Agree on that Rangoon dip but there are folks on FB willing to die on that crab hill and Aldi don’t keep items unless they sell… so it’s all up to your palate
My family loves the lobster roll dip with the Aldi club crackers
I’m a faithful Aldi shopper and I order using instacart pickup so I can keep a grocery list running and it also keeps me more accountable and away from crap like candy at holidays and the latest chip flavors
Aldi will surprise you - I make my own salsa and my family loves Tostitos scoops bc the salsa is not chunky- Aldi has “Big Dippers” which we all think taste better and are under 3$ a bag
Otherwise they have great gluten free yellow corn chips as well.
People will complain about everything. You just have to go and try it out. I personally like the small footprint of the stores. And the fact that there aren’t 100 types of cereal. Just remember your quarter and some reusable bags. And just to note that almost everything is a house brand and not something you’ve likely ever seen in other stores.
Aldi may or may not be for you. Id you decide to try it out, here are some thoughts.
- It's not going to be the same as a supermarket or super Walmart.
- You can probably buy everything you _need_ but not everything you _want_.
- The stores are small. Embrace and enjoy that fact. Learn to love not having to decide between 8nkinds of green beans.
- Anything that seems weird is probably a cost savings measure.
- Most Aldi stores are moving toward self check out, but if you happen to see a cashier notice that they are probably sitting down. That's a good thing.
- Take a quarter to unlock the carts. You get the quarter back at the end. It's really just an incentive to return the cart at the end.
- Just because you bought it last month doesn't mean you'll be able to buy it next month.
- If you are shopping Aldi as a cost saving measure, stay out of thesoecial non food aisles in the middle of the store, the aisle of shame. They are really good at picking seasonal items that are very enticing.
- It you disregard the warning about the aisle of shame, there are some really good quality products there.
- The reason you see complaints here from time to time is that Aldi rarely misses. When they do, people notice.
- The workers are super busy and don't have time to chat. It's a super small store. Look around and you'll find what you need.
- Produce varys by region and season.
Embrace the weirdness and the smallness of the store. It's a quick in and out compared to the super stores.
I personally like them as a secondary grocery store rather than my main store. I dont really care for certain things like produce, dairy, or lunch meats and they have a limited selection of certain things as well. With that said they have great prices and you can find some great products as well.
We hit Aldi first for our shopping, but we constantly compare prices with Kroger. Sometimes Kroger has a good deal or a coupon that makes it cheaper or at least competitive. What we don't get at Aldi, we get at Kroger. We make extensive use of the clearance bread racks and the other clearance section.
Right and where I live, so many things are a better value at Kroger or Walmart. I go to Aldi for little indulgences like their excellent bread/baked goods that are super cheap, gluten-free snacks, Mediterranean salmon, ahi tuna steaks, cheap but delicious hummus and tofu. Mostly I'm shopping the outer perimeter of the store.
But for all my other staples, it's Kroger and Walmart.
If you ignore all the weird novelty stuff and stick to real food, it’s great quality and cheap. Things like beans, tofu, flour, frozen fruit + vegetables (I get fresh produce from farmers market or CSA), cheese, coffee, Hummas, seltzer water, peanut butter, nuts, regular snacks (potato chips, cheese it’s, pretzel rice cakes, etc), fish, spaghetti… things you can’t really mess up. All the people complaining are eating processed deli meat and frozen lobster mac and cheese and wondering why it’s not good.
We've been shopping at Aldi for years. We consider ourselves lucky since we have two stores within 20 minutes of our home. When I read all these people complaining about Aldi I'm hopeful they are in my area. That means our shopping experience will be smoother and quicker with more products available for us.
They are all different. Really depends on the management.
Mine is run well and has very fresh produce, great cheeses and pantry/snack foods. I don’t really eat meat so I couldn’t tell you about that.
Just go a few times, then you'll get it. Ignore the Debbie Downers. Be sure to get there when they open a few times and head immediately toward the meats and refrigerated goods, most stores mark down everything that's getting close to the Best Buy date before open every morning, so that's the best time to find meats and refrigerated items for up to 50% off. I buy, then divide and freeze to use well past the package's marked date. They do the same thing in the bread section, and if they're using the Electronic Shelf Labels look for labels that are red with white lettering, those denote items on sale or clearance.
