I am often asked what groceries I buy and where I buy them. Obviously we do not all have the same grocery store options because we all live on different parts of the globe! (And how fun is it that we all connect here in one community!)
I decided to write a small series of posts to share what groceries I purchase from each of my favorite stores – either online, co-op, or from an brick and mortar grocery store where I actually have to wear clothes and shoes to do my shopping. Not that I shop online without clothes on. I think that might have come out wrong. Well, anyway…
First stop: Aldi
We live just over an hour away from the nearest Aldi. We live ten minutes from Aldi now!! It doesn’t make sense for me to drive there often, even though I love many of the groceries they offer! I make it there only once every three months now, and as you can imagine, I stock up on my favorites while I’m there!
I’ve definitely found that not all of the food Aldi offers is of the highest quality. But they do carry many real food items that I trust, so I skip their processed junk food aisles and grab their good food options for great prices!
Real Food Groceries I Buy At Aldi
- Simply Nature Organic Salsa – We go through loads of salsa at our house!
- Rotel Diced Tomatoes and Green Chilies (knock off) – So I can always and forever make this Real Food “Velveeta” and Rotel Dip. :)
- Simply Nature Pasta Sauce
Butter(I usually find it for less money at Costco)- Half and Half
- Salad Kits – so that we can have easy meals like this.
- Full Fat Yogurt – I’ve been very happy to find Whole Milk Yogurt options at Aldi. We like to eat it with granola for breakfast, so I usually buy a few containers each time I’m there.
- Whole Milk – Now that we don’t live close to the farm that used to supply our milk, I pick up several gallons at Aldi each time I go. I miss farm milk!
- Granola – We like several of the granola options Aldi offers and have found that it tastes great on top of the Whole Milk Yogurt we buy there.
- Meat Markdowns – I always, always check to see what meat is on sale when I go to Aldi. Sometimes I’ve been blessed with meat that needs to sell quickly and has therefore been marked down 50% off. Amazing!
- Grass Fed Hamburger Meat – The price of their beef just went up, so it is now cheaper at Sam’s. But Aldi often runs sales (especially in the summer) so I always look to see if their grass fed beef is on sale. If so, I stock up!
- Fruit/Veggie Pouches – These are in the baby food aisle, and for a long time, this is all Auggie could eat. He’s progressed so much and can chew and swallow food now, praise God! But I still get these for him so he can eat one/day for ease. I also like to keep these on hand for our grandbabies when they come over!
- Ground Sausage – Aldi has the best price/pound on ground sausage so I like to keep this in my freezer for egg casseroles and pizza.
- Sausage Patties – These are our favorite and most economical for making Breakfast Sandwiches.
- 100% Fruit Cups – Aldi carries 4-packs of peach, pear, mandarins, and mixed fruit cups that include only 100% juice. These make good snacks for our kids so I try to keep them on hand.
- Chocolate Cake Mixes – They cost $1.09 and I use them to make Spinach Cake. This is our kids’ favorite way to eat greens.
- Sliced Cheese – I also get sliced cheese at Costco and Sam’s in bulk. But the cost breakdown is about the same at any of the three stores, and it’s nice to pick them up at Aldi while I’m there because I can get 12-packs in different varieties (Colby jack, pepper jack, cheddar, etc).
- Produce on Sale – I’ve found that Sam’s and Costco produce is typically much better quality than Aldi. However, if Aldi is offering a big discount on in-season produce, I can usually pick around and find some good packs of it and take advantage of the sale prices!
- Knock-off Fritos – Chip prices have gotten super expensive. The cost of name brand Fritos are kind of hard for me to swallow. But the off brand fritos at Aldi are reasonable and taste good! We get these to go with chili and other soups. Plus our girls sometimes use them to eat an avocado cup.
Real Food Groceries I Buy at Aldi…sometimes
- Cheese Cubes – These are nice to have on hand for snacks and packed school lunches.
- Crackers – The off brand of “Ritz” crackers at Aldi is my go-to because they are cheaper than any crackers at Costco or Sam’s.
- Brown Sugar – I keep brown sugar on hand at home for baking (since it’s cheaper than sucanat and as far as our bodies are concerned, sugar is sugar!). Aldi almost always has the lowest price.
I love your blog and your easy to follow real food example! Just a question/comment on sugar. I do not spend the extra money to buy organic sugar, because I agree sugar is sugar, but if it isn’t cane sugar, it’s beet sugar which is a major GMO crop. I don’t buy all organic food but I do try to avoid GMOs. You don’t mind buying GMO sugar?? … Which is what Aldi offers.
