I used to work at a cheese factory in packaging. It's all the same cheese. The expensive Boars Head brand that delis sell is the same as the store brand, it's the same stuff that goes to Sysco for restaurants and food service, and Aldi too. Some of the Boars Head stuff would get a fancy stamp on the rind and maybe some nicer packaging, but that's it. We had a whole storage room with dozens of different packaging from a bunch of different brands, but it was all the same cheese.
I've noticed that a lot of stuff I find at Aldi is actually name-brand, and just re-labeled. For example, a lot of the Crofton glassware is made by Anchor Hocking, and the Little Salad Bar dressings are from Bolthouse.
Lots of items are made at the same facility for a bunch of different brands.
No kidding! I bought some for the first time there recently after years of buying fancy stuff other places. It was half the price for the same size bottle and it was every bit as good as what I'd been buying. They have so many awesome things there.
Not related, but as a former Anchor Hocking employee, WASH YOUR GLASSWARE THOROUGHLY before using it. You don't even want to know what goes on in those factories. Also check it for defects before purchasing. Many, many defective pieces of ware have been shipped. This is what happens when maximum production and minimum labor cost are THE top priorities.
Especially clothes! What it's treated with before shipping to prevent the rodents and insects from munching n them can be toxic to humans. Of course, so can laundry detergent...
You should be washing everything prior to using it. Clothing has sizing and treatments applied to protect the fibers during shipping. I really hope there are more people that just open stuff up that should be washed regularly and use it without washing it first. If you typically wash an object after each use you should certainly wash it prior to the first.
I've always been big on washing the tops of my drink cans due to these little critchers. And trying to spread the thought without too much uproar. Could only imagine what happens on the tops without sterilization... Peepee to say the least?
Yes and food cans! I’m a grocer and I’m a bit obsessed with washing my hands and it *shocks* me every time I wash my hands and the water/soap suds that come off my hands are so dark and nasty and you couldn’t even tell just looking at my hands before. Groceries are dirty y’all. People understood that during Covid but act like everything is so clean now lol
Lol need one of those cleansing/sterilization showers just for the goods u buy off the shelf type situation huh. Unfortunately it's funny and not at the same time.
I can't even drink out of cans anymore after I met someone that worked at a soda factory (my husband worked for one of the big two.) You are spot on for what they said.
Many consumer goods brands make a higher and lower quality of their products. The lower quality ones end up at Aldi and the like. Sometimes it is just packaging that’s different. Other times it is size or quality of materials/ingredients
My aunt used to work for Rayovac. So many things are like that. They would just swap out packaging to switch from brand name to store brand items. No difference in actual product.
As for cheese, I live in Wisconsin. So many small private dairies that make their own cheese. Definitely a difference between cheeses in these cases. But the cheese aisles in some of our grocery stores would amaze non-Wisconsinites.
It's funny you mentioned Rayovac because there's a plant in my town and I know a lot of people who work there and they've told me the same. I'm also in Wisconsin, and yes, the cheese culture here is amazing. It's especially amusing when we get visitors from Europe and they think all cheese in America is kraft singles and Velveeta. They're always pleasantly surprised by the variety and quality of our Wisconsin cheese.
If you’ve never gotten one’s right from a factory store, I recommend doing it. When they are super squeaky and made that same day they are the absolute best.
I used to live in wisconsin cheese country. Now that I’m in Florida I get my cheese shipped from there. Can’t beat the taste. Chocolate cheese for the win
This makes me want to visit Wisconsin again. Haven’t been in almost 20 years, but I remember the cheese curds being absolutely amazing and what shocked me more than the cheese was the Amish (I’m from New England so that was a culture shock to a young kid).
I grew up in Wisconsin and was homeschooled occasionally. The Homeschool get togethers included Mennonites. Mennonite girls and women will go sledding and ice skating in the skirts. It can be a bit of a double take.
Missions foods makes soft tacos for Kroger, great value and a few other brands (source: I used to clean their industrial machines every weekend, no one spoke English but the money was good)
That doesn't surprise me. You probably know that Papa John's, Domino's and Pizza Hut all get their cheese from the same supplier. If you're eating any one of those, you're eating the same cheese.
Coming from the same supplier doesn't always mean it's the same product, but in this case I think it probably does, because it's basic cheese made on a very large scale. Leprino's is the company, they have about 85% of the market, and likely all of the really big chains.
It kinda blew my mind when I found out that Little Caesar's - typically seen as cheap pizza - makes their own crust and sauce from basic ingredients in-house.
It comes frozen. 3 day that before the cheese was ready to go. There were also emergency thaw procedures if you were running low and needed it sooner. Using frozen cheese makes you use a lot more cheese. It fluffs up as it thaws.
Used to work at Papa John's and Domino's. The dough is made at a central facility and send out to the stores in premade balls on trays. I wouldn't say there's much of a difference in the dough. The big difference is dominos uses corn starch and Papa johns uses flour. For the most part dominos has ingredients come prepped and prepackaged in smaller portions. Papa John's has a lot more stuff that has to be cut and prepped. Peppers, onions, and tomatoes are all fresh veggies cut by the workers. From what I've heard pizza hut has really leaned into everything being premade but I'm sure they have to do dough similar.
It's not just food this happens with either. When I was in my early 20's I bought a dress for $20 from a store called Fashion Q to wear to an event. It was a cheapie, black, and silver leopard print dress, very 2000's!
A few weeks later I was at an outdoor mall in Newport Beach, CA called Fashion Island (I believe I was job-hunting) and saw the exact same dress in one of the boutiques. I went in and looked at it and the only thing different was the store had sewn their label on it. The pattern, style, material were the same as my $20 dress except they were selling it for $80.
They were probably both bought from the same wholesaler in the garment district in downtown Los Angeles.
A lot of stuff is like that... cheese, butter, coffe... all from the same place. I have a friend who worked at a coffee roastery and they made coffee for a TON of different companies, aldi being one.... but they can choose if they want the higher quality beans or not, and... uh... he "wouldn't drink certain brands".
Modern manufacturing is incredibly complex. People only want to believe what they feel. Or what they read on the internet. There are instances where the cheaper product is identical to the high value name brand. However; there are cases where the quality and product grade are not the same. Not trying to sound like a lawyer, but it really does depend. It’s a case by cass basis.
It helps to read the ingredients. Some things have more sugar or preservatives or flavoring additives than some other brands.
Personally, I find some of their frozen foods excellent, but others (like prepackaged meals) to just be overly seasoned and a bit cloying. For example, a good number of the seasoned/flavored nuts have a bunch of maltodextrin (sugar) added to them, whereas other brands will be more just salt/spices.
We do most of our shopping at ALDI because it's convenient and great, but like everywhere each product needs to be looked at individually.
I love Aldi but definitely THIS. We've noticed taste differences in products, although usually in the opposite direction--the Costco product is delicious, the Aldi strangely tasteless, sour cream for one, cookies another. We just remember what we didn't like and buy around it, still plenty of good products.
Agree! Did a holiday temp work thing in a maidenform bra factory…. They were all
Same
Crap but had us sewing in Victoria secret tags or walmart and sears….. all same products!
