Walmart Vs. Aldi: Which Is The Best Place To Buy Seafood? - Mashed (2024)

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ByEllie BarbeeAug. 17, 2024 1:30 pm EST

We see their storefront signs regularly as we drive about town, enticing throngs of customers with economical prices on produce, pre-packaged snacks, frozen treats, baked goods, juicy meat picks, and canned soup staples. We're referring to Walmart and Aldi — both of which are among the largest and most celebrated lower-cost grocery chains in the world. These two industry giants utilize different operating strategies to keep their costs for consumers low, making them popular stops for food shopping in the U.S. and beyond. But have you ever thought to stop in at either one of them when you're craving a plate of succulent fish?

Whether or not you realized it, both Walmart and Aldi have pretty extensive seafood selections to their name. From salmon to shrimp to scallops, both companies offer a less-expensive way to prepare for your next big seafood meal. But which of them comes out on top when it comes to the overall price, quality, sustainability, and accessibility of their fish products? Using official company websites, consumer reports, data correlation, and other relevant information, we've created a comprehensive comparison to help you decide which bargain grocer you should stop at during your next fish run. We'll explain more about our methodology at the end, but for now here is how Walmart and Aldi stack up when it comes to seafood.

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Anyone who's ever stepped foot in a Walmart Supercenter knows how extensive its aisles of canned goods, lunch-time snacks, bubbly beverages, dairy picks, or pasta sauces can be — and we're happy to report that its seafood section is no exception. Placed in close proximity to the rest of its meat in-store, Walmart's seafood selection can differ by location. Generally speaking, however, you can expect to find some packaged and fresh crustacean options, such as snow crab and raw shrimp, white fish variants like the ever-popular tilapia, oily fish such as salmon, as well as a few hefty tuna steaks.

But fresh and ready-to-be-thrown-on-the-grill seafood isn't all you'll find at the retail giant. Its frozen aisles are full of fish options that can be stored for longer periods of time, such as frozen filets of various types, as well as pre-breaded-and-fried products, like bags of fish sticks or white cod patties for sandwiches. Canned seafood like salmon, tuna, and mackerel can also be purchased for storage in your pantry, as well as one-pot crawfish boils.

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The Aldi corporation actually began in Germany in 1961, and made its debut in America 16 years later in 1976. This single location in Iowa took root quickly, and the chain grew to become one of the most beloved discount grocers in the United States. Aldi proudly reports that approximately 90% of products offered up in its stores are produced by its own in-house brands — thus allowing the company to price them at much lower rates than their standard name brand counterparts.

This rule also extends to the company's seafood products, the majority of which are marked with Aldi's signature seal. Walking up to the fish section of an Aldi supermarket, one can expect to find ample fresh salmon variants (such as Coho or Norwegian Atlantic), steelhead trout, and tilapia filets. As far as its frozen offerings go, beer-battered cod filets, fried catfish, gulf shrimp, seafood boils, as well as multiple unseasoned fish filets which can be stored in your deep freezer for cooking at a later date, are all up for grabs. Canned tuna, sardines, wild alaska pink salmon, and mackerel can also be found in its aisles of canned goods, ready to be spread on your favorite Aldi-branded crackers.

Walmart

When deciding whether Walmart or Aldi should be the supplier for your next seafood platter entrée, the number of mouths you need to feed should certainly be taken into account. This is because the two discount grocers package up their ocean picks a little differently: while Walmart tends to vacuum seal double filets or whole fish portions, Aldi generally sells mostly individual serving sizes of the same products.

Neither of these techniques is wrong — but it does make a difference for you as an individual consumer. Generally speaking, buying in bulk ends up being simpler and more economical in the long run if you need to purchase more; so if you have a large family to feed, buying one or two of Walmart's bigger fish portions may make more sense than purchasing five or six of Aldi's smaller ones in order to have enough for everyone at your table. On the other end of the equation, however, Walmart's big portions may not present the best option for those cooking for one. If you are shopping to feed mainly yourself, Aldi may be the better move from both a financial standpoint as well as a freshness one. A massive chunk of fresh fish going bad in your fridge because you couldn't eat it all in time may not be the most enjoyable experience, after all.

