Our review of the beef stew that you can buy at your local ALDI stores. We are talking about the raw beef that you turn into stew. Is it good? Is it a good value? We will also cost out how much it would be to make the whole stew from ALDI ingredients.
One of my goals when shopping at ALDI is to find ingredients that are cheap but still can produce tasty results.
I think they do have a lot of good cheese at a good price. My wife loves their frozen sausage patties to make English muffin sandwiches with in the morning. It's hard not to eat an entire container of their cocoa dusted chocolate truffles!
But what about their meat selection. I have been trying some different things out. Early we wrote about their grass fed steaks and how if you find some with some decent marbling they are delicious. Today, we are looking at their beef stew meat. How does it measure up?
💲 Price
How much does the stew meat at ALDI cost. In January 2023, I found a package of beef stew meat going for $5.29/lb for Choice Angus Beef. I would say this is on par with a lot of stores. Not really cheaper.
When you buy stew meat, you don't get info on exactly where the meat is coming from on the cow, but it's going to be tough meat that can be delish but will need to be cooked long enough to make it tender.
RELATED - What's the Difference Between Beef Stew and Pot Roast?
⭐ Review
The meat was good. When cooked right it comes out delicious. No different in quality that I would get at a standard grocery store. I compared it to Publix premium Greenwise brand stew meat that I paid $7.49 a pound for. I did the Greenwise was better, but that doesn't mean the ALDI meat still didn't produce a delicious stew at a cheaper price.
One downside for me is that the meat comes sealed in a vacuum sealed bag. That means there is no where for any excess liquid to go. In a styrofoam or plastic container there is a pad inside to soak up excess liquid.
The reason why I am bringing this up is part of the process of cooking the beef is that you want to brown the meat first for extra flavor. If the meat has too much liquid in it will take longer to brown.
💡 Top Tips
Before browning the meat - pat the meat dry before you put it in the pan. Make sure if you have any liquid in the packaging that it doesn't go with the meat when you brown it. Also you may need to wait longer to boil off any liquid that is released when you cook the meat. Be patient and you can still brown the meat nicely before you get your stew going.
Once browned remove the meat and add a little bit of whatever your cooking liquid will be and scrub all the brown of the bottom of the pot. This will help flavor the liquid you are cooking your meat in. And it cleans the pot for you. It's a two for one.
🙋 What Does Black Angus Mean?
The stew meat from ALDI is labelled as Black Angus. This is a type of cow. Is their meat guaranteed to be better than meat from another type of cow? I am haven't been able to really tell the difference. I can tell when the meat comes from truly grass fed cows.
Angus has become a marketing term meant to grab our attention. It's certainly not anything rare. From my experience I am not sold on it being any better. It's definitely not any worse.
The key word to recognize on ALDI Beef Stew is USDA Choice. It's meets the qualities to be considered choice beef, which is ahead of select. It's not the cheapest quality but the most common. If you buy select you are getting the bottom of the barrel in terms of quality.
🥔 Vegetables
It wouldn't be beef stew without vegetables. Potatoes and carrots are the most common but not your only choice.
RELATED - What Vegetables Go in Beef Stew
For potatoes you can go with red or yellow potatoes that you cut into chunks. I like to use the bags of medley potatoes or baby dutch yellow potatoes you can get at ALDI. The skins are thinner are the smaller potatoes, so I don't think you need to peel them. If they are small enough you could leave them whole, or just slice them in half if more than bite sized. They go for around $3.29 for 24oz bag.
You can use either baby carrots (cost around 99 cents a bag) or whole carrots (around $1.79 for 3 pounds) that you cut up. I think the whole carrots are going to have more flavor and they are a better value. Go with them.
Other veggies you could include if you like that you can get at ALDI include - celery. frozen corn, frozen peas, and onions.
💰 Final Cost
Let's add up how much it will cost to make your a beef stew with potatoes and carrots along with some beef broth. These prices are accurate as of the publishing of the blog post. May vary.
| Beef Stew | $5.29 for 1 pound |
| Medley Potatoes | $3.29 for 1 bag |
| Carrots | $1.79 for 3 lb bag |
| Beef Broth | $1.75 for 1 quart |
This doesn't include other seasonings like salt, pepper, and other spices. I prefer to source those elsewhere. Although one of my secret ingredients is using Worcestershire sauce. A little bit will add depth to the flavor of your stew. ALDI carries it. The last tie I checked it was 99 cents for a bottle, but it's been a while. Price may have gone up. It's worth having on hand to finish off a stew or a different soup.
💲 Total Cost = $12.12
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