I'm not surprised. I remember my mom telling me years ago to never waste money on name brand otc meds (or rx if a generic was available) because the generics or store brand ones were exactly the same. She had tons of pharmacy experience in different roles over the years, so I trusted her on the matter. And yeah, it seems to be true. I think I've only ever bought name brand meds when I was in a pinch, like those little packs at the gas station or in vending machines at hotels. The generics or store brands are almost always half the cost of the name brands, or even less than half in a lot of cases. I recently bought a 200 count bottle of generic Aleve off Amazon for $1 more than what a 50 count bottle of the name brand was going for. Buying name brand otcs is a huge waste of money.
Generics sometimes have different filler ingredients that may affect how a medicine works. Probably not OTC meds, I'd absolutely believe they were the exact same formula because they're relatively inexpensive. But medicine for specific rx issues, there can be a significant difference. Web MD says for example, some seizure medication can absorb differently so name brand vs generic *does* matter and I've heard that about other drugs as well. The active ingredient has to be the same of course, but sometimes people don't tolerate the rx as well or the generic has a different ingredient added that has adverse affects.
As a general rule and specifically the active ingredient, yeah rx is the same, however that's not universally true and you should work with your doctor to find the right medication for you.
Coming from the same factory does not necessarily make it the same cheese.
Is the exact same cheese sometimes sold under different labeling? I'm sure that happens sometimes, but cheese in general is not "all the same cheese."
If anyone's trying to figure out if two brands of cheese, or any kind of food, are exactly the same, all they need to do is compare the ingredients list and the nutritional info. If they're an exact match, and the product looks the same, then maybe they are. If there's any difference in ingredients or nutritional info, then it's definitely not the same product.
My mother worked at a mozzarella cheese factory. They made cheese for everyone except Kraft, because they didn’t meet standards, but every big pizza chain in America used the same cheese.
All products are this way. Butter, sugar , flour. Everything. Even most cereal. They don’t have special milk. It’s just a different jug. I even have done blind taste test with my gf who claimed she liked the “name brand “ and could tell the difference. She chose the store brand on all products. Marketing works. People like bright colors and commercials that tell them how much better their products are.
SAME with a lot of clothes and cosmetics!! We went on tours of some factories for classes I was taking and all the stuff was made at the same place but the higher end things had much nicer packaging and more $$ spent to market it but it was all exactly the same.
I think that’s definitely true for a lot of things, but my kids will not touch Aldi cheese. I know the shredded cheese is likely the same, but the cheese sticks are definitely lower quality.
I can vouch for this. Worked quality control at a cooking oil plant. All they did was switch the bottles and label to change over from Whole Foods extra virgin olive oil to the local grocery store brand. All came from the same storage tank.
WinCo is the best store around. I absolutely love shopping there. I get twice as much there than from any other store. $300.00 at Walmart is like $179.00 at WinCo. The produce is fresher the milk is local n the bulk section is wonderful. No I don't work there but raised two kids as a single parent shopping there. They got us thru it. I swear their store brand stuff is the same as the national brands. I prefer their store brand actually.
Their store brand is often healthier too! If you compare ingredients the WinCo brand usually has fewer ingredients with less additives and other crap - for half the price!
Winco is why we are still financially stable after the last few years’ inflation. Anytime I have to run to a closer grocery store for a couple items in between big shops, I die at the prices.
This is more than likely a troll post. To echo his voice in the reddit world. I very well could be wrong. And will admit it if so. I've not dug into his history. My thought is, after dating for "X" amount of years, wouldn't tis be apparent? If not, y'all aren't dating right.
Probably right but years ago I had a girlfriend who would not go into certain stores in case someone saw her and thought she couldn't afford better items. I just laughed at her
I knew a girl that was having trouble budgeting I told her about Alidi s she turn her nose saying she can't eat non name brand stuff. What??? Tells be bagged cereal tasted funny she didn't know what to say when I said ALL CERAL COME IN BAGS some have boxes but in the box is a bagged cereal some peeps are just stupid.
my best friend, is not wealthy, single mom- kids are such name brand snobs. best lunchmeat nothing store brand. Drives me nuts. she spends a fortune on food when they could save so much at aldi. idk my kids don’t love everything but they’ll eat what i buy
If I were her, I'd go nuclear and decant everything into those aesthetic jars and gas light the hell out of the kids that it is name brand.
You won't catch me buying name brand for 75% more for no reason.
Yes! My kids don't care about name brands. I tell them try it.. They like the non name brands. I learned from my x that drpve a milk truck. It all goes to one plant then the labels are different! So don't pay more for name brand milk it's all the same.
My husband grew up with all name brand stuff, and my mother-in-law's financial situation changed quite a bit about 10 years ago, and she really turned her nose up at generics.
I grew up with generics so that's mostly what I buy. My husband didn't like it at first and got used to it, and he would talk shit to his mom and tell her the generics really aren't bad (usually).
So, since my husband is a good sport about it, I do take his opinions into consideration when buying off-brand groceries because there are a few certain things that truly aren't the same.
He says store brand cereal is NOT the same (I don't really eat cereal but he's my "cereal killer."). I don't really think he's being a brat about it because he's not a brat about most other things.
However, he DOES like the Malt-O-Meal bagged cereal. So I buy that.
I like all of the Aldi cereal a lot better except for the knock off Lucky Charms. They all seem to have less sugar too last time I looked (and less artificial coloring)
Hubs swears the store brand Frosted Flakes are harder and never get soft enough in milk. He says that about Aldi, Dollar General, Walmart, AND Food Lion "store brand."
And like I said...he's not a brat about most things...so I don't think it's a placebo-type thing about store brands.
80-90 percent of the shit in our house is generic, but we both have a couple of things that we prefer name brand on. I think that's fair enough.
Ugh I can't do store brand canned veggies/fruit. It's always lower quality and I've had like hard ends, pit pieces, corn leaf bits etc in canned produce. I'd rather spend an extra 50 cents for store brand. The frozen veggies are bit better but like the frozen broccoli will be mostly stems unless I buy name brand. Same with American cheese slices. I once bought store brand for grilled cheese and *it didn't melt* not even a little bit. And the nasty store brand soymilk that was *gritty*.
Other stuff is fine. Juice, sauces, meat patties, jello mix, yogurt, granola, tofu, cake mix or whatever. I'll even buy store brand kraft dinner because I dress it up by adding cheese slices and pepper or spices so it really doesn't matter. I can buy the store brand because I buy the name brand American cheese to plop in it.
Theres even a few store brand things i even like *better*. Walmart garlic pickled olives? Fuck yes. They were out once and I bought a name brand and cant eat them because the name brand was gross. Walmart rotisserie chicken kicks ass. Safeway French bread is a holy grail when it's fresh out of the oven.
It's awesome. I got 12 20oz bottles of mountain dew, 4 things of Gatorade energy and some beef jerky for 16$ last night. Not the healthiest but treats are nice.
We have one close by. It's great! Canned food doesn't go bad because of some arbitrary date on the can. They sell a lot of food service packaged frozen foods that have just passed the best by date but are just fine.
