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Comment by flexie | Hacker News Reader

Really? In most of Europe Aldi is associated with poor quality. Great place to buy canned food, toilet paper or cleaning products but not the place you'd want to buy meat, milk or veggies.

I am not sure it's fair anymore. Part of it probably came from the fact that the fixtures used to be so run down. Long after all other stores had started using bar codes, Aldi employees had to memorize PLU codes.

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It's not fair at all in Britain. The whole "Didldidi" Mitchell & Webb snobbishness conceals the fact that Aldi's food is generally of better quality and cheaper than Tesco's or Asda's.

It doesn't tend to be as good as Sainsbury's, and of course it doesn't compete with M&S or Waitrose, but Aldi is the only store which seems to bring both decent jobs and affordable essentials to poorer communities. I have a massive soft spot for Aldi.

I've actually talked about them on HN before, embarrassingly.

Probably mainland Europe (esp. France) has better options, I'm sure.

One of the Sunday papers in the UK did a test comparing aldi and three other supermarkets for steak. Aldi was at the bottom buy a long way.

That's certainly a relevant test, and I'd like to see the method and results.

I can believe it, if only because the quality of the best fresh produce at Aldi tends to be very high, but that of the worst tends to be relatively low.

You definitely have to be a little more careful if you're looking for the best produce.

That said, I would be surprised if Tesco, Asda, or Iceland were included in this test.

If Tesco and Asda weren't included (two of the UK's largest supermarkets) then the test was essentially irrelevant to most of the populace.

This is a popular myth, especially among people not familiar with Aldi concept! Aldi sells the BEST quality for the lowest price (unlike Lidl). They sell cca. 720 products (usually 3-4 in each category) and get mass discounts nobody else can get at producers. If you buy vegetables in Aldi it is graded first class! They have a huge bio/certified organic food department as well.

People who care about quality and economics buy at Aldi!

Was the horse meat scandal a myth?

reading other comments I think Aldi in the UK is run as a completely different operation from the rest of Europe. I also have only positive experiences for Aldi. Fresh, good food at excellent prices.

... or maybe we in the UK are just used to much worse ...

Shoppping at Lidl And Aldi is an exercise in picking and choosing. Some stuff is utter rubbish but some stuff is remarkable value for money. The best regular olive oil I've bought has come from Lidl, as has the best instant coffee. Aldi is frequently recommended to me as a place to get good quality venison or pheasant - something that just doesn't turn up in regular British supermarkets.

"the best instant coffee"

I'm sorry, but no such thing exists. :)

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