For us their fish (not basa) and olive oil are best buy. What's your best and worst buys?
ALDI - Best and Worst Food & Grocery Products
anonymoususer on 25/04/2016 - 13:03
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+1 CHOCEUR! Yes… the Made in Germany stuff… oh gosh its so creamy… Mmmmm….
Best:
Moseroth chocolate
Toilet cleaner
Shower cleaner
Lavazzo beans
Penne pastaWorst:
Meat pies
Best: Onion Rings, Creme Caramel(new supplier), %100 OJ with Pulp, Choceur with almonds, Sprinters thin cut plain chips, Chicken Chippies.
Worst: Biscuits generally
The cheap Scotch Fingers and the Melting Moments are alright.
Best: Tuna 75c, eggs, napkins,hypoallergenic toilet paper,fresh veggies, some fruit, organic yogurt, 100% OJ , cheeses, dips, sugar, organic tomatoes, baked beans cans, baby wipes, scouters, zip lock bags, freezer bags, tissues, peaches in syrup, canned fruit, pasta.
Worst: Tuna bigger cans , biscuits, cheap jam, tortillas, rice crackers, flour, TEA!Best: Spreadable butter and Wheat Biscuits.
Worst: I tried a lot of their frozen food years ago, like chicken nuggets, frozen chips and fish fingers and didn't like them after having them on a regular basis. I went back to a mix of brand named products and Coles brand.
I found the chicken tenders weren't as good and stick with the Steggles/Inghams now.
Best
Butter, baby wipes, washing liquid, 3 ltr juice, Chocolate, Chocolate chip biscuits
Worst
Rice crackers, tea bags, milk , pizza
Best - their version of wagon wheels
Worst- their version of tim tams!Their "mint slice" choccy biscuits rate as good for me.
Worst
Powdered Milk - is crap!
Sardines - free scales
Decaf Tea - is none!
Best: yoghurt, flat breads (pita) and wraps, tinned stone fruit (the Aus ones), small cans tuna (but is yellowfin so we no longer buy)
Worst: coffee sachets, cereal (have only tried a few but that was enough!)I like their fruit flavoured chewing gum. Not a big mint fan so don't get the mint ones. Their potato gems are quite nice, and I find the meat section to be pretty good. Their red bull isn't that nice, but I still buy it because all of those energy drinks taste like crap anyway
tried their gaytime equivalent, its great. Only difference is less cookie crumble stuff on the outside, but still ace
Did know they had one! Will have to try!
Tried them as well, pretty good imo. I think my friend said it was around 3 dollars for box of 6
I was going to try it but didn't like the name pooftime.
I don't do my regular shop at Aldi but one of the items I make a special trip there for is their cat-litter! I used to pay around $20 to $22 for 14kg at Big W but the Aldi equivalent is actually a much better product and costs just $5.59 for 10kg. I'm completely sold on it!
Best:
- $1.29 tuna - like Sirena, love the chilli one
- Palazzo choc butter biscuits
- Yoghurt - both the Greek style and organic ones
- Blue vein cheese - probably rebadged Castello
- Ham pieces - about $10/kg, good quality
- Pane di casa bread
- Booze!
Worst:
- Honey Wheats - abominable amounts of sugar (the last time and only time we had it, a number of years ago)
- Fruit and veg - never seem to get decent quality here
- Sanitary pads (so I've been told, very sternly)
Sanitary pads (so I've been told, very sternly)
I wouldn't skimp on stuff like that. :)
Best
Most chocolates are miles better than Cadbury
Fresh Salmon - Amazing quality at about 1/2 price what Coles charges. (280g or 500g packets)
bellini tomatoes — amazing but a bit pricey
Basa filets as so good but I do not buy them anymore since not Aussie or NZ made. Worried about Mekong caught fish due to pollution
Kids yoghurts
Cooking oils
Bacon - not too salty
Mwave popcorn
Coffee beans
Turkish bread
Cheeses
Tuna slices in olive oil
Cerials - Some are really good with not too much sugarNot soo good
Milk - I find it a bit watery compared to Dairy Farmers
Hazelnut spread - use to be better in glass jars few years agoThey are listening to customers and a lot of things have improved over the years. Sour cream use to be bad now is ok, etc
"Most chocolates are miles better than Cadbury"
I wish CADBURY would listen instead of monopolising Australian kids taste buds.