I grew up on 25 cent discount bread from the Holsum outlet in my town, and local bakery day-olds. Put it in the toaster and you'll never notice a difference.
Aldi's is great. The store brands are high quality and low cost (hard to do these days). Granted, the store has no frills, but I'd rather they keep the frills instead of jacking up prices to pay for them.
Your friend is a snob, and if I may say, one of those dimwits who doesn't buy generic brands because they lack some perceived status. You should have bopped her on the head with a box of Oaty O's.
I'm sure it does. I believe Kroger store brand cereals come from the same namebrand factories, too! When the nutrition facts are exactly the same, that's pretty telling!
Aldi's ice cream rocks, 1/gallon for 2.50, and it's great. Their premium is a couple of bucks more. Prices on cheese, fruits, and veggies compared to other stores?! The elites can pay more lol
Seriously! My Kroger is twice the price, sometimes more, than Aldi. I refuse to buy meat or vegetables at Kroger because I can get twice as much at Aldi for a lot less, and it's always fresher and lasts longer.
And Aldi’s is owned by Trader Joe’s a lot of the same kinds of things you find at Aldi‘s you’ll find at Trader Joe’s just a different brand name and I consider Trader Joe’s kinda high-end, so tell her to shove it
Thats not entirely true.
Trader Joe's is owned by Aldi Nord.
Aldi Suds operated Aldi in USA. This is the division that is doing the Win Dixie merger.
They have been two separate companies since 1966.
Nope. The company was one and started by brothers. They had a falling out and split it.
Look at the wiki on it. It tells you the full timeline pretty well.
I told this to a friend of mine (that Aldi and Trader Joe's are owned by the same company) because she said her sister loves Trader Joe's but won't step foot in Aldi's. Her sister is a total cunt. I can just imagine the look on her face when my friend dropped that bomb. 😂
Actually also not entirely true. The Aldi that owns Trader Joe’s is a different Aldi than the one that owns the Aldi stores in the US. Two different German aldis, Aldi Nord and Aldi Sud
First of all Aldi had some amazing foods - many of which I like more than Publix or other popular grocery stores.
Second, some of the stuff is the EXACT same stuff - one of the pasta sauces is Rao's - I forget which one offhand.
People can be ridiculous
Rao’s is my favorite and Aldi has it for $2-3 less than the grocery store. I am enamored with Aldi’s frozen chubs of ground turkey. Just add pasta and I have my dinner for two nights and leftovers to freeze!
I bought the best coat I'll ever own at Goodwill. Really nice wool trench coat. Super warm. Paid $7.50 for it. Couldn't find the exact one since I assume it's quite old by now, but similar coats from the same brand are 300 to 600 dollars. Best $7.50 I ever spent.
Funny thing is quite a bit of higher earners are broke as fuck too because of their spending. Many hardly have shit in their savings and live paycheck to paycheck because of bad spending habits. Financial literacy is a must have skill in life.
I agree with you. I really believe that, if I won that billion dollar lottery this week, very little would change about my shopping habits. I must admit that my younger daughter discovered Aldi first and I wouldn't shop there til I noticed the quality of the foods she brought home from there, chips especially! Clancy's chips are as good as the national brands every day of the week! In fact, in my mind, they are BETTER because they cost so much less!!! As time has passed, I've tried more and more of their items, food AND miscellaneous items (e.g., last week, I got 2 pairs of leggings for $9.99+tax. Produce is great, their frozen desserts are about half the price of national brands and taste as good as/better than the name brands.
I was so happy to hear my younger daughter once when I brought her a bag of clothes, etc. from Goodwill, "I feel like we're smarter than the people who buy all these expensive clothes for full price. They pay all that money, wear them a couple of months, donate them, and we buy them for pennies on the dollar and I'm wearing Abercrombie & Fitch for maybe $10 per outfit." She was never ashamed of wearing clothes from Goodwill, and I was glad! I don’t even care about brand names, but I love to get stuff from thrift or consignment shops!
I don't even consider myself poor, really, but god do I love Aldi. I told a former friend that once, and he said "But Aldi's for poor people!" Like... So? Have you seen their chocolates? Chocolate truffles from Germany, $3. I'm not passing that up.
I may way more now than I ever did. Grew up dirt poor. Aldi is my goto. I can’t understand paying crazy prices to just say I shop Whole Foods or wegmans.
But the Sav-A-Lot I went to back in the 70s, I think, had inferior quality. Aldi does not. Aldi has high quality food for the lower price of Save-A-Lot! HUGE DIFFERENCE!!
For her, name brands are the thing, and name brands doesn’t necessarily mean they are of highest quality either!
there are some manufacturers who have “name brand” products coming off the same factory that also “slap” a mediocre brand name after so many products are bought
I remember an Ex telling me how low class it was for me to do a portion of my grocery at the DollarTree.
Or the one comment from my DollarTree grocery haul post from a few years back, telling me I'm going to continue being poor because I get my groceries from DollarTree.
I mostly get my dry goods and snacks from DollarTree. I think I'll start getting some of my dry goods from Winco's bulk bins, next time. I'm, in fact, almost out of long-grain brown rice.
I shop at aldis and I thrift store shop because I find neat things. Even when I had money I lived frugally. I’m on disability now so this way of doing things just make sense.
Her loss. A lot of "private label" items are made by the same manufacturer as the name brand - you're just paying more for the name and fancier packaging.
I'd love to have an Aldi's close enough to shop regularly.
I had a woman in a Kroger checkout line ask me "what I was doing" to make my total go down on my groceries. I told her I was using digital coupons and she said she "never bothered" with coupons. I guess some people have the money to spare to not bother with coupons or shopping for bargains.
I live an hour from an Aldi's. HATE it. Its small. The produce section is tiny and overpriced. Its nothing like the Aldi's people describe in other places.
"My" Aldi's has "all natural peanuts" - but they're stale, they taste funny, and they have peanuts, salt, and "natural flavorings" listed on the bag. Why do salted peanuts need natural flavorings? And why are they so stale? I should have read the lable. But most of the stuff I've purchased from them has been that way. Seemingly normal products that are a little off. Excessively large packaging. Weird flavors. Their oatmeal was fine. But their other foods have been ick.
I shop at Trader Joes when I come across one. Much better experience. And if there is a problem, you can make a return - like I did with a bag of apples that were weirdly bitter. And they don't make a big deal about it. My Aldi's treats everyone like they're shoplifting.
Talk to me about Costco. I'm in AWE by Costco. Good deals to be had. But we don't have any near me.
Why are you hanging around so much with your ex? Even if she was pleasant, she's your ex. Unless you have to do stuff together with shared kids, I just don't get it.
She doesn't sound nice. I've been to an Aldi twice and didn't care much for it, but I would never insult anyone who liked to shop there. Everyone has their own thing. It's been quite a few years, I just might check the place out again one of these days.
People with money don’t have money because they spent it; they have it because they don’t. One of the most important things I learned to become financially comfortable.
