Last Updated on July 9, 2023
EDITOR’S NOTE: This post covers Aldi’s grain-free dog food. There is some debate in the veterinary world about grain-free pet food — you can read about some of that debate here and here.
This is a guest post from Virginia.
This post contains affiliate links.
A couple of weeks ago, I found myself in a predicament experienced by many a pet owner. I was out shopping and remembered that I was about to run out of pet food, and I needed to find something quick. The dogs won’t complain about having chicken nuggets again, but that’s for special or desperate times only. I was at Aldi already and decided to take a look at the dog food aisle.
I usually purchase giant, 50-pound bags of dog food for my medium-size dogs but had started running low the day before. My dogs have enjoyed grain-free food, but they have also eaten a bag of flour with no ill effects, so they can pretty much handle anything.
(Click to enlarge.)
Rather than commit to a huge bag of dog food, I picked up the Pure Being Grain Free Natural Dog Food (Salmon and Sweet Potato) 4-pound bag for $5.89 ($1.47 a pound). [EDITOR’S NOTE: Aldi’s price for grain-free dog food is less than most other grain-free options out there, including Nature’s Recipe (24-pound bag — $1.77 a pound), American Journey (4-pound bag — $3.49 a pound), and Purina Beneful (12.5-pound bag — $1.50 a pound). As the numbers note, Aldi’s dog food comes in a smaller bag than many other grain-free dog foods, so you don’t have to spend as much in total to get Aldi’s lower price per pound.]
The ingredients looked all right and had 25% crude protein, 3% crude fiber, and 15% crude fat, which sounded good. The dry dog food has a slightly fishy smell and comes as small, round pellets. My two pooches (pit mix and labrasenji) both enjoyed it and there were not noticeable changes to their digestion.
Ingredients, nutrition, and a look at the food. (Click to enlarge.)
The Verdict:
This seems like a fine dog food but is really a place holder for a bigger bag for my household. My two dogs are around 50 pounds each, and the feeding table on the bag suggests about 3 cups a day each. So this bag is probably better for short feedings or exclusively for smaller dogs. The price per pound is equivalent to or cheaper than a lot of other grain-free dog food. I do like the resealable bag feature, which allows me to keep it fresh as a backup food bag in my pet closet for future emergencies.
Virginia is a current graduate student who likes to blog about grad life, travel, and frugal living at poquitomosquito.net. She has been a loyal Aldi shopper in the three states she has lived in as a student and doesn’t think this will change when she eventually graduates.
No where on our bag of Pure Being does it say where it is made!! USA?? Only where it is distributed & sold?? I purchased the Chicken & Rice to try. I have a Siberian Husky…on Rachael Rae food! We didn’t like the salmon recipe…too smelly!
The bag says it’s made in the USA
Yes u are correct and I cannot find out where it is made!!
Get a diffrent one. I’ve been gouged long enough. Great dog food. Who cares if it smells.
Best price for value!
I exclusively feed this food to my husky. He loves it! I also buy the canned/wet food to top off his dry. He only eats the chicken and brown rice dry. He does not like the salmon and sweet potato. He does not like the wet salmon canned either, only the beef and the chicken stew wet foods. I also give him frozen good Greek yogurt as a treat and I boil him boneless skinless chicken breast from Aldi’s also. And last but not least, I bake him beef liver and I cut it up in small bites and freeze them in a zip lock baggie and use as either a food topper, or training treats. P.S: I switched from Wellness Core RawRev, to Heart to tail premium dry. Hope this helps someone. 🙂
Ty for this. I feel the same exact way with everything you said. The only thing that hurts is the pocketbook. I was feeding my German short hair mic a good food 40 lbs for 40.00, this is 4.99 for 4 lbs which comes out to 60.00 for the same amount. Too bad they can’t sell it in bigger qtys.
It says the Netherlands
On the label of the wet version of this food it says it’s made in the Netherlands. I haven’t had my little 5 lb. Prague Ratter puppy try the dry, yet, but he loves the wet food in the little tins.
It states it on the front of the bag. On the bottom right side.
Does anyone know if they changed the salmon food recipe? My dogs use to like it by lately both dogs are hesitant to eat it. We are considering switching to a new food.
I like shopping at ALDI. I had been using a grain free pedigree from Walmart, but decided to give Aldis grain free a try. The dogs all seemed to like it. But then Daisy started licking her leg. Before it got too bad we switched to a Costco grain free. She stopped licking her leg and it is healing .
The bag also says “Ingredients from USA & Canada”.
The can food is made in the Netherlands
My dog loves this dog food. However, your price comparison is WAY off. I can get Beneful grain free on Chewy for 23 pounds for $24.82, making it significantly cheaper than this product. One 23 pound bag will save me $8.97. If I were paying the same price per pound I’m paying for this Aldi dog food, I’d be paying $33.81 for this bag of Beneful. That’s a huge difference from what you have in this article. Since my dog loves this dog food so much, I’m going to try mixing it half and half with the Beneful and see if she’s still as happy. https://www.chewy.com/purina-beneful-grain-free-real-farm/dp/169446?utm_source=google-product&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=f&utm_content=Purina%20Beneful&utm_term=&gclid=Cj0KCQjwx7zzBRCcARIsABPRscMaBqR7P92CXEhZfUFX_w5pKArEaazMvPtAEzWqKp_ILhxJcPR4sEIaAm3zEALw_wcB
I’m not sure that our price comparison was “way off.” At the time of this post, we said that Aldi was cheaper than most (not all) of the options we could find out there, and it still is. Obviously the 23 pound bag you found on Chewy is cheaper, and that’s good. We did point out in the post, though, that Aldi’s bag is smaller, a consideration for people who don’t have a lot of space. To compare, the 4.5 pound bag for the Purina Beneful is $1.77 a pound, more than Aldi, and of course with Chewy you have to spend at least $49 at Chewy to get free shipping, so you do have to bulk buy to get that low price on the 23-pound Beneful bag. For a big dog, no question Chewy looks like the better place to go. But if you need a smaller bag for some reason (and some people do), Aldi is competitive.
Could you tell me how many calories are in a cup of the Chicken and Rice recipe, and also how many calories in a cup of the Salmon recipe?
Salmon recipe has 363 calories per cup.
I buy this quite frequently. My border collie tends to like the salmon better than the chicken. I do think it is important to give grains, however, due to grain free diets causing heart enlargement in larger breeds. This is what I have been advised by my vets. I shop at Aldi quite a bit and it’s nice to pick up a bag of dog food when I am there and know that it is pretty decent food.
I used a different dog food for my puppy because I want a puppy specifics diet. I use Diamond Naturals for her; however, I have given my older senior dog Aldi’s Heart to Tail Pure Being dog food and she really liked it…the chicken flavor. I just picked up a bag of the grain free to use as training treats for my puppy. We will see how it goes.
No había visto a mis perritos comer con tantas ganas hasta que compré pure being grain free… me siento totalmente satisfecha en valor y calidad