American week at Aldi Süd, July 2-9, 2009 - Germany

Hello TT,

Just stopped by the Aldi's by my "crib" lol, and they have "American" week going on. I think it should be the same at every Aldi's around the area, so be sure to check it out. They dont' have much but they have hotdogs, peanut butter, bagels, sandwhich maker (cheap for only 8.99), jelly beans, BBQ Ketchup, and a few other thing. Do not expect to find name brand American products, it's not gonna happen.

Well anyway I just thought I'd share this information with anyone that might be interested.

Edeka at the Munich airport has lots of American products. Actual real ones plus a lot of other good stuff. I just bought Wishbone Blue Cheese dressing there and cheese whiz and ...

you got a link?, are they selling any relish?.

I really need to get my hands on some ranch dressing, I love ranch and they don't seem to have it here.

I was just there no Ranch, and no relish.

However I have found relish at Marktkauf. No where else yet unfortioanly. And only seen Ranch online. I have my family send me the seasoning mixes and mix it up myself.

However, as far as the aldi sale.

Hubby ate the forzen spare ribs and loved them

I bought the frozen tortilla wraps in chicken fajhita flavor and loved it I will have to go back for more, even better than lidl's

I also grabbed tortillas, bagels, peanut butter, ketchup mayo mix, blueberry muffins, hotdog buns, hotdogs, and cranberry juice. ( I will post feedback after they are consumed)

All items are listed on the sight including a donut maker, plus a variety of more food items.

Anyone ever found onion or blueberry bagels by any freak chance?

Link
American food sale

Nice one, cheers.

lol I forgot to look in the frozen section, I guess i'm going to have to do that tomorrow. were the ribs pork ribs? Why is it that every meet here seems to have pork in it, I do not eat pork and it's so tough to find good meat food outside of my house that do not have pork in it.

Alex by the Hauptmarkt has some great burgers, just though I'd throw that in. I know someone at the AIEO yesterday was asking about burgers, and I forgot about mentioning Alex's... This is in Nurnberg.

I do not know the website for Aldi's but i'm sure if you google it you might find it.

Frau Expaticus brought home spare ribs, tortilla wraps, pancake mix, cranberry juice, "popcorn shrimps" [sic], cookies & cream ice cream and some other stuff. Cases of it. There's a big box staged for the recycling center that says "Tortilla Wraps nach original amerikanischen Rezept" which is interesting because I always thought tortillas were originally from Mexico.

I must admit, in general the stuff isn't bad (as with all condiments and juices in Germany, leaning too much to the sweet side), but we had a bit of a row when I complained that I'm going to have to completely rearrange the pantry again and delivered my "why should Albrecht Discount's profit margins be inflated even more by them creating artificially contrived scarcity and outsourcing their warehousing and financing costs to 40 million german households?" speech, which went over like a bowl of sick.

Still, I fully expect at least 30% to end up with dust on top and get pitched in 2012 when we once again play the annual "what's that smell in the pantry?" game.

For sale on TT: Half a case of faded jarred balled mellons and 25 packs of asian noodles from some long-forgotten "Asia Week" with expiration dates from Bush II Term I.

I just checked the box and spare ribs do have pork as the first listed ingredient.

Not sure about the steaks though.

I forgot they have popcorn shrimp too.

yeah pork everywhere...OMG i'm watching CNN's exclusive video tape of Micheal Jackson's last rehearsal and it's just giving me chills. He would have done such a wonderful job on this tour and would have been LEGEN "wait for it" DARY. I really miss MJ wow this guy had so much talent. I'm still in mourning. Ok sorry for going off topic

lol I wonder if any of this stuff is actually from America lol seems like it's all German made.

You purposefully try and avoid anything to do with Jackson and his name pops up on a thread about Aldi Food. FFS.

I moved the topic to another section as it's actually available anywhere there is an Aldi Sud.

Doesn't appear on the Nord site.

Only aldi sud and of course german made.

Aldo Nord's sale was a week or two ago.

Wishbone ranch dressing can sometimes be found in really big Karstadt food halls, so might be worth a look.
You could have a go at making the stuff though. It's an absolute fat bomb... actually reading the various recipes I'm almost wondering if you could make a ranch-a-like by adding mayo and/or creme fraiche to a bottled buttermilk/yoghurt dressing? But to be honest I don't like ranch enough to try, sorry.

I actually had the "American" spare ribs for lunch today...

They (whatever German company is hocking their food as American) really need to step it up a notch, they absolutely sucked. No flavor, bland as a bean .. despite being labelled as 'bbq' but easy enough to warm heating only a few minutes in the oven.

I won't get fooled again and plan on sticking to 1) the real deal when i do take a fly over or 2) just be happy i have a father in law that kills at grilling and who makes a dry meat dressing to die for.

