The cranberry/almond chicken salad is pretty good. I also like the goat cheese topped with vanilla blueberry topping.

We're getting an Aldi's next town over, about ten miles away, and I'm so happy about it. I like their produce, and that I can buy small amounts of it. Their prices are great.

I love their sliced cheeses (especially the Butterkase) and meats. Their other cheeses are good as well. Their coconut cream is excellent, better and cheaper than any others.

ALDI mention reminds me that my BIL that always shopped at Giant Eagle for years has recently found himself on a tight budget, he told us as if he'd discovered something, that he has started shopping at ALDI and just couldn't get over how cheap it was. He said he checked out and was given the total and thought "that can't be right, for all this!!!!!" Giant Eagle is very expensive compared to ALDI. He also liked that it was small and he would get in and get out in no time flat!

I'm not sure where to start. When I first went to Aldi's I didn't really care for it. Now, I go at least once a week,and often more. Yes, their prices are generally excellent.

They sell a big tub of pretzel logs for $5.49. Most other places it's like $7.99

Their dairy is great. I buy their yogurt, cottage cheese, sliced cheess and butter.

Their produce is great. We buy the tub of spring mix and theirs is always fresh ( and cheap) and lasts a good amount of time.

Also they have their own brand of mayo, Burman's. I decided to try it. We were a Hellmann's only family but this one is as close to 'Hellmann's as any. I've been converting my friends and family to it. :

I buy Flax Seed there for way cheaper than most places, and canola oil too is cheaper.

The Aldi's I go to now, is right near a Lidl and they have wonderful price wars.

Aldi's is opening another store nearer to me, probably about 4 miles away. It's supposed to open end of this month. I can't wait.

I have 2 Aldi's about 3 miles from me. I like their Applewood spiral hams. I can't tell the difference between their ketchup and Heinz. I still buy Heinz because it is sacrilege to live in Pittsburgh and not have Heinz. I use the Aldi's ketchup in recipes. Burman mayonnaise and their peanut butter is also good. I'm gluten intolerant and I prefer their GF products. My grands like their French onion dip and sour cream

the best. Their regular everyday paper plates are the best . Aldi's is my primary store to shop. What they don't have, I go to Walmart across the street.

Just bought 6 geranium hanging baskets from Aldi’s for $7.99 each. Tops is selling $24.99 for the same size flower hanging baskets.

I live 1/4 mile from Aldi and the same distance from Trader Joe's so I'm lucky. I hit both places on Monday and at Aldi, I get their ground turkey, salmon, canned dog food,(which I won't be getting any more) canned soups my husband likes, and brioche rolls. I'm in and out in five minutes. But Traders is more fun. I did get a hanging basket at Aldi for $7.99 too.

Whatever it is you LOVE there you can't count on getting every time. That's would be my big frustration if I lived so far away. I find I don't go weekly because they don't open until 9. I can hit two local stores and be home before 7 as a rule. I love the Carmel Macchiato coffee creamer. Forget trying to find it during any holiday shopping season. Aldi's is our go to for ALL THINGS charcuterie and yes the goat cheese is amazing, but we put our own homemade pepper jelly over top. They sell a line of simmer sauces for chicken that we enjoy when needing a quick prep meal. Butter Chicken is our favorite. I make sure I have their 5lb Jasmine rice bag always in my pantry. I also always have one or two boxes of their Gyros kits in my freezer. Five sandwiches for the price of one at a food truck you can't beat!! Almost forgot DH's cereal. Their brand of cold cereal is high in fiber (DH needs) and until recently was under $1.50 a box!! It's up to a whopping $1.75 so still can't be beat and it comes IN A BOX still.

I like many things at Aldi. I look forward to the surprises that I find in the 'Aldi finds' frozen section. Their dry sea scallops are excellent but I don't buy them as often as I did pre-covid when they were $10 instead of the current $14. I buy the sausage-egg-cheese croissant breakfast sandwiches to take to work. I like their shrimp tempura, lasagna, chips, produce, nuts, candy, cheese selection.

