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)

Yes @NotMeNoNo thats the one. Soooo cheap I’ve switched from Lavazza.

So surprised by those saying poor quality veg and meat. The only place I’ve ever had to take meat back to was Tesco- slimy chicken breasts.

I persuaded myself to try Nordpak (based on a recommendation in an online article) but it's absolutely awful!

It reminds me of fluorescent plastic margarine from the 80's. Nothing like Lurpak at all.

Definitely the specially selected lasagne, it's really good for a shop bought one (quick and easy meal).

Agree about this too, it's too white and just tastes a bit off

Like their protein puddings, however they went up from 99p to £1.09 recently and just seen today they are £1.19. Not buying them again!
Like the ham and mascarpone pizza, falafel, hummus, lentil curls, light ridged crisps, olives, reduced fat cheddar, Greek yoghurt, milk, skin on fries, nuts, best jam, chia seeds and flaxseeds, most wines, flowers, plants, veg, laundry detergent, cleaning wipes and washing up liquid.
Soft fruits went off quickly I found, when in season.
Never noticed an issue with the chicken. Also buy salmon fillets and steak.
Haven’t tried their coffee or tea.

The Specially Selected Marshmallow Brownie Bomb Mini Bites in a tub are really good.

Love Frikadellen - like the inside of a pork pie, good for my low-carb routine.
Also 'Gluten free' cereal bars - I don't need gluten free but again they are lower carb than other cereal bars, and dark chocolate coated.

Their West Country salted butter is divine. Genuinely very very salty

I don’t mind their veg but it doesn’t keep so I do end up just buying what I need for a day or so

In the frozen section they have a 3 fish roast, it’s like a gratin and it’s lovely.
I find their fresh veg doesn’t last as long as Tesco.

We love that one too

BTW the Aldi wheat biscuits and Weetabix have EXACTLY the same ingredients. I’ve heard they are made by Weetabix.

I don't doubt it. Cakes and biscuits have the same ingredients. DD feels strongly about it so I get her any other own brand wheat bisk cereal instead. Something to do with milk absorption/crunchiness apparently. I dunno, but she's not fussy in the least so she gets this one thing.

Aldi Rice pots better than Muller for me, more creamy

My DS is 2.5 and i tried the aldi wheat biscuits with him when he was about 2, he had one mouthful and wouldn't have any more😂 loves weetabix though... i don't like it myself so can't comment if its much different.

Love their quarter pounders, steak, sourdough crumpets, paella/patatas bravas, wine, croissants, salted crackers, dishwasher tablets, deli style meats, moser roth chocolate, quilted toilet roll and dog treats. Oh, and some of their cut flowers are much nicer than Tesco.

Hate their chicken (very watery) and find their fruit pretty dire - have had to ditch stuff within a day of purchasing as it's gone off/mushy/manky inside. Also tried a ready meal chicken curry once and the meat was a) almost non-existent and b) extremely hard/dark for chicken.

I don’t buy much packaged food so find the Aldi quality poor. You are correct about the potatoes - something v wrong there!!!

I much prefer Lidl and travel further to use their stores. Their fresh produce - meat, veg and fish is much better

The cheese from Alid is great not the cheapest type though and same with the sausages the pricer ones.

The chocolates/sweets and drinks always cause some sort of allergic reaction. I'm always sneezing afterwards and get a sore throat.

My husband is a big weetabix fan, eating them as biscuits as well most days as well as a cereal.
He says there is no difference in his opinion.

I like most things but the things I don’t like:

mince - always stinks/is slimy
prepared raw chicken - as above
milk - goes off before the date
benefit cereal (special K dupe) - recipe must have changed

I love the rectangle frozen pizzas, chocolate trifles and protein yogurt.

hate the pink lady apples which have a weird texture compared to any other pink lady apples

I get all my shopping in Aldi bar espresso, cous cous and dental floss because they don’t sell those.
I don’t think it’s fair to say their fruit is bad or their chicken off. I like good food and cook from scarce most days using their ingredients and have not noticed these issues. Last night I made a coconut chicken curry using their ingredients and it was great. You do need to check the dates on fruit and berries.As I’ve said upthread they don’t mark down probably due to space so raspberries with a day left will be still on the shelf. Something they need to sort. Everything else is brilliant .

Scratch

Olives
Steaks and chicken especially the free range whole chicken
Raspberries and Blueberries
Vegan croissants and pain au chocolate - but they only appear twice a year for a couple of weeks and disappear again
bin liners - better quality and cheaper

A couple of things we bought all the time but seems to have disappeared lately:
Frozen Salmon Wellington
Stir in Tomato and Olive pasta sauce

Worst:
Some of the veg, eg green beans are not great quality and salad doesn’t last
Ready meals have never been good, tried a fresh salmon en croute last week and it was so dry
A couple of things we had to just throw away as tasted disgusting: a pâté and this week some English mustard dh just opened, tasted awful.