Aldi

Seafood is a wide-ranging term, enveloping the entirety of ocean bites like crab, lobster, cod, haddock, ray, sturgeon, crayfish, scallops, and dozens more. Walmart and Aldi's array of seafood products mirror one another fairly heavily, but there are some differences to be found — and whichever type you're craving will likely aid in determining which store is right for you.

Both Walmart and Aldi offer some of the most popular fish picks like salmon and tilapia in their cold aisles. But if you're a crustacean fan, Walmart should probably be your first stop. The retail giant offers both crab and shrimp in its fresh seafood section — options that Aldi only offers frozen, via its website. However, Aldi's salmon selection appears to blow Walmart's out of the water (pun intended). Not only does Aldi offer numerous salmon variants while Walmart appears to only offer Atlantic as a general rule, the filets themselves are praised heavily by consumers for quality and taste. One shopper on Reddit called Aldi's salmon far superior even to Costco's — high praise, as far as we're concerned. Therefore if salmon is your go-to on seafood night, Aldi might be the better place to snag some.

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The sustainability of seafood sourcing has become a hot, sometimes controversial, topic in the modern fishing industry. Ensuring that fish are caught ethically and safely, experts argue, is not only important for the fish themselves, it's also important for the consumer and the planet as a whole. Therefore, purchasing fish that are sourced using economically-safe fishing practices is on the forefront of many shoppers' minds. If you're one of them, this next fact may just swing your vote: Aldi appears to be the winner over Walmart when it comes to employing sustainable seafood practices.

According to the non-profit Greenpeace, who ranks national seafood brands according to a strict scale determined by policy, transparency, endangered species processing, and other aspects, Aldicurrently scores around 67% in its overall seafood sustainability model. While this number is, perhaps, nothing overly stellar in the grand scheme of things, it is better than Walmart's ranking. The retailer scores a 55%, which includes an abysmal note about the company's reported lack of transparency regarding its fishing methods — something which presents a major red flag for consumers trying to make informed decisions about their seafood purchases. Do with this information what you will.

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Tuna is in the top three for most popular seafood products in America, and the canned variants make a quick and convenient way to integrate more protein and extra Omega-3's into your diet. When it comes to the "best" brand of canned tuna, everyone seems to have a favorite. Between Chicken Of The Sea, Bumblebee, StarKist, or Safe Catch, you probably have a can you'll reach for over the others in the grocery store aisle. But what if the store where you're doing your shopping doesn't carry the brand of canned tuna with the flavor and texture you prefer above the rest?

This could very well be the case if you're shopping at Aldi. While the vast aisles of Walmart carry just about every tuna brand under the sun, you'll find a much narrower selection at the discount grocer. Aldi primarily offers its in-house tuna brand, Northern Catch, as well as the occasional pack of Bumblebee, consumers report — that's it. Although Northern Catch harbors relatively positive customer feedback overall, referred to as being deliciously flaky and less costly than many name brand options, switching canned tunas may not be something you're looking to do. If you've got your heart set on a specific canned fish brand, the extensive aisles of Walmart may be the place to stock up.

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It's happened to many dedicated fish-eaters over the years: the accidental swallowing of a bone. While most pin-like fish bones will pass through our bodies without issue, they do come with the slight risk of becoming lodged in the throat, causing tiny cuts and tears in the esophagus, or ripping the gastrointestinal tract due to their sharp edges. Since these nerve-wracking possibilities exist, it's best to avoid the swallowing of bones if possible — but if the fish we purchase hasn't been properly de-boned prior to sale, our chances of ingesting them go up with every mouthful.

When it comes to our two grocers in question, one may have slightly cleaner fish products in the way of bones. Complaints of hidden bones in Walmart fish products pop up relatively consistently in online forums — both on Walmart's official website as well as discussion platforms like Reddit. Aldi's products, however, appear to remain free of bony reviews, with many consumers claiming just the opposite. "I buy Aldi salmon weekly," said one consumer on a Reddit thread under Aldi's subreddit, "and have found 1-2 pin bones total in the years I've been buying." This impressive track record was upheld by dozens of other consumers on the thread — so if bones are a concern for you, you may want to consider the customer reviews from both grocers going forward.

