Best & worst Aldi buys

[Wednesdaywobbles]

Best

chorizo & mozzarella sandwich pack
the luxury pizza’s
spatchcock chicken stuffed with pepper in a roasting bag
hummous fries
luxury sticky toffee pudding

worst

all potatoes - dry and grim no matter how you cook them
mushrooms - every pack was slimy
yogurts - haven’t found one I like yet

I’ve just started shopping at Aldi again and overall I do like it, but there are just some things that I cannot live without and good potatoes are one of them

i do find however that the prices are very similar now to Tesco.

we’re spending £80 on our main shop (from Aldi) and then doing a top up at Tesco. We’re 2 adults, 3.5 year old twins and 1 dog (although we don’t buy dog food from the supermarket)

The Aldi farmhouse yogurts in the little jars are lovely!

I love the large tubs of 10% Greek yoghurt. It depends on what kind of yoghurt you want, though.

We've started shopping there too. We were spending up to £150 a week at Morrisons even with no alcohol. Aldi is around £120 a week.

MIL is completely horrified and thinks we are struggling financially. It's being unwilling to keep paying whatever Morrisons want to charge that has sent me to Aldi.

Best buys: cloudy apple juice, Greek yoghurt with honey, fruit and nut chocolate, the premium range of breaded chicken.

Worst buys: really don't like the baked beans, the cat litter is rubbish compared to catsan, awful decaff coffee.

Funnily enough we like their thick and creamy yoghurts are out favourites. Olives also good.

Own brand Weetabix is a no.

In a weird way I love that it’s smaller than the big supermarkets, I actually find it gives me more choice as I just do not have the time or patience to be walking up and down each isle

I’ll have to give the yogurts another go, it’s mainly the yogurts for my girls. I haven’t found ones they they really like yet. I get that squeezy fromage frais pouches from Tesco which they love

Potatoes and mushrooms are absolutely fine at Aldi. Buy them every week.
spend £80 pw, 3 adults and a dog.

Must just be my Aldi then

The 28 day aged steaks are excellent. We serve them to people who ask where they came from because they think it must be some fancy butcher. I also switched to Almat laundry powder, purely because I couldn’t find any Ariel in the nearest supermarkets, and have never switched back, it’s no different and less than half the price. We also bought a selection of cheeses and pate’s for a buffet from across Aldi, Waitrose and Sainsbury’s: Aldi ones were generally a half of the price of Waitrose and two thirds of Sainsbury’s and almost without exception either tasted no different or were nicer.

I’m not so keen on their own brand condiments, though. I’ve never found ones which are as nice as branded equivalents.

Try again. I shop in various Aldis and have never had a problem .

I do think a lot of the stock varies by location, though. Our Aldi is right next to one of London’s largest Sainsbury’s stores so has to compete with that to some extent, and is satellites by some fairly affluent areas. It’s noticeably much better and more upmarket than the two stores a couple of miles away in each direction.

Aldi 'Naturis' smoothies are brilliant.
They try and copy Innocent and taste brilliant.

Was just going to say this - amazing little yoghurts. Although sad the raspberry one has been discontinued and replaced with salted caramel 🤮

I thought the salted caramel trend was waning, I can’t bear it either 🤮

They did fab wagu beef burgers last year but never seen them this year.

Best
Salmon en croute with prawns 👌🏼
Margarita pizza (the one packaged like Waitrose)
Dog food that marketed like Lily’s Kitchen

I do a combo shop between Aldi and Waitrose. Latter is more local & is more consistent with stock but our food bill is halved since pre Aldi & we eat just as well.

Oh and their Mont Rozier dark chocolate with sea salt.

LOVE the individually wrapped bars.

Lidl aged steaks are also excellent. We splash out on posh steak for a treat but the Lidl ribeye is up there.

Me too. This is my favourite Greek yoghurt!

Is the salmon en croute in the fresh or frozen section?

Best:
Quarter pounders. Serve them at bbqs and always get told they're delicious and asked where they're from.
Their Xmas gin - their M&S rip-off with the light in the bottom of the bottle. Genuinely lovely taste.
A whole array of middle aisle wonders I do t have time to list, but usually storage solutions for my compact home!
Outdoor plants. They're still going strong and healthy after I bought a load to replace dead B&Q ones that didn't last long at all.

Worst:
Any 'fresh' soft fruit.
Raspberries, strawberries, blueberries for example. My son loves them but if we get them from aldi he knows he has to eat them all that very same day otherwise they'll be inedible mush by the next.
The individual cheesecakes are very tasteless, a weird slimy texture and the base appalling.

Thai Red curry kits, someone on here recommended them, they are gorgeous.

The microwave rice, the lime one and the coconut one.
Steaks
Bacon
Creme fraiche
Shampoo & conditioner
Blueberry wheat cereal
Their version of reece's peanut butter cereal
Strawberry conserve
Frozen peas
Sanitary towels, but I always use the night ones, dd prefers them to be longer, only 49p a pack so dd takes enty to school for emergencies for her and her friends.

Lentil crispy things. Look like quavers, ace with hummus
Floor wipes, ace for cleaning bathroom
Bleach
Eggs

The Sicilian lemon yoghurt is delicious, (individual pots) used to be 45p now around 65p 🙁 but very tasty and luxurious. Also Greek yoghurt is lovely . My husband says the rice puddings are exactly like Muller rice. I like the peri peri fries and the spiced wedges. Both in freezer section and I cook them in my air fryer.
I have no issues with the fruit and veg at Aldi

I’ve been Aldi’s biggest fan for years but I agree the prices do keep creeping up. Today I popped in to do a small top up shop and it came to £36. I used to get our whole weekly shop (for 2 of us) for that.

The giant cookies in a blue box for about 85p are delicious. Loads of the frozen stuff, king prawns, chicken burgers, chicken teriyaki bites, breaded fish. Also our store has recently started doing tiger bread which is lovely.

Their rice and olive oil are good. Mangoes and peppers much cheaper than Sainsbury's and a quarter of the price of Waitrose. Lovely chocolate. Cheap but very good facial moisturiser. I always stock up on jarred veg- beetroot, pickles etc.
Their soup is horrible, mind you I only buy lentil or vegetable, and the breakfast cereal is incredibly sugary.

After being a total snob about Aldi 🙈 I was converted years ago and now love the place. Still can’t do a full shop there as no GF bread/ pasta and a couple of other things but definitely get the majority. I rate :

Fish - better selection than some bigger supermarkets, cod, salmon fillets.
burgers & specially selected Cumberland chipolatas.
norpak (rip off lurpak)
steaks
skyr yoghurts
tomato Chilli pasta sauce
hazelnut chocolate
lentil hoop snacks
tuna steaks tinned
Italian coffee beans
toilet roll, kitchen roll, bleach, cleaning wipes
lots and lots more.

My absolute favourite items are the Argentinian Malbec and Pomegranate/Lime basil mandarin large candles. Always a few of each in my trolley, helpfully spending any savings I’ve made on the food shop! 😬