Went to ALDI for the first time today!

[catbonnet]

I went to Aldi for the first time today!

I bought a free-range whole chicken to roast, free-range large eggs, dried tortellini (so cheap!), raspberries, blackberries, nectarines, courgettes, salad, rocket, washing up gloves, box of own-brand mini magnums (£1.99!), milk, instant coffee, lots of other stuff that will feed us for over a week, and all only £30! I even got flowers for the house. I got some things because they were items I normally regard as little luxuries but were cheap in Aldi, like brie (Bavarian), salmon and those lindt-like chocolates.

There's some things I wanted but couldn't find at Aldi. I thought they did those living salads but couldn't find any, couldn't find couscous or hot chillies either, or frozen mangoes - I could only find packs of frozen mango and pineapple together. I've heard good things about Aldi perfume but couldn't find them in my branch - has anyone seen them around London?

Our local Aldi is a half hour walk away and my shopping was pretty heavy so I didn't get heavy non-urgent things, but the next time I'm in I'd like to try their bottle of peach bellini (£2.99, has anyone tried this?) and dishwasher tablets. I know it's a bit sad, but I'm so excited about saving on groceries. I feel like I've wasted so much money on Ocado delivery and Waitrose in my life.

I have seen the bellini and it looks a bit yuck and oversweetened/artificial, but I haven't tasted it. I think you would be better off getting some peach sirop and a bottle of cava or prosecco or just mascerating a ripe peach and let it "stew" in an inch of cava for 10 mind. then top up the glass with more cava to drink.

If you 're not hung up on peach flavour then it's easy to bung some chopped/mashed strawberries or raspberries to "stew" in cava for a cheapish and tasty glass of fizz, the fruit gives off plenty of flavour (I've also poured cava onto fruit teabags - like blackcurrant or cranberry flavours - before then left it to draw and that's tasty too, it doesn't matter that the cava's cold).

Yesterday for lunch we ate some delicious artichokes and peppers in a salad - they came in jars from Aldi and we all commented on how delicious they were.

We are visiting the UK from abroad and as far as I know don't have an Aldi near us at home otherwise we would certainly try it.

Bon appetit!

The peach bellini is sweet and sugary and bloody lovelywith lots of ice, in my humble opinion. The best chocolate in the world is aldi hazelnut heaven. Fact.

They only sell the aldi perfume as an occassional special - I bought some last year and haven't seen it since.

Lidl sell a perfume called suddenly which smells like Chanel.

I shop at Aldi, the only thing they don't do well is coffee, the rest is fab.

I've never bought instant coffee at al but their real coffee is fine by me.
Dishwasher tabs are also as good as more expensive ones.
Their frozen spinach and goats cheese pizza isn't bad.

The instant coffee isn't great from there, but most everything else is spot on.

They only have the living salad sometimes.

Things I don't buy from Aldi are:

Herbal tea
Coffee
Organic carrots
Toothpaste
Sardines
Smoked salmon
Sausages
Avocadoes
Sweet peppers
Medjool dates
Red wine vinegar
Dijon mustard
Brown rice, arborio rice, sushi rice.
Other stuff for sushi like nori.
Fresh bread
Borlotti beans
Pesto
Quinoa
Peanut and sunflower seed butter
Stock cubes and vegetable bouillon
Cocoa
Vanilla extract
Less common herbs and spices
Nutritional yeast
Lime pickle
Lemon juice in a bottle
Sriracha
Celeriac
Unusual cheeses
Squash and soft drinks other than fizzy water
Salt
Tomato puree
Olives
Frozen spinach
Frozen Mediterranean veg
Frozen stir fry veg.
Turkey mince

Pretty much everything else in my kitchen is from Aldi, and some of things I only buy elsewhere because I buy a particularly swanky version (eh the tomato puree).

To be honest, I've never tried anything from there that I didn't like. I do my shopping there and eat really well and healthily for a good price. Yesterday my weeks shop including two of their most expensive bottles of wine (5.50 each) came to £62 and I also got salmon and steaks. The other supermarkets cannot compare.

The living salads were an offer, I've only seen them once in our store. They have living herbs though.
Cous cous - they're having a problem with their supplier. That's what I was told in our local store as I buy the spicy one every week.
I don't buy their dishwasher tabs as they don't seem to get everything as clean and sparkly as finish. But I do like their fair trade instant coffee (small jar with black lid). I tried last night their frizzante rose and it was really nice.

Can I ask about the hair oil? I've been using Aldi hair oil, which seems good, and is very cheep compared to Moroccan Oil....but I've never bought Moroccan Oil, so can't really compare. Anyone used both?

Oh, and Aldi sparkling water is very good.

I get frustrated that they don't always sell risotto rice and stock cubes.

They don't sell plain risotto rice in mine, just packs of just-add-water ready flavoured stuff. It's actually very nice, but I generally prefer to eat stuff that's less processed.

I love Aldi.

They need customer focus groups so that they can get feedback on what customers want.

That way they could really capture their customers. I know a limited range is part of how they keep costs down.

I mean they used to sell Ready Brek style porridge a d they stopped doing that.

Iwould also like to see wheat free pasta.

