Canada and Brazil (along with the USA) where standards for commercial honey are *much* higher.
I wish we had an Aldi's. I remember on the old boards, Aldi's, was a name that often surfaced. I find I've really changed my shopping method over the years. Instead of dedicating myself to one supermarket/store only, I visit several (even specialty shops/outlets), and this allows me to be selective and smart in relation to what I buy and serve my family. In fact, it's not even about savings so much anymore as it is about getting the best product, and if that means spending a little more to do that, then so be it, I'm good with it.
Just as a side-note, Jemima, I have gone from buying quality store-bought honey, to buying local honey from a local apiary, and now that we've tasted the difference of real, raw honey, going back to the old will never again be an option. Something for you to consider, and the cost between the two is so marginal, there really is no difference, especially when you know you're getting a vastly superior product.
Knowing a bee keeper is pretty helpful. :) We buy our honey through the local apiary club!
We don't buy any canned goods, but several of our foods come wrapped in plastic (frozen fruit, veg, and meats). We are lucky that it is recyclable in NZ, but it's still not cool. I wish we didn't have to buy frozen, but we simply do sometimes. It's less expensive and it fills the gaps where we can't expand into raw (for budgetary reasons).
But, I look forward to those days -- and using glass to store what we need. :)
I was always a little afraid to shop at Aldi's, since I wondered if their stuff was more from other countries and not good quality. Maybe I should give it a try?
CathyA, if you give it a try. Take your 'pricebook' of prices you've noted at your regular stores. In the last 2 years Aldi has had to raise their prices as well and I've heard people complaining about it lately.
To me, I've had to really pick and choose what I like there and I don't shop there very often maybe only twice a year since it's about an hour away. Sometimes they have great produce and great prices on the produce and sometimes they don't. When I was little they never had fresh produce. Someone the other day was talking about a great deal they got on rose bare roots - you never know what you'll find in there stores.
If you aren't familiar with Aldi - take a quarter to borrow a buggy and bring your own boxes/bags. The checkers are super quick and put things back into your buggy and then you go over to a counter and reload into boxes/bags. Then you return your buggy to the cart corral and get your quarter back.
When I was little (5-7) one came to our town and I was fascinated by the choices of canned soda flavors - blackberry or maybe it was black cherry was my favorite. Mom would only buy soda for camping trips and I loved picking out the flavors.
(which I wouldn't drink now)
I think the last two times I went there I only came out with a little produce.
Nothing else looked like a good deal.
Very disappoint with Aldi. Quality of products did not outweight the savings for me.
I was always a little afraid to shop at Aldi's, since I wondered if their stuff was more from other countries and not good quality. Maybe I should give it a try?
This is one thing that does bother me - I can't find the country of origin on the can labels.* However, the Aldi stores are owned by the same brothers who own Trader Joe's, so I doubt they'd do anything stupid that might damage their reputation, like buy unsafe merchandise from China. I'm under the impression that they deal with small canneries in the US and Canada.
As for quality, I don't see any difference from name brand labels, although I only buy basic baking supplies, nuts, cheese, canned veggies and fruit, frozen vegetables, and meat. The only snack food I've ever tried is the corn chips, which were A-okay, and I've never tried any of their convenience foods. I'm really happy to have a source for canned goods that doesn't line the cans with BPA-loaded white plastic. Oh, and they have a dark chocolate made in Austria that's to die for, far better than Hershey's and a lot cheaper.
*Hmmm. I just checked a can of Del Monte chopped tomatoes: Distributed by Del Monte, San Francisco, CA, Packed in the USA. Nowhere does it say the contents are USA or Canadian-grown produce.
Very disappoint with Aldi. Quality of products did not outweight the savings for me. I felt the same way. I heard so much about Aldi's on this board I got very excited when they finally opened a store in an adjacent city to me. Was very disappointed in the quality provided and was happy to go back to my usual shopping places even if I had to pay a little more.
We do most of our shopping at Aldis; we haven't had anything that hasn't been on par with name brands. You can't beat their produce; tastes great and costs a lot less. One disappointing thing: their frozen fish is a product of China. I won't touch the stuff.
ApatheticNoMore
3-19-12, 3:11pm
felt the same way. I heard so much about Aldi's on this board I got very excited when they finally opened a store in an adjacent city to me. Was very disappointed in the quality provided and was happy to go back to my usual shopping places even if I had to pay a little more.
Yea hear mixed messages, but they aren't here anyway. Really does seem the least bad choices here are alas TJ's and Whole Paycheck (have tried other newcomers, they've been very disappointing).
Very disappoint with Aldi. Quality of products did not outweight the savings for me.
I felt the same way. I heard so much about Aldi's on this board I got very excited when they finally opened a store in an adjacent city to me. Was very disappointed in the quality provided and was happy to go back to my usual shopping places even if I had to pay a little more.
The experience probably depends a lot on what a person buys. I never buy peanut butter at Aldi, for example, because they don't carry the all-natural kind. I don't buy processed food at all, anywhere, so I grab some of that great dark chocolate and some canned nuts, and then head for the other end of the first aisle where the chocolate chips and bags of walnuts are located. Their blue cheese salad dressing is good but I've never tried the mayo because it comes in quart jars and I'm a one person household. The olive oil seems to be of satisfactory quality. Et cetera. I'm really pretty selective about what I do and don't buy there.
Even when I make my "load-up" trip at the beginning of a month, I don't expect to get everything I need there. What I do greatly appreciate is the canned, chopped tomatoes not coming in plastic-lined cans because I use them a lot in cooking and generally buy half a case or more at a time. Acid foods like tomatoes, I'm told, are the worst for leaching BPA from the plastic can linings. The rest of the canned goods is primarily for emergency storage for when TSHTF.
I'm also happy that some of the honey comes from other countries because our FDA isn't paying any attention to what goes into products labeled as honey. Or what doesn't go into it, like healthy-for-us pollen.
Knowing a bee keeper is pretty helpful. :) We buy our honey through the local apiary club!
Yippee! I just found someone local who's offering raw honey for sale! About two miles from my house, as a matter of fact, much closer than Aldi.
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