Is shopping at Aldi worth it?

Not everyone is a connoisseur of fine wines.

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Weā€™re getting an Aldi in my state. Pretty excited to check it out. Not super close to me but will probably check it out.

P.S. @TravelerMSY may be interested too.

They may be made by General Mills, but theyā€™re definitely a different recipe. The Aldi version has wheat, while real Cheerios are only oats.

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I sometimes wonder if the actual brand name product is exactly the same between distribution channels. IIRC, SC Johnson has devoted one Ziploc plant to manufacture only for Walmart. Since Walmart is famously known for hammering suppliers, I can see where one would be tempted to trim costs for a company like Walmart.

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Ah, now I remember. The TJs that we frequented (weā€™ve since moved and no longer have a local TJs), did not have that wine. They only had beer. I remember being very disappointed after hearing about Two Buck Chuck and discovering it wasnā€™t carried at my local TJs.

And I just said I preferred TJs over Aldi, not that I was a regular shopper. Honestly, I was never overly impressed with much of their stuff, especially the lack of selection, but what we did go there for was excellent. The Nan, the frozen mac and cheese (and I am not a huge frozen food person), their ice cream, and the cookie butter were all notable items weā€™d pickup on every trip. The produce always seemed lacking to me, though.

Aldi aficionados please be on notice:

Their flour could put your health in jeopardy. Here are the details:

Caution: Aldi flour could make you sick

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OFF TOPIC POST

This is not on topic but is pursuant to my earlier post just above. Am posting this because many of us buy off brand flour, whether at Aldi or elsewhere. In this instance it is off brand flour sold at both Target and WalMart. Here is the FDA announcement:

FDA recall notice for flour

I have bought off-brand flour in the past at Aldi in order to save money. In future Iā€™m sticking with the more expensive brand name flour. Itā€™s not worth risking illness to save a few cents, and we now have two examples of off-brand flour that is not wholesome.

You are erroneously drawing a causal relationship between whether the flour was name brand and its propensity to risk illness. Thereā€™s no evidence to support that. In fact, if you back up a level on that link, youā€™ll see that Pillsbury flour has the same recall.

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King Arthur Flour is not an off-brand. It has been around for 230 years, longer than General Mills and Pillsbury. It is healthier and higher quality and usually sells at a 25% premium over Gold Medal.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/christiankreznar/2019/06/10/king-arthur-flour-ceo/#72c13d6b5744

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Arthur_Flour

General Mills had a flour recall earlier this year for potential salmonella.

Pillsbury had a flour recall for potential salmonella earlier this year and now a second one one due to possible e. coli.

Gold Medal recalled 250 tons of flour last January due to potential salmonella. Gold Medal also recalled 5000 tons in 2016.

Most of the medical problems seem to stem from people consuming raw dough. Cooking at adequate temperatures kills e. coli and salmonella.

FWIW, King Arthur obtained their wheat from Archer Daniels Midland, which informed King Arthur the wheat they supplied was linked to e. coli outbreaks. Queen Guinevere was most displeased.

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I went to Aldi yesterday for the first time. I wasnā€™t impressed. I knew about the carts. I picked up a flyer at the front of the store but it turned out not to be their weekly ad. I saw their ad on my way out lol.
They are also 30 minutes away from my house. Iā€™d rather shop at Walmart and I hate going to Walmart.

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Thatā€™s fine if you donā€™t mind paying more money for the same stuff at WM. There is a tradeoff with Aldi, for sure.

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Well you guys are right and my thinking was WAY off base. I appreciate the dope slap. I had no clue how far things had descended quality wise with the (supposedly) better brands of flour. Or at least what once were reliable brands . . . so I thought.

I am unable to recall from years ago a time when you could not rely on the wholesomeness of something as rudimentary as flour. Maybe these same sorts of problems existed back then and I was just unaware. When I was growing up my mom used flour on a very nearly daily basis. There was never an issue, year after year after year. I guess that was then and this is now. Welcome to 2019, Shin.

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Testing is much better today, and often there are recalls out of an abundance of caution even when no one is known to have become ill. For instance, King Arthur says there have been no illnesses reported in connection with their flour but, because ADM informed King Arthur that the wheat may be linked to an e. coli outbreak elsewhere, King Arthur voluntarily recalled the flour.

Testing is also done more often than the good old days.

As previously mentioned, normal baking temperatures kill salmonella and e.coli so itā€™s likely these have often been present in flour.

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That is good to know, Argyll. I was thinking maybe I needed a radiation source to eradicate all those little buggers. Actually, as a lens fanatic, I already have a source of gamma rays in my living room, from a large thorium lens there.

Maybe if I sit each new bag of flour on that lens for a while all troubles will evaporate!:rofl:

You devil! :grinning:

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Back then, the wholesomeness occasionally included weevils. :slight_smile:

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3 Examples of items I do not buy at Aldis:

Chewy granola bars: Aldiā€™s brand are $1.49 everyday. Quaker brand Go on sale for $1 a box when you buy 5 at most supermarkets from time to time.

Goldfish. Aldiā€™s brand are $1.39, real Goldfish (one of the few non-Aldi items) are $1.89. These also go on sale for $1 when you buy 5. That sale happens once a month or so at most major stores.

At least here in CA meat is cheaper and easier to buy at stores with full service meat counters. I Donā€™t like prepackaged meat that is more than I need for a meal. I can beat Aldiā€™s prices with sales at Sprouts, Safeway and Kroger (all have full counters and will give me exactly what I need).

ETA: My point is that while the store has some really great priced items (Milk, Dairy, Dry goods, etc) not everything is a good deal.

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Thatā€™s true. Aldiā€™s regular prices cannot compete with loss leaders at other stores but if you look at your entire basket, they are cheaper over the long run if you donā€™t want to shop sales at multiple stores to get your groceries done.

For us, itā€™s only a matter of deciding if the little hassles (carts, bags, etc) and lack of selection is worth the savings.

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Yeah I said that upthread, BOGOs and sales on name brand stuff are often better deals at mainline grocers, but where you save is on almost everything else that Aldi and Lidl carry.

I am fortunate to have a Kroger, Publix, Aldi and Lidl all together in one place so itā€™s easy for us to cherry-pick deals then use Aldi/Lidl for other stuff.

Sounds similar to out here. Thereā€™s always enough on deep sale that makes it worth hitting the bigger chains, and then filling in at Aldi.