We can all agree Aldi have some good stuff but sometimes there’s some bad too. I’d like to hear about your favs and not so favs.
Don’t worry if it’s not food based. We will forgive you.
I’ll start a Coles/Woolworths post in the near future.
GOOD
- Fresh Produce/Meats - this one surprised me, as my old Aldi at the Preston Markets was not good in this area. I’m not sure whether that was just in comparison to what was at the markets or not. Now that I only have Colesworths/SpudShed to compare against, I’m pretty satisfied with Aldi.
- Cheese / Small goods - honestly, I could put up Aldi against anything at the supermarket in a blind taste test and it’d hold its own. Only it’s much cheaper.
- Dairy - I’ve only tried Milk and yoghurt, but again it’s decent quality, holding up against what you’d find at Colesworths.
- Chocolate - agree with everyone on this one. Given it’s price, it’s much better than it has any right to be.
- Pretzels - Seriously, their pretzels are the best in class.
- Gluten Free range - the cake mixes and baked bars in particular are seriously good.
- Another vote for dishwasher tablets.
ACCEPTABLE
- Knockoff Milo - look, it’s not better than the real thing. There’s no pretending otherwise. But it’s fine, and it’s not made by Nestle. So I switched to this and it’s good enough that 8 don’t miss Milo.
- Knockoff Rice Bubbles and Weetbix - again, they’re not quite as good as the real deal, but they’re about 20-30% cheaper, and the real ones are not that much better.
- Lawn Mower - I had a small lawn at the old house and for five years, I used an Aldi mower to maintain it. The catcher wouldn’t stay together for that last year, but the mower itself started reliably every time.
- Bikes - Aldi has a touring bike it puts out every 10 months or so for around $500-$600. This bike is surprisingly decent for that price. It you are in the market for a cheap bike, and the $800-$900 for an entry-level bike from a proper bike shop is too much, consider the Aldi one. It’s on that level, and cheaper.
- Adventure Ridge outdoors stuff - it’s cheap quality and heavy, but their Adventure Ridge stuff can be pretty decent if you are an occasional camper. I recommend getting Adventure Ridge stuff to people getting into camping and to upgrade if/when stuff wears out or breaks from use.
BAD
- Knockoff Corn Flakes - They’re just bad. Real Corn Flakes are cheap, just get them.
- Stirling Appliances - We had the Stirling Kettle and Toaster. They sucked so bad. Not recommended at all.
- Electronics - Meridian and Bauhn I think are the brand names they use. Avoid them, they will disappoint you.
I like their corn flakes. So YMMV
I buy aldi cornflakes and stick the bag in an old cornflakes box, kids have never said anything but when I poured them from the aldi box they complained about the taste
Pure evil. If I ever meet your kids then I’m spilling >XD
Ambiano electronics: have had a few for years, hold up well. (Specifically dehydrator, vacuum sealer mini food smoker and yoghurt maker) 3d printers are balco or cocoon create, all rebadged wanhaos.
Iced tea granules: i neeeeed them to have them in stock more regularly. Would shank a grandma for their pizza pockets
Laundry powder is good. Dishwasher tablets too. The Triangoli pasta is actually amazing. The spiral pasta is so much better than Woolies it’s crazy. The cats and dogs are both into their respective canned food. Mince meat is fine, every other meat else is iffy. The seasoned roasts are either amazing or dogshit with no in between. I really like their cola too.the Mrs says the fruit in jelly cups are a shitload better than woolies which she claims is inedible.
I second their pasta. I like the texture, very similar to San Remo and Barilla.
The woolies brand pasta is yucky.
Laundry powder was nominated by choice as one of the best for dirt removal if memory serves
I find chicken from Aldi to have a weird plasticy smell/taste.
Had a Stirling half size freezer which was great until it suddenly wasn’t at about 3yo. I got laughed at by the fridge mechanic for asking if it could be fixed.
Their drumsticks are pretty great tho. I snag a big ol’ bag to portion down and freeze, then toss 'em in the airfryer
GOOD: The paper products like bog roll and paper towels etc., laundry liquid are great. I prefer them to colesworth. The pantry staples like rice, flour sugar are fine too and cheaper. The range of cheeses is nice if ordinary - I really like the tubs of cream cheese marketed as from alpine milk - I think it’s the lack of oxygen that gives them that creamy consistency. Their smoked meats are fine and marketed in sensible size packs. I LOOVVEE the chocolate - it tastes like real chocolate and the range is broad. Much better than colesworth. Frozen foods are great - gratins, gozleme, fish are my go tos. Also their pie range is pretty tasty if limited.