The pesto is great from Aldi.

I love Aldi.

They need customer focus groups so that they can get feedback on what customers want.

That way they could really capture their customers. I know a limited range is part of how they keep costs down.

I mean they used to sell Ready Brek style porridge a d they stopped doing that.

Iwould also like to see wheat free pasta.

The pesto is great from Aldi.

I am allergic to cashew nuts which is why I can't have the Aldi stuff.

The ready brek may come back in the winter months perhaps.
I get 80% of our food from Aldi. The only things I dont buy are kids toothpastse ( they only do fruit flavour), potato salad, brown pickle and chocolate spread as I preferr Lidls.
I rarely buy branded stuff and what I do get is usually covered by lidls.

The packets of crisps are awful though - so salty. I have tried their version of Wotsits, Mini Cheddars, Fries and they are all the same. I also don't like their bleach or Dishwasher tablets as they leave a terrible residue. Happy with their washing powder though. I get most other things there though and do a top-up shop at Waitrose/Tesco/Sainsbury's.

Having posted earlier about hair oil, Aldi had none in stock today.

Aldi sell Branson's pickle, but not small chunks (fussy).

I find their crisps OK, but then I'm not a crisps fan....the DC however ask to have Brand name crisps in their lunchboxes.

I was thrilled to see they sell organic milk, but only in smaller cartons, and more expensive than Sainsbury's.

We have a coeliac in the family as well which means Aldi isn't great for him, the big bags of crisps seem fine, just the smaller individual ones. You jinxed the hair oil, Lynette!

aldi do a brilliant aussie moist conditioner. has anyone tried the shampoo by any chance? they'd run out when I was there last.

Also, has anyone gotten any good stuff at the Lidl baby event this week? Is it worth going to?

The Aldi Aussie Most shampoo and conditioner is exactly the same as the original Aussie shampoo/conditioner.

thanks angie, in that case I'm gonna stalk my local Aldi like a fox after hens! The conditioner is the bees knees for my curls!

Lynnet - I have used both morroccan (sp) oil and aldi oil. I am maybe not the right person to discuss this as I have pubic hair on my head and unfortunately my daughters are going the same way! I think the aldi oil is better only because it is not as easy to put too much on your hair. I find it is very easy to put too much morrocan oil on without realising it. I tried to manage my two daughters hair with morrocan oil but it always made their hair too lank/greasy. Whereas the aldi one is magic. Makes their hair so manageable. My friend uses a kid on morrocan oil (or possibly morrocan oil) from b and m stores and she says it is fantastic. Think it is even cheaper than the aldi one.
So yes, I would recommend aldi hair oil.

On hair oil: I didn't see the Aldi hair oil, but I use olive or coconut oil on my hair - cheaper than morrocan and is probably already in your kitchen. You can find ktc coconut oil in Asian/ethnic shops and it's incredibly cheap and good for hair. I add a bit of patchouli essential oil to it so I don't smell like food. I've also used hemp oil with good effect, but it does have a strong smell - not 'weedy' though, my husband claims it smells a bit like fish. For reference, I have straight, thick, very dry hair.

Thanks all for your Aldi recommendations.Quick review of some of the stuff I got:

I got some chocolate hazelnut spread and it's good, though a bit sweeter than nutella. I like the little brioches too. The chocolate and mini-'magnums' are fabulous. My husband thought the Choceur chocolate was like cadburys, and the mini-'magnums' are very like magnums!

Last night we had the steamed Aldi salmon and fried rice with the Aldi courgettes, carrots and tomatoes. Tasty, all fine. Today made sandwiches for lunch with the tiger bread (great after heated in the oven as instructed on the pack), rocket, tomatoes, cucumbers, mini sweet peppers and cheddar - all from Aldi except the cheddar. I love mini sweet peppers and seem to remember paying a lot more for them in Tesco. Salad items are definitely cheaper in Aldi and we eat quite a lot of salad.

I got their lime 'Original Source'-type shower gel and it smells good, like lime ice-cream.

I've read reviews about vegetable items from Aldi going off quickly but I've found that with other supermarkets too. Also annoying is when the 'ripen at home' fruit and avocados go from unripe to bad without passing through a ripe stage. We've had those organic delivery fruit & veg boxes before and the fruit's arrived unripe and went straight to the bad stage - always doubly annoying when you've spent quite a bit of money on it.

The instant decaf coffee is okay, BUT I make a kind of latte by heating up milk and adding instant coffee and sugar. I imagine it tastes quite different if you drank it straight up.

I tried their ready-salted crisps - 'Snackrite' - and much prefer the Tesco value ones, which are less salty and come in smaller packs ideal for lunch. I find Walkers too salty too.

I like the 'Good oil' cold-pressed hemp oil for cooking, and my cat won't eat anything except the Felix Supermeat or As Good As range (only the ones with jelly! Any flavour but must be jelly) and uses a 'natural' German cat litter, so I can't do all my shopping at Aldi.

I've been to Lidl only a couple of times to pick up a few veg items and never really had a good look. I might drop in and check on the perfume situation the next time I pass one. The perfume I currently use was an expensive gift and I'd quite like to save it for weekends and special occasions.