Is ALDI Beef good?

gamason

Their hams are pretty good, and they have a decent cheap wine. Otherwise I wasn't that impressed.

poster

JethroVA said:

I like Aldi.  Haven't bought that much meat there though. Great prices. I have had some issues with produce not lasting very long.  Yes it takes a quarter (that you get back) to get a cart but that allows them to not hire a cart guy.  Apparently they have figured out we'll push the cart back 100 ft to get our $0.25 back. 

One trick I use if I'm after more than a few items.  I take a laundry basket and put in the empty cart that the gal uses after she rings up the items.  While they won't bag for you, they'll put it in a box or basket in the cart.  

we started with that here at just about every grocery chain in town. Now most are 1 dollar. 25 cents didn't work so well in the winter months. Most now charge 5-10 cents a bag now too.

fishlessman

i shhop aldis sometimes, becareful with a bunch of it for solutions added. the grass fed stuff is good, the ham is great, eggs are inexpensive, ours sells cabot cheese, the mayo is helmanns under a different brand name. been noticing alot more brand names lately. i never buy enough that i need to buy a bag, my bank and packey are next door so its just convenient

Carolina Q

Yeah, eggs are 99¢ for large. Milk is $2.59 a gal. Saw the Cabot and some Kraft too. Dole broccoli and cauliflower (bought, but haven't tried yet). Didn't know about the Helman's. Wish their ham had less sodium. Wish ANYBODY'S ham had less sodium! The only way to get lo so ham is to buy fresh ham. Nobody sells that unless you buy the other end and get a butt or picnic. Still, it's not "ham".

No wine here. This is Connecticut - can't sell wine in a grocery store. Beer yes, but not wine.

gdenby

While I haven't bought much of any of their fresh meat, which until recently was of very limited quantity, my son said it was the standard at the cafe where he cooked.

Over all, Aldis stuff is pretty good. They started out here under the slogan "the stock up store." At the time, I had 4 kids in the house, and their appetite for snacks, cookies, cereal, etc was immense, so we did lots of shopping there. Often, people were buying whole cases of canned food. Because the food was almost always at the same price, once my older boy could drive, his weekly chore was going to Aldis and doing the "stocking up," and I could almost always give him just the amount of money needed.

I took my elderly father and uncle there weekly. The beer was pretty good, my uncle would always gave me some. The frozen ready made stuff was decent, and cost about 15% less that what was available elsewhere.

They started carrying more fresh produce, a line of "fitness" low fat and sugar foods, and more specialty items. Fancier frozen deserts, and hors d'oeurvres, but those change on an almost weekly basis.

Only down side is that the peanut butter they sell is sweetened with molasses. Not good, IMO.

fishlessman

Carolina Q said:

Yeah, eggs are 99¢ for large. Milk is $2.59 a gal. Saw the Cabot and some Kraft too. Dole broccoli and cauliflower (bought, but haven't tried yet). Didn't know about the Helman's. Wish their ham had less sodium. Wish ANYBODY'S ham had less sodium! The only way to get lo so ham is to buy fresh ham. Nobody sells that unless you buy the other end and get a butt or picnic. Still, it's not "ham".

No wine here. This is Connecticut - can't sell wine in a grocery store. Beer yes, but not wine.

if they have the cabots in the waxed type paper like ours do, it tastes like the old general store wheel cabots that you buy a chip off of, alot less rubbery than the vacuum packed plastic blocks. just so you know, you CAN soak a ham for 24 hours with fresh water changes before cooking, it will still have a ham taste and will be less salty. ive always found aldi ham to be mild flavored, similar to a cooks ham, just becareful to check thru the display for one without too much fat

Carolina Q

fishlessman said:

if they have the cabots in the waxed type paper like ours do, it tastes like the old general store wheel cabots that you buy a chip off of, alot less rubbery than the vacuum packed plastic blocks. just so you know, you CAN soak a ham for 24 hours with fresh water changes before cooking, it will still have a ham taste and will be less salty. ive always found aldi ham to be mild flavored, similar to a cooks ham, just becareful to check thru the display for one without too much fat

Thanks. I'll look into the ham thing. Cheese, ham... are you trying to upset my cardiologist?

fishlessman

Carolina Q said:

fishlessman said:

if they have the cabots in the waxed type paper like ours do, it tastes like the old general store wheel cabots that you buy a chip off of, alot less rubbery than the vacuum packed plastic blocks. just so you know, you CAN soak a ham for 24 hours with fresh water changes before cooking, it will still have a ham taste and will be less salty. ive always found aldi ham to be mild flavored, similar to a cooks ham, just becareful to check thru the display for one without too much fat

Thanks. I'll look into the ham thing. Cheese, ham... are you trying to upset my cardiologist?

if your going to have cheese, atleast it should be good cheese

nolaegghead

They have the best price for shopping carts around.  I don't know how they do it.

fishlessman

heres a link for removing salt
http://www.livestrong.com/article/471671-what-do-i-cook-a-ham-in-so-it-is-not-salty/
i  rinse canadian bacon slices before frying, makes a huge difference and its just a quick rinse under running water

Carolina Q

I'm seeing mixed reviews on whether or not soaking works. One piece of advice I saw is what I've been doing... And remember, the surest way to avoid salty ham is to eat chicken.

