To ask what are the best things to buy in Aldi?

[lauryloo]

I'm going for the 1st time today and need to know what's good to stock up on!

The Rosemary crackers, the Dill smoked salmon, all the fruit and veg.

Agree the sausages are a bit rubbish but cheese, bread, fruit & veg etc all good. We stock up on tins of tomatoes, beans and such like things when we go. The other thing we love is their salmon, they do packs of two fillets (either red chilli or lime and ginger) both of which are yummy and you can steam them in the packet in the microwave in 3 minutes. The nappies have leaked whenever we've tried them and my son reacts to their wipes but a lot of their other baby stuff is great

Oh I forgot about the curry sauces and the brioche!

Thanks for the advice re sell-by dates auntyemaily!

I've only been once and indulged in the chocolate! It was very good and I'm not a fan of milk choc either. I'm curious to try shopping there but I admit i'm fussy. Either shop at waitrose or tesco for brands, but with baby #3 on the way I'd love to cut costs for items which are just as delicious.

What is the meat like?

The meat is excellent, 21 day matured sirloin steaks are awesome and Aberdeen Angus mince so lean and tasty

I have recently converted to aldi.

Things I won't buy are washing powder though some people swear by it. Dp didn't like the sausages but everyone else did. Not massively impressed with the pull ups for ds for bed.

Watch dates on stuff but that applies to tesco as much as aldi.

Everything else has been as good as Tesco. Some of it as good as ocado. Fruit and vegetables in particular is definitely lasting longer than tescos stuff.

Just do your normal weekly shop. You will soon suss put what you like and what you won't.

I'm getting lots of tips from this thread!

They sell free range chicken now which pleases me. Before i did everything at Aldi except for meat.

Love their frozen fruit.

Love everything!!

Today I was in the checkout libe when the woman infront of me turned and said to her husband; 'I'll just dash to the Aisle Of Impulsive Purchases and be back'.

We all smirked with recognition.

*line

Steak is good, but I have mixed issues with their fresh food generally, with some of it going off very quickly. Also some of their foodstuffs seem to have a lot of hidden sugars and although you think they are cheaper than other stores / brands, the weights differ. Cheese good, wine good and vinegars. They also, in some stores, do a good range of fresh bread. I tend not to use one supermarket anymore for everything.

They do great frozen lentils with veg,Cous Cous with veg & stir fry veg with noodles. They make a great lunch.

Greek yougurt & pizza

Oh- I drink ALOT of herbal teas, and have not really got to grips with the Aldi tea. But their hot chocolates and coffees are great.

Love their cheeses, and their packs of ham trimmings- really good, especially the smoked ham. The smoked salmon with little packets of sauce (dill/ honey mustard etc) are really good.

we also tried their frozen lobsters at Christmas - extremely good.

I find that berries need to be eaten on the day of purchase and the potatoes go off more quickly. Other than that I've been happy enough with the fresh stuff.

For the first month or so I shopped there, I would come home and put it all through Ocado (without cheating - same weights and I chose offers I would have bought on Ocado, etc) and it was always significantly cheaper.

Thanks all.

I guess the logical way forward is just trial and error compared to my normal weekly shop.

Defo will be trying the Cheeses.... and I can't resist a steak either

Caramel chocolate buttons. SO good.

The only things I would buy differently is Philadelphia cream cheese and brand name pop like Coca Cola and Fanta, everything else we buy from Aldi. So much cheaper than other supermarkets and tastes better.

Whole free-range chicken
Wagyu burgers
21 day matured steak
Seasalt crackers
All cheese
Passata
Baked beans
Torchon ham
Toilet roll
Anti-bac spray
Pickles,chutneys & sauces
Wraps,bloomer loaf & croissants

DH loves it there, I'm more of a Waitrose shopper tbh but if you walk all around the edge of the store and avoid all the crap in the middle aisles, it's OK. I get meat, fish, fruit/veg, bread,rice, pasta etc and milk, cheese etc. Great for all the basics but I find their processed stuff is a bit vile. It's all individual though, and my mum gets loads from there.

Fruit & veg fab for making fresh soups. There's meats are normally good avoid the beef wellington was awful and sausages weren't nice. I love the mouse yoghurts

Oh- i mentioned that I usually did not get meat there in my earlier post. Only because we eat meat once or twice a week only and have a great local butcher. I hear the meat generally is very good. :)

I did have the aldi sausages when we hosted a BBQ in the summer- i liked them alot.

Anything German (obs). Their large bars of white chocolate are good, and we also stock up on olive oil, jam, parmesan, breaded camembert for baking, pasta, meat, cereals.

The one thing I've only been disappointed in was their honey.

There seems to be more of an element of choice coming it. It used to be - you want a tin of tomatoes, here's a tin of tomatoes, we've checked out lots of tins of tomatoes and we think this is best on value and taste. That's what kept your shopping time down. Tinned tomatoes might be a bad example to have picked, but not having to choose between different options of the same item was what kept your shopping time down. They're obviously appealing to a cross section of society now, and not just those looking for value for money first.

Spatchcock chicken in sweet chilli sauce is gorgeous.

If you're a fan of Lurpak then Aldi's equivalent is "Norpak". I'm a butter snob and couldn't taste the difference.

Love the butter, can't tell the difference tbh. Cheese, especially seriously strong original for spread and for pasta dishes. Pasta, though sadly no macaroni. Sauces are good. Meat and veg good. Bread excellent, especially the brioche selection. Anything household. Love the pizzas and such good value. Eggs, milk, sugar and flower. Wine selection is great. Plus if you are a flower lover, the flowers are excellent for lasting.