In This ArticleView AllIn This ArticleButter & Olive OilRisottoCheeseFrozen Mussels in Tomato-Garlic SauceCoffeePasture-Raised EggsCrab CakesBronze-Cut PastaChocolate"Red Bag" Chicken
In This ArticleView All
View All
In This Article
Butter & Olive Oil
Risotto
Cheese
Frozen Mussels in Tomato-Garlic Sauce
Coffee
Pasture-Raised Eggs
Crab Cakes
Bronze-Cut Pasta
Chocolate
“Red Bag” Chicken
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Photo: Getty Images
The discount grocery chain began in Germany in 1961, according toAldi’s website, although the family behind it had been running grocery stores for generations. The first outpost in the United States opened in 1976, and since then the chain has grown to more than 10,000 stores in 36 states.
Aldi’s New Merch Line Includes Joggers, Pullovers and More—And It’s All Under $10
Aldi keeps their prices low with some innovative tactics. They stock almost no brand names and source some products, like meats, regionally. Stores don’t need much staff because shelves are stocked with products still in their boxes. You’re responsible for bagging your own stuff after checkout, and Aldi’s policy of requiring shoppers to insert a quarter for a cart means that most get returned without an employee having to track them down and put them back.
I Saved $70 a Month Just By Grocery Shopping at Aldi—Here’s How They Keep Prices So Low
The prices are always reasonable, but there’s actually an even better reason I buy my family’s food at Aldi: They offer quality ingredients. For example, they have a commitment to using no synthetic colors or partially hydrogenated oils in their products. They also have a huge selection of imported and organic items.
I could keep listing favorites forever, but these are the Aldi staples—and splurges—I keep constantly stocked in my kitchen.
Nearly every meal in my house begins with a greased dish or oiled pan. And since I try to stick to healthier fats, that means grass-fed butter and olive oil.
Grass-fed butter is packed with vitamins and beta carotene, a powerful antioxidant. It also containsmore healthy fatty acids, like omega-3s, than regular butter. Aldi’sIrish butteris deep yellow, rich and spreadable, and a fraction of the price you’ll pay for grass-fed butter elsewhere.
Blame it on the Italian grandmother who taught me to cook, but I go through alotof olive oil. Admittedly, I’m a bit of a snob about it, too. Aldi’sSicilian Extra Virgin Olive Oilcarries seals from the North American Olive Oil Association and Val Di Mazara P.D.O. (in other words, it’s really from Sicily), tastes exactly like good olive oil should and costs under $10.
A great risotto is a labor of love. You stand over the hot stove for what feels like forever, stirring and stirring until the rice absorbs all the stock or your arm falls off, whichever comes first.
When you want risotto without the work, the unlikely solution comes in apacket of risottofrom Aldi. Just add water, boil for 15 minutes or so, stir in butter and Parmesan cheese and you’ve got, if not a transcendent risotto, a really good one.
If there’s one thing Aldi is doing absolutely right, it’s cheese. I regularly buy reliably goodBrieandParmesanthere, but it’s the more unusual varieties that’ll really knock your socks off. If you like a little tang, there’sBorgonzola(its name is a twist on Gorgonzola and Borgo, a legendary Italian cheesemaking family). It’s a sweet and creamy soft cheese that might just change the way you think about blue mold.
Blue Cheese vs. Gorgonzola: What’s the Difference?
The seasonal cheese selection includes the occasional miss, but it’s mostly a hit parade: I wait all year for the nutty, salt-aged Transylvanian cave cheese that’s released around Halloween.
If you didn’t see me pull them from the freezer, you’d never believe Aldi’smusselswere frozen. I always keep a few boxes on hand, and they make the perfect quick-but-elevated dinner. They’re already cooked, so I open the package, dump the frozen mollusks into a pan over medium heat, and they’re ready in under 10 minutes. They have a light tomato and garlic sauce that plays well with whatever other flavors I’m using, and there’s none of the tastelessness or rubbery texture you often find with other frozen shellfish.
If there’s something I’m snobbier about than olive oil, it’s coffee. My husband and I are parents to a toddler, so we drink a ton of the stuff, and we’ve tried just about every brand of beans out there. Aldi’s single-origin, organiccoffee beansmake a delicious cup, and they’re affordable enough that my caffeine habit never outpaces my wallet.
I live in a rural corner of Appalachian Pennsylvania, and I have a small flock of free-range hens who produce a nice supply of eggs most of the time. But their laying slows down for a few months during the year, and I go looking for store-bought eggs that taste homegrown. Aldi’spasture-raised eggsfit the bill.
There are lots of benefits to eating pasture-raised eggs. Research, such as a2021 study published in ACS Food Science and Technology, shows that they’re higher in beta carotene, omega-3s and vitamins A and E than conventional eggs. The best part is that amid spiking egg prices at other stores, the cost at Aldi has remained reasonable.
How to Buy Eggs: What Do Organic, Cage-Free and Free-Range Labels Mean?
I grew up in southern New Jersey, an area known for its crab cakes. And Aldi’s Boardwalk Style Crab Cakes are the real deal. They’re meaty and creamy with big hunks of crab, onions, peppers and flavorful spices. I throw them in the air fryer for a few minutes and they make a delectable entree on their own or on a toasted bun. At about $5 for a box of two, they’re a little pricier than some of my other Aldi staples, but still pretty affordable as crab cakes go.
The old-school method, on the other hand, uses dies made of bronze. Pasta extruded through the softer metal has a porous, rough texture that hangs onto sauce and has a much more satisfying bite. Listen, just trust me on this—bronze is better. It also has a tendency to be more expensive, but again, Aldi is the exception. The store’sbronze-cut pastaselection is imported straight from Italy, and includes lots of shapes for under $2—a total steal.
Aldi’s roots are still staunchly European, and nowhere in the store is that better reflected than the chocolate section. Bars in various flavors under the brand namesMoser-Roth,ChoceurandSchogettenare imported from Germany, Austria and Belgium, and the quality is remarkable. It’s much smoother and more flavorful than most American chocolate, but at a comparable price.
Beyond the basic bars, Aldi does all kinds of other delicious things with chocolate, too. Belgian Cocoa Dusted Truffles, a seasonal item that tends to pop up around Christmas, are melt-in-your-mouth amazing, and thechocolate peanut butter cupshave a cult following (I’m a member!) for a reason.
What Happens to Your Body When You Eat Chocolate Every Day
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