Last Updated on June 4, 2019
You have several choices if you purchase orange juice from Aldi. For a low-inventory store, there is a lot of orange juice, and the differences between some of the varieties are subtle. We’re going to try to sort out all of the juices to make your shopping trip easier.
To start, all of Aldi’s orange juice is similar in one way: it all contains 110 calories per 8-ounce serving. All of the “never from concentrate” juices contain 22 grams of sugar per serving, while the “from concentrate” juices contain 24 grams of sugar per serving, but none of the juices have added sugar. These are all 100% juice.
Nature’s Nectar 100% Pure Squeezed Orange Juice with Calcium & Vitamin D No Pulp
I’ve bought this orange juice for my family for several years, which explains the half-empty carafe in the photo. It’s sold in the refrigerated section and it’s the only OJ Aldi sells that is fortified with notable amounts of calcium and Vitamin D. One 8-ounce serving gives you 35% of your daily value for calcium and 25% of your daily value for Vitamin D.
From a taste and texture perspective, my family likes this juice because it has no pulp. As a woman (and as a mom of two daughters) with osteoporosis in both my family and my husband’s family, I buy this OJ because it’s enriched with extra calcium. It’s also “never made from concentrate.”
Nature’s Nectar 100% Pure Squeezed Orange Juice High Pulp
This OJ is also sold in the refrigerated section, intermingled with its close cousin, the above-mentioned OJ with calcium and Vitamin D and no pulp. The difference between the two is that this second juice contains a lot of pulp, and it is not fortified with extra calcium and contains no Vitamin D. It’s still “never made from concentrate.
You must take care when purchasing one of these carafe-style orange juices, lest you accidentally grab the high pulp when you wanted no pulp, or vice versa. The high pulp OJ has a green lid; the no pulp OJ has a blue lid. This is the only high pulp OJ Aldi sells. For health reasons, I’m sure the extra bit of fiber in the high pulp variety is better for you.
Nature’s Nectar 100% Pure Squeezed Orange Juice No Pulp
This OJ is sold in a carton in the refrigerated section. It seems pretty similar to the Nature’s Nectar 100% Pure Squeezed Orange Juice with Calcium and Vitamin D No Pulp. It’s also never made from concentrate. The main difference is that this OJ is not fortified with Vitamin D and contains less calcium. It also contains a few additional vitamins compared to the juices in the carafe-style containers, including 10% of your daily value of folate, which is important for expecting moms. Other vitamins include Thiamin, Vitamin B6, Pantothenic Acid, Magnesium, Riboflavin, and Phosphorous.
We think this juice has a slightly sweeter taste than the orange juice varieties that are sold in the carafes. It’s all together a solid breakfast choice.
Nature’s Nectar 100% Pure Squeezed Orange Juice From Concentrate No Pulp
This is the last of the refrigerated orange juices Aldi sells. It comes in a carton and is similar to the Nature’s Nectar 100% Pure Squeezed Orange Juice No Pulp, except that this juice is made from concentrate. Probably because of that, it is the cheapest of Aldi’s refrigerated OJs.
It has the lowest amount of Vitamin C of all the refrigerated juices, with 100% of your daily value versus 120% for the other juices. However, this juice contains 15% of your daily value of folic acid, which is important for expecting moms. It also contains a few other vitamins such as thiamin, Vitamin B6, and calcium.
We think this orange juice tastes noticeably sweeter than any of its refrigerated counterparts. It does have a higher sugar content than the other refrigerated juices (24 grams of sugar per serving versus 22 grams of sugar per serving), but there is no added processed sugar. It’s all 100% orange juice. It also has a very smooth texture even compared to the no-pulp OJ I usually buy that comes in a carafe, so if you really dislike pulpy juice, you may like this variety.
Nature’s Nectar 100% Orange Juice Frozen Concentrate Juice
At the bottom of the Aldi orange juice hierarchy sits this humble little tube of frozen concentrate, found near the frozen breakfast foods. But don’t be quick to knock this juice simply because it’s frozen. It contains the highest amount of Vitamin C of all of Aldi’s juices, coming in at 160% of your daily value. It contains 15% of your daily value of folate, which expecting moms will appreciate. It also contains small amounts of Calcium and Thiamine.