I don't like their bossy self checkout stations. It seems that it expects me to scan things as fast as their checkers.

Lots of things. Great cheese selection, good wine for under $3 a bottle, French bread, pasta sauces and I could go on and on.

Grahm crackers! I started to buy them due to price but now Aldis Grahms taste better than Nabisco. And their greeting cards with popups and 3-D features look quite upscale.

I don't shop there because it's off my beaten path, but your posts make me want to take a look. I seem to recall that Aldi has its own way of doing things. What's the story on shopping carts and grocery bags?

Alisande - you have to check out the shopping carts with a quarter and when you take it back to the cart area you get the quarter back. It saves them from having to hire a worker to gather them up in the parking lot.

They sell both plastic and paper bags for under $0.10 and nicer bags pretty cheap. Most people bring their own bags and/or use empty boxes that they find in the store. A little like Cosco in that regard.

Current favorite is Aldi 'Indulgent Greek' yoghurt--the lemon flavor.

I use all the empty cardboard boxes to haul my food home. They're available everywhere in the store.

Their roasted red pepper & artichoke, and olive, tapenades are staples in my pantry. I use them (along with traditional pesto) to create my pizzas. I wish they would start selling plain cauliflower pizza crusts - but I have tried their cauliflower crust pizza and it is pretty good (and much less $ than Caulipower brand).

My DD is a huge fan of their BangBang sauce.

I don't mind the 25 cents for the shopping cart but I always have trouble with it so I just bring fabric bags in and use that to store what I want as I shop - then use them to repack.

The 25 cents is returned.

I've been snacking on their whole cashews this week and they're very good.

I've been buying Pur Aqua water enhancer for my drinking water. I have tried almost all the flavors and I find the Orange Tangerine the best so far. I have not found it anywhere else. I also like the artisan flat bread to use as my pizza crust. Its very good and easy to make pizzas.

I just tried the Herring Fillets in curry and pineapple sauce and it's delicious! Now I need to go pick up some more.

In December we always buy their very large stollen. World Market sells the same stollen, but smaller and at a higher price.

Their happy farms sliced cheeses ... gouda, havarti, provolone etc are good for sammys or melting atop lasagna, pasta etc. 21 grain bread for 2,29 a loaf. Their girl scout knockoff cookies are good. spices (mccormick brand) many of the basics for 99 cents, milk and eggs are back down again.Their german chocolate bars are good ... and the weekly deals are always fun.

Mention of candy reminds me that the dark chocolate cocoa dusted truffles from Aldi are wonderful. But available only around Christmas time. Maybe a good thing?

I've gone twice, while in Florida. I didn't like how the store was set up. I didn't see my usual brands but what looked like copies. Hellman’s mayo look alike jar etc.

Maybe when I head back I’ll take photos. Maybe you all know the brands.

Yes, eld, they occasionally have national brands but most often it's their own brand, which from my sampling is really good. (I particularly recommend their look alike to Hellmanns which is Burman's mayo). It took me a while to be daring and try but 95% of the products I've tried have been very good.

A lot of Aldi brands are made by national brands. Aldi's Clancy brand potato chips are made by Old Dutch. Their cereals are made by Post. The bakery products are made by Bimbo Brands which is the company the make Sara Lee, Natures Harvest, and Boboli.

There are very few name brands in Aldi. For the most part (or entirely), the name brands are special buys and not a regularly stocked item. FWIW, one of our favorites is Aldi's Chicken & Sausage gumbo soup. It is indistinguishable from the Campbells version. (As is WalMart's private label version of same.)

I've been shopping Aldi for many years. In all that time, I've purchased only one item that wasn't good...the Aldi knock-off of Little Debbie's Nutty Buddy bars. That was years ago; I haven't been brave enough to try them again. Knowing now that I have gluten intolerance, I'm not tempted to experiment.

My husband likes their German soups and said their generic cereals are better than the name brands. I don't eat cereal. He also likes all their many crackers. Their "girl scout" cookies made by Benton are excellent. I used to go nuts for their five-seeded bread but found one I like better at Trader Joe's.

