I think one of the best partnerships that I’ve done in my 12 years of blogging here on Peanut Butter Runner has been with ALDI. I first worked with ALDI back in 2014 on a short-term ambassadorship and truly enjoyed being introduced to the brand. I have become a regular ALDI shopper and it’s been fun to watch the brand grow both its footprint and quality of offerings over the last eight years.

While I haven’t worked with ALDI on a paid campaign in several years, I still love creating content about the things I buy at ALDI. I did my weekly grocery shopping at ALDI this week and knew I had to snap photos of what I bought because they always have some great seasonal items and I’m excited about some of the fall things I found.

I’m also including prices in this recap because food is so expensive right now and I thought it might be helpful to see which items you can really save on at ALDI. For example, avocados are $0.59 each right now and I often pay $2-2.50 each at other stores. Another example, oat milk is $2.99 at ALDI and I often pay over $4 at other stores.

WHAT I BOUGHT AT ALDI: FALL 2022

Here’s a peek into my cart. If you haven’t shopped at ALDI, the cashiers are super-duper fast. They scan all of your items and put them back in the cart. You bag your own groceries with your own bags. This whole cart management and checkout process is one of the ways that they pass savings down to their customers…here’s a breakdown from what I learned when I visited ALDI headquarters back in 2014!

• When you arrive at the store, you put a quarter in the cart to unlock it from the cart station. When you return your cart you get your quarter back. The reason they do this is to encourage people to return their carts to the corral and it eliminates the need for cart attendants to manage rounding up carts from the parking lot. ALDI’s parking lots generally aren’t super big so it’s no big deal to wheel your cart back to the front of the store.
• Don’t be alarmed if the checkout lines look long. They are SO fast. Oftentimes I’ll think the person in front of me has so much stuff and it’s going to take a while but then I don’t even have my items unloaded onto the belt before the cashier starts ringing up my order! One of the ways that ALDI makes checkout so fast is by placing multiple bar codes on their items so that they cashiers don’t have to look for the bar code to scan.
• Like I mentioned above, all of your items go back in the cart and you bag your own groceries. You can either bring your own bags or purchase bags. This is another way ALDI keeps prices low – minimizing the need for lots of cashiers and baggers and not providing free bags. I honestly prefer to bag my own groceries so this doesn’t bother me at all.

Good stuff!

Alright, here is what I bought at ALDI this week…Fall 2022 edition!

COLD/FROZEN THINGS

• Transylvanian Red Wine Soaked Hard Cheese – $3.99, this is a seasonal cheese that ALDI brings back every October. It’s actually made in Transylvania, Romania and then aged in salt caves. It is a cheddar style with a mild sharpness. The texture is slightly grainy and the taste is salty.
• Queso Fresco – $2.39, love this as a switch-up to feta on salads, grain bowls, etc
• Spinach & Artichoke Tzatziki – $3.19, great scooped up with tortilla or pita chips or on top of a grain bowl
• Organic Colby Jack Cheese – $2.25
• Avocado Ranch Dressing – $3.49
• Organic Chopped Frozen Spinach – $1.95
• Artichoke & Cheese Strudel – $3.99, I’ve been wanting to try this for a long time and finally pulled the trigger. My mom will be in town next week and I thought it sounded like something she’d enjoy too since we’re both big artichoke fans.
• Turmeric Smoothie Blend – $5.99, ALDI is featuring three new smoothie blends this fall – turmeric, ginger and lemongrass. Each blend features a slightly different fruit blend. This one has mango, orange, papaya, ginger puree and turmeric. I blended some up this morning with some frozen spinach, frozen banana, honey and almond milk and it was good! The $5.99 price might seem a little steep but it’s a 24-ounce bag and I think it will make a good 3-4 smoothies for me.
• Unsalted Butter (4 sticks) – $3.94 
• Organic Classic Hummus – $2.25
• Cream Cheese – $1.59
• Irish Butter – $3.45
• Two Good Pumpkin Yogurt Cup – $1.28, this is the Two Good yogurt that only has 2g of sugar per serving. They had pumpkin-flavored cups in the Special Buys section to I picked one up to try!
• Gouda Cracker Cuts – $3.49, Finn loves snacking on these

PRODUCE 

• Pineapple – $1.95
• Baby Carrots – $0.69, I know y’all know I buy these for dog treats!
• Brussel Sprouts – $2.39
• Spaghetti Squash – $1.76 ($0.59/lb), excellent prices on the winter squash so I stocked up!
• Mangos – $0.89 each, great price…reminder…Kent mangos are far superior to Tommy
• Green Grapes – $5.04 ($1.49/lb)
• Acorn Squash – $1.18 ($0.59/lb)
• Butternut Squash – $1.50 ($0.59/lb)
• Bag of Lemons – $3.39
• Cilantro – $0.45, awesome price!
• Baby Spinach – $1.95
• Avocados – $0.59 each

PANTRY/MISCELLANEOUS

• Organic Chicken Bone Broth – $2.79, I’ve blogged about this many times before but just a reminder that it’s my favorite store-bought chicken broth
• Oat Milk – $2.99
• Pumpkin & Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce – $3.49, the ingredients are very similar to Trader Joe’s Autumnal Harvest Creamy Pasta Sauce, which I love. Will report back on what I think of the ALDI sauce.
• Hand Sanitizer – $1.85, needed to restock my car sanitizer
• Avocado Tomatillo Salsa – $2.99
• Blippi I’m Thankful Book – $6.88, for Finn!
• Pumpkin Sage Ravioli – $3.25, will be good with the pumpkin and butternut squash sauce
• Organic Blue Corn Chips – $1.99, love ALDI’s blue corn chips!
• Halloween Shape Pasta – $2.69, thought this would be fun for Finn
• Diced Fire Roasted Tomatoes – $0.99, stocking the pantry because I see a pot of chili in my near future
• Organic Crushed and Diced Tomatoes (big can) – $1.89
• Organic Quinoa – $3.29, the same 16-oz bag is $2 more expensive at WFM
• Bean Vivo Organic Baja Black Beans – $2.99, my mom likes seasoned black beans a lot so I got these in case she might want them next week
• Dog Dental Sticks – $2.29, I can rarely resist getting both Finn and the dogs treats at ALDI!

And that wraps this shopping trip up. My total bill was $119.11. Note, you don’t see any eggs/chicken/fish/etc in my cart because I’m trying to make my way through some things I already have in the fridge/freezer.

QUESTIONS 

Have you shopped at ALDI lately? 

Any fall/seasonal ALDI favorites?