Shame on Aldi for promoting this stuff as American ... do they not realize Americans actually enjoy a host of exotic seasonings to taste ... take the hint.

Take a while. Think about it. You're an X living in Y. Y tend to like bland food and seller of food to Y want to sell lots of cheap food. Do they pander to X or Y?

Pissing off a couple of X probably doesn't concern them too much.

And I've eaten what you guys laughingly call 'British' fish and chips. Not fighting from a position of strength there.

You are right PAS it would be awesome if they sold MC Hammer CDS.

Like this?

Fair enough ... if your intention is not to pander to non-germans. Why on earth wouldn't Americans want to buy American foods in Germany??!?
So if you're planning on slapping a red, white and blue flag on the package ... also make the effort to represent it properly. I'm actually embrassed that anyone eating that crap would think it has anything to do with American food fare.

Can't tell you about the 'fish & chips' Pas, but i have tasted numerous international cuisine and I didn't have to travel to those countries to get a taste of the real deal.
It could have also been promoted as NO-FRILLS ... you know, the "I'm-not-sure-about-the-origin-but-it's-cheap-so-lets-buy-it" brand label.
The 'american' thing is just insulting. In any case ... that's my take on Aldi "American" week.

Can we extend this to putting corn and/or pineapple on pizza? Or raw cucumbers in sandwiches that aren't cucumber sandwiches? WTF did that come from?

It's like that old joke that the british must design shoes by only looking at pictures of people's feet.

The first time I came across Pizza with pineapple was in Canada about 30 years ago.

the point is not whether they do or don't but that there are so few of them in Germany that they are not a demographic that Aldi are targeting. Simply put, they aren't important enough.

My husband loved them, but he is German, so the Germanized version would have appealed to him. I did not try them, as I am not to fond of meat on the bone.

I did try the rib sandwiches that lidl had last week. I liked them. They reminded me of the TV dinner mystery meat. Which is obviously not everyones taste. But I love TV dinners, grew up on them (unhealthy I know), so didn't phase me much.

I am still dreaming of one day coming across fried chicken and buffalo sauce

I see your point of view, but we as American are just as hypercritical. Do you think our American chinese or even American Thai food is traditional. How about Tex Mex? Far from it. While we do have many traditional restaurants as well, the majority are created for the American palate. The same is true here.

Never, ever go to Australia. Pineapple pizza (and burger) heaven.

Serenajean1 makes an excellent point. Chicken chow mein anyone?


So, my gourmet meal last night was, as follows:

1) A glass of the cranberry juice. As usual, a touch too sweet, but drinkable. If I drank spirits, I would have thought adding vodka and a slice of lime to make a cape codder would improve it immensely.

2) A tortilla wrap. Cheese, tomato and some mild spices. Not bad at all.

3) Five "Popcorn Shrimps" [sic]. These are not popcorn shrimp, which are supposed to be small/tiny little breaded deep-fried calorie bombs served by the hundreds ... they're sort of Chicken Wings of The Sea, devised by chain restaurants to make use of stuff that would've formerly been thrown out. The Aldi version is a chinese takeout-style paper carton containing 10 medium-sized farmed shrimp with an asian-style batter. Frau Expaticus baked five in the convection oven, and I bachelor-microwaved five, thinking it would have a more steamed effect. My daughter preferred the latter over the former, and I agreed; not bad. The duck sauce that comes with it is excreable, perhaps suitable as automotive transmission fluid, but unfit for human consumption.

We've had the pancakes before, and they're quite authentic and tasty ... it's pretty tough to mess up pancakes. I try not to eat sweets, so I haven't tried the ice cream. I'm still waiting to crisp up the spareribs on the grill this weekend; I looked at the pack and read this thread, and am already managing down my expectations accordingly. I'm off to a 4th of July event this evening which usually has the real thing, so we'll have solid basis for comparison.

They didn't seem to have shelled pecans this time. Bummer.

Ouch, I will take the compliment and overlook the name murder lol.


Maybe in development, but easily done through user error. I suck at making pancakes. Omlettes as well. I cant grasp the whole flipping concept.

I edited your name. No offense intended.

The nifty thing about the pancake things from Aldi is that they come in plastic bottles with enough room left at the top to add just the right amount of water you need, shake it up and pour perfect batter straight onto the skillet. Perhaps the fact that this seems to be a colossal waste of packaging materials versus their normal standards or the cardboard box the mix comes in in the states means that they can only sell this if they can plausibly claim it's part of it's "authentic american-ness" or something.