Fun fact: both Trader Joe's and Aldi contract with manufacturers to make their store label products. It's not something any of the parties involved want widely known, since those manufacturers wouldn't like consumers to learn they're paying more for the famous label brands. Aldi uses a number of different labels for their stuff, while TJs uses their store name, sometimes with cutesy twists, like Trader Giotto's for their Italian items.

Way back when, rumor had it that many of Kroger's store label items also were made by major manufacturers - like P&G. Kroger coffee was thought to be rebranded Folger's, for one. So Aldi & TJ's are not unique in this.

As I said I live less than 1/2 mile from both Aldi and TJs and go to both on Monday one after the other. I'm in and out of Aldi in less than ten minutes but I'm in Traders much longer. The vibes in the two stores are so different. Aldi employees sometimes don't even acknowledge you as they check you out, but Traders is an experience with friendly workers everywhere. Prices are mostly competitive except today avocados were 69 cents at Aldi and $1.69 at TJs.

There are FB groups for Aldi likes/dislikes, new items, recipes. One is Aldi Aisle of Shame Community and another is Aldi Insiders.

The frozen apple strudel is very good. I also like the frozen lemonade bars in the summer. I buy the organic olive oil. My son likes the chocolate almond milk ice cream. I like their version of Chex cereal.

I like those lemonade bars too and I also get their organic olive oil.

Their jams are good too.

If you like jam, I think Bonne Maman brand is much better. I bought plum at Aldi and tossed it.

*I* tossed Bonne Maman jam.....................................

What kind do you think is better?

Hit and run - too bad. I was hoping to get a recommendation.

Elmer - homemade jam is better.

lonejack, that isn't something we do or have an interest in doing. I get homemade jam as gifts every now and then, some has been okay, some less so.

Ahem---let's get back to the discussion about what we DO like at Aldis. Not jam, not crtisizing anyone for liking something.

I didn't criticize anyone, I disagreed and offered a different opinion. There was no personal comment involved.

Do you have a preference to Bonne Maman, or did you say what you did simply to be sarcastic?

Anyway great news to share. The Aldi's that was supposed to open at the end of the month is open! This is the one that's less than 5 miles away. Sooooooo excited.

We get a lot of cheese and coffee at Aldi. Their canned mushrooms and fresh eggs are usually less expensive than most of the other area stores. Their produce is usually very nice and less expensive than other area stores. I've gotten several and really like their greenhouses and caps, right handy things. A lot of their German products are good, the big canned soups and dry spatzle are almost always in our pantry. I love the Aldi's finds of food and merch. Always fun to browse through even if I when I don't buy.

I meant to mentioin that while I always browse their "other merchandise aisles" I don't usually find anything to buy other food. However, last week I bough a shepherd's hook for I think $6.99,

This week, in some of the stores they have a knock off of a Bogg tote. I have not seen it ( but will look when I go today to the new store) and never heard of it but my daughter was all excited and asked me to please get her one if I see it. It's $23 if I can find it.. On my local FB page, people are going crazy for it. I know my daughter really wants it for her beach vacation .

Well, edited to add that the Aldi's near me is not open. That was a false report lol. Still end of the month.

So I did go to another one a bit further and they did not have the bags. Oh well. I agree they seem pricey but the big ones are great and for 4 kids on a beach vacation, it seems ideal for packing everything along.

Those are cute garden bags, I could see them being nice apple picking bags. I bet you can run the garden hose on those. I don't know about the 23 dollars though, that's a bit steep for cute garden bag for my taste. A hundred bucks for the brand name is for sure too much for me to spend on a garden bag. Even as a cute beach bag that would be pretty steep to me.

I've been tempted by the garden bench too. But I can't really justify since I don't need one, lol.

I was tempted by these ceramic baking dishes yesterday. Just so visually appealing to me (especially the blue ones) - but I do not need more baking dishes!!

I think I will stop back for the 4 panel plant support though, I can use that to help corral one of my roses.