7 Must-Buy Aldi Items For First-Time Customers

I admit that the first time I ever set foot in an Aldi, I was less than impressed. But then, this was years ago, and at the time, the aesthetic was very much ripped open cardboard boxes to the forefront, and you needed to do some searching around the sides to find the good stuff. Over the years, I've pretty much done a 180 to the point where I'm now a big Aldi fan (and own more than my fair share of aisle-of-shame bargain buys). The low prices are what won me over, but the selection keeps me coming back too.

If you're just discovering Aldi for the first time, the good news is that while the chain has retained its low prices, it has revamped its stores to the point where it does a much better job of showcasing all of its goodies. One of the fun things about shopping at Aldi is the ever-rotating stock of weekly specials (smart shopper tip: Aldi Finds always arrive on Wednesdays), but there are also quite a few standbys you'll find in the permanent lineup. While you'll no doubt come to discover your favorites in time, here's a list of my own personal must-buys that are well worth checking out.

One thing Aldi does very well is ready-to-eat snacks, and I'm particularly fond of the Park Street deli line of dips. One of my usual go-to Aldi buys is hummus, which I use as a dip for baby carrots for a relatively healthy snack. I'll admit the dessert hummus varieties that were all over the place a few years back never appealed to me, but it seems I may not have been alone in my lack of enthusiasm, since these no longer appear in the lineup. Instead, at the time of writing, Park Street Deli is sticking to the classics like plain, garlic, red pepper, olive tapenade, and my two favorites: spicy and pine nut. I also love the cilantro-jalapeño variety that comes packaged in a hummus quartet along with the plain, garlic, and red pepper varieties.

While I haven't tried all of the other Park Street deli dips, I have enjoyed the crab rangoon one as well as the street corn and jalapeño artichoke dips. Sadly, as much of a fan of Buffalo chicken anything as I am, I can't stand cruciferous vegetables so haven't been able bring myself to try the Buffalo cauliflower dip, but there are those who swear by adding it to pizza. Me? I'd rather stick with a classic tomato pico de gallo for pizza topping purposes, and Park Street Deli does a pretty good version of this dip, as well.

One of the most used and abused culinary terms over the past several years has been charcuterie, since it seems to be applied to just about anything you'd serve on a wooden board. Even when the charcuterie board in question is a fairly traditional one, the term is often extended to cover items like crackers, cheese, and dips, when in reality it simply means cured meat. That being said, Aldi offers a small but decent selection of this item at affordable prices.

I've long been a fan of prosciutto, something that featured at every holiday meal in my family since these would always be preceded by an antipasto course. Aldi's Appleton Farms brand is quite tasty for something that doesn't come directly from an Italian deli, and it's also cheap enough to have on hand for snacking, sandwiches, and pizza topping. Appleton Farms also does a decent Italian dry salami (I prefer the spicy variety), and for the indecisive, there's a truly tasty trio of gourmet meats: pepper salami, hot capocollo (which is like a leaner, spicier prosciutto) and hot Calabrese (Calabrian salami seasoned with crushed red pepper). If you do want to showcase any of these charcuterie products on a board, needless to say, Aldi also sells plenty of fancy crackers, cheeses, olives, and other enhancements. You may even be able to pick up a board itself in the aisle of shame if you hit it during the right week.

I'm admittedly anything but a sushi snob. I've happily eaten sushi from Sheetz (where the extra-strong wasabi kicked my ass), and I'm always excited whenever I hit my local Kroger affiliate on a Monday so that I can take advantage of discount sushi day. As I'm always on a tight budget, though, one of my favorite affordable indulgences is Aldi's Fusia-brand frozen sushi. Unlike the kind I buy from Pick 'n Save, I don't have to eat it the same day but can toss it in the freezer, secure in the realization that it'll be good for the next 50,000 years or so; this is my go-to freezer expiration date, based on the true story of scientists who consumed part of a prehistoric bison.

Currently, Aldi's frozen sushi is available in two varieties: California roll and shrimp with avocado. While I have a slight preference for the latter, I'll gladly take either one. I love how you can just thaw them on the countertop or speed things along with a cold water bath or even the microwave if you're in a real hurry. The two small packets of soy sauce and one of wasabi are a nice inclusion, although I need to supplement them from my personal stash and also add my own pickled ginger. The one thing I can't do is restrict myself to a single portion of Fusia sushi, which the package laughably describes as five pieces. Ha, no, I'm eating all 15 at once and enjoying every bite.

Aldi sells a number of different types of ice cream, many of them under the Sundae Shoppe label and seemingly produced by a private label called House of Flavors. The ones I've tried have all been decent, but I have a special fondness for the super-premium pints that, yes, are a total Ben & Jerry's knockoff. While I appreciate B&J's social conscience, selling pints for around $7 apiece doesn't really make them the ice cream of the people. Aldi, on the other hand, prices its premium pints at less than half of this amount, meaning I can actually afford to add them to my cart every so often.

