4 Disadvantages Of Buying Meat At Aldi

When it comes to getting inexpensive groceries with decent quality and good prices, Aldi is considered a good place to go. In fact, in our ranking of popular chain grocery stores for meat, Aldi finished at a respectable sixth out of 20. The chain's low prices, its superior selection over some of its closest competitors, and its sourcing of meat from regional farms are all pluses. That being said, Aldi customers have expressed a number of frustrations with the chain regarding its meat.

From quality to selection to a lack of key features found in most other chains' meat departments, customers frequently complain about buying meat at Aldi. There are also several meats you should avoid buying, with chicken and pork presenting some of the biggest issues. It's not all bad news, however. Plenty of people buy meat from Aldi and either don't experience issues or see them as minor quibbles that are hardly dealbreakers. Still, they are disadvantages to keep in mind.

Several tips for buying meat at the grocery store involve utilizing the expertise of the store's butchers, from getting their recommendations to having them carve and trim the meat to your specifications. Aldi doesn't have deli counters or butchers on site, so none of those options are available. What you see on the shelves is what you get. This means having nobody to slice your deli meats thinner, debone your chicken, or allow you to buy only the precise amount of ground beef that you need. 

To be fair, not all grocery store chains have deli counters or butchers, so this issue isn't exclusive to Aldi. But it still is a disadvantage, and it goes beyond the physical functions they perform. For instance, butchers can recommend different types of meat depending on the meal you're planning, and can tailor that recommendation to specific flavors, heat levels, dietary needs, and so on that you are looking for. Doing quick Google research on your phone as you stand in front of shelves of Aldi's prepackaged meats just doesn't compare.

Not having butchers on site at Aldi also spills over into another issue — a general lack of selection. Customers have reported having to make a second stop at a different store to get specific cuts of meat because of Aldi's limited selection. You'll generally find the basics, but beyond that, it's a roll of the dice what meats Aldi will have on any given trip, and how much of it. This might not be an issue for people who are only concerned with stocking up on ground beef, chicken breasts, or other such common staples, which are generally available at Aldi. But those looking for specific cuts of steak, a wider variety of poultry, or meats with a specific type of flavoring won't always be so lucky.

Another issue Aldi seems to struggle with is keeping an adequate amount of meat stocked. A common complaint is that people will go to Aldi to grab a specific meat that is on sale, only to find said meat to be completely sold out. One Redditor said that they don't even get their hopes up anymore when they see Aldi has meat on sale, and they don't bother trying to plan meals around them. "I just stopped meal planning based on what meat they have on sale," they wrote. "Too many letdowns. I've even had them tell me they got it in early and it was already sold out." 

There are entire Reddit threads complaining about the quality of chicken breasts from Aldi. One kicks off with the Redditor saying the chicken breasts "were very tough and stringy. I took two bites and couldn't finish it due to the texture." Others have reported that there are sometimes clear signs the chicken had been previously frozen, even when the packaging claims otherwise. 

As for pork, issues with foul odors and sliminess abound, particularly after the pork has been frozen at home and subsequently thawed. One Facebook user complained of bad experiences with both pork chops and baby back ribs from Aldi. They wrote, "I froze them as soon as I got home and when I thawed them later, they both smelled horrible, like Sulfur and were slimy."

There are ways to mitigate some of these issues. For instance, it's always wise to follow tips on how to tell if raw store-bought chicken was previously frozen before you buy it, both for purposes of freshness and because refreezing previously thawed chicken can negatively impact quality. If you just want to grab your chicken or pork without needing to look extra hard for these types of issues, maybe consider someplace other than Aldi. 

As with most grocery stores, waiting to buy meat at Aldi can be a good idea for those looking to spend less. There are typically deep discounts on meats as the expiration date approaches. You'll just want to make sure you get that about-to-expire meat cooked or frozen as soon as possible, because online chatter suggests Aldi's meats have earned a reputation for expiring right around — if not just before — the printed "use or freeze by" date.

One Redditor wrote, "My wife and I have been shopping at Aldi for years, but off and on during that time, we've had issues with almost every type of meat we buy going bad well before the expiration date on the package." They went on to say that it has happened so often they worry their Aldi store will think they are up to something if they returned all of it. Another reported, along with an accompanying photo, visible mold on their sliced ham a full three weeks before the printed expiration date.

It seems some of this is more or less prevalent depending on your particular region, with others reporting no such problems. So you might be lucky enough to never have this be an issue. Either way, proceed with caution, watch those dates, and don't hesitate to return meat from Aldi that seems questionable.