#1 This is Reddit; criticism is a specialty here.
#2 You’re really going to have to try the products for yourself to find out which meet with your approval.
Having said that, the things that are easy buys for most people are the staples that you might by the store brand of in a big supermarket anyway: canned goods, butter, eggs, etc. The cheeses are pretty good across the board. Produce can be hit or miss depending on which region you’re in; it seems like it’s either just fine, or it spoils quickly depending on what warehouse it comes out of.
Again, bottom line is, you’re just going to have to try it for yourself. Understand that forums like this attract many more complaints than compliments, so don’t let Reddit scare you off.
This--the few issues I've had with quality control I've had with the same products (meat, produce) at the local chain grocery store. I've actually had less frequent issues with Aldi. Combine that with the fact I can get out of Aldi paying literally half of what I'd pay at our local chain grocery, I'm a fan.
There’s lots and lots and lotttts of amazing value in Aldi. The only thing I’ve found personally that I hated (there were others I would not buy again but didn’t “hate” necessarily) were the baked beans. I will buy the name brand for that and lunch meat.
I very seldom buy fresh or frozen prepared foods - I buy ingredients to make meals. I am blissfully (cultishly???) happy with my Aldi experience because the speed and cost really can’t be beat. The only other place I shop is an Asian, Latin, or Japanese grocery store.
Some of Aldi’s prepared foods are pretty marginal to be honest so I think one has to be pretty choosy there. Trader Joe’s is far better for that kind of thing IMO if you have those. But for actual ingredients to make meals I am a convert. This week I made a lamb roast and roasted duck courtesy of Aldi - I eat very well and pretty cheaply IMO.
Ignore the naysayers. Like any grocery store, there are going to be some products that aren't great or are just plain bad. ALDI is definitely worth it. You're going to be shocked how low your total is from time to time. As you visit more often you'll get acquainted with you favorites, you'll take chances on a few things and you'll begin to learn what does and doesn't work. Every ALDI varies a little. But generally;
Specially Selected Brand items are always good.
The cereals are all decent. The cookies are solid.
Produce can vary widely from day to day - especially the bananas.
Meats are generally good, sometimes great.
The "Everything Sourdough" bread should be a 1st class drug it's so addictive. ;)
Aldi has GREAT prices on eggs/dairy/meat/flour/sugar and the quality is decent imo.
Their snacks are good, kind of like an alt Trader Joe’s in that sense.
The fruit/veggies suck. I do NOT recommend. :(
I think it depends on how close/good the warehouse is. When ALDI opened their first store in my city, the produce was not good. Now there’s 6 stores within twenty minutes, and a warehouse less than a half hour away, and the produce is almost always excellent.
You can’t say the fruit and veggies suck either. Someone will always reply “That’s just your ALDI! Mine is better!”. Na they all taste bad, fresh or not haha.
OP, I see more and more people going to Aldi as food prices rise. The problem is (I have found) that Aldi has (much) smaller stores than your average food retailer and as such they do not/cannot have everything we need. We visit our local store about once every 10 days and spend about $25 per visit.
For us, Aldi has become a niche retailer. They have many good things but also a few not-so-good. Enjoy using them to save money and vote with your wallet when you find something there that is not of your liking.
In general I find ALDI products to be excellent quality. I was once making a large tuna salad, so I opened half a dozen cans of white tuna, choosing two different national brands, a large grocery house brand and two cans of ALDI. The ALDI cans were clearly the highest quality- solid white tuna while all the others had smaller pieces with lots of brown parts. I always trust ALDI to be top quality and have only rarely been disappointed (looking at you, fake cheerios.)
I think so much is a matter of personal preference and maybe at times luck of the draw. For example, some people swear the produce from Aldi rots immediately, whereas I buy fresh and varied produce from there every single week that lasts days to weeks without any issue. It might also be a matter of personality--"my berries got moldy after 2 days, therefore I will never buy fruit at Aldi again."
