Aldi Foodhaul
In this post, I would like to take a closer look at my documented shopping and the assortment at Aldi. This is the second of five posts in which I visit a different supermarket in Switzerland every week to show the differences. The purchases are as close to reality as possible and organic when available. A balanced diet also includes legumes, whole grains and nuts & seeds. These products are always stocked in my household. To avoid food waste, they do not appear in the foodhauls.
Shopping List
Nevertheless, I try to buy products that are as similar as possible so that a comparison is representative. My shopping list includes:
- 2 types of fruit
- 3 lemons
- Herbs
- 1 x dark green leafy vegetable
- 1 x cruciferous vegetables
- other vegetables
- Plant drink
- Tofu
- vegan yoghurt
- 1 processed product
Processed Products
Of course, there are various vegan processed products in Aldi, such as pizza, falafel, vegan cheese, nuggets, “fish fingers” etc.. Which you can now get in every supermarket in Switzerland. Normally, every supermarket has its house brands as far as these products are concerned. Aldi also has brands like SimplyV, Garden Gourmet, Bettaf!sch (Tu-Nah), Alpro and Oatly. Aldi’s house brand is called Just Veg!
Organic Products
Compared to Lidl, the selection of organic vegetables at Aldi is limited. In general, the vegetable department seems to have less variety. It took me a little longer to find my vegetables for the week. I bought some of the products because I couldn’t find anything better. Fresh herbs are not available in organic quality at Aldi, so this item on my shopping list was not fulfilled.
There is also an organic section outside the vegetable department, where you can get nuts and seeds, pulses, quinoa, olive oil, etc. The house brands are called Bio Natura, Nature Active Bio and Nature Suisse or Nature Suisse Bio, and on Labelinfo they are rated between partly recommendable and recommendable.
Glutenfree Products
Aldi also has a limited selection of gluten-free products. These include various rolls, wraps, rusks, muesli and crispy slices. The brands Natur Aktiv, Enjoy-Free, Zwicky, Roland and Schär are represented here. I cannot say whether the vegan organic pasta made from pulses is actually gluten-free. However, there is occasionally the gluten-free pasta from Barilla (vegan) at Aldi. The muesli from Zwicky, the crispy slices from Natur Aktiv and the rolls from Enjoy-Free are vegan. With the products from Schär and Roland, this has to be checked because it varies.
| Aldi | Price | Lidl | Price | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oatly organic | 2.99 | Alpro soy drink unsweetened | 2.19 | + 0.80 |
| organic tofu natur (350g) | 1.39 | tofu nature (200g) | 1.15 | – 0.62 |
| coconut yoghurt nature (400g) | 2.99 | coconut yoghurt nature (400g) | 2.99 | 0 |
| frozen pizza Tu-Nah | 2.99 | vegan Epiphany cake | 3.49 | – 0.50 |
| organic chinese cabbage | 1.45 | organic parsley curled | 0.89 | – |
| organic baby spinach | 1.39 | organic rucula | 1.29 | + 0.10 |
| 2 organic bell peppers | 1.69 | 2 organic bell peppers | 1.69 | 0 |
| 1 organic broccoli | 1.69 | 1 organic cauliflower | 2.40 | – 0.71 |
| organic potatoes (1.5 kg) | 3.59 | – | – | – |
| 3 organic lemons | 1.65 | 3 organic lemons | 1.65 | 0 |
| 3 organic kiwis | 2.67 | 3 organic fair trade bananas | 1.40 | – |
| 5 organic apples | 4.19 | 4 organic apples | 2.79 | + 0.70 |
| organic goji berries | 4.79 | 1 organic Avocado | 1.29 | – |
| Total | 33.45 | 23.22 | – 0.23 |
Conclusion
Aldi Suisse is decently cheaper than Lidl Switzerland, but Lidl’s organic quality is rated better by Labelinfo. Personally, I had the impression that Lidl has more vegan products on offer. Next week I will review my Migros Foodhaul and draw a further conclusion.
I am talking about Aldi Suisse in this post, I made the purchase in the Rorschach branch on 9 January 2023. This article is not sponsored and therefore contains exclusively unpaid advertising.
