Holland Lager 1839 Beer

Product: Holland Lager 1839

Price: $4.99 for Six Pack

Rating: AAA

What we have here is Aldi's version of Dutch beer. It is actually made by Bavaria Brouwerij of the Netherlands, so it is authentic Dutch beer.  By looking at the green-silver bottle you can tell it is trying to compete with the Grolsch's and Heinekens of this world. And it's doing a fairly decent job at it. First of all I have to let you in on a little secret. The bottles of the six-pack are European sized, meaning they are slightly smaller than their American counterparts. You only get 11.2 ounces rather than 12.

The beer itself tastes a little less hoppy than the Dutch mainstream products with just a hint of bitterness. It's not an outstanding product but it still tastes good on a hot summer day. And the price is unbeatable for a true import beer.

Mama Cozzi's Stone Baked Veggie Pizza

Product: Mama Cozzi's Stone Baked Veggie Pizza

Price: $2.99

Rating: AAA


Even though it says imported from Europe, don't be fooled into thinking you will actually get to enjoy some real Italian frozen Pizza. It actually comes out of Germany, like a lot of other stuff at Aldi. So what you get here is a German interpretation of a frozen Pizza. It is loaded with veggies. It comes with spinach, zucchini, red onions. The box mentions pesto, but I could hardly taste it on the pizza. What you can taste is the fact that the bell peppers on the pizza are indeed grilled. This pizza is a nice thin crust pizza. The flavor is not offensive, but could use a little bit more tomato sauce as well as more cheese. If it says pesto on the box I also would have liked to taste some pesto. All in all it didn't blow me away but I liked it, especially for the price.

Priano Authentic Salami Stick

Product: Priano Authentic Salami Stick

Price: $2.79

Rating: AAAA

Don't be fooled by its appearance. Yes, it doesn't look very authentic. The salami itself is same diameter from start to finish making it look very industrial, and not much like a hand crafted salami. I was not sure by looking at it, but it looked like it was a skinless salami, and sure enough once I opened I found out it was. From that point on I did not have much hope, but after tasting it I was pleasantly surprised. It has a very good taste, full of smokey, meaty goodness, just what you would expect from a true Italian salami. By looking at the packaging I am not quite sure whether it actually is imported from Italy, but the taste sure is. You will not find a better salami for less money anywhere else this side of the Atlantic.

Choceur Mini Chocolate Bars Review

Product: Choceur Mini Chololate Bars

Price: ???

Rating: AAAAA

Let's start the product reviews off with a bang. I have to say the mini chocolate bars you can get at Aldi store are phenomenal. It is probably one of my favorite products they have. They are modeled after a German chocolate bar called "Kinder Schokolade." The original brand can not be found in the US, but luckily for us Aldi has its own brand on the shelves. Let me describe what you get. The package comes with 11 (not 12 or 10) little chocolate bars. The chocolate covers a milky white creme filling that has a slight coconut milk taste to it. The fresher they are the better. Yes, and they do melt in your mouth. They are imported from the land of chocolate Germany, so you know they'll taste like the real thing.

Aldi History - How the Cheap Grocery Store Came About

To get things started I want to give you a little lesson on the history of the Aldi grocery chain. It all started in the western German city of Essen. In 1913 the mother of Theo and Karl Albrecht opened up a small mom and pop grocery store. After WW II the sons took over and expanded their business. The name Aldi is a contraction of their last name and the word discount (ALbrecht-DIscount).
By 1950 the already owned 13 stores in Germany. In 1960, the brothers split up their business into Aldi South and North. By that time they owned about 300 Stores. Over the years they kept expanding and today they own about 7000 stores in Europe as well as 1000 in Australia and the US. The US, with its roughly 800 stores is actually part of the Aldi South branch of the company. They have been here since 1976. Germany is still the heart of the operation.
The key to success with the store is its uniformity. You can find the same set of products in the same spot all over the world. The owners cut out all the fancy decorations and waste no money on presentation. Just look at the tiles in the stores, they are the same all over the world. I bet they get a good deal at the tile maker. They also keep the store square footage rather small, not like the Walmarts of this day and age. By the way, Walmart is able to sell stuff for cheap due to the same principal Aldi adheres to. They also run their logistics very efficient and keep their employees in line. Aldi's product lines are small, and they have a lot of unique store brand products. Hence this blog.
Aldi may not be the fanciest place to shop at, but their prices for quality products are hard to beat. So I hope you enjoy this blog, in which I try to tell you about the great products, and the ones you really should stay away from.