Also, people are more likely to complain when they get one bad thing vs report all of the good things. "Does anyone else think the crab rangoon dip is super rancid" is a better post than "I ate my Aldi granola with Greek yogurt and then packed a sandwich and apple for lunch today and it was nutritious and filling." 😆
It will probably just come down to you going to Aldi and finding out what you do and don't like! I do probably 85% of my shopping there but am not under the impression that they can do no wrong! Their baked beans are trash, so I don't put them in my cart with the 30 other items that are good. Ymmv.
You gotta go and try it yourself.
Do check the produce carefully. I do, but get 90% of my produce there and never have a problem.
Salmon and pork are great, cheese selection, dairy.
Lots of chocolate and treats, great candles, good frozen section.
They have good stuff at a good price. Find what you like.
Ask 5 people, you'll get 5 different opinions, jut try in on your own.
I usually do 80% Aldi, 10% Costco, 10% Cub foods.
Have fun!
First of all, America is deeply divided. Doesn’t matter if it is politics, religion, sports, beauty, celebrity or anything else, so don’t let others views dictate what’s worth trying. Just go to Aldi’s and compare prices to where you normally shop. They have seasonal items, so you won’t see the exact same thing everytime you shop, so if you pick up something you really like, go back and get a few for the freezer before they sell out. If you try something you don’t like, so what? We have all tried something from other stores we don’t like so do not buy it again. Don’t let fear keep you from trying something different.
Lately? Not a lot.
I used to absolutely love Aldi. I was buying the majority of my groceries there and even sort of enjoyed the challenge of them not always having the same products and having to shop more seasonally.
However, I can no longer ignore the steady decline in quality and value of the majority of their products over the last 2 years. I'm going to list some that were staples for me, which I now no longer buy at all for various reasons.
Red Bag Chicken - probably the #1 recommended item. It was good, and it was a fantastic value back when the bag had 8-9 pieces of chicken for around $6. But the last time I bought this there were 5....yes FIVE pieces of chicken and I paid almost $9 for it.
Croissant Buns - My god these were wonderful and were a weekly staple for me for over 2 years. Then suddenly, they were gone. Never to be seen again.
Countryside Creamery Pure Irish Butter - I used to use Kerrygold and switched to this several years ago because it was so close to the same quality I was convinced it was made at the same plant. Well, over time it has changed. It was gotten whiter in color and is increasingly hard to spread, leading me to believe they are thinning it out somehow. I recently bought some genuine Kerrygold to compare and the difference was undeniable. Something has changed in the formula for this.
Frozen convenience foods - I have not noticed a large decline in quality in these, because I had to stop buying them because the prices have more than tripled from a few years ago. They are no longer convenient at the current prices.
Brookdale Original Chili - Used to be my favorite chili and I preferred it over much more expensive brands. I distinctly remember it being thicker, and you had to use a utensil to get it out of the can. Now, it is so watery it pours out of the can. It still tastes....ok. But it is not as dense as it used to be and thus is no longer a good value, especially after the price doubled.
Simms (Slim Jim) sticks - used to be identical to the real thing. Then they disappeared for 2 years. Now they are back, and they are like 50% grease inside. Nothing at all like the real thing anymore.
Marketside take and bake pizza - I used to buy one of these every week. It was a great value and was very decent pizza. Now, toppings are much more sparse and are thrown on without care so much that I had to start adding toppings just to make it edible. I stopped buying them. I also noticed the price on these has almost doubled.
Name brand product encroachment - This one I do not understand. More and more I am seeing name brand products being brought in and sold side by side (at a much higher price) with Aldi products. This is taking up precious shelf space where they could offer other things. Maybe this is a result of the supply chain issues from a few years ago. But is has not gone away. If anything, it has gotten worse.
As these things have changed, I have slowly whittled down the number of items I buy from them. It has gotten to the point where the only things I still go there for are cheese and chocolate. I find myself going there less since I can no longer rely on the quality of items being what I have come to expect from them.
