Food Shopping

[ivinsfan]

I went to Aldi for the first time recently. It is fairly new in my area. I bought a dozen eggs, hummus, nuts, and a Thai veggie burger product (interesting but not so good). I had intended to buy more, but don’t like pre-packaged produce and most of what they offered was. Their meats didn’t look that good either. Most of the packaged goods were brands I’ve never heard of. The store location isn’t very convenient for me either. It was an interesting experience but I will keep blowing my dough at Costco, Trader Joe’s and Vons.

If you want name brands Aldi's isn't the store for you. The few name brand items they carry are priced at full retail. Now IMO the private labels brands are good quality and you don't need to think about waiting for a "sale" price.

Most mainline stores have a lot of prepacked produce too. If you want to buy singles oranges, apples, onions in a mainline store you pay a premium.

The meats we've eaten have been good, steaks included.

They aren't perfect our store is pretty small and if their truck is delayed you might not find milk, eggs or bread in stock. I shop for two seniors and appreciate not having to drag all around a huge store, past isles of stuff I never buy to do my weekly shopping, We eat a lot of eggs, cheese and produce, so Aldi's has been a great thing for us. I can get in and out of that store in 20 minutes.....and I know exactly where everything is.

 

[davebarnes]

Even the WSJ knows about woody breasts.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/fast-g...e-new-industry-woe-spaghetti-meat-11552226401
"Chicken companies spent decades breeding birds to grow rapidly and develop large breast muscles. Now the industry is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to deal with the consequences ranging from squishy fillets known as “spaghetti meat,” because they pull apart easily, to leathery ones known as “woody breast.”

The abnormalities pose no food safety risk, researchers and industry officials say. They are suspected side effects of genetic selection that now allows meat companies to raise a 6.3-pound bird in 47 days, roughly twice as fast as 50 years ago
...
Researchers and breeders are still trying to pin down the exact cause of problems, a Tyson spokesman said. “While there are some factors linked to the occurrence—including bird weight, feed ingredients and the time of year the bird is grown—even a combination of these factors will not necessarily produce the same issues consistently,"

 

[kgtest]

Even the WSJ knows about woody breasts.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/fast-g...e-new-industry-woe-spaghetti-meat-11552226401
"Chicken companies spent decades breeding birds to grow rapidly and develop large breast muscles. Now the industry is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to deal with the consequences ranging from squishy fillets known as “spaghetti meat,” because they pull apart easily, to leathery ones known as “woody breast.”

The abnormalities pose no food safety risk, researchers and industry officials say. They are suspected side effects of genetic selection that now allows meat companies to raise a 6.3-pound bird in 47 days, roughly twice as fast as 50 years ago
...
Researchers and breeders are still trying to pin down the exact cause of problems, a Tyson spokesman said. “While there are some factors linked to the occurrence—including bird weight, feed ingredients and the time of year the bird is grown—even a combination of these factors will not necessarily produce the same issues consistently,"

I've had both in the past year. We eat a LOT of Costco chicken (3-4x a week) and every now and then we get one or the other in batches, problem is it's hard to tell until I cook them and then I need to just toss em.

 

[ivinsfan]

I've had both in the past year. We eat a LOT of Costco chicken (3-4x a week) and every now and then we get one or the other in batches, problem is it's hard to tell until I cook them and then I need to just toss em.

Do you go back to Costco and ask for a refund? This is a legit question, because if you have to throw it away that's a problem. I very seldom get clinkers at Adlis, but I will go to the checkout with a duplicate of the item and say I got a clinker last week and had to throw it away. I get it free and without even showing my receipt. This has happened maybe once a year and I shop Aldi's weekly.

 

[sgstaley]

Adapt To Change

Even the WSJ knows about woody breasts.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/fast-g...e-new-industry-woe-spaghetti-meat-11552226401
"Chicken companies spent decades breeding birds to grow rapidly and develop large breast muscles. Now the industry is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to deal with the consequences ranging from squishy fillets known as “spaghetti meat,” because they pull apart easily, to leathery ones known as “woody breast.”

The abnormalities pose no food safety risk, researchers and industry officials say. They are suspected side effects of genetic selection that now allows meat companies to raise a 6.3-pound bird in 47 days, roughly twice as fast as 50 years ago
...
Researchers and breeders are still trying to pin down the exact cause of problems, a Tyson spokesman said. “While there are some factors linked to the occurrence—including bird weight, feed ingredients and the time of year the bird is grown—even a combination of these factors will not necessarily produce the same issues consistently,"

I read a book recently called "Wheat Belly." In that book they spoke of all of the modifications we have done to our food and the human body's inability to adapt to radical changes (mutations) to the food in such a short time ("unnatural" time frame".) In that particular book they speak of the hundreds of mutated wheat varieties (GMO) and the effects on the human body.
When I read stories like this one, it makes me shudder to think of what we are REALLY putting in our mouths.

 

[Rianne]

The Chinese do not mind spending a lot of money for seafood. The linked article above led me to search Youtube, and in the following video they show live king crab in a tank in Guanzhou, China at 2:30.

I was wrong about live king crab not being available away from fishing operation in Alaska. You just have to be living among those who do not mind paying $1000 or more for a meal.