CADBURY own Whitman and could use their recipes for better chocolate.Mwave popcorn
No need to buy this. My life was changed when I found you can just put kernels in a paper bag and microwave yourself
All the creams and sour creams are made by bulla also the mojority of ice cream.
Why is Basa SO cheap? Is something wrong with the fish or something? Strong supply cannot warrant those prices.
We mainly buy wholefoods and have gradually bought less from Aldi as the price and incentives from Coles/WOW have improved.
Good = great value, taste
Wheat biscuits
Apricot and almond muesli
Some nuts such as salted peanuts (occasional special buy) and pistachios
Bread loaves such as soy and linseed
Premium chocolate
SpicesBaby formula
Baby nappiesSpecial buy foods such as cacao, LSA, black rice, which we buy a lot of.
If I'm not mistaken, the Aus olive oil is supplied by Cobram and salmon is by De Costi. You can get Cobram/Red Island (same Aussie company) at Coles/WOW for less on sale; also the salmon price has progressively increased over time; you can get it cheaper at Coles/WOW on sale - e.g. $24/kg over Easter.
Aldi's fresh produce are less competitive nowadays (that is, Coles/WOW are more competitive and specialist green grocers). Also Aldi prices are less/uncompetitive when Coles/WOW products have big discounts, but if we need something not on sale elsewhere, Aldi is great for tiding us over.
BEST: Al Cafe Coffee. Been drinking Moccona for over 10 years and this converted me.
WORST: The tea bags. Weak and just horrible.
Best value for me - toilet paper, 12 rolls for 3.3 bucks; apple smell laundry liquid I think 1.7; Digestives biscuits 1.7; honey 750 grams 6 bucks, breakfast juice 2 litres 3 bucks, Moser Roth single origin chocolates, triple chocolate ice cream, whole egg mayonaise, green olives, all cans, potato wedges… I do most of my shopping there. The only thing I was not impressed with were the premium juices for 4 dollars per litre, nothing special, breakfast juice much better taste and value. I like their version of Yakult, but my wife doesn't like it.
Anyone know what happened to those chocolate thins
Best
Chocolate
Cleaning products
Cereals
Their 3 ply toilet rolls are the best. Really thick and soft feel compared to Coles/we brand and at a great price. Their dishwashing liquid is also quite good. They smell nice. Wheat biscuits are also great.
Well here's one noone else has mentioned yet, the hummus dip, it's been a regular one for us for years and has a wholesome taste and is extremely reliable. And of course it's coupled with the jatz type biscuits.
Man, this forum could have been ordered by Aldi's marketing department :), well Aldi if your're reading theis just keep up the good products OK, and… I like your new fruit and veg displays… and could you special out those interesting items in the electronics glass cages sooner they just sit there getting older when I could have bought them if the price dropped… I think I'm spending too much time at Aldi, they're clever but I just hope they don't get too greedy too soon…
Just buy chickpeas and tahini, oil, lemon and garlic. Blend. Will cost you thirty cents versus three dollars.
The Hommus dip is $1.79 for 250g at Aldi (I bought it last night) https://www.aldi.com.au/en/groceries/home-of-the-lowest-pric… so really by the time you purchase the ingredients, clean up etc - it's not worth it at all to make your own IMO.
Oh paizuri, I appreciate the purity of your approach, I did try it but the result wasn't as good as Aldi's. I think I'm actually more likely to get Aldi's and adjust the flavour - just thought of it replying to you. I think I'd add some extra virgin olive oil to it, possibly some more tahini, maybe even some more garlic, hey if I add some more chick pea I think you may have got me there…
But thanks rawn, it is a big mess and it takes me a lot of motivation to get myself to muck in, drats people like Aldi take advantage of that :)
Big no no is using canned chickpeas. Always used dried chickpeas. About 15 minutes in pressure cooker if soaked beforehand.
Retain quite a bit of liquid from cooking the chickpeas - a lot of people discard it all and the result ends up being too dry.
http://www.deliciousistanbul.com/blog/2013/04/28/5-secrets-t…
Who shops at different stores each week?
I'm in Perth and we split our shop across Spud Shed and Woollies generally. Shop first at spud shed and fill the gaps at woollies is generally our strategy.
With ALDI coming - It'll be interesting whether we can marginalise Woolies completely or perhaps just a small shop online with click and collect.
