To expect fruit to last longer than two days?

[BooseysMom]

I recently bought a pack of Oaklands easy peelers from a popular German supermarket and every day since one has gone mouldy. We ended up with 4 mouldy, 2 ok. So i'm asking how can it be cheaper shopping at these places?! It's a false economy. You pay more at other supermarkets but at least stuff lasts longer than a couple of days. Found reviews online saying exactly the same about these "amazing" low-cost supermarkets. I can't stand the places!

I always buy bananas that are still green.

I use Lidl and am very impressed with their fruit and veg.
Could it be that particular stores buy from different suppliers?

I have a local fruit and veg shop that everyone I know swears by. Every time I have bought anything in there it hasn’t lasted 24 hours.

I think it depends on the area. Ie I found when I lived in Norwich ALDI where better for fruit and now I live in Fareham Lidl are better.

I've found oranges and satsumas are terrible in most shops though so I don't buy them much anymore.

I cook from scratch and find Lidl pretty good. Chicken and other meat lasts a week. If it needs to last longer I freeze it.

I buy bananas from Tesco and they always last 7-10 days.

It's happened to me with fruit, veg and ham from Aldi. I do wonder at their storage. My mum's local Aldi produce seems better.

Recently though I picked up some lemons on offer and they lasted well. I still don't plan to make a habit of it though.

This is why I never buy fruit or veg from Lidl or Aldi.

Never expected to read such sense on here, Aldi and Lidl both have poor quality 'fresh' stuff and I've been using Aldi for odd stuff for over 40 years.

Much of their stuff is poor but they seem to have done an Emperor's New Clothes stunt, lots find them wonderful. They have stuff looking very similar to regular brands but they're often slightly smaller sizes or much much sweeter.

We have also stopped buying most fresh stuff from Aldi because it doesn’t last. I love Aldi and save a fortune shopping there but their fruit and veg isn’t great.

I used to shop in Aldi but have stopped mainly because of this but also because I find it no cheaper than Tesco and there are things I can't get there so end up having to go elsewhere too, they have a very limited range of spices and only very basic things eg no risotto rice only long grain or microwave pouches, no organic or higher welfare options, no sesame oil, wine vinegars etc and I always cook from scratch. Their cheese is good and cheap though.

I wonder how come there's such big differences between stores, the only time we had an issue with Aldi meat was when they were using the dodgy Two Sisters factory.

The fresh meat at Iceland does go off very very quickly IME.

Thanks for your responses everyone. Very interesting. Quality def seems to depend on where you are located. We haven't got an Aldi near us so we go to Lidl or Morissons and it's Lidl I'm angry with. They always refund the price but it happens too often.

@Bringbackthestripes.. That's shocking that Tescos put stuff on the shelves already past the use by date. I think they all try it on. Even Waitrose..I bought some veg in a pack from there once and it went off in just a couple of days. I hadn't checked the date as i thought it's Waitrose, it'll be fine .
Another thing to watch out for is holes in bread bags. This has happened a couple of times with Waitrose bread and I'm going to complain. Who knows what could have got in there!

I never buy anything that is perishable there. The same has happened to me every time.

They're ok for things like frozen corn or ice cream or dry pasta and great for wine. But the bulk of our shop is fresh food so we go to Morrison's because it lasts as long as it should.

I only buy fruit and veg from Asda or morrisons, they last. If I get from fruit shows, markets or Aldi they go bad tne next day ( or tne same day which was tne case of tne stawberrys I got from tne market. For someone who does 1-2 shops a week it's not good enough.

I think it is more of a gamble to get fruit and veg from Lidl. I buy the majority of mine from there but check it carefully. I cook from scratch all the time.

Waitrose seem to have crazy short best before/expiry dates on their stuff out on the shelves.

I've noticed that about Waitrose stuff too.. I always dig around right at the back to get the stuff with the longest dates. But with fruit and veg there's little choice and you only have about 2 or 3 days to use it.. but saying that stuff does last longer generally

I just knew this would be aldi/Lidl

Their fruit and veg is appalling.

Yeah it's terrible. I just go elsewhere for perishables. (Normally Waitrose or local greengrocer).
I did buy some carrots from Lidl a couple of weeks ago and within a day I put my hand in to grab one and my fingers went through it. The whole lot were mush.

A couple of years ago I bought sprouts on the 23rd Dec from Aldi, I think. All rotten by Xmas day. :(

I have the same problem with easy peelers from Asda, don't think it's confined to Aldi and Lidl.

I posted earlier that Waitrose have short use by dates on their fruit and veg. Well there's no way something from Aldi or Lidl would last as long as this fennel I got from Waitrose..the best before date was 8th March. We kept it in the fridge and ate it stir fried tonight and it was delicious!

Whoops, not March, meant April! That's still nearly a month it's lasted.

I must say, in all fairness, I bought a massive bunch of British asparagus from Lidl last week coz it was really cheap and it was incredibly tender and has lasted well. Exception to the rule I'm sure but worth a try for £1.79 for a massive bunch.

Yes! Recently bought fruit and veg from Aldi and it was inedible within three days. Now, this may mean that they don't use the same methods to keep stuff fresh of course, but I haven't got time to shop for fresh food every day.

I find the fruit and veg in Lidl to be pretty good on the whole but Aldi fruit and veg is terrible.

It may well depend on area but I have tried at least 5 different Aldi in different parts of the country (Essex, Notts and Kent) and all have had awful fruit and veg. Most of the time it looks awful in the store (mushrooms in particular usually look terrible) but even the things that look ok don't last 5 minutes

Personally I’ve been quite impressed by the fruit at Aldi.
I’ve found Asda the worst for fruit and veg!

Never had a problem with Aldi food. Better imo than Tesco and Asda. Only time it's gone off is when I've stored the veg wrong due to lack of fridge space.