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?

They sell Heinz beans in my store.

Loads of things. There is a reason their stores tend to be close to other supermarkets.

i have to toss up
Lidl
Asda for bluelight 10%
tesco for points!

I did a comparison a few months ago on Tesco and Aldi own brand of cheese, butter, bread, milk etc. at that time Tesco and Aldi own brands of main items were exactly the same.

We went to aldi for first time in ages this weekend, defo get more for your money there. Did unfortunately spend another £35 at asda on branded crisps, cat food and chocolate oat milk (fussy kids and cats lol). We too have been lazy and getting asda deliveries but it's consistently £40 more expensive. I think that has tipped it from spending extra vs convenience as that's a big difference over a month/year.

Limited pasta choices, no dried mint and limited other herbs & spices, no ready made pastry, very limited tinned food, very limited yoghurt/cheese ranges

But I save even more in Aldi than Lidl when comparing to a big shop in Tesco. And my husbands hayfever tablets (they do non branded versions of both Pyriton and Clarytin) are 79p a pack rather than paying £5 in Boots, for same size pack and same strength.

There are quite a few things we don’t like the Aldi version of:

cereal
honey
peanut butter
jam
salami
ham
cream cheese
cream
pickles
yoghurts
fruit cordial
fresh meat
tinned tomatoes
pet food
cooking oil
mayonnaise
are things I can think of straight away.

I go to Aldi every now and then to stock up on the things I do like -
bio washing powder is the main one, but I get some interesting bits for the freezer at the same time, and stock up on biscuit bars for packed lunches. The Dc like the pizzas and filled pasta.
Fruit and veg has always been fine. I try and buy seasonally anyway, so no problem with a reduced range.

I don’t find it much cheaper tbh.

My Aldi has ready made pastry.

We do our weekly shop in Aldi and haven't been disappointed. It is definitely cheaper than anywhere else and I always feel like I have been mugged if I have to nip in to Tesco and buy bits.

The only thing I find is that Aldi strawberry's don't seem to last as long as Tesco. No idea why but they always go off within a few days whereas Tesco's seem to last a week or more. Not a huge problem though, I just eat them all quickly!

The only thing I go elsewhere for are branded crisps if I am after something specific like monster munch or Doritos (although they do sometimes have these in the specials isle) and fresh baguettes which I get in the Lidl bakery.

Pampers
Heinz ketchup, beans etc
And they also never have cucumbers they're always out of stock and things like Mustard powder and some spices

I buy a lot from Aldi. I find their fish is rubbish though and anything fresh like fruit and veg doesn't last long ... so I end up having to buy the odd bits I need somewhere else

Risotto rice
Couscous (they sell the ready made packets but no longer the actual grain)
BBQ charcoal
Dishwasher salt

Must be store dependant as mine had bbq coal outside and cous cous inside. They've been selling it since pre covid.

A variety of flours and sugars and tonic waters. They are usually OK for basics and fine for fruit and veg but if I need specific non standard or fussy about brand things it's Tesco

Not sure if someone else has covered this but unbelievably my local Aldi doesn’t stock sweetcorn tins full stop. Like, isn’t that a basic?? They used to, but was told yesterday they’re gone forever. So so odd.

Other things I struggle with is smaller selection of things but my Aldi is quite small. Some things don’t taste as nice as the branded versions. I agree with poster who said the cereals are not great. I go to Aldi for their fruit and veg mainly. It goes out of date extremely quickly though but I find that in most places. I love their mince, eggs and bread selection.

Gluten free stuff, Hellman's Mayo, birds eye waffles.

However, I don't buy yoghurts, butter, chocolate, cheese or pizzas anywhere else.

Our local Aldi stopped selling german bratwurst. I go to Lidl for that now.

Fresh bread.

Nestle pistacchio flavour custards. (I go to Waitrose for tnat).

Mortadella (ditto Waitrose.)

But I get by on pretty much exclusively shopping at Aldi. The other things I buy if I happen to be going past.

as pp gluten free bread - they have some occasionally as special buy but its usually the cardboard variety (people who eat gf bread will know what I mean!) but if its cheap I buy it. I keep my open for the special buy GF but I tend to invade tesco & bulk buy my bread &other gf stuff.

Ours seems to have stopped doing tinned mushrooms. I only put mushrooms in bolognese so cba buying fresh.

Class

(I shop at Aldi, but come on, it’s a bit grim 😉)

Not a lot really, even the things that have been mentioned on here my local Aldi usually has.

Only things I buy elsewhere are branded things where it's preference rather than they don't have these things:

Mayonnaise - they seem to have Heinz ketchup but never Heinz mayonnaise!

DS likes Goodfellas pizza

Fairy fabric conditioner - sometimes they have it sometimes they don't

Quark - only place near me that stocks it is Asda though, even Tesco and Morrisons don't sell it

I find the fruit and veg better than my local Sainsburys! The main things I can't get in Aldi that I buy regularly are soya yogurt (they do one and it's lovely but absolutely loaded with sugar compared to the plain Alpro) and gluten free pasta.
Their own brand non-bio washing powder is really good, one of the few that doesn't disagree with my skin.

When we did our main shop at Aldi, we would need to buy toiletries, cereal, squash, meat and cleaning products elsewhere. Also found we were needing to shop every 4-6 day due to fruit and veg going off very quickly.

Have since moved to using Ocado and save money because we can go 2 weeks between shops due to fresh produce quality, and will base our fresh food shopping around offers to get the benefit from biweekly shopping. We still tend to buy a lot of things in bulk from Costco for convenience, quality and price, but if we can’t get to Costco, then we can still get those items from Ocado without compromising on brand or quality.

Gluten/dairy/soya free products - no Glebe Farm gf oat milk, alpro almond, etc. Aldi coconut yoghurt is vile, no g/f pasta or oats

Specific brands/products (for my ASD child)

Limited herbs and spices - I have to cook a lot from scratch so generally have a big selection of H&S

Yeo Valley yoghurts, Branson beans

I generally find a lot of their products poor quality

Steamed salmon fillets (they only have smoked - much better price but with sodium)
Low sugar & salt baked beans
Good quality 0% plain yogurt (false economy to buy from Aldi as it’s too watery - have to get the 0% Greek instead or go to Tesco’s).
Rooibos tea.
Glasses wipes