Couple outraged they are paying more in Waitrose than Aldi

[Spitsandspots]

Couple are either outraged, upset or disappointed -depending on which link you read -but do people generally not know that food suppliers/processors/factories make the same food for different supermarkets?

www.independent.co.uk/life-style/christmas/food-drink/aldi-waitrose-label-same-ocado-vegetables-a9208836.html

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7694571/Outraged-couple-Aldi-stickers-covering-Waitrose-Mediterranean-roast-vegetables.html

YABU-I did not know this
YANBU-I already knew this

A few yrs back scanning barcodes (for calorie count/nutrition ) very often products wouldn't be what the label described - DP was chuffed when a supermarket rum came up as a premium Navy rum - twice the price for the named product.

I always assumed that dips such as hummus were all the same, no matter where you bought them from, but just with a different cardboard sleeve. Not least because the different flavours (caremalised onion, red papper, etc.) also tend to be the same across supermarkets.

I used to work for a leading food catering company. Although many big name manufacturers made products for other companies e.g ketchup, biscuits etc the product specs/ingredients were often different to their own household name brands. So some products might be like-for-like but certainly not all.

I audited a coleslaw factory. They made products for all the major retailers but the specifications were different for each brand eg thickness of cut of cabbage, mix of dressing etc. So the products are not the same, even if they are made to the same quality of production.

The exact same chicken that is going into M&S chicken products is going to LIDL/ALDI/Tesco/Sainsburys/SuperValue/Spar/Vivo. THE EXACT SAME.

The same one?

That's not just a chicken, that's a Mumsnet Chicken.

I worked in a factory producing for different supermarkets - the quality of ingredients did differ and the quality control was more involved on the ‘premium’ labels so for some there is a big difference even when made in the same factory.

Why do people think there was no hummus not so long ago

A friend worked at a factory packaging salads for the various supermarkets. She said the only difference was that M&S would send inspectors a lot more regularly than the other supermarkets.

I suppose that you'd hope it wasn't the exact same product, even if made at the same place!

Off topic, but had anyone else had the Aldi fancy macaroni cheese with pancetta? Its bloody amazing!!!

The Aldi I've tasted is fine. There just isn't the range of stuff that you get at Waitrose and as I meal plan, I find it annoying and time-consuming to have to go to 2 places.
I also dislike the way things are laid out.

I'd much rather pay a bit extra to go to Waitrose.

Just because things are made in the same place doesn't mean they are the same product

Different brands will use different ingredients, different recipes etc.

It's like brewerys have one brewery and make different beer in it, on the same production line but rotate production.

Anyone who thinks M&S meat is better, look up 2sisters food group, particularly the stories of chicken scraps being picked off the floor to achieve targets

I still recon, after watching Greg Wallace in his 'Inside the factory' programme, that there is a difference in some things.

Yes Aldi v Waitrose chicken or steak may be coming from the same supplier.

But re a coleslaw or a produced item that uses eggs, cream, different cuts of cabbage to make a coleslaw for example, then some eggs, cheese, cream is of a totally higher quality, so makes the end product much more creamy and luxurious than other brands.

At Waitrose and m&s you pay to have someone different punch a different pattern on the top and for idiots like me to turn them all the same way in their packets...

The alignment is tres importante Toffee.

Surely everyone, even if they didn't know before, learnt that fact after the hummus saga recently - even Nando's had it recalled!
I shop in Aldi, Lidl and Waitrose - but don't buy from Waitrose what i can get in Aldo for half the price - but their fresh produce is far superior...

When M and S shirts were made in the UK, I really am that old!, a firend who worked there said they dreaded the M and S quality control inspecter coming round. Their specifications were very proscribed, stitch tension even

I can confirm that this is true - a friend of mine worked for an M&S supplier - if the spec was 8 stitches to an inch, and the randomly selected item had 8 and 1/2 - the entire batch was rejected. That is how M&S used to have a reputation for quality, and how you could rely on the sizes.

Anything seems to go now. I bout a pair of linen trousers in the summer - they were lovely and a perfect fit, so I went back and got another pair. These didn't fit properly. When I checked them there was over two inches difference in the waist sizes.

I don't know about different supermarket, but the Tesco Finest chicken certainly tastes differently to the standard one, so if this is the same chicken as the standard Waitrose one, then there is a difference comparing likes for likes.

@PerkingFaintly

A few yrs back scanning barcodes (for calorie count/nutrition ) very often products wouldn't be what the label described - DP was chuffed when a supermarket rum came up as a premium Navy rum - twice the price for the named product.

I did that once with a bottle of M&S Bucks Fizz. It came up with Sainburys' strawberries

As this thread mentions Aldi, I thought I should add the obligatory “all the fruit and meat is literally rotting” comment.

(It’s not what I think at all, btw, but it makes me laugh when I see it on MN).

They may produce for different supermarkets , however this of course doesnt mean they make identical products for each supermarket..I suspect a lot of people dont know that
Even when it is an identical product as far as recipes go ....the pack size , weight of individual items ( eg multi packs of mars bars) can be different , hence the lower price in Aldi .Its not always what it first appears to be

@TheLovleyChebbyMcGee - they don't stock it in our local Aldi anymore but I think it is a Charlie Binghams as both are almost identical.

My sister used to work in a business that made quilted jackets for M&S.

After all the posts about food, for a moment I thought this was a quilted jacket potato! "This is not just a jacket potato. This is a Marks and Spencer quilted jacket potato"

@PerkingFaintly
That's not just a chicken, that's a Mumsnet Chicken
Best comment I’ve seen

Surely people shop in Waitrose as it is a better shopping experience and its cleaner.

Also I used to work in QC for a food manufacturer and M&S ingredients definitely came from a different supplier and were kept separate from other shops stuff.