Last Updated on February 26, 2017
In 2015, McDonalds began experimenting with an all-day breakfast menu, and by 2016 the experiment had become universal across the McDonalds chain. The reason McDonalds did so is simple: people love McDonalds breakfasts, and McDonalds, like any business, saw an opportunity to meet a demand. At the time of this post, it’s too early to say if it’s going to be a success. Based on my time working in fast food years ago, I wouldn’t be surprised if it is.
The problem, of course, is that eating out costs money, even fast food. The good news is that a lot of what is produced in fast food restaurants can be duplicated using a few handy Aldi products, and while they’re not *exactly* the same, they’re good enough that after a while you might not even know the difference.
Here are just a few examples of how it can be done. Feel free to share your own ideas in the comments below.
Hash browns:
McDonalds hash browns are a staple in any breakfast menu. Aldi has a worthy substitute in Season’s Choice Hash Brown Patties. Aldi’s patties can be baked or deep fried, and they taste about as close to the fast food counterpart as you could hope for from a grocer. They’re also a little bit healthier, with lower calories (120 to 150), less fat (6g to 9g), and less sodium (210mg to 310mg) than their McDonalds counterpart.
Muffin sandwiches:
Aldi has the right selection of items to do a decent impersonation of a McMuffin. Start by splitting and toasting a L’Oven Fresh English Muffin and putting a little butter or margarine on each piece. Then fry up an egg, cracking it on the skillet and puncturing the yolk as you cook. Next, cook up the meat — throw a Breakfast Best Sausage Patty on a skillet or, if you prefer, cut of a slice of ham and toss it on the skillet until its surface is lightly toasted. (If you go the sausage route, this reviewer recommends trying Aldi’s maple-flavored patties from the freezer section.) Top it all off with a slice of mild cheddar.
Finally — and this is an important step — place your sandwich in the microwave and heat it for 10-15 seconds. This heats everything up a little and helps to mix the flavors a bit. It may surprise you to know that McDonalds does almost the same thing; they call it a “Q-ing Oven” but it’s essentially a microwave. If you want to get fancy, you can wrap it in wax paper before putting it in, but simply putting it on a plate is fine.
Breakfast burritos:
Once again, Aldi has all the components to create a good replica of this breakfast wonder. All you’ll need is some sausage patties (once again, the maple-flavored ones are a fun choice, but the normal ones work great, too), eggs, salsa, cheese (Aldi sells a nice shredded Mexican cheese blend), and tortillas. Optionally, you can also add red and/or green peppers and onions if you want; simply saute them and add them into the egg mix at the same time as the sausage.
The inside of the burrito is pretty straightforward. First, cook the sausage — depending on your tastes, 1/2 to 1 patty per tortilla is decent for one burrito. Then crack your eggs in a bowl — 1 to 1 1/2 eggs per tortilla. Add salsa (I usually do about one large spoonful per egg, but feel free to experiment), cut up the sausage patties and add them, then pour the whole mix into a skillet over medium heat and cook them like scrambled eggs. I like to wait to add the cheese until right as I’m finishing up the eggs, but feel free to follow your own tastes there. Finally, heat up the tortillas in a skillet, fill them with the egg mixture, and enjoy a really nice meal at your own table!
For the McMuffin, if you want the Canadian bacon version, try the Appleton Farms Biscuit Ham Slices: https://shop.aldi.us/store/items/item_805032220
And, did you know McDonalds released the recipe for its sausage and egg McMuffin so fans can recreate it at home? https://www.insider.com/mcdonalds-released-sausage-egg-mcmuffin-recipe-to-try-at-home-2020-4