Unlike Ben & Jerry's, Aldi doesn't offer a seemingly unlimited number of flavors, nor are the ones it does have tied into current events. Instead, the selection includes Brookie Dough, a chocolate-vanilla mashup with brownie chunks and pieces of cookie dough, as well as the double chocolate Make Fudge, Not War, which is chocolate ice cream with brownie pieces. My favorite one is Thank You Cherry Much, which is absolutely a Cherry Garcia ripoff with its cherry ice cream, sliced cherries, and chocolate chunks. Since I've never been much of a Grateful Dead fan, I appreciate the punny, yet non-celebrity-specific name as well as the low price. And in my opinion, it tastes just as good as the pricier ice cream.

Even though I don't follow a plant-based diet, I do make use of non-dairy products from time to time. My latest Aldi find, however, was something I discovered when shopping for my two dogs. The larger of the two, a 70-pound husky, refuses to get in the truck, so she has never experienced a pup cup. Our latest addition, a pomsky fresh from the animal shelter, has likely not had that opportunity, either. I decided to make semi-healthy homemade pup cups for them by mixing yogurt, dog biscuits, and whipped cream, and thought that non-dairy topping might be a better choice because the husky can be somewhat lactose-intolerant. Since I was shopping at Aldi, I picked up a few cans of Friendly Farms whipped non-dairy toppings in both almond and coconut milk varieties.

Of course, both dogs liked the whipped toppings, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that they weren't the only ones who felt this way. I found the almond milk flavor to be sweet and pleasant, while the coconut milk version is rich and flavorful. Whatever chemical alchemy keeps the cream suspended in a state of fluff seems to work just as well as any other aerosol whipped cream, although the cream is perhaps a touch softer than the dairy kind. Both the texture and flavor have completely won me over, however, and it seems that my discerning dogs and I aren't alone in our approbation. Both varieties of Friendly Farms non-dairy whipped topping were chosen as winners by the Product of the Year consumer survey in 2023.

Although Aldi originated in Germany, its grocery selection is pretty standard for a U.S. supermarket, and its European roots aren't really on display until they're showcased around Christmastime or during one of its special themed German weeks. One notable exception, however, is in the candy aisle, since Aldi's two main brands of chocolate bars are both European imports. Choceur is a Belgian brand, while Moser Roth is produced under the auspices of Germany's Storck and has been an Aldi exclusive since 2007. While I'm fond of both, Moser Roth has the edge when it comes to convenience and variety.

One thing I appreciate about Moser Roth bars is how they are conveniently separated into individually wrapped segments. When buying a larger chocolate bar, I often struggle with separating the exact number of squares to equal a single portion. They inevitably break unevenly, and I can't leave a jagged edge, so I inevitably consume more than I planned. Maybe Moser Roth's packaging isn't ideal for the environment, but it's much better for portion control, so it works out to be a major plus in my book.

I also love how the Moser Roth bars come in such a wide flavor selection that it's hard to pick a favorite. I do like the chile, orange, and mint, although my current top picks are cranberry and raspberry-almond. All of these are dark chocolate, but not the obnoxiously bitter kind. Moser Roth does have a few high cacao bars for those who like that sort of thing, but it also offers milk and white chocolate if you prefer something smoother and sweeter.

Not all Aldis sell booze, but if you live in a state where these stores are permitted to sell wine, you may find quite the selection. You probably won't discover any rare vintages, but the discount grocer does offer wines in the $10 to $15 range as well as a selection of sparklers, wine cocktails, flavored wines, and perhaps even vintage port. Of all its wines, however, there's one that's achieved cult status — WInking Owl, which is popular for its cheap price and cute packaging as well as its flavor. It may not pass muster with serious wine connoisseurs, but it's well worth checking out if you're in the market for a budget bottle.

My favorite Winking Owl wine is the merlot because I appreciate the fact that comes in on the less dry side. Not sweet, exactly, but fruitier than some of the dryer Merlots I've tried. I've also sampled the shiraz and cabernet sauvignon, and while I'm typically not fond of either varietal, the Winking Owl ones were on the softer side. I really can't stand either chardonnay (too dry) or moscato (too sweet), so I've never tried Winking Owl's take on either, but I can vouch for the pinot grigio being quite palatable. Other wines in the Winking Owl lineup include sangria, sauvignon blanc, sweet red, and white zinfandel. All of these wines seem to be selling for around $4 per bottle in my neighborhood, although the cab sav and pinot grigio are also available in three-liter boxes for $14.