MIDDLING: Biscuits and pastries - ordinary at best. OK for day to day but I wouldn’t serve them to guests. The plain sardines are OK - not my favorites but pretty good. I don’t buy aldi tinned fish with sauces - cos I hate the sauces. Fruit and veg are Ok and the turnover is pretty fast so fairly fresh. Condiments - very similar to colesworth but cheaper. Some items are not always available like chili sauce and soy sauce. Cream/butter/yoghurt is fine if middle of the road, and sold in quite large packs - larger than I can use so there’s a bit of wastage to be built into the cost.
BAD (imo): tinned fish in gloopy sauces - I find these horrible. The aldi meat & fish - I prefer to go elsewhere as it’s all in horrible plastic packs. Quality is variable I’m told. Packaged meals (chilled) - I’ve had some bad experiences where these were within use by dates but had gone mouldy, so I don’t recommend these. This might be an issue with my particular aldi’s storage regime and may not apply in other places. Eggs - hard to find packs that are within the useby date. And the size range is small and doesn’t include the size I prefer. Breads and croissants - usually stale and soggy at my aldi.I’m not a fan of their bread. I find it’s ok first day then stale the next. Maybe it doesn’t have as many preservatives. Their turkish bread is ok but still fresh is always better.
I’ve only just started getting back to shopping at ALDI after a 10+ year hiatus (used to live close to one), so I’m keenly interested in any responses to this post. Atm I buy the Logix 18 in 1 dishwasher tablets and they’re the best I’ve used for the price (around $7.50). The laundry powder I get is the Laundrite one, 4kg for about $5 and does a fantastic job, excellent value. Elder minipeeler loves the Honey Nut breakfast cereal, we always have to have some on hand and he’s not generally like that with breakfast cereals. My boss regularly snacks on a bowl of the muesli with yoghurt with no complaints, and he’s a fairly fussy dude! But I have to echo Thornburywitch with the chocolate, it is so good! We’ve tried different dark ones and the white with Madagascan vanilla one. Love it, so smooth. And the toilet paper: I bought the Confidence 8 pack of double length rolls a couple of weeks ago and we’ve still got some left, which is absolutely extraordinary given the kids and I are at home at the moment and we tend to go through a roll a day of the standard stuff. Outstanding value.
Some of this info may be outdated as some stuff I no longer buy and I no longer get to Aldi much.
Nthed on the chocolate, it’s quality. From what I can remember the chips, biscuits and lollies are okay. Nutella substitute was fine, maybe a little stiff and less spreadable but eh. I don’t remember anything bad about the peanut butter (the generic may have been less spreadable too but I buy generic pb from a number of places so I forget). I got the smooth variety of own brand and Jif.
The mints and gum are fine but are not 100% sugar free (if you use them through the day or after meals for your teeth). The whey based protein bars are cheap and not too sweet but small, basic and rather hard. Three flavours. Fine for an emergency handbag or desk snack if you can tolerate protein bars, just get a few. Also be mindful if artificial sweetener is a problem.
Soy milk is good, bread is good, cheese good, party pies were good. If I could still eat them and the noodles/ramen I’d be all over that. No complaints with the tinned tuna, Sirena will always be best but the price is right. Tomato sauce was ok as far as I remember. All the basics were at least tolerable.
Apples, carrots, potatoes and nuts or dates were all good. (Just avoid Red Delicious apples as they’re floury and bland - Pink Lady is much better.)
From what I remember the TP is ok - at least pick one most similar to your usual and give it a go. I still get the unscented Trimat laundry sauce and the goats milk soap at any opportunity because they’re good for my needs and the hand wash does the job. So do the cleaning products. The laundry stain spray is good but very smelly and floral. The enzyme soaker is good but possibly a similar scent (it was a while ago).
The deodorant rollons they used to sell (‘Prince’ and the female alternative) were ok but YMMV - the ‘sensitive’ one wasn’t very effective. I think the brands may be different now. I used to get their very cheap bulk boxes of tampons but since lockdowns they’re now replaced by more standard size packs - those are still cheaper than brand and do the job but I don’t really like them. The generic paracetamol and ibuprofen are fine, but the cheapest tend to be the large circular pills rather than caplets. I haven’t tried the pawpaw ointment or the chapsticks. The bandaids claim to be latex free but can still irritate my skin.
The little tins of cat food didn’t agree with Melbcat. She’s sensitive. The cat I looked after before getting him back to his owner liked the Felix pouches (but he was starving and I’d check the quality before feeding long term).
I used to use the retinol face cream in the red tub when I still did much in the way of skincare, that’s gone now. But when I still wore makeup I found the makeup varied in quality - the mascara wasn’t good and due to limited shades I didn’t try the foundation. The standard bullet lippies were fine if the colour suited. Now there’s much less to choose from, not much I’d be interested in and I’d be checking if it was cruelty free. If you ever see the foot cream in stock grab it - it’s only sold sometimes but it’s $3 and very effective.