Eew, you’re right. I had kind of forgotten about this in my “sugar is sugar” mindset. I guess I haven’t thought too much about it because when it comes to making brownies or cookies for extras like I do so often (not that I don’t want to give them the best of the best), I just don’t always have the resources to avoid all the GMOs. I’m glad you brought this up though because I’m going to keep it in mind and see what my options are around here. Maybe I will find a good source of non-GMO sugar that is affordable !! :)
I try to avoid GMO food also. The Zulka Morena sugar that I buy from Aldi is non-GMO project verified. Aldi also has some organic produce and other products that I buy regularly including toilet paper and tissues. We aren’t perfect with all our food choices, but we do the best we can. We are blessed to have an Aldi store about 10 minutes from our house.
I love Aldi! My mom shops at the Lincoln store once in a while and doesn’t love the produce either, which is such a bummer because here in Nashville it’s the best produce around, at least in my opinion. At any rate, it’s fun to see what you get at yours!
Aldi is my primary store. I get meat from Zaycon or local rancher or locker but otherwise it’s Aldi.
I don’t buy anything fancy for sugar. Just regular C&H brand from Walmart. It’s cane sugar, non GMO project verified. I try to not stress about food sources, but just to do the best I can. Your blog is an encouragement and a blessing! Above everything we can or can’t do about our food sources, God is in control. I simply ask Him to protect us from the bad and try to leave that with Him. That’s easier said than done, but He is able :)
Aldi plain fat free greek yogurt is half the price of other grocery stores. About 2.90 a quart. We go thru three or four a week.
I personally dont do aldi ground beef. Even their graSs fed is imported. We prefer all US grown meat.
And their organic soymilk is very high quality non gmo whole bean milk we have found.
I buy their Greek yogurt, too.
I buy organic milk, produce (it’s usually pretty good at our Aldi’s), sometimes meat. I also but multi grain bread and snacks. We do go through a lot of potato chips, most of which we buy at Aldi’s, oh and breakfast cereals and yogurt. My daughter and I really like the coconut and chia granola.
We are blessed to have several Aldi stores in our city and my closest is 7 minutes away! Some items we purchase there: nitrate-free bacon, organic milk/lactose free milk, organic eggs (if I can’t get from a friend), sliced/stick cheese, organic frozen veggies, sprouted bread, applesauce pouches, guacamole, organic produce (love when they have grapes/strawberries/apples/carrots, etc), organic spinach/salad blend, Feta cheese, cream cheese, butter, canned beans/tomatoes, organic chicken/beef broth, brown rice, organic coconut oil, canned pumpkin (seasonal), chocolate chips, organic spices (super cheap), and snacks (pretzels, veggie straws, tortilla chips, raisins). I will pick up a $4.99 Take and Bake pizza there about once a month for an easy dinner on my busy shopping day.
My children love the Simply Nature organic granola cereals as a treat for breakfast a few times a week. They also eat the organic grape tomatoes like candy. Other products we purchase at Aldi: organic frozen fruit bars, organic apple juice, organic spaghetti and linguine (as much as we’ve tried them, we just don’t like whole wheat pasta, and we don’t eat pasta often, so I don’t stress about it!), organic plain yogurt, large tub of organic spring lettuce mix, cottage cheese (I haven’t found a good organic brand), Simply Nature fruit leather, and Simply Nature organic granola bars. We also occasionally purchase the grass fed ground beef, when I run out between farm orders. And as a rare treat, we love the (probably not real food) take and bake pizza! :)
Aldi is my favorite! Besides what so many have already mentioned, I buy their natural peanut butter, Simply Nature Asian ginger salad dressing, spring mix lettuce, canned pineapple, grated parmesan cheese and pasta. And their chocolate!!! Oh yum! And no corn syrup ????
We love kefir and Aldi’s prices are about HALF of what the grocery charges – and Aldi’s carries the same national brand. Their dairy offerings in general can’t be beat!
I mostly get the bagged/canned products from Aldi. Especially their Simply Nature line and real maple syrups. And we don’t eat a lot of cold cereal, but their knock off brands taste just as good as the name brands.
I never buy their meat. It’s packaged with the plastic flat across the tray, which is usually indicative of having special treated air piped in the keeps the meat pink. Ew! The produce, to me, is iffy. It never seems to spoil, which I find….concerning.
When we lived in St Louis I shopped at Aldi all of the time….and my parents have an Aldi in Michigan , but here in Northeast Nebraska, the closest one to me is 3 hours away…I sure wish I knew how to get an Aldi store in our area.
I was in another store the other day looking for butter and out of the 7 types of butter only two didn’t have flavoring in it, and they were two of the more expensive brands. Aldi’s butter doesnt have flavoring. The produce is pretty good at our store most of the time. I’ve tried their spaghetti sauce and didn’t love the taste, it seemed way too sweet to me. I don’t always shop at aldi but I do like a good number of things there!
thank you for these earlier posts! As of this month, we now have an Aldi 8 min. away! I used to shop there in IL and IN years ago. I now have a list of items to check out thanks to all of your and your reader’s suggestions.