Aldi... what do you recommend?

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I've moved this thread to the main Food & Drink forum as your query is appears more related to general produce rather than cooking or recipes.

tHB

There's a good few things from Aldi we love so I'll list them here:

-Specially Selected Madras Curry Sauce (Aldi's curry sauces get rave reviews here. This one has a spice pot attached to the top of the jar, and it's delicious)
-Naan breads (You get two in a pack for 79c and they're lovely)
-Brannan's Deli Style Roast Beef Slices.
-HotDog Rolls
-Orange Squash

And all their cheeses are fabulous!

Tis all good

Their dry age steaks in the black box are fab

I think the thread may be shorter if you ask what to avoid!

God bless Aldi, this recession would have been an awful lot worse if they weren't around.

I'd second their rib eye steaks. I wouldn't normally buy my meat at a supermarket but Aldi are one of the better ones - also for really good extra mature chedder and really tasty brannagins smoked rashers.

Their veg and fruit can be hit and miss prefer a veg shop but they are impressively cheaper here and if you remove any veg/ fruit pre bagged from their plastic hell straight away - they stay fresher for a bit longer.

Pretzill wrote: »

I'd second their rib eye steaks. I wouldn't normally buy my meat at a supermarket but Aldi are one of the better ones - also for really good extra mature chedder and really tasty brannagins smoked rashers.

Their veg and fruit can be hit and miss prefer a veg shop but they are impressively cheaper here and if you remove any veg/ fruit pre bagged from their plastic hell straight away - they stay fresher for a bit longer.

+1 on this

I also like their continental meats. For whatever reason their chorizo is friendlier to my stomach than some others. I also like their parmesan and low fat mozzarella is great to mix with full fat one so pizzas are not so wet. And big thumbs up for me for their specially select olive oil.

Fruit and veg is not that great but I actually think Irish supermarkets sell dreadful quality of especially impoted fruit in general.

Chili tuna
Olives
Brioche rolls
Fresh pesto
Dried chili flakes
Perlenbacher
Mascarpone
Greek style fat free yoghurts

Zelda247 wrote: »

I tried their Speciality Curry Sauce, the Madras one and indeed its lovely, going to try the Korma one next. I also bought some of the Kavanagh's porridge to try (not the Organic version). I might try the McGrath's tea bags, mind you I find it hard to believe that they have won a Taste Award and the like of Barry's Gold have not.... mind you i don't know how these thing are awarded.

The McGrath's tea are made by Robert Roberts. I used to love them but they taste different now; like they changed them somehow.
Aldi do this with a lot of products; they did it with their cream crackers...they stopped selling them for about a month and when they returned, they had changed the recipe.

Yeah, love the Madras curry sauce; the Rogan Josh one is lovely too.

Most of the below are not massively superior to what is available in other outlets (the exception being the cheddar cheese) but they are as good as any and so much cheaper!

Fresh basil pesto
Specially Selected cheddar
Frozen North Atlantic prawns
Butchers Choice sausages
Cashew/pistachio nuts
St. Etienne beer
Not from concentrate orange/apple juice
Wagon Wheels (6 for 99c!)

They also have lots of foodstuffs like pasta, rice, porridge, noodles (20c!) etc. which are as good as any and massively cheaper. Then you have your Super 6 for fruit/veg (8 nectarines for 49c type thing) and the special offer meat section e.g 4 pork chops for €3. This is the icing on the cake!

Zelda247 wrote: »

Oh thanks will try that one as well.

somewhere on the boards i read that Aldi used to do frozen mashed potatoes but can't find them in our one, do you know if they have discontinued?

i like cooking but can't be bothered with making mash... it has always turned out yucky.

thats a shame about the tea... never mind .... i often wonder why on earth people change a formula
when it works.

Not sure I'd go down the processed potato route until someone told me about Aldi's frozen baked spuds - 4 large in a packet - Ok microwaved if you haven't the time but baked in the oven they are actually very authentic! And 1 is more than enough per person.

Pretzill wrote: »

Not sure I'd go down the processed potato route until someone told me about Aldi's frozen baked spuds - 4 large in a packet - Ok microwaved if you haven't the time but baked in the oven they are actually very authentic! And 1 is more than enough per person.

Sorry, I'm going to need this one explained to me. They are frozen baked potatoes, that you bake in the oven ?? Would that not just be the same as baking a potato in the oven ??

As already mentioned, all the staples are great.
Fruit and veg can be iffy, but usually good if you go earlier in the day, as otherwise you can be left with very little selection.

Their choc coated choc-chip biscuits are the best 'visitor' biscuits to have and I've tried!
Thier coco-pops are nicer than normal cocopops.
Shower gels, toothpaste, mouthwash, are every bit as good, although I find their razor and razor blades not as good as the branded unfortunately.
All their cleaning products are quality also.

I havent tried much of their frozen stuff, as the quality of the other food is great.

They do lovely scotch, too.

josephineperry wrote: »

I shop at Aldi pretty often, I find it quite good, and it's cheap. I don't usually buy meat there, but all the other products are good quality in my opinion.

The meat in Aldi is fantastic.

Their steaks, in the black box, are probably the best I've ever had. The roast chickens are tender and juicy (when cooked, obviously), the mince beef is perfect and the pork's excellent.

Compared to Tesco, who seem to always stock chewy tough meat, Aldi win by a mile.
I had a chicken from Tesco recently that was tough...that was a new one me; tough chicken!