I did the whole aldi/woolies/coles run around in Brissy, got sick of it, changed to having all groceries delivered (for free of course) from Coles 2 years ago and would not go back even if they had Aldi in Tas. Saving 10 bucks or so with their equivalents off a $100 shop is not worth the time and effort. Not affiliated in any way and I love a bargain but when it comes to this it's more time for me to do more enjoyable things than spend a couple of hours a week grocery shopping carting the kids around while at it.
I know a few people who works at Coles Online, and they subsidize the free service with what they call "Premium Pricing".
Yep, unless you absolutely need it/Hack coupons, Coles/Woolies 'online' is a trap that will cost you more in the long run. Until they offer greater incentives (Flat rate 15% discount etc) I'll steer clear from the online method of grocery buying.
I dunno, I've gotten $100's from woollies by spending certain amounts. Not in small amounts either, had one for $50 coupon a few months ago.
Plus, I've noticed they rarely have sales in the online store.
I like to stock up with the essentials and specials when I want to get the coupons. Works out a lot cheaper for me in the long run.
Good
The $1.29 tuna (almost as good as sirena taste/quality)
Cockroach spray - works as well as the $8-10 ones. I was shocked as the $4-5 ones take forever to kill.
Lunch pack Microwave fried/chicken brown rice
Brockwurst sausages in a jar - exactly like the Plumrose branded ones but cheaperBeen looking for cacao powder. Heard Aldi have a nice Dutch (i think) brand but I haven't been able to find it in 3 different stores.
Cacao powder is the supposed health food and if that's available it will be near the baking ingredients like ground almonds, dessicated coconut and other nuts.
They do have a Dutch cocoa powder and I think it's usually near the breakfast spreads.
Aldi Monarc Utopia ice cream… the almond one.. 4 for $3.79 … sheer bliss. Beats Streets Magnum and a lot cheaper.
Best
* Fillet steaks
* Cheese
* Lactose free milk
* Frozen berries
* Frozen pizzas
* Frozen deserts
* Dishwashing fluidWorst
* Pork steaks that smell of fish
* Most of their salad/fresh produce. It varies by store, but our local Aldi tries to sell veggies that are close to compost.
* "Free range" eggs that are not free range at all.I buy their free range eggs. Why do you say they are not free range?
According to Choice, they're not free range at all:
https://www.choice.com.au/food-and-drink/articles/how-free-r…
Good: No Aldi in Tas
Bad: No Aldi in Taslol or big w up nw
The choccy bics piazza something with the pictures on them. Very good.
I wish we had an Aldi store in the NT!
Best
Hazelnut chocolate spread (their Nutella)
Chocolate
SausagesWorst
Corn flakes - too thick, not cooked enough. Taste weirdI think Aldi's goats cheese is top notch. I swear it's a rebadge from branded ones you see in the other retailers.
I agree
Has anyone tried any of their wines? and good bargains in there?
My tight father in law bought by accident their $20 red wine thinking it was $8. It was simply mindblowing wine
mind blowing good or bad?
remember the label?
it's all about their $5 rose, award winning and my family swear by it.. and they are wine drinkers who live in red hill around wineries :) decades of practise.. tho it's always sold out tho it has been more in stock recently :)
Rose is amazing for $5 per bottle.
Sssh don't tell anyone as my local Aldi always keeps selling out..
The South Point Estate Pink Moscato? Tasty, but sooo sweet!
Though I quite like the Little Birdwood Sweet Red.
Skinless Hoki Fillets 1KG frozen bags $12/kg
New Zealand catch
Low fat, high protein
Tastes delicious, easy to cookOnly thing i really buy at ALDI is the Knoppers biscuits!! Absolutely awesome
The Good:
Brioche buns
Turkish bread
Mouth wash, non alcoholic
Porterhouse steaks
Laundry liquid detergent
3ply toilet tissuesThe Bad:
56 litre garbage bags - seem like they biodegrade quite quickly, prone to breakage.
Is that the ones with the red pull through handle? They were terrible! Ripped badly every time. Went back to Coles brand for large garbage bags.
