Last Updated on July 9, 2023
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As an Aldi writer going back to 2016, one of the more impressive developments I’ve seen is the way Aldi has closed the gap with name brand products. There was a time when I just had to accept that Aldi private labels were a step below their brand name counterparts. I was trading a drop in taste for a sharper drop in price.
That’s no longer the case, at least not across the board. Not every Aldi product is on par with brand names, but a large number of them now are either indistinguishable from a name brand or pretty close. This has led some people to wonder if Aldi sources from the same places as name brands, and that may be the case. (I’m looking at you, Balance Multigrain Cereal.) But at the very least, I can say — as a writer who is not paid by Aldi — that Aldi labels have seen a noticeable improvement in quality.
It’s good enough, in fact, that some Aldi products are even finding their way onto best of lists, beating out more expensive alternatives. One of those is Clancy’s White Cheddar Cheese Popcorn, which Aldi stocks as an everyday Regular Buy. Not one to just accept such lists at face value — they can be wrong, after all — I decided to give this one a try for myself.
The Aldi take on white cheddar cheese popcorn is $1.49 for an 8.5-ounce bag, or about 17.5 cents an ounce. The packaging bears an uncanny resemblance to Smartfood White Cheddar Popcorn, which is sold at Amazon, Walmart, and Target. Smartfood White Cheddar runs between 40 and 50 cents an ounce depending on where you buy it, so Aldi has a pretty serious edge there.
It’s also tasty. Clancy’s was a unanimous hit in my house. The cheese flavor pops like you expect white cheddar to, and it’s a generous amount of cheddar on top of the popcorn. As an added bonus, the bag opens up with little fuss and the popcorn inside was mostly intact … something that is not always a given with popcorn from a store.
Nutritionally, Clancy’s claims it is 100% whole grain as well as gluten-free, and the ingredients list is relatively short and mostly recognizable. It’s fairly high in fat and sodium, though, so eat it in moderation. As you would expect, it does contain milk.
Nutrition and ingredients. (Click to enlarge.)
The Verdict:
Clancy’s White Cheddar Cheese Popcorn is well-deserving of its awards. It’s a quality white cheddar cheese popcorn at an Aldi price. The biggest drawback is that it would be easy to eat too much, which is probably not ideal given the salt and fat content. But as a treat, this is definitely worth getting. Recommended.
Clancey’s white cheddar cheese popcorn use to be the best on the market but they must have cut back severely on their seasonings recently. It’s very bland and not near the quality of what it used to be. I’ve stopped buying it solely for this reason.
If they straighten up and do right by their product and customers I will purchase again but not until.
I love the taste of Clancy’s Cheddar Cheese Popcorn, but the manufacturer must do something about the hard, halfway popped kernels that end of in the bottom of the bag. I’d say, half the bag is nicely popped corn, but once you get three-quarters through the bag, the popcorn is not really edible because you are taking a chance breaking a tooth or two. The manufacturer should sift out the poor quality corn before filling the bags to ensure they’re providing the best possible product.
We’ve noticed a lot of hard, inedible kernels in this popcorn, too. It’s really our only complaint about an otherwise very good snack.
Agreed.
I have bought and loved Clancy’s White Cheddar popcorn for a couple of years, However, I will not be buying it anymore. The company has very definitely cut back on the cheese, The popcorn now tastes like cardboard (along with the numerous unpopped kernels, which previously I was willing to overlook)- while the price has gone up by about 50 cents. My dog is no longer tempted by this product either. Sad. It was a good shared snack… Goodbye Clancy’s.