Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Reading the tread on Aldi, makes me wonder the comparison to Winco, which is a new discount chain that recently opened in Nevada. I have tried a couple of their own brands, but did not care for them. One was individual cup mandarin oranges, and the second was individual cut apple sauce. Could be just the products I picked. There biggest claim to fame is their bulk buying in the barrels. Spices, rice, candy, dog biscuits, cereals, and anything dry that can go in a barrel. I tried their steel cut oats, but much favor the ones I have bought at Whole Foods, which don't actually cost more. I didn't taste their dog biscuits
but my dog had no objection at all.
Winco's fruits a vegetables are Much cheaper than regular markets, and so far what I tasted was good. I do have a Trader Joe's near me as well, and have been turned on to some good items there which are not all that expensive.
I'd be curious to know if any of you have a Winco in your area, and if so, if you have discovered any jewels that you might share. I want to go a few more times and explore some other possibilities. Don't know if they have any pizza's like you mention that Aldi's carries.
I drive 120 miles each way to shop at the Winco bulk bins. Well, actually, I am driving for a different reason, but while I am there, I shop at Winco.
I buy 25 pound bags of rolled old fashioned oats, 25 pound bags of brown rice, 25 pound bags of oat bran. Those are a product of a local Oregon company. Possibly the rice is grown elsewhere, but there is a rice industry in Oregon so it might be Oregon rice, and the oats are locally grown and processed.
They sell a good vanilla baking chip and I buy 10 pound blocks of chocolate. The chocolate is Callebaut brand, which is a premium brand. I see the Bob's Red Mill label on their bags of some of the grains and flours.
The bulk spices are good quality. I buy poppy seeds and cumin there. I buy coconut and tapoica pearls from the bulk bins.
The Winco that I shop at sell Oregon grown beef. Good meat, but nowhere near being cheap. The pork is good and is often on sale. Tillamook products are often on sale. I consider Tillamook to be the best over all dairy. Everything they make is good. That is an Oregon company.
The produce is acceptable quality and not cheap, but not as high as some of the other grocery chains. I was there this week and got an excellent price on dried poblano ancho peppers in the produce section. I haven't used any yet, but they smell just like they should, so I am expecting them to be good.
I buy my oriental rice noodles there.
There are the canned specials as you enter, and I look through those and buy anything that I know I will use. Prices on those specials is always really low.
They do a good turkey special at Thanksgiving, where you don't have to buy anything else to qualify for the low price.
The hot deli stuff is all good.
OP, you are in Nevada, so maybe won't be getting the same grown and processed in Oregon foods that I buy at Winco,
Aldi, meh, you're not missing anything. Mostly prepared/boxed/canned/frozen foods. Very small selection of fresh produce. Sav A Lot is ten times better.
04-03-2014, 12:41 PM
i7pXFLbhE3gq
n/a posts
It's never occurred to me that Aldi and WinCo are comparable.
WinCo is just a giant grocery store that has fairly cheap prices. Aldi is, well, not that.
I buy 25 pound bags of rolled old fashioned oats, 25 pound bags of brown rice, 25 pound bags of oat bran. Those are a product of a local Oregon company. Possibly the rice is grown elsewhere, but there is a rice industry in Oregon so it might be Oregon rice, and the oats are locally grown and processed.
im curious how much you pay for the above 25 pound bags.
Winco has been here in SoCal for a while. I resisted going in because they don't accept credit cards - debit, cash or check only - to keep costs down supposedly. I believe it's owned by the employees (Employee Stock Ownership).
Then I got a $10 coupon in the mail, LOL, so I caved in and checked them out. Oregonwoodsmoke is right in saying the entry-to-the-store aisle is where you'll find the real bargains.
If I'm driving by (and have cash available), I'll drop in to see what's on sale - the produce, the bakery, and chocolate covered raisins I've never found their meat prices to be lower than normal. Soda is never on sale.
Oh, CCc girl - the Sav-a-Lot in my area is horrible and dirty. Yellow fatty chicken. Grey fatty beef. Limp produce. ICK.
So Aldi and Winco do not appear similar at all? Is Aldi small like Trader Joe's? The only bargains that I noted at Winco were as others have noted. The sale items down the isle as you walk in, the produce and I guess some of the bulk bin food. I was hoping they had some jewels like Trader Joes does (like their double enchilada packages-very much like home made). Will have to look for that bread (with the nuts in them) that someone mentioned on another thread. I tried a couple of their coffee beans, but nothing that wowed me.
Trader Joe's have some specialty food items that are really good. They're not national brands. More like smaller companies who just produce some good food items. Like those frozen chocolate croissants or their frozen breaded eggplant.
Trader Joe's is owned by the corporate parent of Aldi which is based in Germany. In Berlin, I have seen some Trader Joe's house brand items on the shelves of Aldi markets.
Oats are about 60-80 cents a pound at my Winco, brown rice is about the same.
You must eat an awful lot of oats, or you have a very big family. How long will they last without going bad? Also, a lot of room to store stuff.
I'm trying to picture how big a 25 lb. bag of oats would be. I think the large sacks of dry dog food from Costco are around 20 lbs. Not sure on that and too lazy to get up and look.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I've never found their meat prices to be lower than normal. Soda is never on sale.
