Best Things to Buy at Aldi Under $5

Some people think that the best Aldi products are the oddities—those here-one-day, gone-the-next “finds” that make the store’s weekly flyer feel as essential as the Sunday New York Times. But you gotta love their staples, too. Aldi’s aisles are chock-full of cereals, sauces, and other everyday items that taste great and cost very little money. Here are seven of the best Aldi products we’ve tried in our taste tests, all of which will set you back less than five bucks.


best aldi cereal

Aldi!

Millville Honey Wheat Puffs ($2.45)

If you have a favorite brand-name cereal, there’s a very good chance Aldi sells a generic version that’s pretty damn good. When we taste tested 21 Aldi cereals back to back, the store’s take on Smacks was our favorite. Millville Honey Wheat Puffs are crisp, lightly sweet, and very fresh tasting. It’s a breakfast everyone will like, and at around $2.50 a box, you can’t afford not to give these suckers a shot.

Read the full ranking of the best Aldi cereal 

Rating:

10/10

Sporks

aldi brand potato chips

Aldi!

Clancy’s Sour Cream & Onion Potato Chips ($2.49)

Clancy’s, Aldi’s snack brand, makes loads of good chips and crackers, but their sour cream and onion chips remain one of the best things to buy at Aldi. They’re oniony without tasting like straight-up onion powder. There’s plenty of cool creaminess in the seasoning, and it just works so well with the light, crisp, high-quality chips. Seriously, if you’re ever buying a bunch of chips for a party, you should be buying them at Aldi. 

Read the full ranking of the best Aldi potato chips

Rating:

10/10

Sporks

best aldi cookies

Aldi!

Bake Shop Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies ($3.25)

When we taste tested all of the Aldi cookies we could find at our local store, we really didn’t foresee that oatmeal cookies would come out on top. But these are just so good! They have a fresh nutty flavor we loved—and, c’mon, going with dried cranberries rather than raisins is a majorly classy choice. If you need an after-dinner sweet treat that’s not super heavy, this is one of the best items to buy at Aldis to have in your pantry. 

Read the full ranking of the best Aldi cookies

Rating:

10/10

Sporks

best aldi wine

Aldi!

Winking Owl Chardonnay ($3.85)

Winking Owl wine is basically Aldi’s Two-Buck Chuck—and it’s really not bad! In fact, when editor-in-chief Justine Sterling tasted every Aldi wine that cost less than seven bucks, Winking Owl Chardonnay landed in the top three. It’s big. It’s buttery. It’s oaky. We guarantee you’ll find similar wines that cost ten times as much. This $4 wine is one of the best things at Aldi, wine snobs we damned.

Read the full ranking of Aldi wines under $7

Rating:

9/10

Sporks

Emporium Selection Not Your Average Cheddar Cheddar & Parmesan

Aldi!

Emporium Selection Not Your Average Cheddar ($3.85)

Hey look! Cheap, delicious cheese to go with your cheap, delicious wine. Some of the best Aldi finds are dupes for other products, and that goes for this cheese. Not Your Average Cheddar is a dead ringer for Trader Joe’s Unexpected Cheddar. If you like your cheddar with a distinct kick of parmesan-esque nutty flavor, you’re going to like this. It’s fancy enough for a cheese board, but cheap enough to shred up for weeknight grilled cheese sandwiches, too.

Read the full ranking of the best Aldi cheese

Rating:

9/10

Sporks

best aldi greek yogurt

Aldi!

Specially Selected Honey Vanilla Indulgent Greek Yogurt ($4.25)

If yogurt is a staple in your fridge, this Aldi product is a must-buy. Specially Selected Honey Vanilla Greek yogurt is unreal. It’s thick, rich, and tastes more like a caramel flan than like yogurt. It may be breakfast food but it eats like a proper dessert—and it comes in a 32 ounce container for less than five bucks. 

Read the full ranking of the best Aldi Greek yogurt

Rating:

10/10

Sporks

best aldi pasta sauce specially selected marinara rao's

Aldi!

Specially Selected Premium Marinara Sauce ($4.29)

Do you love Rao’s pasta sauce but hate spending, like, $8 for a jar of marinara? This Aldi pasta sauce is about to really change your life. It tastes a lot like Rao’s—rich, oily, and bursting with umami—but it’s about half the price. Yes, it’s the most expensive thing on this list, but it’s still one of those cheap Aldi’s staples that you should always have in your pantry. 

Read the full ranking of the best Aldi pasta sauces

Rating:

10/10

Sporks


About the Author

Sporked Staff

The Sporked Staff tastes everything and anything. They are obsessive about groceries and finding the best of any type of food or drink, from frozen fried shrimp to Dijon mustard to gummy candy. And they're always on a hunt for the best new products. When they aren't eating professionally, they're eating recreationally. And often they're browsing grocery store aisles, just for fun.