If you like Jim Gaffigan, his take on shellfish LOL. Sorry about the 30 second commercial, the bit is worth it (if you like his humor).
Jim Gaffigan - Seafood Is Disgusting - Jim Gaffigan: Obsessed (Video Clip) | Comedy Central

 

[Montecfo]

For those who mentioned Trader Joe, here's an interesting article that does a price comparison.

https://clark.com/deals-money-saving-advice/aldi-vs-trader-joes-price-comparison/

Aldi now has an ever growing selection of organic foods. Many if not most stores have been upgraded, enlarged or moved, and SKU's have increased by about 30% I think.

Some recent low prices here in our town.... chicken breasts $.69/lb, dozen eggs $.64, all 1 gallon milk 1%,2% etc. $1.29, 12 .oz Strawberries..$1.29, organic chiquita bananas $.32/lb, Rye bread, $.79, whole sliced ham, $.95/lb, green grapes $.99/lb, whole pineapple $1.29, and my favorite, sunflower seeds... (everywhere else in town $2.89) ours $1.49.

BTW... fresh fruits and vegetables are almost always fresh... more so than at Walmart.

Love Aldi, prices much higher than that in this area, but lowest of all the stores.

Freshness can be a mixed bag. Freshest here seems to be Walmart (where we shop most) or Costco.

I do most of the shopping and since there are so many convenient stores, I shop them all (opportunistically):

Walmart
CostCo
Giant
Harris Teeter
Food Lion
Safeway
Lidl
Aldi

 

[DonM17]

Aldi sells Honeynut Cheerios along with their own version. I haven't tried any of them but I'm pretty sure the genuine Cheerios brand at Aldi is no different than Cheerios at other stores.

A lot of people seem to like Cheeros.....have you ever read the list of ingredients for this product? This cereal contains TSP (trisodium phosphate)....you can also purchase TSP at most hardware stores...it is a heavy duty cleaning agent that is clearly marked "Poison"...needless to say I do not buy any cereals made by General Mills anymore because most of their line of cereals contains TSP.

 

[MichaelB]

A lot of people seem to like Cheeros.....have you ever read the list of ingredients for this product? This cereal contains TSP (trisodium phosphate)....you can also purchase TSP at most hardware stores...it is a heavy duty cleaning agent that is clearly marked "Poison"...needless to say I do not buy any cereals made by General Mills anymore because most of their line of cereals contains TSP.

A belated welcome to the forum, DonM17. If you have a moment, perhaps you can tell us a little about yourself here Hi, I am... - Early Retirement & Financial Independence Community

 

[samclem]

A lot of people seem to like Cheeros.....have you ever read the list of ingredients for this product? This cereal contains TSP (trisodium phosphate)....you can also purchase TSP at most hardware stores...it is a heavy duty cleaning agent that is clearly marked "Poison"...needless to say I do not buy any cereals made by General Mills anymore because most of their line of cereals contains TSP.

Nope. I'm looking at a box of Cheerios right now. It contains no TSP. It does list tripotassium phosphate as an ingredient, which is not the same thing.
It is used in tiny amounts to adjust the pH of the cereal...no problem. As the folks at McGill University wrote: Just because water is found in tumors and is used to lean the garage floor doesn't mean we can't drink it.

 

[DonM17]

Nope. I'm looking at a box of Cheerios right now. It contains no TSP. It does list tripotassium phosphate as an ingredient, which is not the same thing.
It is used in tiny amounts to adjust the pH of the cereal...no problem. As the folks at McGill University wrote: Just because water is found in tumors and is ised to lean the garage floor doesn't mean we can't drink it.

It has been a couple of years sine I even looked at any General Mills cereal...it was definitely in Cheerios the last time that I looked...I guess that they finally removed if because of public pressure...just google cheerios and TSP...you will find mentions of it like this one

https://tnvalleytalks.hoop.la/topic/cheerios-the-awful-truth-about-america-s-favorite-cereal

 

[ivinsfan]

It has been a couple of years sine I even looked at any General Mills cereal...it was definitely in Cheerios the last time that I looked...I guess that they finally removed if because of public pressure...just google cheerios and TSP...you will find mentions of it like this one

https://tnvalleytalks.hoop.la/topic/cheerios-the-awful-truth-about-america-s-favorite-cereal

Why would we google it, we can't uneat the Cheerios from several ago.

 

[samclem]

. . .it was definitely in Cheerios the last time that I looked.

Thanks.

I'm more concerned about other stuff on the Cheerios ingredient label. "Tripotasium phosphate" is no concern to me and, importantly, it is well described on the label. Likewise with the vitamins and minerals that fortify the cereal--all are listed and and described accurately by their chemical names, so we know exactly what they are, and they are well down the list of contents.
But look at the first two things in the box, the main ingredients:

"Whole grain oats"
"Corn starch"
Hah! Just what is General Mills trying to hide? Let's see the full chemical constituents of these ingredients! This big agrobusiness is surely afraid they'd scare away consumers if we knew what was in these mystery substances, but I have it on good authority that each of these main ingredients is composed of hundreds of very complex chemicals. Let's see the truth!

And don't get me started on dihydrogen oxide, it's in nearly everything.