What CANT you buy at Aldi?

[Forpoxsake]

That you would still have to go to other shops for, or that you prefer the quality/taste etc of non Aldi items.
Currently shop in Tesco but it is beyond expensive lately!
Dip in and out of Aldi but find I still need to top up at Tesco.
We are pescatarian so no meat.
Does the fruit and veg last beyond 2 days?

I get most things from Aldi/ Lidl
It doesn't have a lot of name brand items, so sometimes I top up with certain favourites

They don't have all the herbs and spices I need.
No quorn ham/chicken for sandwiches.

They don't sell cauliflowers in Aldi near me

Not food related but dental floss 😡 I’ve never found it in an Aldi

My weekly shop is Aldi or Lidl. It’s all depends on what you eat tbh. I find that there’s more variety of fish at Aldi than Lidl. I find the veg fine, no different to Tesco/Sainsbury’s. Both have certain branded items.

I hate aldi brand cereal.

They don't have a wide range of dairy free products (at least in the one near me)

They don't sell heinz beans /pasta shapes. don't tend to sell branded crisps. Also no gluten free products. But they have most things needed

I do my main shop at Aldi but go to Tesco or Morrisons for some cooking sauces I like. Aldi does sell some but there is more of a range at Tesco for variety.
I also built more cleaning products at Tesco or B&Ms actually. Again, Aldi does sell some cleaners but no limescale remover, mould remover, etc. Sometimes they have these things in their specials though.
I do eat meet and find their veg ok for my needs. However, if you’re purely veg you may struggle with variety at Aldi depending on your tastes. I find Morrisons the best for veg overall but Aldi is cheapest.

Never tried the cereal but I struggle with the limited dairy free lotions too.

Oh totally agree with poster above on cereal. Definitely get that elsewhere. I don’t mind their crisps per se but I also buy branded crisps elsewhere.

Loads of stuff. Can't buy individual veg, not much gluten free and never any dishwasher rinse aid in ours.

I just use it for dry food and stuff like shower gel and tissues.

Yes I noticed I can’t get oat milk there, they did have the space for it on the shelf but it’s always sold out

I find their veg goes off very quickly.

Love Aldi. If they don’t have the veggies I’m after that week I just alter what we’re having.
we do a Tesco shop about 4 times a year to bulk buy the things Aldi don’t have that we like- fire lighters, toothpaste, shampoo, antiperspirant, earl grey teabags for example

I have no problem with Aldi fruit and veg. On 7th June I bought a punnet of strawberries which were reduced to 50% as they were sell by that day. We finished them yesterday.

I regularly have courgettes, grapes, blueberries, apples, easy peelers, potatoes, peppers, romaine lettuce, cucumbers, broccoli and cauliflower in my fridge for 7+ days and they’re fine.

I love the oat milk, prefer it to Oatly and so much cheaper. I buy a few when it's in stock and stock up. I also use their soya and coconut milk albeit less frequently.

I find that a lot of their fruit isn't quite so good. Bananas are fine but I've yet to get a good avocado or mango. Veg is pretty good though.

I can't get gluten free stuff or much vegan ready made as the frozen vegan stuff all has wheat. But it's good for cook from scratch foods which we try to do mostly anyway. No gluten free bread or pasta. I can get red lentils but not green though.

I also prefer some branded things that I can't get e.g Hp Sauce, Heinz ketchup, Whole Earth peanut butter...etc but I am happy with most of their noj branded compared to Tesco non branded.

I also find there aren't things like recycled toilet roll or ecover products (or unbranded versions) which I always use.

Basically we do 1 trip where we go to Aldi first to get everything we can, then go on to Tesco to top up with the things we can't get. It does work out cheaper than doing the entire shop in tesco.

So generally, we find it best for basics but need to top up elsewhere.

Tofu and tempeh

I have to go to Sainsburys for those

I've also never had any problems with their fruit and veg and I've been shopping in Aldi since long before it was socially acceptable to do so.

Their ranges have increased enormously over the last five years and we probably get 80/90% of our shopping there. I don't see the lack of brands as an issue. The quality of the Aldi offering is generally very good and equivalent to the main brands or finest level at other supermarkets.

If you organise yourself and get over the mindset of doing one weekly shop for the same items from the same supermarket once a week you can minimise the need to go elsewhere.

Plus even the people who shop like this will often do a top up shop, so you just do that at another supermarket and as well as getting your extra bread, milk, fruit etc, you can stock up on anything you want but can't get in Aldi.

For anything that's frozen or with a decent shelf life, you can buy a few week's worth or whatever, so you don't need to think about it for a while.

I agree with this.

We have a half used bagged salad with a date of 9 June that I think I bought a week ago and it's still OK, plus a cucumber with a date of 29 May on which is a tiny bit soft in places, but not anywhere near off.

Their range of herbs and spices, both dry and fresh is limited. Likewise if I want a specialist ingredient, rice wine vinegar or miso for example I need to go to Tesco. Otherwise they pretty much sell everything we need and I can put up with nipping over the road to Tesco to top up for the sake of the much cheaper prices.

Tofu and strangely at the moment, pitta bread. Also dried pulses.

I can get most of the things at my local Aldi that people mention here - Quorn slices, oat milk and they have Whole Earth peanut butter on offer every now and then. I do the first pass at Aldi and then every so often get a Tesco delivery to stock up on other bits and bobs.

If you like fish, their salmon wellingtons are good!

Agree their fruit and veg ain't great but we get ours separately from oddbox. I use our plastic free shop for household cleaning refills.

I've never been able to find
Fresh salsa
Dishwasher rinse aid
Dental floss

I don't like their bananas (I don't know how, but they taste different!)
We prefer branded crisps, chocolate and tomato ketchup.
And I buy viakal elsewhere
But I'd say I could do 60-70% of shopping there.

High welfare meat and sustainably sourced fish and seafood. I buy those elsewhere. I suspect that the pigs in an Aldi sausage have probably had a pretty miserable life.

I don’t mind the top up for items like floss that Aldi don’t sell at all. I live v close to a Tesco and Asda.
I just need to get into the mindset of not buying my fave items in Tesco and switching to the Aldi version instead; it’s not even all branded stuff, I like Tescos own brand non bio washing powder for example.
Happy to hear quality of fruit and veg is good though, will give them a try this week!