Anyone watching the Aldi Dispatches Programme?

[Nicknamegrief]

Just that really ..... probably going to put me off, just in time for one to open 10mins drive away!

Kem99 : My old mum Bought "Scottish" venison in Aldi once and invited me round for dinner. I didnt want to upset my old mum but It didnt taste like any venison I'd tasted before (and having lived in the Highlands of Scotland for years I know exactly what it should taste like) Anyway we both thought it tasted a bit dodgy so I got the box out the bin to check the use by date. The date was ok but in tiny writing on the back of the box it turned out that this "Scottish" venison was in fact a produce of Australia ... I rest my case

Well of course I think Aldi's milk chocolate is divine but really I am just saying it out of embarrassment! Steve you can only speak for yourself.

I would shop at Aldi a lot more if I could
It is a bit too far to get to our nearest branch.

Steve - I'm on a strict budget, I'm not embarrassed about that.

I like Aldi. I'm not embarrassed about that either.

I'm not on a hugely strict budget (no mortgage, live with parents) but i have shopped in aldi since before we had our dc's it is probably 10 years.
The produce is excellent, i love everything we get. I go to Booths for a few treats we can't get in aldi but shopping there is 100% choice, not necessity for me.

The programme was bollocks, i was in aldi 30 mins after watching it!

Steve, I'm an M&S stalwart (no local Waitrose, so not a regular there) and see nothing embarrassing about shopping in Aldi or Lidl - both DH and I pop in there, if we're passing.

Similarly, there's a few branded items I usually buy from Poundland, home bargains, or similar. I'll only pay more if I'm picking them up in the village. Again, not embarrassing and I can't say I've ever come across someone in any of those shops who looks embarrassed to be seen in there.

And DH prefers the Aldi and Lidl cereals to supermarket own ones.

I personally prefer Lidl but my parents are pretty wealthy & my mum loves Aldi. She says the quality is really good & she won't get her meat from anywhere else.

Gosh. I love the food at Aldi and Lidll. I'm. It embarrassed by shopping there at all. Neither are the friends I have who shop there too. They're delighted by the savings. And the wine and the cheese.

I am however, very embarrassed by how much I used to spend at Waitrose.

I'm not embarrassed I meant to type.

I thought the program was unfair on Aldi, without comparison to other supermarkets. But now I know why Aldi fruit and veg doesn't last as long.

I watched the show and thought it was a hatchet job. So they throw bread. Meh. So packs of meat get split open. Seen this at other supermarkets. No use by dates on veg? Big fucking deal. AFAIR they didn't mention that Aldi pay well above the living wage (in the regions at least, don't know about London), their apprentice pay for 18-24 yr olds is above NMW etc.

I don't really like their fruit and veg (strawberries, cherries, grapes I find never to have much flavour). I am also careful about their meat but, like others, I prefer to get that at a butcher. However, for all dried goods, wine, juice, cheese etc I think they are excellent. I have always said that if you're a good cook then Aldi is perfect as you can get the stuff so cheaply. I wouldn't want to eat their ready meals (tho I don't buy those from anywhere else much either). I tried the frozen lamb shanks which people rave about on here and I thought they were awful. My mum buys the meat and I can definitely tell the difference. But good on them for challenging the big supermarkets and giving consumers on a tight budget an affordable alternative. It's been a godsend for so many who wouldn't be able to get five a day or fresh meat anywhere else.
Their luxury fake baileys is fantastic by the way!

I'm imagining the Dispatches production meeting where they looked at the footage they'd got and thought "shit, is that all we've got?"

That's the problem with investigative TV programmes - you put all the effort in and sometimes you don't get the goods.

I shop in Aldi for everything except meat and a few bits that you can't get in there. We started because do got made redundant. He's back to work and I won't be changing where we shop. I actually find their veg lasts longer than most supermarkets, much longer than bloody Tesco!

The carrot thing was a nonsense. Hasn,t he got eyes? They were perfectly ok regardless of some arbitrary best before date. And a bit crazy when HFW is on BBC the same night urging people to use their common sense about best before dates and serving a whole buffet made of skip-dived food. I know who I,d rather listen to.