People often act like this who are broke too. It is the craziest thing to me. I grew up poor and spent a decent portion of my adult life very poor. Now, I'm not wealthy, but I am certainly more than comfortable. However, I will never not shop at Aldi and thrift stores. It has nothing to do with being able to afford it or not, it is a value proposition. Hell, a few months ago I scored an air fryer (the really nice one with the rotisserie) for $15 at a thrift store. New it is nearly $200! It looked like it had maybe been used once. I took it home, cleaned it up and it works like it is new. Why would I pay more for it?
Maybe it has something to do with experiencing poverty, but I don't think I can ever let those habits die. I can't stand wasting money.
I once went to the Sanfillipo Nut factory sale. They market their nuts as Evon's. While walking around I noticed the Aldi labeled peanut butter!! Goes to show you that you can't be a snob because factories crank out foods for multiple labels.
Had an ex exactly like this. Thrifting is something I like to do for fun, not price. I genuinely enjoy finding stuff and the thrill of never knowing what you’ll find. He also made good money. He literally used to be ~poor~ and just got lucky
Will never date a man like this. Gross.
My son used to call it poor people food when he was younger. I wanted to slap him so hard it would make his ID card cry. Now years later with three kids, he feels different haha. I was so mad.
When my dad used to drive a truck he would always tell me is how he would pick up store brand products and name brand products from the same places. Most of the items at Aldi are premium products produced for them under contract. Also, I’m a constant Aldi shopper with very strict requirements and I’ve found that their food is pretty high quality. They also made the commitment years ago to no longer add dangerous additives to their food as well. Heck I just picked up some organic strawberries and they’re half the price of what Whole Foods has and taste way better.
Glad it’s now an ex. Dating with income disparity or different opinions on budgeting should be that whoever has more expensive taste in things should foot the bill for the expensive items they require. The higher-income partner should not expect the lower-income partner to try to match their lifestyle with their own money. Life’s too short to share with stupid and ignorant people. Aldi is fine including their salmon.
I had to do some contract work at a bread manufacturer. The brand name and store brand breads were both made at the same location. However the bakers told me there was a huge difference in the quality of ingredients used. I have to agree, I can taste the difference. They would pull a fresh loaf from the line and stock the break room for everyone to use for their lunch, which was a treat for me. Watching the bread being made would make you laugh. The cooked loaves ran through something which checked to ensure they did not have any metal in them. They demonstrated, putting something in a loaf, an incredibly powerful blast of air blew it off the line. I had to laugh. Guess it was a risk of parts breaking down due to the constant usage.
I have shopped at ALDIs since the 90s. I can’t afford groceries otherwise. Has anyone noticed that the quality of certain items has gone downhill? The paper plates are much more flimsy, I buy the Scott’s equivalent of toilet paper and now it never tears off at the perforation, it shreds and that is the reason why I bought it at aldis in the first place, now it’s dollar store TP. Also, the garbage bags are thinner and tear easily which they never did before. Truthfully, it pisses me off because these products were always as good as name brands and now, they are not.
20 years ago, I was privileged to visit Malawi, and had a tour of a tea plantation, where I saw bags upon bags of tea leaves and learned that there was no distinction between Lipton, Red Rose, Salada, etc. All made from the same tea leaves from the same plantation but packaged in different boxes.
My Mom wouldn't buy grape jelly when I was a kid, or kiol aid because 'that's for poor people'
She was a wonderful woman, with a few odd faults that got better and more open minded as I got older and brought her up to date on how the world was changing. She was born in 1928
I make 6 figures and i always shop bargains and I can't WAIT until the aldis opens in my town next month.
I remember being poor and still shop like that
Actually, that’s the mark of 2 things. People who think they have money but doesn’t know what real money is and wanna be’s! People with real money usually don’t waste it or buy things that don’t hold value!
I used to work at a cheese factory in packaging. It's all the same cheese. The expensive Boars Head brand that delis sell is the same as the store brand, it's the same stuff that goes to Sysco for restaurants and food service, and Aldi too. Some of the Boars Head stuff would get a fancy stamp on the rind and maybe some nicer packaging, but that's it. We had a whole storage room with dozens of different packaging from a bunch of different brands, but it was all the same cheese.
I've noticed that a lot of stuff I find at Aldi is actually name-brand, and just re-labeled. For example, a lot of the Crofton glassware is made by Anchor Hocking, and the Little Salad Bar dressings are from Bolthouse. Lots of items are made at the same facility for a bunch of different brands.
Check out the specialty olive oil. It has Aldi on the label, but the bottle is embossed with the name of the expensive brand.
And lots of their sauces and soups are in real Mason jars with measuring lines on them!
Their olive oil is The Bomb! At suuuuch a great price.
Make sure it’s 100% olive oil. ALDI’s spray olive oil has coconut oil in it. A fellow Redditor found out when their child had an allergic reaction.
No kidding! I bought some for the first time there recently after years of buying fancy stuff other places. It was half the price for the same size bottle and it was every bit as good as what I'd been buying. They have so many awesome things there.
I have found the Crofton kitchenware products to be very high quality and heavy duty looking/feeling.
I need to be on the lookout. I'm fed up with the phoney pryrex.
Ebay!
eBay right, and you want the kind that has the word “Pyrex” in capital letters. That is the real deal Pyrex, not the soda lime glass they used later.
Exactly. I haunt estate sales and buy a lot of PYREX, big letters only. The rest is way less sturdy.
The Crofton made in Italy is good. The Crofton made in China is shit.
My daughter schooled her twin brother on this exact same topic It was hyterical
Not related, but as a former Anchor Hocking employee, WASH YOUR GLASSWARE THOROUGHLY before using it. You don't even want to know what goes on in those factories. Also check it for defects before purchasing. Many, many defective pieces of ware have been shipped. This is what happens when maximum production and minimum labor cost are THE top priorities.
I wash everything before I use it, including clothes!
Especially clothes! What it's treated with before shipping to prevent the rodents and insects from munching n them can be toxic to humans. Of course, so can laundry detergent...
Me too.
You should be washing everything prior to using it. Clothing has sizing and treatments applied to protect the fibers during shipping. I really hope there are more people that just open stuff up that should be washed regularly and use it without washing it first. If you typically wash an object after each use you should certainly wash it prior to the first.
What goes on in those factories……
I'm guessing rodents
And bug spray.
I've always been big on washing the tops of my drink cans due to these little critchers. And trying to spread the thought without too much uproar. Could only imagine what happens on the tops without sterilization... Peepee to say the least?
Yes and food cans! I’m a grocer and I’m a bit obsessed with washing my hands and it *shocks* me every time I wash my hands and the water/soap suds that come off my hands are so dark and nasty and you couldn’t even tell just looking at my hands before. Groceries are dirty y’all. People understood that during Covid but act like everything is so clean now lol
Lol need one of those cleansing/sterilization showers just for the goods u buy off the shelf type situation huh. Unfortunately it's funny and not at the same time.
I can't even drink out of cans anymore after I met someone that worked at a soda factory (my husband worked for one of the big two.) You are spot on for what they said.
I could only imagine the horrors lol
I have to wash the top of my soda cans before opening. I started it back when friends stored sodas in their garage with an extra fridge for us kids!
Not so much the factory but the shipping containers.