Yes, they're labelled as heavy duty… I've had a quite a few break when transferring from the 56 litre to the wheely bin. I've also gone back to the Coles brand. :)
regular purchases for freelance geek that makes brekky and lunch…
LOVE
- pulped OJ awesum $4 - generally $2-$2.50 cheaper than equivalent quality
- 24 slices tasty cheese $5.50: so much cheaper than stoopidmarket used to be $5+ for 10 slices but they are always having sales to compete at coles etc
- leg ham slices.. not great but at $3.69 in 4 different packs it's a bargain and edible.. don't like their salami turkey or chicken slices tho
- yoghurt berry bonanza 6pk $3.50 at least $1-$2 cheaper than on sale coles brands like yoplait and great yoghurt
- wholemeal bread soft $1.95 great much better than supermarkets premium offers
- ditto muffins.. around $1.95 for $4-$5 muffins at supermarket and nicer than their often sold out home brand
- dishwashing powder can't remember numbers but great and cheaper
- deodorant- tho it's rexona much cheaper than supermarket
- shavers ditto cheaper
- Lamb racks are good if fatty and not as good as butcher
- Flat marinated chickens are great for around $7-8 great on BBQ eg lime chilli chicken
- Dark espresso coffee 500 gram pack around $5-$6 double size of supermarket and nicer
- Hot english mustard which is more like a warmer american mustard perfect and under $2
- My parents swear by the hard to find often sold out award winning aldi rose $5 a bottle ftw
- $2 trolley keyring so u always have a trolley don't be a n00b tool that turns up at aldi without bags or without a trolley (tho i do sometimes forget to bring bags and buy new ones… but trolley is a must.. sometimes i just shop in trolley check out via trolley then put items in boot of car from trolley then return trolley and get keyring thing back!)
- organic butter for $3ish much cheaper than lurpak stuff at majors
- Oh i forgot the crispettes aka cruskits…. with aldi ham cheese yes pls
- Also the 89yr old widow across the road who gets me to buy Aldi handyman tools on the specials as well as the 24k party pies swears they are much cheaper and better than the majors #cantconfirmbutwouldassumeheisrightDON'T
- Steak yuk so far, snags fine- stick to proper local butcher
- Fruit and veg- swear this is where they make their money, average old and not that much cheaper… stick to proper fruit and veg store
- Weetbix.. i have to buy the brand name ones as i find Aldi ones softer on milk after eating em for 4 decades :) prob mentalBottom line.. buy your regular items from Aldi that work, with saved money support better quality local butcher and fruit and veg
Keep track of specials but don't go crazy (like my gf) and always remember to return/refund if they bust or u don't like want etc
Good thread. also i like layout same at all stores and decent car parks where u can get a park and reverse out….
- Steak yuk so far, snags fine- stick to proper local butcher
There's two grades, Jindurra Station is awful. Typical budget cuts.
Highlands is more expensive but holy cow (no pun intended) it's good. Try it!- $2 trolley keyring so u always have a trolley don't be a n00b tool that turns up at aldi without bags or without a trolley (tho i do sometimes forget to bring bags and buy new ones… but trolley is a must.. sometimes i just shop in trolley check out via trolley then put items in boot of car from trolley then return trolley and get keyring thing back!)
I just use something similar to these.
http://www.ebay.com.au/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2141725…Do you have the metal or plastic one?
If you have the plastic one - does it work for aldi trolleys?never tried on the ALDI trolley to be honest.
Mine is home made and works for colesworth.@cwongtech:
made by a handy man mate of mine out of some sort of light weight aluminium.
not sure how he cut it.
Ummm too many to list for both. But top of my head
Best:
Their Cornetto and Magnum equivalent is quite nice.Worst:
Don't like their men's 5 blade razor, cuts me all the time compared to name brands Gillette etc. Yes I do have a double edge razor as well but sometimes I'm in a rush.No true ozbargainer would buy razors
I'm to much of a tightarse to buy them so I grew a beard (The missus hates it though)
Best
Scotch fillet 4 packs
Mushrooms
Cheeses (Cheddar's, Blue's, Feta's, Brie's
Virgin olive oil
Breads (Panne de Casa and the now unavailable Hausbrot was the best)
$1 Jelly popping candy chocolates
Cheap detergentsWorst
Razors both the disposable and Prince brandI guess I am now an Aldi shopper, some friends have commented its like a Gulag with only one brand and were resistant at first but the quality / price bang for buck factor seems to be the critical mass. The inflationary price matching of the big two make them seem like robbers now!