The only good thing about that programme was the cute guinea pig!

I didn't watch it but I find Aldi a false economy, I have tried a few times, each time the fruit and veg has gone off, the bread tastes like foam and I can't get a good handful of the things I want and end up in Tesco anyway.

AimlesslyPurposeful at the "my friends sister's brother's friends son said....."

The other supermarkets have a set size and cosmetic standard, which is sorted in the packhouse. What goes to the big supermarkets is a regimented standard.

Stuff picked and packed on the same day but didn't meet the 1st class supermarket standard. Gets packed and sold to markets and other supermarkets like aldi or for some supplier gets dumped.

Also you should watch that HFW program that was on last night, to see the perfectly good fruit and veg that is being waste because of the big super market strick guide lines on the 'look of produce'

I've worked in the industry, and am glad HFW is making a song and dance about it.

Twat - There is no chain of people involved here. The person that told me this works in cold stores.

The big supermarkets may well want fresh produce to be a certain shape or weight but they also want it to have a long shelf life. The stock they don't buy, for whatever reason, is then sold on to Aldi et al.

That's not to say that you won't find a rotten strawberry in a punnet on the shelf at Tesco but the fruit and veg bought in the bigger stores should, in theory, last longer once you get it home than that from Aldi. Not that it bothers me one jot as a bunch of bananas or a punnet of raspberries is normally gone within 24hrs of entering our front door.

I didn't see the HFW programme that was on last night but am aware that the supermarkets like their fruit and veg stock to be aesthetically pleasing. I'm all for funny shaped fruit and veg as a turnip that looks like it has arms or a tomato with a willy always raises a smile.

cornflakes taste like the box however much you pay for them.

I like a lot of the Aldi stuff, it is BETTER than the equivalent from Tesco or Sainsbury as well as cheaper. I don't grade myself by where I go shopping, how ridiculous is that?

if you buy strawberries in October (unless frozen) you get what you deserve. And fruit/veg is not supposed to last for ages. Buy what you need/can use, freeze or make soup with anything that won't get used in time.

That programme was something about nothing wasn't it?

I used to work in a bakery that closed at five. But we werent allowed to leave at five because we had to have stock available until closing, then clean up and cash up. But we also weren't allowed to write anything after 5pm on our time sheets

I've also had managers breathing down my neck for writing longer hours down when I've been short staffed and had to stay longer after closing to clean/tidy up properly in cafes I've worked in.

It's how the economy works these days. IME at least.

Anyways, I'm a lidl fan

I'll admit Dispatches did make me think about Aldi's general ethos, and its attitude to staff and customers. It's not nice to think they're flogging their staff just to get me in and out as quickly as possible.

Having to perform a 15 minute check of the shop floor and till before you clock on is nothing but unfair. Forcing staff to work so quickly they're encouraged to risk their safety is shameful (managers climbing up shelving and on fridges to save a few seconds to get a ladder).

It has made me feel I shouldn't encourage those practices by shopping there.

Nothing surprised me. I'll buy Aldi fruit and veg if I plan to use it in the next few days, otherwise find that stuff from the market or red labelled Waitrose stuff lasts longer. I don't really go by dates, just have a careful look at it! I buy the bulk of my shopping at Aldi though - can be in and out within 20 minutes- and then onwards to Waitrose for a coffee and the bits I couldn't find in Aldi.
I briefly worked on stock control in a major supermarket and the state of their back rooms was far worse to be honest.

I'm sure all supermarket workers diss customers and work their way round rules.
Bit of a non story.

Shatners - I agree re working practices but I think there needs to be a comparison with the other large retailers - maybe they're all doing this? The programme really fell down on this point.

I assume that Lidl and Aldi are cheaper because they have far fewer products (2 types of yogurt instead of 15), and because it's not a lovely, user-centred environment - you need to get things off pallets etc, stores are not kept gleaming. I can live with that for the £1600 a year it saves me over Waitrose.