Flipping tip: Use a butter stick wrapper ar spray in a bit of Product of Arthur Meyerhoff ... uh, wait, you can't do either of those things here ... so, put in a dollop of butter and grease the pan, trying not to scratch off the non-stick coating with the knife. Then watch the top and wait for it to develop holes that look like the surface of the moon. Use a spatula to flip or, especially if there are easily-entertained children hanging about, grab the griddle handle and, using a deft flick of the wrist, flip the flapjack over to deafening applause.

See I wait for bubbles, but I think not enough because when i flip liquid of the top starts spewing over creating a malformed pancake.

Picked up some items today as part of my walk. The ribs just look scary.

Well, stands to reason that if you grew up on TV dinners, then cooking must be a challenge. I was going to suggest making your own relish but I think I'll forget about that idea. But practice makes perfect so give it a go.

I picked up some items yesterday, in addition to the mysterious "American Sauce". Was a bit wary at first, but extremely interested to figure out exactly what this sauce is supposed to be... tastes very similar to mustard, mayo and some spices mixed together. Not too bad, although I can't figure out any "Amercian Sauce" to compare it to!

Well spotted.

Exactly the one!

I'm pretty certain there are more Americans in Germany than you give credit too (military and non-military alike) ...
However, since I was initally disappointed, it is indeed buyer beware when it comes to these "specials", it's not what you might assume.
It comes down to Germany's interpetation of what Americans eat.
And it just doesn't measure up, is all i'm saying, as an American.

I was raised by a single mother with a disability so not much chance for cooking lessons.

I give her credit for how well she did under the circumstances.

The military dependents DO NOT have to buy off base. The Comm is cheaper, wider selecting, and local on base so that demographic is not an influence to off base sellers. So just relax and allow us to enjoy our misery ha ha. And ye we all know that it is fake american stuff... c'mon man give us some credit.

That's all well and good ...
If you go to the corner low priced Chinese store on anystreet America and order chicken and rice .. you know what you're getting is junk.
If you go to a fine dining cultural establishment you know you're getting orginal quality.

There is a difference, just pointing it out now that I know better after my purchase.
Aldi's the corner discount store on my block. Get what I mean.
It has it's moments, this American special just happens to not be one of them, imo.

How many military personnel do you really think shop at Aldi?

It doesn't just come down to interpretation. Aldi's concept is cheap cheap cheap cheap. They not be able to charge the premium price required for sourcing anything remotely authentic so they wouldn't make a profit. All they doing is coming up with a flashy marketing gag and sourcing some vaguely americanesque crap in the hope to cash in gullible consumers. They aren't trying to educate the German palate in American cuisine and they aren't targeting American nationals living in Germany.

use your noggin for god's sake.

Sure Germans hate American food. That is why there are so many Mickey D's, Burger Kings and KFC's all over the place.

I would like to ask, EX, does the cranberry juice have added sugar? If not, I will go to Aldi and stock up.

I think that Hit sells the best fresh pork short ribs au natural. You can have your way with them. The prepared ones always have too much sodium.

In all cases the fast food is better in Germany than in the US though. I'm soooo disappointed when I go to KFC in the US.

I say that depends for I find that fast food in smaller towns are better than say in larger towns.

OK, the big ones. I find the same with the UK. McDonalds chicken nuggets actually contain chicken here which unlike the UK or US, for example. I spend waaay too much time in fast food joints though...

from which post did you interpret that?

Well when I was on the road this past spring I had so many things I wanted to retry. When I was in Texas Whataburger, Sonics, and Chick fila where my targets for fast food. It was disaapointing because a lot has changed since I left school so many years ago. Things have been cheapened and more bland. I did enjoy them but the sensation was gone which only augmented my idea that nothing can surpass the imagination of my memories.

Where the hell are all the KFC's? I have never seen one.

I am saving myself for tacobell, its only a matter of time before its here too.

As to german fast food being better. Meat quality yes. But they murder the specialty or themed sandwiches. They pinch on condiments. What ever happened to the big mac dripping in sauce? Mine has like a teaspoon of sauce here.

Also I have heard KFC is horrible here and that they sell burgers and hotdogs, not the traditional chicken and fixings.

What makes you think i'm not cool on the whole thing? must i use (these) to show that i'm taking it all lightly...


Is that a rhetorical question? or are you actually expecting an answer?
We're on the same page Owain, it's not like I disagree with anything you stated, except that little thing about using a noggin...

KFC are expanding quite a bit around Munich. At least 4 places now. At one of them you even get plates , knives and forks. Proper like.

Perdido, when I was in the US with Leeza we had a great time. I just stayed clear of McDs. BK and KFC. The lack of variety here is frustrating.

you mean you#d rather not use your noggin before posting

OG,

The post you made about the demographics is one comment that prompted my statement. Sure, Americans aren't prevalent here and Aldi and other businesses target the Germans and other locals. I agree. As it turns out, many Germans and others like American stuff.