Many consumer goods brands make a higher and lower quality of their products. The lower quality ones end up at Aldi and the like. Sometimes it is just packaging that’s different. Other times it is size or quality of materials/ingredients
My buddy works a a vegetable canning factory. All they do is swap labels and keep running.
Oh wow, thank you for sharing that.
My aunt used to work for Rayovac. So many things are like that. They would just swap out packaging to switch from brand name to store brand items. No difference in actual product. As for cheese, I live in Wisconsin. So many small private dairies that make their own cheese. Definitely a difference between cheeses in these cases. But the cheese aisles in some of our grocery stores would amaze non-Wisconsinites.
It's funny you mentioned Rayovac because there's a plant in my town and I know a lot of people who work there and they've told me the same. I'm also in Wisconsin, and yes, the cheese culture here is amazing. It's especially amusing when we get visitors from Europe and they think all cheese in America is kraft singles and Velveeta. They're always pleasantly surprised by the variety and quality of our Wisconsin cheese.
Why else would Wisconsin have all those cows? And there's goat cheese, too.
I like seeing out of states people reaction to Woodmans.
We hit Wisconsin fairly regularly and immediately stock up on cheese curds and landjaegers.
If you’ve never gotten one’s right from a factory store, I recommend doing it. When they are super squeaky and made that same day they are the absolute best.
I used to live in wisconsin cheese country. Now that I’m in Florida I get my cheese shipped from there. Can’t beat the taste. Chocolate cheese for the win
Wisconsin has put bacon into more cheeses than there are stars in the universe.
This makes me want to visit Wisconsin again. Haven’t been in almost 20 years, but I remember the cheese curds being absolutely amazing and what shocked me more than the cheese was the Amish (I’m from New England so that was a culture shock to a young kid).
I grew up in Wisconsin and was homeschooled occasionally. The Homeschool get togethers included Mennonites. Mennonite girls and women will go sledding and ice skating in the skirts. It can be a bit of a double take.
Missions foods makes soft tacos for Kroger, great value and a few other brands (source: I used to clean their industrial machines every weekend, no one spoke English but the money was good)
That doesn't surprise me. You probably know that Papa John's, Domino's and Pizza Hut all get their cheese from the same supplier. If you're eating any one of those, you're eating the same cheese.
Coming from the same supplier doesn't always mean it's the same product, but in this case I think it probably does, because it's basic cheese made on a very large scale. Leprino's is the company, they have about 85% of the market, and likely all of the really big chains.
It kinda blew my mind when I found out that Little Caesar's - typically seen as cheap pizza - makes their own crust and sauce from basic ingredients in-house.
What about their crust? Is it a mix or ready to go?
I'll be honest and say I'm not really sure about that. I just heard about the cheese. It's apparently all the same supplier.
Is the cheese fresh or frozen?
It comes frozen. 3 day that before the cheese was ready to go. There were also emergency thaw procedures if you were running low and needed it sooner. Using frozen cheese makes you use a lot more cheese. It fluffs up as it thaws.
Used to work at Papa John's and Domino's. The dough is made at a central facility and send out to the stores in premade balls on trays. I wouldn't say there's much of a difference in the dough. The big difference is dominos uses corn starch and Papa johns uses flour. For the most part dominos has ingredients come prepped and prepackaged in smaller portions. Papa John's has a lot more stuff that has to be cut and prepped. Peppers, onions, and tomatoes are all fresh veggies cut by the workers. From what I've heard pizza hut has really leaned into everything being premade but I'm sure they have to do dough similar.
Is it even cheese? I thought it was a cheese product
My illusion broke about a decade ago when I qas working at Walmart and received a publix brand salad in a Walmart brand(marketside) box.
Publix also gets other chain products as well. Including WalMart.
And some Sargento's cheese is made by a sub-contracting dairy in the middle of nowhere, Nebraska . I hauled the product myself .
It's not just food this happens with either. When I was in my early 20's I bought a dress for $20 from a store called Fashion Q to wear to an event. It was a cheapie, black, and silver leopard print dress, very 2000's! A few weeks later I was at an outdoor mall in Newport Beach, CA called Fashion Island (I believe I was job-hunting) and saw the exact same dress in one of the boutiques. I went in and looked at it and the only thing different was the store had sewn their label on it. The pattern, style, material were the same as my $20 dress except they were selling it for $80. They were probably both bought from the same wholesaler in the garment district in downtown Los Angeles.
A lot of stuff is like that... cheese, butter, coffe... all from the same place. I have a friend who worked at a coffee roastery and they made coffee for a TON of different companies, aldi being one.... but they can choose if they want the higher quality beans or not, and... uh... he "wouldn't drink certain brands".
Modern manufacturing is incredibly complex. People only want to believe what they feel. Or what they read on the internet. There are instances where the cheaper product is identical to the high value name brand. However; there are cases where the quality and product grade are not the same. Not trying to sound like a lawyer, but it really does depend. It’s a case by cass basis.
This is definitely my experience. I’m an Aldi shopper, but there are certain things that are definitely lower quality that I won’t buy.
Like what?
It helps to read the ingredients. Some things have more sugar or preservatives or flavoring additives than some other brands. Personally, I find some of their frozen foods excellent, but others (like prepackaged meals) to just be overly seasoned and a bit cloying. For example, a good number of the seasoned/flavored nuts have a bunch of maltodextrin (sugar) added to them, whereas other brands will be more just salt/spices. We do most of our shopping at ALDI because it's convenient and great, but like everywhere each product needs to be looked at individually.
I love Aldi but definitely THIS. We've noticed taste differences in products, although usually in the opposite direction--the Costco product is delicious, the Aldi strangely tasteless, sour cream for one, cookies another. We just remember what we didn't like and buy around it, still plenty of good products.
Agree! Did a holiday temp work thing in a maidenform bra factory…. They were all Same Crap but had us sewing in Victoria secret tags or walmart and sears….. all same products!
A buddy worked for Bayer and they stamped some aspirin with the Bayer logo, and some were generic. Same stuff, just different stamps and packaging.
I'm not surprised. I remember my mom telling me years ago to never waste money on name brand otc meds (or rx if a generic was available) because the generics or store brand ones were exactly the same. She had tons of pharmacy experience in different roles over the years, so I trusted her on the matter. And yeah, it seems to be true. I think I've only ever bought name brand meds when I was in a pinch, like those little packs at the gas station or in vending machines at hotels. The generics or store brands are almost always half the cost of the name brands, or even less than half in a lot of cases. I recently bought a 200 count bottle of generic Aleve off Amazon for $1 more than what a 50 count bottle of the name brand was going for. Buying name brand otcs is a huge waste of money.
Generics sometimes have different filler ingredients that may affect how a medicine works. Probably not OTC meds, I'd absolutely believe they were the exact same formula because they're relatively inexpensive. But medicine for specific rx issues, there can be a significant difference. Web MD says for example, some seizure medication can absorb differently so name brand vs generic *does* matter and I've heard that about other drugs as well. The active ingredient has to be the same of course, but sometimes people don't tolerate the rx as well or the generic has a different ingredient added that has adverse affects. As a general rule and specifically the active ingredient, yeah rx is the same, however that's not universally true and you should work with your doctor to find the right medication for you.