I think it is a mistake to try the cheapest products at Aldi.
They have really good products, slightly expensive if you compared to the lowest price, but it is tasty and quality food.
For example, we buy organic products at Aldi. We have never been disappointed.
Also we started with cheap cold meats, and we upgraded to the intermediary ones, there is a real difference and they are not that much more expensive.
As a general advise, don't buy electronic stuff at Aldi. I always lost my money on them, they don't work as expected and the quality is generally too low.
Best: food
Worst: electronic
Best-
Free range eggs
Organic milk… great for coffees.
Dishwashing detergent
Cheeses
Grass fed beef
Sausages
Fish- Hoki and Cod
Egg MayoWorst
- Plastic/Cling wrap by far the worst I've ever used.organic milk? fresh one?
yeah, $2 for 1L.
Creamier than normal full cream milk for some reason.
thank you sir, I'll give it a try on my next shop. Shame they dont stock the long life organic milk, coles does. $1.91/l
I think I have seen organic UHT Milk at Aldi, but not sure of the price- http://www.productreview.com.au/p/just-organic-aldi-uht-full…
But for some reason, I found that all organic milk (non UHT) have a much longer shelf life than regular milk, about 1 month vs 2 weeks.
Aldi Best:
-The Organic range of food (green packaging/bottles). Those are really good products, especially the honey, pasta sauce and dried pasta.
-the normal cheap pasta is also pretty good
-canned tuna/salmon (really good quality/value)
-seasonal fruits and veg
-eggs and milkAldi Worst:
-cookies, chocolate and other confectionery stuff (in general they all taste bad and cheap)
-bacon (somehow I feel they are really low quality/overly fatty meat compared to what you get at woolies and coles)You need to inspect all the shortcut bacon packets, some are super fatty, and some pretty lean. Never just pick up the first one on top.
Ironically conditioning to crappy Australian Chocolate has tainted you. Generally the Aldi chocolate is of much higher quality than local brands (or locally made products such as Cadbury). They have a higher content of Cocoa butter and less solids, synonymous with Australian chocolate. I too personally prefer Australian chocolate to say English chocolate (which is higher quality, even from the same brands), but the fact is that Aldi chocolate is better. Their sweets are also much better for you than most products from Australian supermarkets, with much less (or no) E numbers and nasty chemicals.
But Aldi Yogurt sucks. It tastes like pic, but not good bacon pig, bad farm pig.
Not a useful topic as all opinions are subjective. Best general approach is shopping at Coles or Woolies on special only and at Aldi, Chinese and Indian shops for everyday groceries. In the case of Aldi one needs to try out the product, see for oneself and decide whether to stick with it.
if only someone could start a thread where other people have tried things and can say whether they thought they were good or not so you could have some idea of where to start….
Yes, but whether someone liked a product or not is not an indication of whether you will like it or not. Quite a few things criticised within this topic I like and vice versa. I really do like Aldi frozen veggies for example.
"…some idea of where to start…"
Agree though that it would be more useful if more people posted -why- they like or dislike something though.
BEST:
Cottage Cheese
All of their cheese.
Frozen Berries
Frozen Salmon
Eggs!WORST:
Frozen veggiesUnfortunately my thoughts are the best products are now no longer there (gone for a few years). The premium tempura chicken nuggets (even was rated high by choice) and their American baby back ribs.
Their OJ is still pretty good though and some of the special buys if you can get them quick.
Best:
Methylated spirits
and Orange JuiceWorst:
Kerosene
and soda wateryour cocktails sound awful.
Worst: 4 pack muffins.
Someone else said they love the muffins, not sure if you talking about the 4 pack but twice i got them and they were stale in comparison to woolies.
Best - Melting Moments
Omg yes… I bought them for my partner because he loves them but I ended up eating them all!
Best imho: Wine , Truss Tomatoes , Fresh Chicken Rolled ? " sage and onion flavour" ,Fresh Ravoli with mushroom and truffle oil , Tuna chili flavour .
CHOCOLATE STAMPEDES!!!!!! :D
They used to have this awesome lemon sorbet and then, in Aldi tradition, it was gone.
YMMV - I've found (Northern Suburbs, VIC) That Aldi has lifted it's game big time in this area and includes decent specials quite often i.e Broccolini, Pumpkin) - Quality is fine!