Tell me your Aldi must haves/avoids

[Throwawayaccount1]

Normally have Tesco delivery because convenience...
Had a look around the newish Aldi today and I'm going to give it a go for next week's shopping.
Are there any 'this is excellent' or 'avoid this' things that you want to tell me about?
Shopping for 2x secondary kids (who have lunchboxes). 1x vegetarian. 1x wheat free if that info is useful.
Work on the assumption that I mostly cook stuff, e.g. make the chicken pie filling, but buy the pastry kind of idea (if that makes sense).

Thanks!!!

Sorry, I don’t like Aldi food at all. Their fruit & veg goes bad really quickly, their meat and fish isn’t great quality.

That must be your Aldi then @Bookaholic73 - I do most of my weekly shop at ours and that has never been an issue for me.

@Throwawayaccount1 I'd say that anything in their Specially Selected range is definitely worth a try.

I like their Christmas party food when it comes out.

We like their Metro rolls and sauce - the Aldi version of Subway

I get 80% of my shopping from Aldi so I’m not diminishing the place - but it’s a basic/bog-standard supermarket. It does the job but no ‘must haves’. Pretty sure the chicken for your chicken pie will taste the same as it does from Tesco!

Their meat is superb quality, better than Tesco/Morrisons/Sainsburys.

We don’t routinely shop in Aldi, but often pop in to get Christmas bits, or occasionally get a few things if we’re passing.

DS2 buys all of his protein stuff from there and really rates it - yogurt, shakes, cheese, pancakes etc

I rate the yogurts well in general!

Another Aldi shopper here. Fruit and veg fine (comes from the same source as the other big supermarkets but a very quick turnover due to number of customers). I don’t have veg going off in the fridge unless forgotten. I also rate their meat, good quality always. I like their roast in the bag chickens, their specially selected coleslaw is lovely, sea salt crackers lovely with cheese. We don’t buy ready meal type things so it’s mainly an ingredient shop for us. Can’t think of anything we really avoid tbh.

I think this really depends on the branch, the one I use is fine, but the one down the road I’ve found stuff goes off quick.
their chocolate is good - their Kit Kats are nicer than actual Kit Kats, same for other things except caramel wafers those need to be Tunnocks.
yoghurt is good, tofu & hummus fine. Mince is fine, sausages are good. Cereals are comparable to named brands I think.

They do lots of cheaper dupes of branded stuff like the Eat Real lentil crisps etc and hula hoops (which no other supermarket seems to do!). Basically, if it looks exactly like the one you normally get, it probably is.

Only thing I like from aldi is their laundry liquid. Think it's great.

LOVE Aldi! Get 99% of my grocery shopping from there. Never had problems with their meat, fish, fruit or veg, and it really is the cheapest supermarket.

I love their sourdough bread and moser roth dark chocolate bars 😋

Probably not suited for a "cook from scratch" person but things to look out for that I really rate:
Paneer korma in curry week.
Mushroom and truffle oil pizza.
Frozen raspberry cheesecake bites.
They do a chilled pizza dough we buy regularly.
I like their 0% alcohol fizz and the 70% dark chocolate.
I've never had an issue with their fruit/veg.

Dark Chocolate in both Lidl and Aldi are excellent. love that Moser Roth from Aldi are little individually tin foil wrapped bars.

Also cheaper versions of Magnums.

I wax lyrical about both Lidl and Aldi TBH!

We tend to do half of our shop at Aldi, generally fairly basic stuff, and the rest at Sainsburys. Never had any issues with Aldi fruit / veg / meat.

Lemon and coriander houmous
Mini pork and caramelised onion sausages
Their Oreo dupes
Q10 face creams
Their washing detergent is good, powder or pods
Their 3 in 1 dishwasher tablets are brilliant. We recently had to use Sainsburys own brand because Aldi had run out and they were useless - crockery left stained etc
Sourdough bread
Specially selected chocolate cake
Wine - their NZ sauvignon blanc is as good as Brancott Estate IMO

Baked beans
cereal/musli
tuna
coconut water
greek yoghurt
frozen beef burgers
frozen fruit
potatoes
sliced meats/salami
mango ice lollies
their pop chips & lentil crisps

Avoid
hula hoops/wotsits

The veg from my Aldi lasts fine.

Their Greek yogurt, kefir and protein yogurts are good value.
Their steaks are far better than Asda or Tesco in our experience.
Their nuts -cashews/walnuts etc are good value.
Avoid their plant based frozen rage. Vile, greasy and rubbery.

i love their salmon & summer meats

Tinned pulses & washing liquid, also their bleach & toilet roll are good, I avoid everything else

i don’t love their fruit but it’s improved & my dc eat it quickly anyway.

Honestly I shop there weekly and I’ve never eaten anything that I’ve thought ugh. No issues with stuff going off

pizzas in the rectangle box for £3.99 are great
skin on chips
mcdonalds hash brown dupes
the feast ice cream copies are like the originals
salted pretzel chocolate
salt crystals butter
Greek yoghurt
freeze dried strawberries
blackcurrant or passion fruit curd
metro bread rolls
lemon iced buns

A lot of Aldi veg is sourced locally so may vary from place to place. In Kent it is pretty good!

The Dairly cottage cheese is delicious. European cheese, especially the Comte and brie. Fiesta ice lollies (their version of Feast but so much better). Nuts. Huge tubs of peanut butter that are 100% ground peanuts. Wine/champagne. Coffee.

Protein lentil pouches, great for healthy/ easy snacks or lunches
Protein sourdough

Chilled veggie/ vegan stuff like Tofu & tempeh
Feuit & veg is fine

It absolutely is! I cook all of our meals from scratch.

Oh, and their Greysons gin (a Gordons dupe) is brilliant.