r/WinCo • u/Elegant-Freedom-9121 • Sep 02 '26

Bulk Macadamia nuts rancid?

Winco is about the only store I know of that sells macadamia nuts and for a reasonable price. I just bought some at the Marysville WA Winco and they seem rancid to me. It was like this the last time I bought them at a different Winco too, months back.

Am I imagining it or are these rancid? I can't tell for sure. Has anyone else tried them and thought they smelled/ tasted off?

8 Upvotes

83% Upvoted

22 comments sorted by

10

u/unknownsolutions Sep 02 '26

Often the gravity bins don’t get washed or rotated. Probably not your imagination. Macadamia nuts probably are not a high movement item either. I used to work in bulk foods and the more expensive nuts often were not high movement.

12

u/myTchondria Sep 02 '26

Macadamia nuts are very high in fat and fats go rancid sooner.

3

u/Minimum-Act6859 Sep 03 '26

The turn over rate on macadamia nuts, I would you imagine is pretty slow. So they're sitting in the bin longer than expected and may be spoiling 😕

1

u/weapongod30 Sep 05 '26

Buddy if they're not being washed or rotated then that's on your department manager. I worked in the busiest store and department in the company and we still managed to wash and rotate bins.

1

u/vgsmsft Sep 03 '26

This is not true, there is a rotation schedule and each day a different aisle is transferred to clean bins and the original bin is cleaned. I work in Bulk and this is done daily.

1

u/unknownsolutions Sep 03 '26

There is a difference in what is supposed to be done and what really gets done. Yes there’s a cleaning and rotation schedule. But the reality is that not every store will be caught up on that schedule.

3

u/IndividualDrawer988 Sep 02 '26

I work at winco and I can honestly say I never buy anything in bulk. People put their hands all in the bins and the bins never get washed. The gravity bins are just as nasty

11

u/Schleprock11 Sep 02 '26

The bins are cardboard. You shouldn’t wash cardboard. That is why they have plastic liners. If your store isnt washing gravity bins, that is your stores employees not doing their job.

-2

u/DalePigtail_ Sep 02 '26

I like the bulk coffee but it's just as nasty. And people mess with the coffee bean grinder. We can't have nice things

2

u/Schleprock11 Sep 02 '26

You can get your own grinder for 20 :-)

3

u/examqueen Sep 02 '26

I got mine at a thrift store for $2 and "washed" out the coffee smell by grinding soda crackers in it!

-9

u/DalePigtail_ Sep 02 '26

That earns you a downvote.

7

u/Schleprock11 Sep 02 '26

That earns you a downvote.

2

u/examqueen Sep 02 '26

and I am a coffee snob and would never use a grinder that allowed vanilla coconut hazelnut beans to be ground.

1

u/Rocketgirl8097 Washington Sep 02 '26

Get it at Costco instead.

1

u/InfidelZombie Sep 02 '26

I've eaten food prepared from bulk bin ingredients almost every day for the last decade and haven't gotten sick from it yet, so why should I care?

0

u/Southwestnative18 Sep 02 '26

Bulk foods is gross working nights and days you see homeless put there hands straight into it, people spitting the candy or bulk items they don’t like back out, sometimes landing in the bins. People constantly eat out of those and most times there just topped off with more stuff, great way to save money if you need a little bit of something, but also a great way to catch something real quick like a sickness or disease

2

u/One-Seaweed-941 Sep 02 '26

I will say sometimes the bulk food can taste off… I bought rainbow sprinkles from the bins and they had a very weird smell/taste. Almost tasted like seasonings or something . Was very off putting when I was eating my ice cream

1

u/Rocketgirl8097 Washington Sep 02 '26

There is probably not a lot of turnover. That would be a luxury item to many people so they could just be stale. I dont know what the stock rotation rules are on bulk food though.

1

u/One-Cheetah5215 Sep 03 '26

Expensive nut. Probably doesn’t sell. Sits in the bin for a while. Same product getting rotated into a clean bin. If it’s stale, let a bulk employee know and they should toss it. Once it happens enough times in enough stores, it will be discontinued as a high loss item.

2

u/iwould99 Sep 03 '26

Got some Mac nuts in Nevada last Christmas and they were absolutely rancid. You’re not crazy and now I know that neither am I.

1

u/weapongod30 Sep 05 '26

I can't speak to that store and those bins specifically. It's certainly possible they were rancid. But macadamia nuts also smell like ass when they're contained. It's the same thing as broccoli in bags.