10 Underrated Groceries to Buy at Aldi, According to a Food Writer

If grocery shopping was a sport, I would be an Olympian. It’s something we all do to feed ourselves, but I’ve also done it professionally for over a decade. Sourcing the right proteins, perfect-looking produce, hard-to-find spices and obscure pasta shapes are the events I medal in. And the store aisles of the grocery and big-box stores I peruse are my arenas.

Since I’m such a grocery-shopping pro, people often ask me how to save money as grocery prices continue to rise. Everyone has felt the impact. And my confident reply is that Aldi is typically my saving grace. Besides enormous savings on our monthly grocery bill, the store’s aisles are filled with underrated items. Here are 10 I always buy. 

1. Berries

When you have kids, everyone warns you about the cost of everything from diapers to college, but no one, and I mean no one, warns you about the cost of berries. My kids go through clamshells a week of strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries. Aldi is the spot to get these to save some money for their actual college accounts. 

2. Happy Farms Cream Cheese

My motto? Never leave Aldi without two bricks of cream cheese.  Since I live in a bagel-obsessed house, we go through a few bricks quickly. Not to mention, it’s always great to have on hand for dips and desserts. Coming in at around $1.39 for 8 ounces, this delicious spread costs a fraction of the bigger cream cheese name brand, without sacrificing any of the texture and taste. 

3. Emporium Selection Manchego Cheese

Manchego is my favorite cheese for a grazing board, adding depth, style and texture to your board. Manchego is nutty, fruity and sweet, which plays nicely in combination with stronger, stinkier flavors. Plus it’s a denominaciones de origen protegidas (DOP) product, which means it’s made from milk from Manchega sheep in certain provinces in Spain. This one is highly underrated, particularly for the price.

4. Simply Nature Organic Colby Jack Cheese

I buy mostly organic dairy, and there's no better place than Aldi to stock up. This is my son’s favorite “yellow cheese,” my go-to for all things lunchbox. It also melts perfectly into casseroles and quesadillas.

5. L’oven Fresh Hawaiian Sweet Rolls

The internet is what piqued my interest in Hawaiian rolls. I don’t know what took me so long, but now I’m hooked on this sweet and fluffy bread. I love the viral videos of baked pull-apart sandwiches that are easy to execute and serve. One of my go-to weeknight meals is these split in half, topped with whatever deli meats and cheeses I have lying around, brushed with a little garlic butter and baked. Easy dinner is served! 

6. Choceur Peanut Butter Cups

I'm throwing this one in as my husband’s pick (he has a sweeter tooth than me), but everyone under my roof agrees these are the best peanut butter cups you can buy. The milky chocolate coating paired with a sweet and salty filling can for sure take down the bigger name-brand alternative. 

7. Clancy’s Sea Salt & Vinegar Kettle Chips

These signature Aldi-brand chips are my go-to's. They are sturdy, which holds up when scooping up your favorite chip dip, and they have perfect texture for crunchifying your favorite sandwiches. They taste the same as the gold standard of kettle chips, Cape Cod, for a fraction of the price. 

8. Tabasco Pepper Sauce

Everyone knows this hot sauce reigns supreme; there's nothing underrated about it, besides the fact that it’s cheaper to buy it at Aldi than anywhere else. So stock up.

9. Specially Selected Blue Cheese Stuffed Olives

My girlfriends and I usually find ourselves at a local steakhouse to enjoy an icy-cold dirty martini with blue cheese-stuffed olives, but these are so good, they’re reason enough to dust off the martini shaker and have a girls' night in. I also love adding these flavor-packed bites to grazing boards.

10. Tuscan Garden Banana Peppers

As a self-proclaimed antipasto queen (check out my trees!), I always have two to three jars of these in my pantry. They’re pre-sliced into rings and add the perfect level of acidity and spice to salads, dressings, sandwiches and beyond. While we’re on the topic of martinis, a splash of the banana pepper brine to replace olive juice for a dirty martini is the twist you didn’t know you needed.