It's All My Mother's Fault
I grew up an extremely brand-conscious kid. It's all my mother's fault. I shopped with her every week from the earliest time I can remember right up through my adult years.
My mother never learned how to drive, so when I was growing up in the 1950s, my Dad, who knew little and cared less about grocery shopping, dutifully drove her to the big new “supermarket” on Saturdays. Where I came in to the picture was if she needed something in the middle of the week or in the middle of the day when Dad wasn't home. In that case she would call the little neighborhood grocer about five blocks down the street and have him pack up her order. (Yes, grocery stores did that sort of thing in those days.) Then she would dispatch five-year-old me and my little red wagon to go to the store and pick it up. Today that would be called child endangerment or something. Back then it was called “normal.” The grocer always knew what brands to pack in my mom's order. Her well-deserved reputation as the queen of picky shoppers preceded her.
Well, Dad died soon after I turned six and unless we could beg a ride to the grocery store with a friend or relative, it was just Mom and me and the wagon. I later traded the wagon for a bicycle and eventually for a car, but, one way or another, I went grocery shopping with my mother nearly every week for the rest of her life. And along the way I picked up all her shopping quirks and eccentricities, including her most notorious foible; brand consciousness.
I'm not exaggerating when I say that Mom would have sooner starved than let a store-branded or off-branded product pass her lips. Those canned peas had better be Green Giant Le Sueur peas or straight back to the store they went. Boxed macaroni and cheese was okay, but only if it was Kraft. Nothing else ever even made it into the cart. It was Land o' Lakes butter or nothing. Generic cereals? Perish the thought! Only Kellogg's, Post, or General Mills cereals needed apply for residence in my mother's pantry. Birdseye, Swanson and Stouffer's were all acceptable frozen choices, but don't you dare drop some cheap, off-brand TV dinner in there.
Intellectually I knew there was nothing whatsoever “wrong” with store brands. In fact, in most cases store brands are processed and packaged by the same companies that produce the ones with the famous labels. But functionally I was my mother's son and so I avoided “cheap” store/generic brands like the plague. And stores that specialized in “discount” foods were also shunned. I only shopped at high-end stores and I only bought high-end brands.
And then ALDI came to town.
Founded in Germany in 1961 by the Albrecht family, ALDI – short for Albrecht-Diskont – bills itself as the world's first grocery discounter. It opened its first US store in Iowa in 1976, built on the company's core premise that “great quality shouldn’t come at a high price; rather, great quality should come with everyday low prices.” And to achieve and maintain those everyday low prices, you won't find hardly a familiar “name brand” in any ALDI store. Oh, there might be a smattering of “real” Coca-Cola or actual Cheerios rather than some knockoffs, but such are the exception rather than the rule. Consequently, up until quite recently, my rule was that you would never find me in an ALDI store. In fact, years ago I frequently wrote articles in this space denigrating “cheap,” “low-quality” food products in general and ALDI stores in specific. I looked down my nose at friends and relatives who shopped there and actually pitied them for not knowing any better. I was, you might say, an ALDI snob.
I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks and overcome a lifetime of learned prejudice. After at least twenty-five years of sneering at ALDI I now find myself shopping there whenever I'm in the neighborhood. And that neighborhood is expanding: ALDI expects to have around 2,500 stores in the US by 2022.
Now, that's not to say that I no longer shop at Publix or Kroger or Harris-Teeter. No, those are still my go-to stores for most things because I still believe that quality counts and high-end stores still provide the most consistently high-quality products. Unlike my ultra-finicky mother, though, I have at least tried store brands and off brands from time to time and I have frequently found them lacking. Usually it's a funky texture or too much sugar or not enough salt or something that affects the taste and overall quality. Just because they come off the same production lines as the fancy brands doesn't mean they're always the same grade. There is a reason why they're so much cheaper, you know.
It's not always true: for instance, I have found very few Publix-branded products that I don't like. But by and large I still tend to stick with the familiar brands I grew up with. And I definitely didn't grow up with any of the brands that populate ALDI shelves, so I still generally shy away from them. Again, not that I haven't tried them. I recently took a chance on a bag of their “Clancy's” brand knockoff of Baked Lays potato chips. Meh. Not so much. They're....okay, but they'll never replace the original in my pantry. And I was equally underwhelmed by some of their other snack offerings. On the other hand, their “Millville” replica of Kellogg's Rice Krispies is dead on. My wife actually prefers some of their cereals, and they carry a thin mint cookie that would make a Girl Scout weep. So it's kind of a crap shoot.
ALDI has this to say about its “exclusive” brands: “More than 90 percent of what you find in our stores is exclusive brand product. Tested in the ALDI Test Kitchen, these products taste the same or better than national brands and are backed by our Double Guarantee. If you’re not 100 percent satisfied, bring it back. We’ll replace the product AND refund your money.” Okay, if you say so. Maybe I'll be swayed someday. But not quite yet.
No, what I really shop for at ALDI are the “perimeter products.” These are the things you find around the perimeter walls of most grocery stores: the produce, the meats, the dairy products, and the frozen foods. This is where ALDI really shines. When it comes to milk, butter, eggs, cheese, etc. nobody can touch ALDI for either price or quality. Same goes for their meat. They have absolutely unbelievable prices on some of the best quality cuts of meat I've seen anywhere outside a butcher shop. The seafood selection is equally good and I've picked up some killer frozen entrees and ice creams at killer prices. They don't have the biggest produce section in the world but what they carry is good stuff and their breads are surprisingly good for store-bought product, which I usually eschew in favor of my own home-baked fare.
And I love the little hidden jewels I occasionally find. Since ALDI is European-based, there are a boatload of European products lining the shelves. The European chocolates you'll find at ALDI are to die for at a price that won't kill you. A particular favorite of mine is a DOP Sicilian olive oil that easily rivals the best “high-end” product I've ever used, and it's dirt cheap. Less than half of what the brand name stuff costs and every bit as good if not better. In fact, ALDI carries lots of DOP/PDO (Denominazione di Origine Protetta/Protected Designation of Origin) products that are rarely found outside expensive specialty shops, a real bonus for any Italian cook.
And one other plus: ALDI has so much good junk to plunder through. They have an aisle devoted to “home goods” and apparel and such. I bought some socks for my wife at a price Walmart couldn't touch. It's really nuts some of the things you can find there. But stock rotates quickly, so buy it when you see it 'cause it probably won't be there tomorrow.
Alright, I'll admit it; I was wrong about ALDI. And their German cousin, Lidl, too. You may not want to do all of your shopping there, because the stores are deliberately small and the selection purposely limited. It's part of the chain's cost-cutting business model. It's a bare-bones, no-frills shopping experience right down to bagging your own groceries in your own bags. And you've probably heard about the quarter for a shopping cart thing, right? The shopping carts are all chain-locked together and you have to insert a quarter into a slot to unlock a cart. Of course, you get your money back when you return the cart to the chain gang. That's the way the store saves by not having to pay some kid to constantly round up carts in the parking lot. It's all very austere and functional, but if you're the kind of shopper who doesn't mind looking around a bit for good finds at good prices, ALDI is a must stop.
Excuse me, now. I have to go prepare a dish of crow and some humble pie. I wonder if I can get the ingredients at ALDI?
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