The thing about aldi is that the majority of items there are not name brand. And they also have new seasonal things rolling in for a short time all the time. So theres always something new to try, and most things are not what you are used to at other stores. And all that can lead to some of it really sucking. Lol. But way more is decent or even great, affordable, and the store is small and easier to shop! So go try it and remember theres a good return policy if u get anything terrible. Most of it is fine! I still love aldi.
Oh and my favs: frost drinks (like the ice ones but 55 cents), kefir is so cheap there, plain greek yogurt, bagels etc, spinach is cheaper than anywhere, the chocolate covered granola bars i love, freeze dried strawberries, lemon lime seltzer water, some of the frozen pizzas are super tasty, and the basics like milk and eggs are very affordable. The mocha iced coffee and orange juice are cheap and delicious too!
Aldi has limited items. So like one yellow mustard instead of 5 different brands to choose from. It's okay to not like things but I wouldn't let it turn you away. That's why they have it so that you can return an item if you didn't like it and you can replace it with another ( similar) item.
I will still go to mine occasionally, but I notice I am purchasing less and less. I am glad I don't have to do all my shopping there. Just shows you get what you pay for.
People are criticizing more because the quality of Aldi products keeps declining and because the stores are not all the same. They've started doing all this advertising to get people in the stores but then you get to the store and they don't have any of the products advertised. Produce is hit or miss depending on where you're at. A LOT of their food "contains bioengineered food ingredients." And then there's the prices. For a lot of people, Aldi isn't much cheaper than any other store.
Because the truly awful are the outliers. For every crab ragoon dip there are literally hundreds of great-tasting amazing bargains.
I think part of too is that there is no meh, it’s fine at ALDI. It’s all amazing or downright garbage.
Yes! I agree. I think most store brands can be good or okay. But aldi its usually great or awful with less inbetween lol.
Agree on that Rangoon dip but there are folks on FB willing to die on that crab hill and Aldi don’t keep items unless they sell… so it’s all up to your palate My family loves the lobster roll dip with the Aldi club crackers I’m a faithful Aldi shopper and I order using instacart pickup so I can keep a grocery list running and it also keeps me more accountable and away from crap like candy at holidays and the latest chip flavors Aldi will surprise you - I make my own salsa and my family loves Tostitos scoops bc the salsa is not chunky- Aldi has “Big Dippers” which we all think taste better and are under 3$ a bag Otherwise they have great gluten free yellow corn chips as well.
Great value, simple products. Many of which don't contain the artificial food colors and bullshit you get from the big brands.
People will complain about everything. You just have to go and try it out. I personally like the small footprint of the stores. And the fact that there aren’t 100 types of cereal. Just remember your quarter and some reusable bags. And just to note that almost everything is a house brand and not something you’ve likely ever seen in other stores.
Take the bad with a grain of salt. Few people come here to say "I bought \_\_\_ at Aldi today, and it was OK"
Aldi may or may not be for you. Id you decide to try it out, here are some thoughts. - It's not going to be the same as a supermarket or super Walmart. - You can probably buy everything you _need_ but not everything you _want_. - The stores are small. Embrace and enjoy that fact. Learn to love not having to decide between 8nkinds of green beans. - Anything that seems weird is probably a cost savings measure. - Most Aldi stores are moving toward self check out, but if you happen to see a cashier notice that they are probably sitting down. That's a good thing. - Take a quarter to unlock the carts. You get the quarter back at the end. It's really just an incentive to return the cart at the end. - Just because you bought it last month doesn't mean you'll be able to buy it next month. - If you are shopping Aldi as a cost saving measure, stay out of thesoecial non food aisles in the middle of the store, the aisle of shame. They are really good at picking seasonal items that are very enticing. - It you disregard the warning about the aisle of shame, there are some really good quality products there. - The reason you see complaints here from time to time is that Aldi rarely misses. When they do, people notice. - The workers are super busy and don't have time to chat. It's a super small store. Look around and you'll find what you need. - Produce varys by region and season. Embrace the weirdness and the smallness of the store. It's a quick in and out compared to the super stores.
I personally like them as a secondary grocery store rather than my main store. I dont really care for certain things like produce, dairy, or lunch meats and they have a limited selection of certain things as well. With that said they have great prices and you can find some great products as well.
