A number of years ago I wrote a series of posts on food shopping for the family. I conducted a survey of readers to see where they were shopping and how much they were spending. The results were super interesting and well worth the read. Especially this post where I collated reader tips to help you save on your food bill.
I shop at a number of places to get the food we need for the week:
- ALDI – mainly for the basics
- Coles LOCAL – for items I can’t get at ALDI.
- Green grocer – for fruit and veg
- Butcher – for meat
A new reader who came across my food shopping post emailed me and asked what were my favourite products from ALDI so I thought I would share my answer in a post! All but one of these items I have been buying from ALDI for quite a while and rate them highly.
I would love to hear what are your favourite ALDI buys, so let me know in the comments below what they are!
My ALDI favourites
- Product: Oh So Natural Superfoods Greens Powder 125gm
- Price: $4.69
- Use: I used to add a teaspoon to my smoothies but now I just have my fruit and veg smoothie on its own and have add a heaped teaspoon to a glass of water and drink it straight.
- Product: Oh So Natural Organic Cacao Powder 250gm
- Price: $4.99
- Use: I used to make chocolate milks for the kids and in many recipes like:
- Product: Just Organic Coconut Cream 400mL
- Price: $1.99
- Use: I used this for both savoury and sweet recipes like:
- Product: Just Organic Coconut Natural Flakes 200gm
- Price: $3.99
- Use: These flakes are pretty delicious to eat straight from the pack but they are even better lightly toasted. I also use them in this recipe:
- Product: Just Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Coconut Oil 900gm
- Price: $9.99
- Use: My main use for this is to add to sweet potatoes when cooking them in the air fryer – sweet potato and coconut oil is an excellent combo! I also use it in these recipes:
- Product: Just Organic Dark Chocolate with Sea Salt 100gm
- Price: $2.79
- Use: Sweet treat! I normally eat dark chocolate with a higher percentage of cocoa solids (this is only 70%) and a little less sugar but I buy this occasionally as a change. It is super delicious. Make sure you pick the bar with sea salt as it comes in a box at the store with both plain and salt. The salt definintely makes this chocolate.
- Product: Just Organic Green Tea 75gm
- Price: $2.69
- Use: Regular tea drinking! But I also use it to make my kombucha as well:
- Product: Just Organic 100% Pure Australian Honey 500gm
- Price: $7.99
- Use: The family will use this to add to porridge, spread on toast or bread and I use it in these rceipes:
- Product: Just Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil 500mL
- Price: $4.69
- Use: This is a really nice light olive oil which I use for everyday use and it is also a key ingredient in this recipe:
- Product: Just Organic Italian Passata 690gm
- Price: $1.99
- Use: A great passata for use in everyday cooking like these recipes:
- Product: Market Fare Winter Vegetables 1kg
- Price: $2.79
- Use: My preference is always for fresh veggies but I always have some frozen veggies in the freezer. I will use them on nights when I have left myself a tight timeframe to get dinner ready. Our daughter also will steam some veggies to go with some protein for lunches when at home. There is also plenty of studies showing there are actually benefits to frozen veggies as outlined in this article – War on waste: Are fresh vegies always healthier than frozen?:
- Two independent studies, which together included more than 40 tests on the most commonly bought fruit and vegetables showed in two thirds of cases, frozen foods had higher levels of antioxidant-type compounds, including vitamin C, polyphenols, anthocyanins, lutein and beta carotene on day three of storage.
- Vegetables are usually snap frozen very soon after they are picked. Special machinery is used to get the produce to -18 degrees Celcius in minutes.The nutrients are ‘frozen in’ during this process, meaning you can quite easily have more vitamins in a frozen vegetable than in its ‘fresh’ counterpart.
- Product: Mayvers Extra Crunchy Peanut Butter
- Price: $3.99
- Use: This is a recent arrival to my local ALDI which I was super excited about. I love Mayvers Nut Butters and will actually eat it straight from the jar. I also will add some peanut butter to some slices of frozen banana as a dessert. I use it in these recipes as well:
- Product: The Best Margherita Pizza Ever 350gm
- Price: $4.99
- Use: It is not as catchy but I think they should call it Best FROZEN Margherita Pizza Ever. According to the kids, this is a really good pizza. I bought it for a weekend lunch one day for the kids as I thought the ingredient list looked pretty good for a treat lunch.
I buy three pizzas for our five kids and there is never a slice left!