To prepare this juice, you’ll need to mix the concentrate with three cans of cold water in a pitcher and shake or stir briskly. It makes 48 fluid ounces of juice.
This juice is low pulp, and we could not tell much difference between this concentrate tube and Aldi’s other fresh orange juices. Mentally, it seems like it would be the inferior juice because it comes out of a tube, but honestly, it tastes just fine with breakfast.
The Verdict:
From a price perspective, all of the non-concentrate Nature’s Nectar orange juices are the same. At the time of this post, all of them — in both the carafes and the cartons — are 59 ounces and cost $2.19, or about 3.7 cents an ounce. We did notice that these OJs are all about 5 ounces under the standard half-gallon (64 ounces) we typically see juices come in, which is part of a larger trend in grocery products known as “product shrinking.”
The concentrates, meanwhile, are a little different. The Nature’s Nectar concentrate carton is 64 ounces and costs $1.99, or about 3.1 cents an ounce. The Nature’s Nectar concentrate can makes 48 ounces and costs $1.19, or about 2.4 cents an ounce.
From a taste perspective, my family prefers the Nature’s Nectar 100% Pure Squeezed Orange Juice with Calcium and Vitamin D No Pulp. You can’t go wrong with any of Aldi’s orange juices, though. It’s a matter of whether you prefer low-pulp or high pulp, and each juice variety has slightly different vitamins ranging from calcium to Vitamin D to folate, so be sure to read the labels if you’re looking for specific nutrients.
I bought a 64 oz container of Nature’s Nectar pulp free from Aldi’s. I have tried 2 times to drink it. I noticed a distinct bad taste. Not spoiled tasting but like rotten oranges were used! I checked the date on the carton, Exp. 12/30/2017. So it is not out of date. Then I checked the ingredients, from USA, Mexico and Brazil. First ingredient was filtered water. I would have returned it but I threw away the receipt. No more Nature’s Nectar OJ for me!
I like Aldi’s and shop there regularly, but I will never buy this brand again.
I too, had the same experience. It was like drinking rotten orange juice. Do not like the product at all. I’d like to know why it tasted like that????
I have the same problem with the juice as well
My wife bought some of Aldi’s orange juice and the first couple of bottles tasted fine to me. But after those first bottles were drank I now have to say that it has a week and watered down taste and I no longer care for it (my daughter does not like it,too).
This may or may not fix the problem, but we usually shake the bottles before we drink them. That may or may not help.
I switched from the carafes to the frozen concentrated long ago when I realized the savings for something that I think tastes even BETTER. Comparing the two, there is a about $1 difference for 59 oz. Why on earth would I want a carafe where the process involves bizarro taking the oxygen out of oranges, storing the de oxygenated syrup for long times and then adding water…bleh! Everyone who drinks the frozen concentrate thinks I’ve made fresh squeezed OJ and it has more vitamin C.
We have been buying and enjoying the frozen concentrate for years.
Lately, mixing it up with filtered water it tastes tart, as in going bad.. If the makers have adjusted the recipe we are Not impressed. Time to find a new brand.
Also, Aldi just raised their price on the frozen concentrate a whopping 13% from $1.19 to $1.35. I’d like to know how that happens when SS just told me inflation was 1.6% last year!
My husband drinks the frozen OJ every morning. He has noticed a difference in the taste of it lately. Have they changed something in the ingredients in it? Or have they recently added more calcium or any other vitamin in it?
Our Aldi in Melbourne Fl tells me that the frozen OJ is discontinued.
Well, if they continued making the frozen the way they have been, it is better that it is discontinued because the taste of it is RANK…yuck! It is horrible! I’m so unhappy as it used to taste so delicious but now it is horrible.
Have had no problem with the concentrate, actually better than carafe..in my opinion. Now Aldi appears to have discontinued the concentrate, why? No one seems to know or care for that matter at the stores.
I have always purchased the high pulp. Lately, I have not seen any evidence of pulp, previously the pulp was very obvious. I prefer this product for the fiber content . What happened to the pulp ?
I buy the high pulp in the carafe and love it. The after taste is like I’ve just eaten an orange.