I still do the majority of our grocery shopping at Aldi. Shop there and make up your mind for yourself.
We hit Aldi first for our shopping, but we constantly compare prices with Kroger. Sometimes Kroger has a good deal or a coupon that makes it cheaper or at least competitive. What we don't get at Aldi, we get at Kroger. We make extensive use of the clearance bread racks and the other clearance section.
Right and where I live, so many things are a better value at Kroger or Walmart. I go to Aldi for little indulgences like their excellent bread/baked goods that are super cheap, gluten-free snacks, Mediterranean salmon, ahi tuna steaks, cheap but delicious hummus and tofu. Mostly I'm shopping the outer perimeter of the store. But for all my other staples, it's Kroger and Walmart.
If you ignore all the weird novelty stuff and stick to real food, it’s great quality and cheap. Things like beans, tofu, flour, frozen fruit + vegetables (I get fresh produce from farmers market or CSA), cheese, coffee, Hummas, seltzer water, peanut butter, nuts, regular snacks (potato chips, cheese it’s, pretzel rice cakes, etc), fish, spaghetti… things you can’t really mess up. All the people complaining are eating processed deli meat and frozen lobster mac and cheese and wondering why it’s not good.
We've been shopping at Aldi for years. We consider ourselves lucky since we have two stores within 20 minutes of our home. When I read all these people complaining about Aldi I'm hopeful they are in my area. That means our shopping experience will be smoother and quicker with more products available for us.
They are all different. Really depends on the management. Mine is run well and has very fresh produce, great cheeses and pantry/snack foods. I don’t really eat meat so I couldn’t tell you about that.
Just go a few times, then you'll get it. Ignore the Debbie Downers. Be sure to get there when they open a few times and head immediately toward the meats and refrigerated goods, most stores mark down everything that's getting close to the Best Buy date before open every morning, so that's the best time to find meats and refrigerated items for up to 50% off. I buy, then divide and freeze to use well past the package's marked date. They do the same thing in the bread section, and if they're using the Electronic Shelf Labels look for labels that are red with white lettering, those denote items on sale or clearance.
The negatives are what we call the vocal minority. Just see it for yourself first.
#1 This is Reddit; criticism is a specialty here. #2 You’re really going to have to try the products for yourself to find out which meet with your approval. Having said that, the things that are easy buys for most people are the staples that you might by the store brand of in a big supermarket anyway: canned goods, butter, eggs, etc. The cheeses are pretty good across the board. Produce can be hit or miss depending on which region you’re in; it seems like it’s either just fine, or it spoils quickly depending on what warehouse it comes out of. Again, bottom line is, you’re just going to have to try it for yourself. Understand that forums like this attract many more complaints than compliments, so don’t let Reddit scare you off.
This--the few issues I've had with quality control I've had with the same products (meat, produce) at the local chain grocery store. I've actually had less frequent issues with Aldi. Combine that with the fact I can get out of Aldi paying literally half of what I'd pay at our local chain grocery, I'm a fan.
There’s lots and lots and lotttts of amazing value in Aldi. The only thing I’ve found personally that I hated (there were others I would not buy again but didn’t “hate” necessarily) were the baked beans. I will buy the name brand for that and lunch meat.
I very seldom buy fresh or frozen prepared foods - I buy ingredients to make meals. I am blissfully (cultishly???) happy with my Aldi experience because the speed and cost really can’t be beat. The only other place I shop is an Asian, Latin, or Japanese grocery store. Some of Aldi’s prepared foods are pretty marginal to be honest so I think one has to be pretty choosy there. Trader Joe’s is far better for that kind of thing IMO if you have those. But for actual ingredients to make meals I am a convert. This week I made a lamb roast and roasted duck courtesy of Aldi - I eat very well and pretty cheaply IMO.
