Aldi Vs Walmart: Where Should You Buy Spinach?

When it comes to discounts on groceries and home staples, shoppers can't beat the prices at Aldi and Walmart. This is especially true when it comes to produce, which is notoriously expensive at many other grocery chains. Bagged spinach is one versatile kitchen essential that goes great in salads, dips, and smoothies. As for who offers the best deal on bagged spinach, it appears that Aldi comes out on top.

Shoppers can score an 8-ounce bag of Little Salad Bar flat-leaf spinach on the Aldi website for just $1.45 (which amounts to about $.18 per ounce). On the Walmart website, the chain's Marketside fresh spinach costs $1.98 for a 10-ounce bag, which comes to about $.20 per ounce. Bear in mind that prices usually vary from location to location, which means these figures might not apply to every single shopper. Also, you do get two ounces more when purchasing Walmart spinach, although the Marketside brand still costs more per ounce. As for quality, customers at both stores have had mixed experiences with bagged spinach.

As shared on Reddit, an Aldi customer got quite a surprise upon finding a grasshopper in their bagged spinach. However, it's not uncommon to find critters in produce, as explained by one commenter. "This can happen anywhere with any producer. It doesn't matter if the brand name is Aldi or Trader Joe's or Safeway or Whole Foods," the person stated, and other Aldi customers shared similar experiences. According to a shopper, "Haha, I got a ladybug in my spinach bag once." Also, many people took the grasshopper as a good sign, as it indicated that produce was not treated with harsh pesticides.

Another Reddit thread featured a more sinister addition in a bag of Aldi spinach. The accompanying photo showed what appeared to be insect eggs clinging to a piece of spinach, which had commenters reeling. As stated by one person, "I would have a straight up panic attack finding that. Even looking at this picture makes me squirmish [sic] and itchy." While no one wants to find evidence of insects in their produce, you can always take advantage of Aldi's generous return policy, which provides a refund and a replacement for unsatisfactory products.

Showing that no manufacturer is immune from including bugs in its produce, a Redditor shared a video of some sort of insect crawling around inside a bag of spinach. It wasn't entirely clear what type of insect had made its way into the bag (although it definitely resembled a fly). As with Aldi, bugs in produce are a natural occurrence, one that can't always be avoided. However, Walmart has also faced more serious allegations regarding its spinach quality.

For instance, a Walmart customer on Reddit claimed to have received "expired" spinach in a delivery. Upon closer inspection, it appears that the bag was past its best-by date, but the customer was still a bit agitated. As the person explained, "Would prefer to have food that isn't already past a best buy date, especially for a pound of vegetables (might be hard to get through all of it before it starts browning)." Another Walmart shopper on Reddit also had concerns about the best-by date, although they'd actually picked up their bag in-store. After cooking the spinach, which was one day past the best-by date, the shopper found a small amount of a "slimy white substance" on some of the leaves. These occurrences show that quality fluctuations are common, no matter where you shop.

Daily Meal strives to provide accurate, useful information to our readers. The price comparison for the Aldi and Walmart spinach was taken from the stores' respective websites, with the caveat that prices often vary depending on location. As for the quality of each product, this information is taken from posts and comments featured on social media sites.