Aldi Finds vs. Seasonal Favorites — What’s the Difference?

Any Aldi shopper will tell you that there are a few different categories of products in the store.

One group of products is the everyday stuff, the things that never change. We’re not sure Aldi has a formal term for these products (at least, not one it shares with the public), but we tend to call these products Regular Buys.

Another group of products is the stuff that rolls in and out of the store for a short time. In America, these things are called Aldi Finds, while in other parts of the world they are called Special Buys or Specialbuys. Once these products are gone, they’re gone.

But there is a third classification of Aldi products. Aldi originally called these Seasonal Items, but in recent years has taken to calling them Seasonal Favorites. As the name suggests, these are products that are in stock for a season.

Aldi Finds and Seasonal Favorites do have one thing in common: they’re temporary. You can’t buy Aldi Finds any time, and you can’t buy Seasonal Favorites all the time, either.

The biggest difference between Aldi Finds and Seasonal Favorites is how long they’re in stores, and whether they’re restocked. Aldi Finds are only stocked one time — they never receive repeat shipments — and once they’re gone, they’re probably gone for several months to a year. Seasonal Favorites, on the other hand, do get repeat shipments, at least through a certain period of time. Certain Aldi barbecue sauces, for example, are stocked during parts of the summer, while some meat products are only stocked during the winter holiday season. The window of time to buy a Seasonal Favorite is usually much bigger than an Aldi Find, but there is still a point at which store stock is cut off.

On rare occasions we’ve seen Aldi move a product from one category to another. Pie crusts, for example, have gone back and forth between Regular Buys or Seasonal Favorites, while shelled peanuts went from being an Aldi Find to a Seasonal Favorite.

With Aldi’s ever-rotating inventory, Aldi Finds and Seasonal Favorites are both important parts in a store that has less shelf space than many other grocers. It’s just a matter of how long you have to stock up before they disappear … at least for a while.