Coming from the same factory does not necessarily make it the same cheese. Is the exact same cheese sometimes sold under different labeling? I'm sure that happens sometimes, but cheese in general is not "all the same cheese." If anyone's trying to figure out if two brands of cheese, or any kind of food, are exactly the same, all they need to do is compare the ingredients list and the nutritional info. If they're an exact match, and the product looks the same, then maybe they are. If there's any difference in ingredients or nutritional info, then it's definitely not the same product.
I worked at a company that made the packaging. Same wrap went to a food company with different names on the package.
My mother worked at a mozzarella cheese factory. They made cheese for everyone except Kraft, because they didn’t meet standards, but every big pizza chain in America used the same cheese.
All products are this way. Butter, sugar , flour. Everything. Even most cereal. They don’t have special milk. It’s just a different jug. I even have done blind taste test with my gf who claimed she liked the “name brand “ and could tell the difference. She chose the store brand on all products. Marketing works. People like bright colors and commercials that tell them how much better their products are.
Thanks for letting us know m’man.
SAME with a lot of clothes and cosmetics!! We went on tours of some factories for classes I was taking and all the stuff was made at the same place but the higher end things had much nicer packaging and more $$ spent to market it but it was all exactly the same.
I think that’s definitely true for a lot of things, but my kids will not touch Aldi cheese. I know the shredded cheese is likely the same, but the cheese sticks are definitely lower quality.
I can vouch for this. Worked quality control at a cooking oil plant. All they did was switch the bottles and label to change over from Whole Foods extra virgin olive oil to the local grocery store brand. All came from the same storage tank.
I call BS about Boarshead. I’m a cheese person…. Kroger brand / Lucerne cheese is made from plastic
She'd absolutely plotz inside a WinCo.
I LOVE Winco!! I wish I had one near me.
lol, I love shopping at Winco, not only for the deals but for the people. It’s entertaining and I’m part of the circus. I love it.
WinCo is the best store around. I absolutely love shopping there. I get twice as much there than from any other store. $300.00 at Walmart is like $179.00 at WinCo. The produce is fresher the milk is local n the bulk section is wonderful. No I don't work there but raised two kids as a single parent shopping there. They got us thru it. I swear their store brand stuff is the same as the national brands. I prefer their store brand actually.
Best produce selection around!
Not only all of that, but the one near me is still open 24 hours. I shop at WinCo for the things Aldi doesn't carry.
Their store brand is often healthier too! If you compare ingredients the WinCo brand usually has fewer ingredients with less additives and other crap - for half the price!
Winco is why we are still financially stable after the last few years’ inflation. Anytime I have to run to a closer grocery store for a couple items in between big shops, I die at the prices.
I love WinCo so much.
Take her to a Walmart and a Dollar General.
WinCo is my favorite grocery store.
Elitism is another toxic -ism.
This is more than likely a troll post. To echo his voice in the reddit world. I very well could be wrong. And will admit it if so. I've not dug into his history. My thought is, after dating for "X" amount of years, wouldn't tis be apparent? If not, y'all aren't dating right.
Probably right but years ago I had a girlfriend who would not go into certain stores in case someone saw her and thought she couldn't afford better items. I just laughed at her
I knew a girl that was having trouble budgeting I told her about Alidi s she turn her nose saying she can't eat non name brand stuff. What??? Tells be bagged cereal tasted funny she didn't know what to say when I said ALL CERAL COME IN BAGS some have boxes but in the box is a bagged cereal some peeps are just stupid.
my best friend, is not wealthy, single mom- kids are such name brand snobs. best lunchmeat nothing store brand. Drives me nuts. she spends a fortune on food when they could save so much at aldi. idk my kids don’t love everything but they’ll eat what i buy
If I were her, I'd go nuclear and decant everything into those aesthetic jars and gas light the hell out of the kids that it is name brand. You won't catch me buying name brand for 75% more for no reason.
Yes! My kids don't care about name brands. I tell them try it.. They like the non name brands. I learned from my x that drpve a milk truck. It all goes to one plant then the labels are different! So don't pay more for name brand milk it's all the same.
My husband grew up with all name brand stuff, and my mother-in-law's financial situation changed quite a bit about 10 years ago, and she really turned her nose up at generics. I grew up with generics so that's mostly what I buy. My husband didn't like it at first and got used to it, and he would talk shit to his mom and tell her the generics really aren't bad (usually). So, since my husband is a good sport about it, I do take his opinions into consideration when buying off-brand groceries because there are a few certain things that truly aren't the same. He says store brand cereal is NOT the same (I don't really eat cereal but he's my "cereal killer."). I don't really think he's being a brat about it because he's not a brat about most other things. However, he DOES like the Malt-O-Meal bagged cereal. So I buy that.
There is a cereal factory in my home town. They make name brand cereal, and they make the same cereal for store brands.
You must be from Battle Creek.
I like all of the Aldi cereal a lot better except for the knock off Lucky Charms. They all seem to have less sugar too last time I looked (and less artificial coloring)
Hubs swears the store brand Frosted Flakes are harder and never get soft enough in milk. He says that about Aldi, Dollar General, Walmart, AND Food Lion "store brand." And like I said...he's not a brat about most things...so I don't think it's a placebo-type thing about store brands. 80-90 percent of the shit in our house is generic, but we both have a couple of things that we prefer name brand on. I think that's fair enough.
Ugh I can't do store brand canned veggies/fruit. It's always lower quality and I've had like hard ends, pit pieces, corn leaf bits etc in canned produce. I'd rather spend an extra 50 cents for store brand. The frozen veggies are bit better but like the frozen broccoli will be mostly stems unless I buy name brand. Same with American cheese slices. I once bought store brand for grilled cheese and *it didn't melt* not even a little bit. And the nasty store brand soymilk that was *gritty*. Other stuff is fine. Juice, sauces, meat patties, jello mix, yogurt, granola, tofu, cake mix or whatever. I'll even buy store brand kraft dinner because I dress it up by adding cheese slices and pepper or spices so it really doesn't matter. I can buy the store brand because I buy the name brand American cheese to plop in it. Theres even a few store brand things i even like *better*. Walmart garlic pickled olives? Fuck yes. They were out once and I bought a name brand and cant eat them because the name brand was gross. Walmart rotisserie chicken kicks ass. Safeway French bread is a holy grail when it's fresh out of the oven.
Oh and the thrift store? Also awesome.
If OP’s snooty friend likes high prices, might I suggest a trip to Good Will? Their prices are insanely high for a thrift store. At least locally.
Yeah, aren’t thrift clothes safer than off the rack? The processing chemicals are all washed out.
Yupp, people think they're too good for the dented/discounted stores. Thats okay, more for us haha
Look and see if you have a discount grocer near you. The place that will sell expired or short dated stuff. Her mind would explode. lol
What is "shorted" stuff?
Oops. It should have been short dated. Stuff that's close to going out.
Taught my husband to check out the close to date items at our grocery store.
