OT Aldi

[Theo Markettos]

I suspect the actual provenance of the oil depends on what was cheap this week, and so it isn't practical to individually label the mixes. But 'Bottled in Italy, a blend of EU and non-EU oils' or something is better than 'Produce of Italy'. I think the Co-op do this - saying something like 'there's a 40% chance this came from Spain, a 30% chance from Greece and a

30% chance from Italy' but I don't know how often these labels get updated.

Ah, didn't consider such advanced tricks. I suppose at £7/litre forgery is worth it.

So essentially the good stuff never makes it out of Italy?

Here's a bottle of Aldi oil, think it was about £3 for 500ml (so not the

2.25 for 750ml stuff):

Specially Selected Italian Extra Virgin Olive Oil [EU Protected Designation of Origin mark] Terra di Bari Bitonto Superior Category Olive Oil obtained directly from Olives and solely by mechanical means Garantito dal Ministero delle Politche Agricole, Alimentari e Forestali ai sensi dell'articolo 10 del regolamento (CE) 510/2006. Bottling plant: Medsol srl.; Viale A. Olivetti 37, Zona ASI, 70056 Molfetta (BA), Italy, COD. OP. BATB1696 The usual Aldi address [so it's their own brand not a 'special buy']

Is that sufficient to ensure it's Italian oil? Obviously bottled in Italy, but does the PDoO mark ensure the provenance of the oil itself?

Fair point. EVOO is acidity < 0.7% (I think) + mechanical pressing. I think the figure is something like 70% of production is EVOO, so anything that fails is already scraping the barrel.

I assume this is the stuff we see in Sainsbury's etc as 'mild olive oil'? I can't see EVOO that fails the acidity test being rated as 'mild'.

Theo

[Theo Markettos]

Just found a bottle of the £2.25/750ml Aldi EVOO and it says exactly that: "A blend of oils of European Union origin". That means it's likely to be Greece/Italy/Spain/Portugal/maybe France and Cyprus. It's decent enough quality for everyday use.

Theo

[Man at B&Q]

Watch out for this

[The Natural Philosopher]

You forgot Britain German Polish and Czechoslovakian rape seed oil

It's decent enough

[Tim Streater]

Aldi do that, do they? So far I've tries Tesco, Waitrose, Sainsbury and Morrisons Strawb Crunch. Tesco's is streets better than anyone else's.

[alan]

I use the small laundry bags which hold about twice as much as a carrier bag and last 2 or 3 years before starting to fall apart.

[alan]

But the Aldi olive oil is the top quality - they don't have a x10 mark-up on it.

[Tim+]

Hmmm. I reckon it's a short step from a bag like that to a wheeled shopping cart and sheepskin booties. ;-)

Tim

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Do you want to look like you can't afford a washing machine? ;-)

[Steve Firth]

[Steve Firth]

Do you find yourself, as I find myself, smirking slightly at the sight of the numerous chavettes wandering around around in summer wearing sheepskin booties because they saw some WAG wearing the same boots in the winter? OK, so they don't have the zip up the front, but they're not

*that* far from what my granny used to wear.

I wonder how many of them have red flannel vests and knickers that go down to the knee to complete "the look"?

[Dave Liquorice]

Meh. Only in this country. In many other places that bag is ubiqutious and used for carrying anything from laundry to chickens. How they manage to move the larger sizes I don't know, the larger ones are 3 x 4 x 2 feet....

Jenny Agutter.

[Andrew Gabriel]

So a check over the last few weeks shows each carrier bag gets reused

2 - 3 times for shopping, before becoming the kitchen bin-liner. The only bag which was thrown away was one which was used 4 times and something cut a long slit in it, making it unusable as a bin- liner.

So I'm now quite happy that the bag wastage in this household is nothing, the only one having been thrown away due to being reused too many times before becoming the bin liner.

The kitchen bin came from Woolworths many (10?) years ago, and is a pedal bin which is designed to use carrier bags as bin liners, so I never buy bin liners.

We have a little cubby-hole (meant to take a wine bottle) into which the plastic bags get stuffed, and fished out when going shopping or when needing a bin-liner. When it's almost empty, you don't take any for shopping, and that's how equalibrium is maintained. It's worked very well since buying the kitchen bin designed to take plastic bags as bin-liners, and we've never needed to buy bin-liners.

[PeterC]

Mine get used for months and then the wear on them inside the panniers borks them, but these are the heavier ones (not 'bag for life' - they're too bulky). My bags are sourced from my neighbour's shed as she always forgets to take any, so my actual take of new bags is limited to 2 or 3 a year.

I don't use a bin-liner as nothing messy (on the outside) ever goes in the bin.

Mine is a large plastic waste-bin, 99p from a local garage and just on the limit for getting the bottom quarter into a large pannier and strapping it in. Had it about 20 years. (your bid).

Yup, a little bit of management and bags 'rattling down' the system produces very little waste.