Frugal Foodie Mama: ALDI Compare & Share {May Edition}

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

ALDI Compare & Share {May Edition}

**This post is in no way, shape, or form sponsored by ALDI.  The opinions below are expressly my own, and I was not compensated for this post in any form.  ALDI is not responsible for the content in this post.

There was a discussion not so long ago on my Facebook page about the quality of ALDI's products and how they did or did not stack up to their name brand counterparts.  This got me thinking of what an absolutely fantastic monthly blog series this could be!  (If you happened to miss my first post in the series- April's Edition- just CLICK HERE to get all caught up. ;) )

I will say in the past month or so I have really been expanding what products we have been trying from ALDI.  I would estimate that I am now purchasing about 80% of our weekly groceries from there at this point.  And it is saving us TONS on our grocery budget! 

I will be using a neat little 1 to 10 rating scale for this.  If an item receives a 1, it wasn't even close to the name brand product & we won't be buying it again.  If it gets a 10, that means we couldn't even tell a difference & we will definitely be buying it again.  A 5 warrants a take it or leave it kind of response.  You know, like a meh. ;)  I had myself, my husband (P), and my son (J) rate each item where applicable.

So let's get started on some of the new things we have tried this past month...
L'oven Fresh Whole Grain White Bread, $1.69 a loaf - 4
Honestly, we just found this bread to be weird.  The slices were oddly smaller than a regular loaf of bread.  We prefer to stick with the L'oven Split Top Wheat Bread.  This was the first and the last loaf of the Whole Grain White Bread that I have bought from ALDI.

Millville Cocoa Rice Cereal, $1.79 for 11 oz - 6
My son is the only one in the house who eats this cereal, so this is based on his rating alone. He said that there isn't a huge difference in taste between the Millvale Cocoa Rice Cereal and it's name brand counterpart.  We will definitely be buying these again.

Benton's Everyday Vanilla Wafers, $1.49 for a 12 oz box - 10
Me- 10
P- 10
Yep.  ALDI's vanilla wafers received a perfect 10 from us.  We even think that these are better the big name ones. ;)

Peanut Delight Natural Creamy Peanut Butter, $1.99 for a 16 oz jar - 6.5
Me- 6
P- 7
This was actually better than we had expected, but we do prefer the big name brands better.  This is a very nice natural peanut butter choice though- no need to stir and no pool of oil at the top of the jar every time we opened it.

L'oven Fresh English Muffins, 99 cents for 6 muffins - 10
Me- 10
P- 10
Yeah... we pretty much love these.  We found them to be better than the brand name ones.  They were fluffy and fresh.  I pretty much pick up a pack of these every week at ALDI now.


Berryhill Chocolate Flavored Syrup, $1.39 for a 24 oz bottle - 6
My son is a chocolate milk fiend, so he has been the one primarily using the chocolate syrup in our house.  He says this is pretty good.  I actually kind of think that J is a little stingy with his ratings, but that is just my opinion. ;)

Millville Chewy Chocolate Chip Granola Bars, $1.69 for 10 granola bars - 6
Me- 5
P- 7
These were alright.  They definitely did not taste as good as the big name chewy granola bars.  But the texture was about the same.  We could take or leave these.

Savortiz Orginal Woven Wheat Baked Crackers, $1.25 for a 9.5 oz box - 10
Me- 10
P- 10
Again, an unanimous perfect 10.  We perceived NO difference between these crackers and the brand name ones.  None at all.  We will definitely be putting these on the regular snack rotation.

So, what did you think?  Have you and your family tried any of these products as well?  What would you have rated them?

*This is the second post in a new monthly blog series I have started.  Be sure to check back here the first Tuesday of each month for a new ALDI Compare & Share Post from me.