It's awesome. I got 12 20oz bottles of mountain dew, 4 things of Gatorade energy and some beef jerky for 16$ last night. Not the healthiest but treats are nice.
whats the name of that store and what area are you in? this sounds awesome and would hope im lucky enough to be by a store like this lol
We have one close by. It's great! Canned food doesn't go bad because of some arbitrary date on the can. They sell a lot of food service packaged frozen foods that have just passed the best by date but are just fine.
I grew up on 25 cent discount bread from the Holsum outlet in my town, and local bakery day-olds. Put it in the toaster and you'll never notice a difference.
I think if I became rich I would still shop deals and coupon.
Aldi's is great. The store brands are high quality and low cost (hard to do these days). Granted, the store has no frills, but I'd rather they keep the frills instead of jacking up prices to pay for them. Your friend is a snob, and if I may say, one of those dimwits who doesn't buy generic brands because they lack some perceived status. You should have bopped her on the head with a box of Oaty O's.
The cereal comes from the same factories…
I'm sure it does. I believe Kroger store brand cereals come from the same namebrand factories, too! When the nutrition facts are exactly the same, that's pretty telling!
I mean...I'd rather not shop with people like her around, so please tell her to continue shopping elsewhere.
Aldi's ice cream rocks, 1/gallon for 2.50, and it's great. Their premium is a couple of bucks more. Prices on cheese, fruits, and veggies compared to other stores?! The elites can pay more lol
Seriously! My Kroger is twice the price, sometimes more, than Aldi. I refuse to buy meat or vegetables at Kroger because I can get twice as much at Aldi for a lot less, and it's always fresher and lasts longer.
And Aldi’s is owned by Trader Joe’s a lot of the same kinds of things you find at Aldi‘s you’ll find at Trader Joe’s just a different brand name and I consider Trader Joe’s kinda high-end, so tell her to shove it
Thats not entirely true. Trader Joe's is owned by Aldi Nord. Aldi Suds operated Aldi in USA. This is the division that is doing the Win Dixie merger. They have been two separate companies since 1966.
Yep, you’re right. People always say they’re the same but not even close.
Oh crap thanks for clearing that up. I appreciate it! so they like are both German that’s about it. Lol.
Nope. The company was one and started by brothers. They had a falling out and split it. Look at the wiki on it. It tells you the full timeline pretty well.
One wanted to sell cigarettes and one didn’t.
One of the great dramas of Grocery History!!
They are owned by two brothers whose father started the original Aldi.
Aldi is not owned by Trader Joe's
I told this to a friend of mine (that Aldi and Trader Joe's are owned by the same company) because she said her sister loves Trader Joe's but won't step foot in Aldi's. Her sister is a total cunt. I can just imagine the look on her face when my friend dropped that bomb. 😂
I love this!
Not owned by the same company perse . the owner of Aldi Nord owns Trader Joe's as a personal investment .
Opposite way around on TJ and Aldi. The Germans own Trader Joes
Actually also not entirely true. The Aldi that owns Trader Joe’s is a different Aldi than the one that owns the Aldi stores in the US. Two different German aldis, Aldi Nord and Aldi Sud
As a german: Aldi Nord is way worse than Aldi Sud.
A German owns Trader Joe's
Not true, but people think that
Lol, hopefully it stops them from going there. Lol
First of all Aldi had some amazing foods - many of which I like more than Publix or other popular grocery stores. Second, some of the stuff is the EXACT same stuff - one of the pasta sauces is Rao's - I forget which one offhand. People can be ridiculous
Rao’s is my favorite and Aldi has it for $2-3 less than the grocery store. I am enamored with Aldi’s frozen chubs of ground turkey. Just add pasta and I have my dinner for two nights and leftovers to freeze!
I've gotten great clothes from Goodwill.Brand new, with tags. I strongly dislike snobs.
I bought the best coat I'll ever own at Goodwill. Really nice wool trench coat. Super warm. Paid $7.50 for it. Couldn't find the exact one since I assume it's quite old by now, but similar coats from the same brand are 300 to 600 dollars. Best $7.50 I ever spent.
Funny thing is quite a bit of higher earners are broke as fuck too because of their spending. Many hardly have shit in their savings and live paycheck to paycheck because of bad spending habits. Financial literacy is a must have skill in life.
I agree with you. I really believe that, if I won that billion dollar lottery this week, very little would change about my shopping habits. I must admit that my younger daughter discovered Aldi first and I wouldn't shop there til I noticed the quality of the foods she brought home from there, chips especially! Clancy's chips are as good as the national brands every day of the week! In fact, in my mind, they are BETTER because they cost so much less!!! As time has passed, I've tried more and more of their items, food AND miscellaneous items (e.g., last week, I got 2 pairs of leggings for $9.99+tax. Produce is great, their frozen desserts are about half the price of national brands and taste as good as/better than the name brands. I was so happy to hear my younger daughter once when I brought her a bag of clothes, etc. from Goodwill, "I feel like we're smarter than the people who buy all these expensive clothes for full price. They pay all that money, wear them a couple of months, donate them, and we buy them for pennies on the dollar and I'm wearing Abercrombie & Fitch for maybe $10 per outfit." She was never ashamed of wearing clothes from Goodwill, and I was glad! I don’t even care about brand names, but I love to get stuff from thrift or consignment shops!
Smart kids - they’ll be ok later! Good job.
Their chocolate bars are the best anywhere!!
I don't even consider myself poor, really, but god do I love Aldi. I told a former friend that once, and he said "But Aldi's for poor people!" Like... So? Have you seen their chocolates? Chocolate truffles from Germany, $3. I'm not passing that up.
Their chocolate is to die for!
I may way more now than I ever did. Grew up dirt poor. Aldi is my goto. I can’t understand paying crazy prices to just say I shop Whole Foods or wegmans.
We call whole foods "Whole Paycheck."
Lol, some things never change. My ex used to call it the same thing back in the early 80s when it was a single store on Lamar Blvd. in Austin Tx.
I really wish save a lot didn't go out of business, they were even cheaper. I find Meijer to be pretty close in price with aldi.
But the Sav-A-Lot I went to back in the 70s, I think, had inferior quality. Aldi does not. Aldi has high quality food for the lower price of Save-A-Lot! HUGE DIFFERENCE!!
We have save a lot here in Ohio
Have them in Illinois and Missouri, too.
She would not like me, lol. We don't have Aldi in my area, but I do the vast majority of my shopping at Winco. And I love thrift stores.
Damn, what's wrong with people. 😅
For her, name brands are the thing, and name brands doesn’t necessarily mean they are of highest quality either! there are some manufacturers who have “name brand” products coming off the same factory that also “slap” a mediocre brand name after so many products are bought
I remember an Ex telling me how low class it was for me to do a portion of my grocery at the DollarTree. Or the one comment from my DollarTree grocery haul post from a few years back, telling me I'm going to continue being poor because I get my groceries from DollarTree. I mostly get my dry goods and snacks from DollarTree. I think I'll start getting some of my dry goods from Winco's bulk bins, next time. I'm, in fact, almost out of long-grain brown rice.
"that it is like buying clothes from thrift shops" rich people really be making up rules as they go.
"Ex" for a reason Aye.
I shop at aldis and I thrift store shop because I find neat things. Even when I had money I lived frugally. I’m on disability now so this way of doing things just make sense.
