Last Updated on January 3, 2020
Hello, and welcome to the 1st Annual AR Awards! These awards, chosen by the staff of Aldi Reviewer, are meant to recognize the good, bad, and ugly of everything Aldi-related that we covered during the year. Below you will see our nominees and winners in several categories.
Before we continue, two things:
- One, when it came to product awards, we only considered nominees among the products we covered in some way during the last 12 months. If we didn’t cover the product during that time, we didn’t consider it. That means there could be legitimately good candidates that we just didn’t get around to covering.
- Two, lists like this are always subjective, which means one person’s favorite might be another person’s most hated. If you think there is a deserving product, feel free to let us know (politely) in the comments!
Without further ado, let’s begin.
Regular Buy / Seasonal Favorite of the Year
Winner: Countryside Creamery Pure Irish Butter (Regular Buy)
We’ve always been fans of cult favorite Kerrygold Pure Irish Butter, but we never thought Aldi would try to imitate it … until this amazing little product showed up on our shelves early this year. Not only does the Countryside taste like Kerrygold, but it accomplishes the feat at a lower price.
Honorable Mention:
- Reggano Classic Pasta Salad + Ranch & Bacon Pasta Salad (Seasonal Favorite)
- Chef’s Cupboard Hawaiian Stuffing Mix (Seasonal Favorite)
- Southern Grove Jumbo Roasted Salted Peanuts (Seasonal Favorite)
ALDI Find of the Year
Winner: Stonemill Who Needs the Bagel? Seasoning
Aldi rolled out its take on everything bagel seasoning in 2019, and it proved a hit. We tried it on a number of products, and came away impressed. Now, if Aldi could just make it a Regular Buy …
Honorable Mention:
New Product of the Year
Winner: L’Oven Fresh Keto Friendly Zero Net Carbs Bread (ALDI Find, possible future Regular Buy)
The hype was huge with this bread, and it delivered, serving up one of the very best zero net carb breads on the market. Aldi is rumored to be prepping this to make this an everyday Regular Buy. We’re sure it would sell like hotcakes if it did.
Honorable Mention:
- Mama Cozzi’s Cauliflower Crust Pizza (ALDI Find)
- Millville Balance Multigrain Cereal: Original and Cinnamon (Regular Buy)
- Summit Craft Wild Cola + Summit Craft Root Beer (Regular Buy)
Surprise of the Year
Winner: Choceur Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups (Regular Buy)
Aldi had a pretty good product in Choceur Bite Size Milk Chocolate Creamy Peanut Butter Cups, and we would have thought pretty good was good enough. Oh, no. Instead, Aldi rolled out a new peanut butter cup, that, in our opinion — and the opinion of foodie experts — is maybe the best peanut butter cup out there. That’s impressive even by Aldi standards.
Honorable Mention:
- L’Oven Fresh Keto Friendly Zero Net Carbs Bread (ALDI Find, possible future Regular Buy)
- Never Any! Young Turkey (ALDI Find)
- Breakfast Best Chicken Breakfast Sausage (ALDI Find)
Disappointment of the Year
Winner: Journey to India Tikka Masala Simmer Sauce (2019) + Cook House Tikka Masala Sauce (Regular Buy)
There were a few disappointments this year, but it was hard to top Aldi’s decision to change the vendors or formulas behind its tikka masala sauce. The pitch-perfect, restaurant-quality 70-calorie Journey to India tikka is gone, replaced by two forgettable formulations: a 45-calorie Journey to India tikka and a 50-calorie Cook House tikka. In our years covering Aldi, we’ve never seen a product fall so far.
Honorable Mention:
- The invasive Gardenline Cleveland Select Pear Tree (ALDI Find)
- The packaging for Excitemint Sours Sugar Free Mints (Regular Buy)
- Specially Selected Waffles: Cherry Filled + Chocolate Filled (ALDI Find)
News Story of the Year
Winner: The Curious Case of Aldi L’Oven Fresh Zero Net Carbs Bread
For months, our site was flooded with eager shoppers trying to learn something — anything — about how to find L’Oven Fresh Zero Net Carb Bread. We can only imagine how insane it was with Aldi customer service reps, who had to have been getting hammered with calls, emails, and letters. There were plenty of stories in the world of 2019, but none of them was as all-consuming as the hunt for a simple loaf of bread.
Honorable Mention:
Most Viewed Post of the Year
Winner: How Are Aldi and Lidl Related?
This post was one of our most consistently popular posts throughout the year, much to our surprise. With Lidl opening up shop on the U.S. East Coast, a lot of people were apparently very curious about what it had in common with Aldi. We’re still waiting for Lidl to get close enough for us to visit one.
Honorable Mention:
- L’Oven Fresh Keto Friendly Zero Net Carbs Bread
- Are Aldi and Trader Joe’s the Same Company?
- The Curious Case of Aldi L’Oven Fresh Zero Net Carbs Bread
Thoughts? Reactions? Lists of your own? Feel free to let us know in the comments!
Nice round up. I really need to try out that butter and I’m saddened by the simmer sauce.
I’m a long time Aldi shopper and I hate to say this, but my visits over the past year have been more and more disappointing. I realize correlation does not mean causation, but I can’t help but feel that the larger floor model is causing a reduction in quantities and quality of stock. Prices seem to be a bit higher too, but I’m sure inflation has a lot to do with that too. It’s still my go-to place for inexpensive bottled wine though. But I find myself heading over to Lidl more and more.
You are so very welcome have a great New Year