Beef jerky is one of those things you either like or don’t like. If you do like it, you appreciate that seasoned taste and that tough-but-not-too-tough texture … and you probably prefer to take your jerky while sitting on a tree stump or in front of a roaring campfire. (Or maybe just at your dining room table.) Regardless, one of the problems with beef jerky is that it’s a bit expensive.
Cue Aldi.
Simms Beef Jerky comes in three flavors: original, peppered, and teriyaki. We tried out the original …
… as well as the peppered.
Simms Beef Jerky comes in 2.85-ounce bags. In our minds, they should probably be 3-ounce bags, which leads us to suspect the jerky is a victim of the rampant product shrinking common to grocer products these days. In our area the jerky costs $3.29, or about $1.15 per ounce. Given that most name brand beef jerky around here runs between $1.08 and $1.25 per ounce, the Aldi beef jerky isn’t really any cheaper than what you can get elsewhere. Aldi jerky does have the virtue of offering that price per ounce for a smaller pack — we’d have to pay more overall for the larger pack at other grocers to get the same price per ounce — but it’s still too bad Aldi can’t compete better with name brand per ounce pricing in this particular case.
There’s a silver lining, though: this tastes as good as any name brand jerky. The jerky has a nice texture that is tough enough to chew on but not so tough it kills your jaw. The seasoning is pitch-perfect; the original is excellent, and the peppered has that bit of extra kick if you’re someone who likes a little extra kick.
Nutritionally speaking, you don’t expect beef jerky to be a health food. Nevertheless, it is both high in protein and low in fat, so in those areas this is an excellent snack. It is also not too high in calories: the entire pack is just under 230.
And then there’s sodium: over 1700mg of it in the entire pack, or enough to make up nearly 75% of your daily allowance. If managing your salt content is part of your diet, this is about the worst thing you can eat short of pouring the salt shaker down your throat, and the amount of water you’ll down after eating them makes that point.
The Verdict:
Simms Beef Jerky is quality beef jerky, with the taste and texture we expect from name brands. Aldi’s jerky isn’t much (if any) cost savings over the competition, and the packs are a bit on the small side, but if you’re in Aldi and you’ve got an itch for jerky, you won’t go wrong here.
Hello Joshua, I really appreciate you taking time to review Aldi’s products vs. the name brand ones. I live close to several Aldi stores and I am doing a little project where I am putting together snack packs for people who are homeless. I wanted to make sure that I purchased items that have a decent taste to them. Keep up the good work!
Thank you, sir. One of our local food pantries also uses Aldi for many of the things they stock.
I love the taste of Simms beef jerky and have bought many 10 oz bargain size packs. However, I am disappointed in the quality of the beef as it is way too tough!!! my most recent pack almost every other bite is half or more gristle that cannot be chewed to an edible size. At a price of $1 per oz you should be able to get a product that is tender as well as good taste! I am ready to switch brands if improvements are not available.
Thank you
Just purchased the Simms teriyaki beef jerky and it’s jerky for sure. So tough and fatty that I almost jerked my teeth out. If it wasn’t for the high sodium content I’d feed it to my dog.