I eat yogurt several times a week for breakfast because of its probiotic benefits. When I was recently shopping at a different Aldi store that I don’t often visit, I had trouble finding the organic whole milk yogurt tub I usually buy. I settled on an alternative: Friendly Farms Light Nonfat Plain Yogurt.
I prefer to buy whole milk yogurt over nonfat or lowfat yogurt because science is on the side of whole milk for its metabolic benefits and omega-3 content, among other things. But when you just need some yogurt, any yogurt, even nonfat will do in a pinch.
Friendly Farms Light Nonfat Plain Yogurt cost $1.69 for a 32-oz. container at the time of publication. It’s a Regular Buy, which means it’s on shelves all year. It comes in a vanilla flavor as well, but that has added sugar, and for breakfast purposes I try to avoid sugary yogurts that are more like dessert.
Friendly Farms Light Nonfat Plain Yogurt nutrition information and ingredients. (Click to enlarge.)
This yogurt has Vitamins A and D added and claims is has 33% fewer calories than regular lowfat yogurt. The back of the container says that “regular lowfat yogurt” has 150 calories and 2 grams of fat per serving, while this yogurt has 90 calories and no fat per serving.
One container has about five servings, with one 2/3-cup serving netting you 90 calories, 0 grams of total fat, 120 mg of sodium (5% DV), 15 grams of total carbohydrates (5% DV), 0 grams of dietary fiber, 8 grams of total sugars, 0 grams of added sugars, and 7 grams of protein.
Ingredients are cultured pasteurized Grade A nonfat milk, modified food starch, whey protein concentrate (to maintain freshness), Vitamin A Palmitate, and Vitamin D3.
The container does not list what kinds of live active cultures are in this yogurt. (My usual Simply Nature whole milk organic yogurt from Aldi does list the cultures.)
For those looking out for allergens, not surprisingly, this contains milk.
I ate this yogurt in my usual way: sweetened with a drizzle of honey and mixed with fruit and granola or sliced almonds. It is a little on the runnier side, but not bad. It tastes how I would expect a plain yogurt to taste, and it tastes similar to my usual organic whole milk yogurt. I’ll be sticking with whole milk yogurt when I can find it, but this is not a bad substitute when the whole milk option is not available.
The Verdict:
Friendly Farms Light Nonfat Plain Yogurt is an economical way to get some no-added-sugar yogurt into your diet. It does not come with some of the benefits of whole milk yogurt, but it’s fine if you just want some yogurt.
Friendly Farms low-fat or nonfat yogurt is what I have been buying at Aldi and have assumed I was getting some good probiotics for my gut.
If there is no mention of live cultures in the Friendly Farms Low-fat yogurt it leads me to believe that there are none or just a trace or very inconsistent. Do you think this is a logical assessment?
I believe there are No probiotics in Aldi plain yogurt. I will not buy it !!! There is no label of live cultures on the container.
Smart not to purchase Aldi yogurt. The ingredients also in question are Water? (No one adds water to yogurt unless they’re using powdered milk), and “real” yogurt needs no stabilizers,= No modified starch, No gelatins. Aldi’s Yogurts are Horrible- more like pudding.
Recently bought this for the first time – I wish I’d read the container before purchasing, because I wasn’t aware it had no active cultures. I searched for review today to comment that I’ve never bought a yogurt with this consistency. A previous commenter said it’s like pudding – I think it’s more like a thin smoothie! It’s way more fluid than yogurt should be. Disappointed, but will probably eat it because that’s easier than returning it!