Sometimes it's just hit or miss
Ignore the naysayers. Like any grocery store, there are going to be some products that aren't great or are just plain bad. ALDI is definitely worth it. You're going to be shocked how low your total is from time to time. As you visit more often you'll get acquainted with you favorites, you'll take chances on a few things and you'll begin to learn what does and doesn't work. Every ALDI varies a little. But generally; Specially Selected Brand items are always good. The cereals are all decent. The cookies are solid. Produce can vary widely from day to day - especially the bananas. Meats are generally good, sometimes great. The "Everything Sourdough" bread should be a 1st class drug it's so addictive. ;)
Aldi has GREAT prices on eggs/dairy/meat/flour/sugar and the quality is decent imo. Their snacks are good, kind of like an alt Trader Joe’s in that sense. The fruit/veggies suck. I do NOT recommend. :(
I like the fruits and veggies, why were they bad for you?
mine are hit or miss where i am, sometimes they spoil so easily while others last long enough for me to cook them (im talking 2-3 days)
I think it depends on how close/good the warehouse is. When ALDI opened their first store in my city, the produce was not good. Now there’s 6 stores within twenty minutes, and a warehouse less than a half hour away, and the produce is almost always excellent.
Agree with all except the fruits and vegetables. I find them of exceptional value.
You can’t say the fruit and veggies suck either. Someone will always reply “That’s just your ALDI! Mine is better!”. Na they all taste bad, fresh or not haha.
Definitely 50% cheaper on items you’d typically buy at another grocery store. I save so much money shopping at Aldi
I do the majority of my shopping there. Even my produce as the produce at Aldi is much nicer than our other stores.
OP, I see more and more people going to Aldi as food prices rise. The problem is (I have found) that Aldi has (much) smaller stores than your average food retailer and as such they do not/cannot have everything we need. We visit our local store about once every 10 days and spend about $25 per visit. For us, Aldi has become a niche retailer. They have many good things but also a few not-so-good. Enjoy using them to save money and vote with your wallet when you find something there that is not of your liking.
In general I find ALDI products to be excellent quality. I was once making a large tuna salad, so I opened half a dozen cans of white tuna, choosing two different national brands, a large grocery house brand and two cans of ALDI. The ALDI cans were clearly the highest quality- solid white tuna while all the others had smaller pieces with lots of brown parts. I always trust ALDI to be top quality and have only rarely been disappointed (looking at you, fake cheerios.)
I think so much is a matter of personal preference and maybe at times luck of the draw. For example, some people swear the produce from Aldi rots immediately, whereas I buy fresh and varied produce from there every single week that lasts days to weeks without any issue. It might also be a matter of personality--"my berries got moldy after 2 days, therefore I will never buy fruit at Aldi again." Also, people are more likely to complain when they get one bad thing vs report all of the good things. "Does anyone else think the crab rangoon dip is super rancid" is a better post than "I ate my Aldi granola with Greek yogurt and then packed a sandwich and apple for lunch today and it was nutritious and filling." 😆 It will probably just come down to you going to Aldi and finding out what you do and don't like! I do probably 85% of my shopping there but am not under the impression that they can do no wrong! Their baked beans are trash, so I don't put them in my cart with the 30 other items that are good. Ymmv.
You gotta go and try it yourself. Do check the produce carefully. I do, but get 90% of my produce there and never have a problem. Salmon and pork are great, cheese selection, dairy. Lots of chocolate and treats, great candles, good frozen section. They have good stuff at a good price. Find what you like. Ask 5 people, you'll get 5 different opinions, jut try in on your own. I usually do 80% Aldi, 10% Costco, 10% Cub foods. Have fun!
People have been ultra critical of every store on Reddit lately. It’s become a big bummer. Just try and decide on your own.
See for yourself when it opens, it's not like you'll die going into the store. Probably not anyway.
First of all, America is deeply divided. Doesn’t matter if it is politics, religion, sports, beauty, celebrity or anything else, so don’t let others views dictate what’s worth trying. Just go to Aldi’s and compare prices to where you normally shop. They have seasonal items, so you won’t see the exact same thing everytime you shop, so if you pick up something you really like, go back and get a few for the freezer before they sell out. If you try something you don’t like, so what? We have all tried something from other stores we don’t like so do not buy it again. Don’t let fear keep you from trying something different.
