Would you buy Meat (labelled as Irish) from Aldi?

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wishbone

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Hi there, living near Nutgrove, we generally do most of our shopping in Aldi and then over to Tesco for some products we prefer there, and then meat we buy in the butchers in SC. So now I see Aldi promoting like mad that their meat and chicken etc is all sourced in Ireland (which was my big issue before) and I wonder...would you buy your steak/chicken/mince beef in Aldi or feel better about continuing to buy in the butchers? It's cheaper in Aldi...
 
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Personally I would stick with the butcher, the meat comes in to the shop and its cut and put for sale, not much handling. Butchers know their meat. With the supermarkets its delivered, cut and processed, packaged, delivered to the shop and then put on shelves, also some cuts can be injected with water to "plump" them up, thats why they shrink in the oven. I think less handling gives you a better piece of meat, I don't know if i am disillusional but those are my thoughts on it anyway.
 
Bought a ham in Lidl before, thought it was no different than anything i'd gotten in butcher
 
I'd prefer to buy meat in a good butcher, but would see no difference in meat between one supermarket and another (or a bad butcher for that matter). I've gotten lots of good meat from Aldi & Lidl but nothing compares to great meat from a good butcher.
 
Bought Rib eye steaks matured for 14 days in Aldi for 11.99 euros for 2 and found no difference between these and Superquinn. Their packaging is almost identical to superquins dry aged beef.
 
Yes, I do every week. Their Specially Selected mince is fantastic and I always buy the bacon.
 
Yep, get the lamb chops now for the last few weeks, lovely adn a bit cheaper than the 'normal' supermarkets.

also get the free range chicken quite often...

M
 
Thanks guys - so long as it's really Irish and not masquerading as Irish through processing methods or whatever then I'm happy - I did try their ribeyes as it said it was from an Irish farm, pictures of Irish farmers etc with loads of info inside, and I thought they were fabulous...
 
I would buy meat labelled as Irish, Norwegian, British or Bolivian it wouldn't matter to me. Ideally, I would buy Irish but only if the taste and/or quality was at least equal to the alternative. I might even pay a little more but not much more.

I won't buy Irish just for the sake of it though.

Anyway, I would have doubts as to the true origin of anything I buy no matter what is claimed. Likewise for so called fairtrade stuff.

As above though, I find the Aldi steaks generally pretty good - wherever they come from. A good butcher is indispensable but not all butchers are good either.
 
Just a note to point out op if you want to buy Irish. Make sure it states that the meat is sourced in Ireland, because a company can stamp the product with an 'Irish produce' label once there is some sort of handling in Ireland. For example the company could buy the meat in any country, process it there and then import it, and once its packed in Ireland its effectively "produced in Ireland".
 
A review of steaks including Aldi's Specially Selected ones.

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I regularly buy the free range chickens & they are great - none of that "watery" stuff comes out of them
 
I buy quite a lot of meat in Aldi, and I am very happy with it all. I especially like the Free-Range Chicken (which comes from Limerick, so is even more local than Irish for me!), I roast the whole FR chicken between myself and the missus and we usually have enough left-over (mostly brown meat) for a risotto/tacos the following day, not bad for €5.99.

I also like the Specially Selected Irish Angus Burgers and the steaks as mentioned by others.

I understand the reasons why I should go to the butchers, but, I still use Aldi more often mostly for convenience and it is much easier to budget with prepack. They still have a small selection of meats though so I visit the butcher once a fortnight.
 
I see on this weeks aldi leaflet, Irish Bacon from Callan Bacon, Native Isle brand or something simular, Callan Bacon process and package imported bacon - years since pigs were killed at Callan Bacon, farmers were protesting there a few years ago.

So really we are not geting Irish Bacon at all, I also know that they supply to Lidl and Superquinn amongst others.
 
I would never have bought meat in Aldi UNTIl I visited the plant that produces the Aldi meat. Its produced in the same plant as Superquinn and many others and the plant itself is very good. I would only buy the Specially Select range but they really are very good value, good standard product. When looking at the label you will see the approval number of the plant in an oval shape that is key to knowing that its Irish. The Bord Bia stamp of approval is also an excellent indicator. While Callan Meats may not kill pork on site they can ONLY use Irish meat if the Bord Bia stamp is applied to the packaging. Callan Bacon itself is a Bord Bia approved processing site so standards have to be maintained in oder to use that label. Bord Bia are very protective of that label. The great advantage with Aldi is that its a pre-priced product i.e. lb of Specially select mince is €3.49 whereas in a butcher Ia can be charged anything from €4.80 to €6.00 - in some cases this is due to the weighing of a large lb mince!
 
NHG said:
I see on this weeks aldi leaflet, Irish Bacon from Callan Bacon, Irish Isle brand or something simular, Callan Bacon process and package imported bacon - years since pigs were killed at Callan Bacon, farmers were protesting there a few years ago.

So really we are not geting Irish Bacon at all, I also know that they supply to Lidl and Superquinn amongst others.
Click to expand...

The IFA made claims against Callan Bacon and farmers protested outside the factory back in 2008 but Callan Bacon issued a statement saying..

"The majority of the bacon produced by Callan Bacon Co Ltd and supplied to the Irish retail market, is produced from Irish pork."

and

"Callan Bacon Company Ltd does not and never has imported bacon from Europe and sold it as Irish bacon. The demand for certain cuts in Ireland exceeds the supply and, therefore, some of these cuts must be imported"

and

"Callan Bacon Company Ltd sources all the pork possible from Irish factories, it imports some pork to meet the shortfall from other European pork producers."
 
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