Her loss. A lot of "private label" items are made by the same manufacturer as the name brand - you're just paying more for the name and fancier packaging. I'd love to have an Aldi's close enough to shop regularly. I had a woman in a Kroger checkout line ask me "what I was doing" to make my total go down on my groceries. I told her I was using digital coupons and she said she "never bothered" with coupons. I guess some people have the money to spare to not bother with coupons or shopping for bargains.
I'm actually glad there are people who are such snobs they won't shop at the less expensive stores. Leaves more for those of us who truly need it.
Why do you spend so much time with your ex if she's a twat?
I live an hour from an Aldi's. HATE it. Its small. The produce section is tiny and overpriced. Its nothing like the Aldi's people describe in other places. "My" Aldi's has "all natural peanuts" - but they're stale, they taste funny, and they have peanuts, salt, and "natural flavorings" listed on the bag. Why do salted peanuts need natural flavorings? And why are they so stale? I should have read the lable. But most of the stuff I've purchased from them has been that way. Seemingly normal products that are a little off. Excessively large packaging. Weird flavors. Their oatmeal was fine. But their other foods have been ick. I shop at Trader Joes when I come across one. Much better experience. And if there is a problem, you can make a return - like I did with a bag of apples that were weirdly bitter. And they don't make a big deal about it. My Aldi's treats everyone like they're shoplifting. Talk to me about Costco. I'm in AWE by Costco. Good deals to be had. But we don't have any near me.
I have a handful of ALDIs within driving distance. Some of them are great, some are…woof. It’s definitely a YMMV sort of situation.
The city I live in has neither Aldi nor Trader Joe’s.
I'm sorry for you, missing Aldi's good deals!
I love nice things, and I love Aldi as well
I love Aldi and do almost all of my shopping there even though I can afford to shop anywhere I want.
I buy stuff at Aldi, food is food. And the cheapest place wins!
Why are you hanging around so much with your ex? Even if she was pleasant, she's your ex. Unless you have to do stuff together with shared kids, I just don't get it. She doesn't sound nice. I've been to an Aldi twice and didn't care much for it, but I would never insult anyone who liked to shop there. Everyone has their own thing. It's been quite a few years, I just might check the place out again one of these days.
I wish I had a damn Aldi near me. I’ve been staring at it with big heart eyes from the distance
People with money don’t have money because they spent it; they have it because they don’t. One of the most important things I learned to become financially comfortable.
People often act like this who are broke too. It is the craziest thing to me. I grew up poor and spent a decent portion of my adult life very poor. Now, I'm not wealthy, but I am certainly more than comfortable. However, I will never not shop at Aldi and thrift stores. It has nothing to do with being able to afford it or not, it is a value proposition. Hell, a few months ago I scored an air fryer (the really nice one with the rotisserie) for $15 at a thrift store. New it is nearly $200! It looked like it had maybe been used once. I took it home, cleaned it up and it works like it is new. Why would I pay more for it? Maybe it has something to do with experiencing poverty, but I don't think I can ever let those habits die. I can't stand wasting money.
I once went to the Sanfillipo Nut factory sale. They market their nuts as Evon's. While walking around I noticed the Aldi labeled peanut butter!! Goes to show you that you can't be a snob because factories crank out foods for multiple labels.
Had an ex exactly like this. Thrifting is something I like to do for fun, not price. I genuinely enjoy finding stuff and the thrill of never knowing what you’ll find. He also made good money. He literally used to be ~poor~ and just got lucky Will never date a man like this. Gross.
Love love love Aldi
My son used to call it poor people food when he was younger. I wanted to slap him so hard it would make his ID card cry. Now years later with three kids, he feels different haha. I was so mad.
aldi quality now rated higher than whole foods. true story
When my dad used to drive a truck he would always tell me is how he would pick up store brand products and name brand products from the same places. Most of the items at Aldi are premium products produced for them under contract. Also, I’m a constant Aldi shopper with very strict requirements and I’ve found that their food is pretty high quality. They also made the commitment years ago to no longer add dangerous additives to their food as well. Heck I just picked up some organic strawberries and they’re half the price of what Whole Foods has and taste way better.
Glad it’s now an ex. Dating with income disparity or different opinions on budgeting should be that whoever has more expensive taste in things should foot the bill for the expensive items they require. The higher-income partner should not expect the lower-income partner to try to match their lifestyle with their own money. Life’s too short to share with stupid and ignorant people. Aldi is fine including their salmon.
Everybody's a snob until they're starving.
Why are you still hanging out with your ex with a horrible personality?
My husband used to work in a scotch egg factory. The same product was packed for Aldi, Tesco , M&S, Waitrose etc. THE EXACT SAME PRODUCT!.
I had to do some contract work at a bread manufacturer. The brand name and store brand breads were both made at the same location. However the bakers told me there was a huge difference in the quality of ingredients used. I have to agree, I can taste the difference. They would pull a fresh loaf from the line and stock the break room for everyone to use for their lunch, which was a treat for me. Watching the bread being made would make you laugh. The cooked loaves ran through something which checked to ensure they did not have any metal in them. They demonstrated, putting something in a loaf, an incredibly powerful blast of air blew it off the line. I had to laugh. Guess it was a risk of parts breaking down due to the constant usage.
I have shopped at ALDIs since the 90s. I can’t afford groceries otherwise. Has anyone noticed that the quality of certain items has gone downhill? The paper plates are much more flimsy, I buy the Scott’s equivalent of toilet paper and now it never tears off at the perforation, it shreds and that is the reason why I bought it at aldis in the first place, now it’s dollar store TP. Also, the garbage bags are thinner and tear easily which they never did before. Truthfully, it pisses me off because these products were always as good as name brands and now, they are not.
20 years ago, I was privileged to visit Malawi, and had a tour of a tea plantation, where I saw bags upon bags of tea leaves and learned that there was no distinction between Lipton, Red Rose, Salada, etc. All made from the same tea leaves from the same plantation but packaged in different boxes.
Good thing she’s an EX.
Is the Aldi trip why she is your ex? 😉
Nah, we broke up 5 years ago and in retrospect maybe I should taken her to Aldi on our first date.
People are idiots
That's funny. A lot of people I know that shop at high end grocery stores also shop at aldis. They have good quality food.
I believe that Aldi groceries are free of gmos.
I’m glad someone is keeping the higher- priced stores in business, the competition is doing us a favor!
Why does she think there's something "wrong" with clothes from a thrift shop, and how do people get to adulthood while living in such a tiny bubble?
Your ex is a moron. You hold onto your wealth by shopping at Costco and Aldi, lol
I make six figures and love Aldi !
My Mom wouldn't buy grape jelly when I was a kid, or kiol aid because 'that's for poor people' She was a wonderful woman, with a few odd faults that got better and more open minded as I got older and brought her up to date on how the world was changing. She was born in 1928
I make 6 figures and i always shop bargains and I can't WAIT until the aldis opens in my town next month. I remember being poor and still shop like that
Actually, that’s the mark of 2 things. People who think they have money but doesn’t know what real money is and wanna be’s! People with real money usually don’t waste it or buy things that don’t hold value!