Aldi Fruits and Veggies

I've had hits and misses, sometimes within the same shopping trip. My strawberries went bad very quickly, but my pears were quite good. My blackberries were a bit mushy, but I didn't mind because I was mushing them onto my waffles anyway.

Aldi and Price Rite sell there stuff cheap because the items are closer to their expiration dates than the "bigger" stores. For fruits and veggies, you'll have to shop more frequently than the big stores -- but the savings makes it worth it!

This. The items are just closer to expiration, so you have to use them faster.

Does anyone else shop here?

They are crazy cheap for their fruits and veggies. I recently went and got a pint of strawberries for .99 cents, an 8 oz container of mushrooms for $1, a bag of spinach for $1. However, I seem to notice they go bad VERY quickly! I got this stuff on Tuesday and the I just checked the mushrooms, they have like disintegrated, very watery and mushy. I went to use the strawberries and they are all soft and getting spots on them. My spinach at the bottom is already wilting and getting watery. Anyone else have this problem? I can buy produce at Walmart, Sweetbay (Hannaford), or Publix and it lasts twice as long if not longer.

What gives?

You get what you pay for BUT, I like discount foods if they are to be eaten immediately or red tagged meats, I will freeze. We bought a freezer just for discounted meats.

I shop at Aldi all the time, and don't have a problem with their produce. I've found that on the rare occassion that I do have an issue, it was because of the way I was storing it or cleaning it. Once I changed my methods, I haven't had a problem.

I shop there as well, it's a hit or miss. However, there's definitely something weird about fresh foods in the US. In the US I usually shopped for a week or two and I can't remember a time when my fruits and vegetables went bad in my refrigerator. However, here in Switzerland, I find the fruits and vegetables from the major supermarkets go bad at about the same rate as the ones from Aldi.

I don't shop there, just because I'm not a fan of their products in general. BUT a friend of mine shops there and she said she wasn't a fan of Aldi's produce, because like you said it just doesn't last very long at all, then she started to wash it in 10 parts water 1 part vinager and it lasts a lot longer.

I shop at Aldi all the time! They keep everything in super cold storage (near freezing) for lord knows how long. And a cashier told me that it's all distributed out of Illinois, regardless of whether those strawberries would be closer being directly shipped from Florida to North Carolina. So the produce is closer to expiration date by the time it gets to the store. But things move super quickly off the shelves here in Charlotte, NC. I find their apples and oranges, spinach and romaine hearts are better than my local chain grocery stores. There is another store called Compare Foods in my area that I love. It caters to the Latino community primarily and there is fabulous variety - and cheap, cheap prices! For instance, a bunch of cilantro (which I put in my ReBoot juice) at the other store is 2.99/bunch and at Compare you get 3 big bunches for 99 cents! If you're in an area that has a "world" foods market/grocery, look there and see if they have better produce prices or just a change from run-of-the-mill boring produce. Asian apple/pears and pomegranates don't cost as much there!!! I try to buy organic when I can, so I have a Costco membership that helps a bit with that. But I think eating more fruits and veggies PERIOD is better than chips and cookies!