Some used to sell bottles of tea tree oil but it seems no longer.
Unfortunately and very annoyingly I don’t rate their sunscreen. Even the Ombre stuff that some people say is good (and they put it on their face) stings my face and is kinda greasy anywhere. Possibly a white cast too. Better than none and can be used on the back of hands but I go elsewhere for sunscreen.
Edit: I forgot to say the moscato wine was decent for $5. However I no longer drink and it was also sugary sweet. If you drink and you have some kind of booze you like try the Aldi version as they seem to have a good reputation for it.
Also their mouthwash. I get the alcohol free as it doesn’t burn.
I shop at aldi so I have a couple of vouches:
Nutella knockoff is decent. it obviously tastes different to brand name, but it’s not bad or even worse imo. But it does go runny when melted, so on toast it has a tendency to go from a thick paste to closer to water (but still a bit more viscous). It doesn’t sog the bread, but does go everywhere if you use much
The cheese is fine, although I don’t eat much and almost keeled over when I saw the price of it these days. Still more expensive at colesworth though.
I don’t like their party pies but don’t mind the bigger ones. I don’t like any home brand sausage rolls I’ve tried, the pastry they all use tastes funky to me. But I like other quick snack foods they have like the tenders and such. The tuna is nice
I find their strawberries are usually quite fresh. I don’t know if my local Coles is just garbage or what, but I feel like everytime I get any punnet berries from Coles there’s a few punnets with mild on them, and the ones without go moldy within a few days. Aldi is good for at least a week, and I’ve yet to see them go moldy, worst that’s happened is I forgot about a punnet in the back of the fridge for 2.5 weeks and they’d gone kind of slushy
I also find their packaged produce like Ceasar salad and such as well as pasta salads and similar don’t last anywhere near as long as Coles and Woolies ones. perhaps my local aldi just doesn’t sell them fast enough, but I notice I can only find ones in aldi expiring within a few days, whereas Coles and Woolies are good for longer (particularly the pasta salads)
The bog roll is fine, I was briefly spoiled with some quilton for a while and only thing I note from that is that the aldi one is slightly harder to tear at the little perforation line thing and needs a bit more effort, but not unmanageable. Mind you, for about 4.5 years all I had access to was cheap nasty sandpaper style crappy 1 plus garbage jumbo roll things, so anything else is a step up, no matter how cheap.
I’ve used their deodorants before (the prince spray one), but I didn’t really like the smell. Smelt more chemically than name brand stuff. These days I just stick to the plain Rexona stuff which they also sell and isn’t much pricier. Their knockoff Panadol (“Headanol”) works fine, although I really struggle swallowing them because they’re very large and aren’t coated, so it dissolves the second it touches water (including your hands if they’re sweaty). But it’s also literally 80 cents for a 20 pack so you get what you pay for
I haven’t tried their face creams but I might see if they have one next time I go there. I’ve been paying like 15 bucks for one from Woolies (which is probably cheap, seeing as all other face care and beauty stuff seems to be expensive as shit). But it is another trip to do every fortnight, so even if it’s not much cheaper, if it works well it’s worth it just to save the extra trip
Yeah the Hedanol is like horse pills
The obvious one is their coffee beans. Cheap and cheerful. The salmon is great for a low budget treat, usually get one each shop and chuck it in the freezer. Once you have enough for the fam thaw them out cook them up.
The basics like soap, some cleaning chemicals, toothpaste etc etc are great.
The Aldi specials and the knock offs are fantastic and manage to bring cheap chinese knock offs to Australia in an accessible way.
- cheap ebikes
- monitor stands
- cheap books for kids
I really like their lemongrass and coconut microwave rice. I don’t microwave it because I personally don’t like microwaving things that aren’t popcorn or leftovers, but it’s like 3 mins in a pan with a little bit of oil and it’s so easy and nice. They also have an egg and pea one, as well as some other ones I haven’t tried yet
The 89c Damora bbq crackers used to be soooo good, but they changed the recipe which really disappointed me and I don’t really like them anymore. Back in the day they used to be quite spicy and came in a purple packet, then over time they became more of a savoury with a minor kick to them, now they’re like a sweet flavour and don’t taste like bbq at all. They also used to sell obsessions ice cream which was also super good but they stopped selling it a couple of years ago and I still crave it sometimes
Most of their products are fine. So far there’s nothing I’ve bought I’ve disliked so much I’d rather go to colesworth, but some of their things do take some getting used to. Imo it’s worth it though for the sheer amount of money it saves
Dumplings used to be nice, but a few years back they suddenly tasted worse & made me feel crappy after eating them. I discovered that they had changed the country of origin (and the ingredients list was slightly different); whatever else changed made them crap. A real shame, used to eat a lot with family, and the other place I used to get frozen dumplings shut down during COVID.