Walmart

When fresh oven-baked salmon just isn't getting the stamp of approval you hoped it would from your kids, sometimes, a round of frozen, breaded fish sticks is just what's needed to fill their stomachs. Pre-made seafood products such as fish sticks, patties, shrimp poppers, and others can not only help with enticing more fish-wary eaters into diving in on seafood night, they can also become the basis of a quick and easy meal on a busy weekday evening.

And when it comes to finding the best selection of frozen seafood products, we've got to hand it to Walmart on this one. The sheer number of frozen seafood items at the world's leading retailer — such as its butterfly shrimp, beer-battered filets, or white fish sandwich filets, to name a few — far exceed the options to be found in Aldi's freezer section. While you'll certainly be able to find some battered filets and breaded fish sticks at your nearest Aldi location, you won't have nearly the same product or brand selection. If you don't do processed and frozen seafood very often, this more limited selection may not present much of a problem. However, if you want the freedom of choice that comes with more options, Walmart is the place for you.

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Given their similar business models, Walmart and Aldi have been compared to one another on numerous occasions, with their prices being particularly closely examined. Business and financial websites such as Aarp and Business Insider, as well as countless online consumer blogs and food publications, have made the winner of the low-price battle clear: Aldi is less expensive overall.

And this, as you might aptly surmise, extends to its seafood, as well. Although Aldi doesn't post its fish prices online — likely due to the fact that its rates vary by location — shoppers on Reddit have reinforced the grocer's lower-priced seafood status across multiple threads. However, it's worth noting that while consumers tend to hold that Aldi's standard fish prices are lower than competing stores as a general rule,the sale pricesoccasionally found at grocers like Kroger, Meijer, and yes — Walmart — can sometimes beat them out. In conclusion, Aldi will likely give you the cheapest rates the majority of the time ... but if Walmart is running a big sale in its meat and seafood department, you may just want to stop there first and see if you can bring home an even cheaper catch.

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Just as price and selection are important in determining where to stop and shop for seafood, accessibility is a major contender, as well. When it comes to a consumer in any part of the U.S. finding a nearby location to grab a pack of salmon or can of tuna, your chances are undeniably going to be better with Walmart.

With 4,612 locations to its name scattered throughout all fifty states, Walmart's presence is nearly twice as wide-reaching as Aldi's. Aldi has around half the total stores that Walmart does –2,392 in the United States — and has a concentrated presence in the Eastern half of the country. However, if you live on the Western half of the U.S., you're rather out of luck: Aldi has virtually zero locations in this part of the country. This news is a non-issue if you live in Florida, the state with the most number of Aldi grocery stores, but it may be a complete game-changer if you live in Washington state, where there is not a single one. Given this, we've got to declare Walmart the winner in this category, as its seafood is going to be easier for the largest number of shoppers to get their hands on.

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When it comes to declaring either Walmart or Aldi the overall winner of the seafood battle, the answer is rather simple: it's subjective. While you may consider Aldi to have the superior fish section after side-by-side comparison, the next reader could very well place Walmart in their own personal winner's circle. The truth is, which store is best for purchasing seafood is going to depend heavily on each shopper's individual preferences, needs, and place of residence.

Both grocers present the option of quality, cheaper seafood. But if you're cooking for yourself, prefer salmon with fewer bones, value sustainability, or live on the Eastern half of the United States, Aldi may be the winning store for you. However, if you're in a Western state, prefer a larger selection of frozen options, crave fresh shrimp or crab legs often, or are trying to feed a larger number of people, Walmart's seafood selection may be a better fit. Either way, there's no right or wrong when it comes to attempting to locate that perfect filet. Wherever you choose to shop, we wish you a flaky, flavorful fish meal.

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To develop our comprehensive comparison of Walmart and Aldi's seafood, both company's online listings were scrupulously combed side-by-side. Consumer reviews on discussion platforms such as Reddit, the grocers' official websites, and food blogs were taken into account, along with financial comparisons put out by reputable organizations such as Aarp and Business Insider. Statistical information regarding state-by-state locations were pulled from ScrapeHero, and the writer's own experiences were applied as pertinent. That being said, it's important to note that prices and products can be regional in nature, and shopper experiences may vary.