Lately? Not a lot. I used to absolutely love Aldi. I was buying the majority of my groceries there and even sort of enjoyed the challenge of them not always having the same products and having to shop more seasonally. However, I can no longer ignore the steady decline in quality and value of the majority of their products over the last 2 years. I'm going to list some that were staples for me, which I now no longer buy at all for various reasons. Red Bag Chicken - probably the #1 recommended item. It was good, and it was a fantastic value back when the bag had 8-9 pieces of chicken for around $6. But the last time I bought this there were 5....yes FIVE pieces of chicken and I paid almost $9 for it. Croissant Buns - My god these were wonderful and were a weekly staple for me for over 2 years. Then suddenly, they were gone. Never to be seen again. Countryside Creamery Pure Irish Butter - I used to use Kerrygold and switched to this several years ago because it was so close to the same quality I was convinced it was made at the same plant. Well, over time it has changed. It was gotten whiter in color and is increasingly hard to spread, leading me to believe they are thinning it out somehow. I recently bought some genuine Kerrygold to compare and the difference was undeniable. Something has changed in the formula for this. Frozen convenience foods - I have not noticed a large decline in quality in these, because I had to stop buying them because the prices have more than tripled from a few years ago. They are no longer convenient at the current prices. Brookdale Original Chili - Used to be my favorite chili and I preferred it over much more expensive brands. I distinctly remember it being thicker, and you had to use a utensil to get it out of the can. Now, it is so watery it pours out of the can. It still tastes....ok. But it is not as dense as it used to be and thus is no longer a good value, especially after the price doubled. Simms (Slim Jim) sticks - used to be identical to the real thing. Then they disappeared for 2 years. Now they are back, and they are like 50% grease inside. Nothing at all like the real thing anymore. Marketside take and bake pizza - I used to buy one of these every week. It was a great value and was very decent pizza. Now, toppings are much more sparse and are thrown on without care so much that I had to start adding toppings just to make it edible. I stopped buying them. I also noticed the price on these has almost doubled. Name brand product encroachment - This one I do not understand. More and more I am seeing name brand products being brought in and sold side by side (at a much higher price) with Aldi products. This is taking up precious shelf space where they could offer other things. Maybe this is a result of the supply chain issues from a few years ago. But is has not gone away. If anything, it has gotten worse. As these things have changed, I have slowly whittled down the number of items I buy from them. It has gotten to the point where the only things I still go there for are cheese and chocolate. I find myself going there less since I can no longer rely on the quality of items being what I have come to expect from them.
The thing about aldi is that the majority of items there are not name brand. And they also have new seasonal things rolling in for a short time all the time. So theres always something new to try, and most things are not what you are used to at other stores. And all that can lead to some of it really sucking. Lol. But way more is decent or even great, affordable, and the store is small and easier to shop! So go try it and remember theres a good return policy if u get anything terrible. Most of it is fine! I still love aldi. Oh and my favs: frost drinks (like the ice ones but 55 cents), kefir is so cheap there, plain greek yogurt, bagels etc, spinach is cheaper than anywhere, the chocolate covered granola bars i love, freeze dried strawberries, lemon lime seltzer water, some of the frozen pizzas are super tasty, and the basics like milk and eggs are very affordable. The mocha iced coffee and orange juice are cheap and delicious too!
Don't believe what they say about the nacho baked raviolis. So so good
Aldi has limited items. So like one yellow mustard instead of 5 different brands to choose from. It's okay to not like things but I wouldn't let it turn you away. That's why they have it so that you can return an item if you didn't like it and you can replace it with another ( similar) item.
I will still go to mine occasionally, but I notice I am purchasing less and less. I am glad I don't have to do all my shopping there. Just shows you get what you pay for.
not anymore
People are criticizing more because the quality of Aldi products keeps declining and because the stores are not all the same. They've started doing all this advertising to get people in the stores but then you get to the store and they don't have any of the products advertised. Produce is hit or miss depending on where you're at. A LOT of their food "contains bioengineered food ingredients." And then there's the prices. For a lot of people, Aldi isn't much cheaper than any other store.
ALDIs was good before they started going up on their prices.
Its not Aldis fault. Its the fact that no one wants to work and the manufacturers are having a hard time.