Focker

I'm not sure on a water soak, at least for a large cut like a ham.  It washes some Na from the exterior.  I doubt it would lower the actual Na content much.  After all, ham is salty.

Q, ever look into Boar's Head?
Even the AHA stands behind it.
It doesn't look the greatest though.
http://boarshead.com/products/detail/105-42-lower-sodium-branded-deluxe-ham

I think you're best bet, is to play around, curing your own.  515-BIG-PORK

Or maybe finding one close, and using it in small amounts, surrounded by salt-free items...diced in a salad for an example.

Carolina Q

Focker said:

I'm not sure on a water soak, at least for a large cut like a ham.  It washes some Na from the exterior.  I doubt it would lower the actual Na content much.  After all, ham is salty.

Q, ever look into Boar's Head?
Even the AHA stands behind it.
It doesn't look the greatest though.
http://boarshead.com/products/detail/105-42-lower-sodium-branded-deluxe-ham

I think you're best bet, is to play around, curing your own. 

Or maybe finding one close, and using it in small amounts, surrounded by salt-free items...diced in a salad for an example.

That's what I'm reading, that it reduces the salty taste, but doesn't reduce the sodium. The Boar's Head looks like a "processed meat product"... bologna!

And it still has 480 mg per 2 oz serving. TWO lousy ounces! Generally, I see 8-900 mg per 3 oz. They're playing games with the serving size. Yes, it's lower, but it's far from low. As you said... ham is salty.

If I cured my own, I would have no idea as to the sodium content. Haven't had any in 3 years now except I did buy a small ham once that had "only" 400+ mg. It sucked. I'm surviving without. Which I guess is the point

Gasman77

I being a Texan as well must agree with your Tx friends. It's not chili without beans. 

Focker

Carolina Q said:

Focker said:

I'm not sure on a water soak, at least for a large cut like a ham.  It washes some Na from the exterior.  I doubt it would lower the actual Na content much.  After all, ham is salty.

Q, ever look into Boar's Head?
Even the AHA stands behind it.
It doesn't look the greatest though.
http://boarshead.com/products/detail/105-42-lower-sodium-branded-deluxe-ham

I think you're best bet, is to play around, curing your own. 

Or maybe finding one close, and using it in small amounts, surrounded by salt-free items...diced in a salad for an example.

That's what I'm reading, that it reduces the salty taste, but doesn't reduce the sodium. The Boar's Head looks like a "processed meat product"... bologna!

And it still has 480 mg per 2 oz serving. TWO lousy ounces! Generally, I see 8-900 mg per 3 oz. They're playing games with the serving size. Yes, it's lower, but it's far from low. As you said... ham is salty.

If I cured my own, I would have no idea as to the sodium content. Haven't had any in 3 years now except I did buy a small ham once that had "only" 400+ mg. It sucked. I'm surviving without. Which I guess is the point

You could get close with a full blown project, scaling back using a salinity meter, and an equilibrium brine/cure.

1t kosher, roughly 1760mg Na
Prague powder 1 roughly 94% Sodium Chloride(40% Na), and 6% Sodium Nitrite

Have fun! hahahahahaha

Carolina Q

Sure. I'm on it.

piney

i have shopped Aldi for as long as they have been in this area (several years) I have tried almost every canned veggie, frozen shrimp, fresh veggie, fresh meat, cheese, egg, etc in the whole da#m store. I have found VERY FEW items that's not 100% as far as quality, taste, value. I buy their fresh meats very often and have always has success with the product.

Carolina Q

Thanks much! 

Toxarch

Hotch said:

Carolina Q said:

JethroVA said:

Apparently they have figured out we'll push the cart back 100 ft to get our $0.25 back. 

Remember the days when, not only would they bag your groceries, but some high school kid would push the cart to your car and put the groceries into the car? Yes, children, they really did that. And gas was 15¢ a gallon.

Michael my local Brookshire's still does it today!

Now that they sell gas outside, if you shop at Brookshires enough, you can get gas for 15 cents per gallon. I know some people who have done it. I keep telling them to let me know when they are doing that I'll pay to fill up both of our gas tanks. 

Focker

They get Australian boneless lamb leg and Maple Leaf Farms ducks too out of IN, during the holidays.  $5.49/lb for the lamb.  Not the best duck, but it'll do.  Ya gotta dig a little for the lamb.  They had rosemary/garlic, and regular plain. This 3lber will get smoked over the holidays, shaved up with some pita.  Will revisit the duck on the spit at some point.

Ima_good_egg

I just tried their new gourmet jalapeno bacon. Great flavor, we will be getting more.

Focker

Ima_good_egg said:

I just tried their new gourmet jalapeno bacon. Great flavor, we will be getting more.

I saw that not even a week ago, looked good.  They had two cases and a partial.  Someone cleaned it out....snooze, ya loose.  

Ima_good_egg

Grab some when it's back in stock!   We had some on breakfast sandwiches, it added a good punch.

Focker

Ima_good_egg said:

Grab some when it's back in stock!   We had some on breakfast sandwiches, it added a good punch.

Most def, thanks.