What products do you like at Aldi Supermarkets?

did you know that food manufacturers produce more than they can sell under a specific brand, so they sell over production under second tier brands and even store brands, but cheaper?
anyway, I shop at the Netto that is 3 minutes from my door.

I like their Moser Roth chocolate. You get five small bars in the one packet. Means I can have a treat and not feel guilty about it.

I don’t actually shop there often. I often ask my daughter to pick me up some of this chocolate though.

@ragingloli: Yes, wineries and liquor producers, too. Then they’ll sell the extra to places like Costco, for the Kirkland label.

The store brand of Miracle Whip is way better than MW, IMO.

They have amazing fresh fruit and veggie specials and the stuff is ready to eat – ripe – when you buy it.

Their sliced cheese is good, and about the same price every day as the grocery’s best sale.

Great hummus.

I love their oat bran bread, taste and texture.

Delicious, large cookies, $2.99 a dozen.

Their salad dressing is kind of thin, IMO, and I had a frozen meal-in-a-bag that was just sorry.

So I guess I like most all their perishables.

I never had an issue with the products at Aldi and can be a God send to those who want to buy groceries on a budget

Yes, and due to the fact that Walmart Super makes you walk the length of a football field to shop there, I find it usually takes less time to run into Aldi for just an item or two.

I like Aldi’s shelf stable products and their frozen products, and their prices on dairy can’t be beaten. ($1.89 for a pint of double cream vs. $3.99 at Publix, $2.99 for an 8oz wheel of Brie cheese vs $6.99 at Publix).

I’m not crazy about brand shopping, so I don’t mind that they are off brand.

On of my favorite things are the stuffed chicken breasts. $0.99 each serving; cordon bleu, Kiev, or broccoli and cheese. The same product in brand name sells at the grocery for $7.99 for two servings.

I buy oodles of frozen veg there, too. Their “California blend” (broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots) is $0.99 and the best deal in town.

And I’m not proud to say this, but I’ve kept more than one Harry Potter movie marathon lubricated with $2.89/bottle Winking Owl cabernet sauvignon.

Winking Owl cab sav… how appropriate @Seek.

I’m glad you asked this. I’ve been in Aldi twice and it didn’t impress me at all, but so many people rave about it.

About overruns being sold under private labels. Sometimes stores will say, “this is packaged in the same place as X.” For example they might say their store label canned vegetables are canned by Del Monte. Here’s the thing, it might be the ends or quality that did not make it into the Del Monte can, so the quality can be different. The quality can be the same, depending on what the store requires in the specs, but it can be different.

I remember going to Aldis in the US. They also have Aldis in Amsterdam and they have the same wonderfully drinkable, but cheaper wine I discovered on a childless trip, before Little Man was born. If I go back to the States and visit my family and go grocery shopping at Aldis, I will look for their real vanilla extract. It is cheap as chips and very good quality. (I have a good supply now thanks to my very over qualified mule that has brought me some of the needs) I also remember those chicken breasts, @Seek . I remember buying them when I was looking after my mom and pop when mom got cancer. We liked them and had them a few times. Some of their canned food was crappy, but I think I remember a brand of beans that were dark baked and not the tomato type that we all liked. Mom warned me before I went shopping there that I needed to watch what I bought and she would usually send me out with two lists. One for things to get at Aldis and one to get at Angeli’s. Angeli’s was GREAT. Huge grocery store with a fantastic wine and fresh produce department. I miss the cheap eats in the US, but I think if I lived there, I wouldn’t be the size 6 I am today. Fresh bakery doughnuts were always my downfall. Bear claws, cinnamon twists, custard filled…. *que Homer drooling here.

Traditionally, overruns and safe but inferior products are packaged for sale in store such as Big Lots. Also products with a date stamp too short to be handled in a massive distrubution center.

Because of it’s size, Aldi has most of it’s food produced by companies like Ralston.

The larger a company is (i.e. Kraft, General Mills) the less likely they will make store brands. They tend to not mess with lines that sell to near capacity production, and they don’t want tocompete with themselves. I remember when Pillsbury bought out Pet Inc., they bundled all the lines that sold less the 1M unit a year and sold them off. Most of those lines had stayed busy making store brands.

- Their tomato sauce doesn’t contain sugar. I can’t speak to how it tastes plain (we cook our bottled sauce with meat and more veggies), but it works for us.
– organic butter and cheese
– some produce
– I liked their animal crackers (they are more like cookies)
– they usually have name brand goodies like M&Ms
– frozen fruit popsicles
– they actually have a decent selection of gluten-free products
– meat special buys, like spiral cut ham or frozen, antibiotic-free turkeys
– large bottles of their brand water (like SmartWater) and non-sweetened carbonated water (I don’t buy for home, but might if we’re traveling)