Their panko breadcrumbs used to have proper country of origin labelled, then at some point they changed to “from Australian and imported sources”. Apparently they don’t need to be more specific than that under Australian law :/ I’m happy for them not to be Australian, but I feel they’re trying to be dishonest if they change the labelling to be more vague.
I agree. I want to know origin of ingredients if majority aren’t from Australia.
I’m sure if the origin country was a desirable first world developed one then the location would be on the label.
Chances are it’s somewhere with a poor reputation for food standards.
Maybe they’re just too lazy to care. It might be breadcrumbs that change origin regularly depending on what’s available and they don’t want to bother changing the packaging.
The coconut milk/cream is truely horrendous - inedible. Maybe I’ve had a couple of bad tins but I won’t be trying it again.
I mostly agree with @[email protected] re: tinned fish, the sauce in the saucy ones (herring) is pretty bad, I’ve tried most of them. I’ve tried a couple of the rainbow trout (plain, and with truffle flavour) which smelled a bit funky but tasted fine - not really my favourite though. I havent tried the sardines (surprisingly! I eat lots of sardines) but that’s because they don’t have any in olive oil - which is a big deal for me. I haven’t tried the tuna either. Long story short I get my tinned fish elsewhere.
The veggies are fine, but annoyingly inconsistent at times. Sometimes stuff you want just isn’t there on the day.
I’m happy with the meats, haven’t noticed a big difference between aldi and Colesworth, just cheaper.
I’m happy with the cheese and butter too, I get their basic vintage block often, and the salted aldi brand butter is just fine.
I love that they now have Heinz baked beans, and also Shin ramyun (strong recommend to give it a go if you haven’t tried it!).
Happy with the their spices and stuff like garlic and ginger tub-things.
I get pretty much everything I need at Aldi, except my tinned fish.
My aldi does have sardies in olive oil from time to time - comes in a box with sardies in springwater and another flavour maybe tomato I think. The oil ones sell out fast leaving only the springwater and tomato ones in the box. Mea culpa - I do buy up the olive oil ones when I see them. You would think they’d market just the oil ones in a separate box, but apparently no can do.
Ooh thanks for the tip. I’ll keep an eye out for the olive oil ones from now on!
I really like the sprats in chilli sauce and the oysters in chilli oil too. I’m not into my tinned fish being in sweet sauce. I find it odd.
I miss the frozen yoghurt ice cream cones with lemon curd in them. Haven’t seen them in over a year
Whole raw chicken - never had so much liquid and fat come out of a roast chicken
Their own-brand drumsticks icecreams are the best! (I think they’re called Crowns?) The Storm beer is ok, not top-of-class, but drinkable, and at least it’s not full of hops. Also the Fraser Briggs beer. I don’t remember anything else in particular; I mainly go to Aldi for the stuff in the middle aisles, there’s always something interesting and different there.
I like their Goats cheese. They have spreadable tubs and slices and it is affordable and yum. I also like their dish tabs and cleaner and rinse aid. And the loo cleaner and thick bleach. I’ve just tried their floor cleaner and it’s pretty good too. My Mil likes their incontinence pads, they are much cheaper than the name brand equivalent.
I really like their spicy chicken tenders. So handy to have in the freezer.
On the other hand their frozen Singapore noodles are inedible in my opinion. Slimy, tasteless and in no way resemble the noodles we know and love.
Here’s my list of the not so good. Avocados are iffy. They can be hard yet I cut one open and it’s brown. Salmon pieces are on the slim side. Smoked salmon is ok but Tassel is better. Bacon is ok but I prefer Aussie bacon. Thickened cream is ok but can be very thick. The knock off peanut m&ms are way to sweet. Some protein bars are God awful. Lemon lime and bitters mineral water is on the weak side but still good. Frozen green beans have to many stalks in them. Some bread products aren’t that great. Sometimes they have My Dog on sale and beware because they are 85g compared to the 100g at colesworth. My dog had a few slim meals there. Chilli chips aren’t as good as Kettle but still good. As my husband says fuck colesworth. The froot loops are ok. Not as sweet as the original but still good according to my daughter.
Now the for the frozen Singapore noodles. 3 meals were bought. My daughter tried it first. Her response “don’t buy this again it’s horrible”. I thought she was exaggerating. I tried them and in no way could I finish them and I eat every thing. My husband tried next. He chillied the fuck out of them and only just managed to eat them because he didn’t want to waste the chilli paste. Avoid this product. You’ve been warned.
