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After writing my Beginner’s Guide to Shopping at ALDI last week, I received so many positive comments and even more questions about ALDI. So I decided it would be helpful to provide a grocery shopping guide for what to buy at ALDI, so you have a starting point of wholesome, real foods you can purchase there.

Note: I’m sure I left out a few (or many!) excellent products, so if you’re familiar with ALDI stores and notice some great items I forgot, please comment below the post and let me know!

Many people assume that ALDI stores only carry unhealthy junk foods. If you’ve shopped at ALDI within the past few years, however, you’d know that is definitely not the case. Currently, ALDI stores carry a large selection of USDA Certified Organic and even gluten free foods. Many of their private label items are actually name-brand products placed in other packaging and sold for a fraction of what other stores charge!

If you’re searching for ways to afford to eat healthier and spend less money, you need to take a chance on ALDI! As our family began to adopt a real food lifestyle and consume fewer processed and refined ingredients, we found that we could still shop at ALDI—buying slightly different products—and save more money on our groceries!

Below is a full shopping list of real food—including many organics—you’ll find at ALDI. But first, let’s go over some of ALDI’s exclusive brands and what they mean:

SimplyNature: Many SimplyNature products are organic, but all are non-GMO and free from over 125 ingredients, such as High Fructose Corn Syrup, artificial colors and flavors, MSG, and hydrogenated oils.

Never Any!: Meat without antibiotics, added hormones, and animal by-products.

liveGfree: ALDI’s gluten-free line including cereal, pasta, snacks, frozen items, and more.

ALDI Real Food Shopping List

Below are many of the items that are staples in our home. If you’re new to shopping at ALDI, try a few items at a time to see if you like them (and how the price compares to your usual grocery store!).

Dairy

ALDI carries many quality, organic dairy products, but the cold case also holds some items with unhealthy additives, such as carrageenan. No matter where you shop, be sure to check ingredient labels so you can steer clear of unnecessary junk in your food.

• Countryside Creamery Butter
• Friendly Farms Organic Whole Milk
• Friendly Farms Sour Cream
• Happy Farms Block Cheese
• SimplyNature Organic Cage Free Brown Eggs
• SimplyNature Organic Plain Whole Milk Yogurt
• SimplyNature Organic Soy Milk

Frozen

ALDI has many affordable options when it comes to frozen organic fruit and vegetables (I didn’t list all of them here). While some of the frozen seafood at ALDI is wild caught in the U.S., the fish may be processed in a facility in China. (Note that this isn’t just ALDI—most fish from other stores is also processed in China.)

• SimplyNature Organic Blueberries
• SimplyNature Organic Strawberries
• SimplyNature Organic Fruit Bars
• SimplyNature Organic Sweet Peas
• Sea Queen Jumbo Shrimp
• Sea Queen Wild Caught Salmon Fillets
• Sea Queen Tilapia Fillets

Meat

Every Wednesday, ALDI advertises a special buy on fresh meat and it’s always an incredible price! We don’t buy a lot of meat at ALDI, but here are some of our family’s favorites.

• Kirkwood Never Any! Chicken Sausage (These are nitrate/nitrite free. Our whole family likes all the flavors—chipotle, mild Italian, spinach & feta, tomato basil.)
• Kirkwood Never Any! Whole Chicken (perfect for homemade rotisserie chicken)
• SimplyNature Organic 100% Grass Fed Ground Beef (About $3/pound cheaper than any other grocery store in our area!)

Pantry

The pantry items from ALDI are consistently less expensive than other stores, and it’s an easy way to start replacing some of your must-haves with healthier alternatives (like organic canned tomatoes or whole wheat pasta). I started buying old fashioned oats at ALDI and never looked back! You can find most of your baking essentials here too—except you won’t have a large selection of less processed ingredients, such as whole wheat flour.

• Millville Old Fashioned Oats
• SimplyNature Organic Steel Cut Oats
• SimplyNature Brown Milled Flax Seed (Use in these 5-Minute Granola Bars)
• SimplyNature Creamy Almond Butter
• SimplyNature Organic Beans (black beans, kidney beans, etc.)
• SimplyNature Organic Broth (I like to buy this when I run out of my homemade broth)
• SimplyNature Organic Brown Rice (This rice is quick cook; I used to fully rely on my rice cooker, but I can actually cook this rice on the stovetop in under 15 minutes!)
• SimplyNature Organic Coconut Oil
• SimplyNature Organic Creamy Peanut Butter
• SimplyNature Organic Diced Tomatoes
• SimplyNature Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• SimplyNature Organic Honey
• SimplyNature Organic Ketchup
• SimplyNature Organic Quinoa
• SimplyNature Organic Seedtastic 21 Whole Grains & Seeds Bread (Similar to Dave’s Killer Bread for about $2 less!)
• SimplyNature Organic Spices (Spices may vary between stores; our store usually carries cinnamon, garlic, cumin, cayenne, and some Italian seasonings like oregano.)
• SimplyNature Organic Linguine / Spaghetti
• SimplyNature Organic Whole Wheat Pasta
• SimplyNature Organic Pasta Sauce (Marinara, Tomato Basil)
• SimplyNature Sprouted 7 Grain Bread
• SimplyNature Unsweetened Applesauce
• Southern Grove Chopped Nuts (walnuts, pecans, almonds, etc.)
• Southern Grove Trail Mix (soooo many delicious varieties!)

Produce

Fresh produce is a moving target and will always vary in cost and selection between stores. I usually buy conventional thick-skinned fruits and vegetables—those on the Clean Fifteen list—from ALDI because it saves a lot of money! As far as organic produce, my local ALDI usually has organic apples, pears, carrots, spinach & other greens, tomatoes, and more.

• Apples (organic)
• Asparagus
• Avocados
• Bananas
• Cantaloupe
• Carrots / Baby Carrots (organic)
• Cauliflower
• Celery (organic)
• Grapefruit
• Kiwi
• Lemons
• Mangos
• Onions
• Oranges
• Pears (organic)
• Pineapple
• Spaghetti Squash
• Tomatoes (organic)
• Watermelon
• SimplyNature Organic Baby Spinach
• SimplyNature Organic Chopped Kale
• SimplyNature Organic Spring Mix

Snacks

You can find quite a few low-sugar, minimally-processed snacks at ALDI. Generally, we try to make mostly homemade snacks or grab fresh fruit for snacks, but sometimes you need some good packaged alternatives for traveling, etc.

• SimplyNature Applesauce Cups (It’s less expensive to buy the whole jar of applesauce and divide into your own individual containers, but these are convenient.)
• SimplyNature Kids Fruit Squeezies
• SimplyNature Organic Popcorn
• SimplyNature Organic Unsalted Rice Cakes
• SimplyNature Organic White Cheddar Puffs (Kids love these and they’re so much cheaper than any other store’s version.)
• SimplyNature Organic Yellow Corn Tortilla Chips
• Southern Grove Almonds
• Southern Grove Pistachios
• Moser Roth Dark Chocolate (I usually buy the 85%…yum!)

Shopping for real food doesn’t need to be so hard (or expensive). ALDI is an excellent store to buy affordable, healthy foods for your family.

Do you shop at ALDI? What items are always on your shopping list?