To shop at Aldi is to love Aldi, isn’t it? Anyone who’s ever had the luxury of living near an Aldi knows what a magical supermarket it is—filled with quality items at amazing bargains. You can get anything from toilet paper to produce and window cleaner, and they’re all at discounts.
“Aldi, happily, has a lot of good quality, good-tasting products at good prices,” says John Karolefski, grocery store analyst and editor of Grocery Stories. “It’s one of the reasons they’ve been so successful in the U.S.”
Okay, so what’s the catch? How can Aldi acquire such great items and are able to sell them at such amazing prices? No catch—many of Aldi’s products are private label, which means they’re not by the popular or tending brands. However, Aldi’s paper towels are still made to that high of standard of say Bounty—even though it doesn’t say Bounty.
That said, that doesn’t mean you should only ever shop at Aldi. Like the dollar store, there’s a time and place for getting your items at such low prices. In the same sense, there are plenty of items we wouldn’t recommend getting at Aldi. But instead of focusing on those, we’re going to tell you the majority of items that you definitely should be stocking up on at this store.
Without further ado, make sure you always pick up these 5 items next time you’re at an Aldi:
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Wine
Top of the list is our favorite—vino! Aldi sells a number of different kinds of wines, many that are award winning for amazing low prices. From Copperwood Merlot to Broken Clouds Chardonnay, they have a vast array of both reds and whites, all of which are an outstanding value.
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Cheese
To pair with your low-priced wine, get some low-priced cheese, too! Cheese is one of those foods we all love to eat but hate to pay for; depending where you go, even a simply block of cheddar could run you over $5. At Aldi, a 10-oz. package of their Specially Selected Aged Reserve White Cheddar, which won a gold medal, costs just $2.79. That’s just one example—visit the store for more!
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Organic foods
Buying organic is always an expense—except at Aldi. Their SimplyNature brand bans over 120 gross ingredients such as high fructose corn syrup, trans fatty acids, nitrates and more, and still remains cheaper than many other other bargain store brands (like Whole Foods’ 365 brand).
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Protein
Aldi might not be the first store you think of to buy your steak, fish or poultry, but trust us on this one. While sales change all the time, Aldi is almost always offering sales on meats such as beef, salmon and turkey.
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Milk, eggs, and bread
AKA all your basic kitchen staples that you buy at each grocery run. Like everything else, these items are both inexpensive and yet, high quality. For example, an organic carton of milk at Aldi comes to around $2.69, which is much cheaper than your standard grocery store. Even cheaper chains, such as Acme, charge $2.99 for a half gallon of regular whole milk.
Do you shop at Aldi? What kinds of items do you usually buy there?