Photo by Jean-Daniel Francoeur
Not long after the dust settles on the winter holiday season, the NFL playoffs begin, starting with the wild card round in mid-January. Each weekend sees teams move on while others go home, until at last there are but two teams remaining, one each from the NFC and AFC. Those two teams meet, in early-to-mid February, in the internationally watched spectacle known as the Super Bowl.
Where most of the playoffs are primarily geared for football purists, the Super Bowl is something of a cultural event, celebrated even by people who have little or no interest in football whatsoever. The afternoon’s programming begins with several hours of human interest player profiles followed by pregame pageantry and, eventually, the game itself, which is interrupted by endless high-dollar commercials and halftime pyrotechnics.
Hosting a big party for the Big Game can be pricey, since party foods are often more processed and, therefore, more expensive than, say, large bundles of beef and vegetables. Fortunately, Aldi is there to help, both through its Regular Buy stock and its impeccably timed Aldi Find rotation.
The Regular Buys:
There are a number of good party items that are available in Aldi stores year-round. In many cases these items are shelf stable or frozen, so you can go shopping a little earlier and snag them well in advance of your Super Bowl Sunday.
Appetizers:
Aldi does stock a few appetizers as part of its Regular Buy rotation, although the ones most likely to wind up on a platter for the big day are Aldi Finds, so you’ll probably want to pay close attention to the Aldi Finds-specific frozen chests in the store for those. With that said, Aldi does stock a few finger foods, so check the Regular Buy freezer, too. For example, Appetitos Mozzarella Cheese Sticks are a common sight in stores, as are traditional onion rings and a few types of Chinese finger foods. And vegetables are always there, if you’re looking to make a veggie platter.
Chips and Dip:
On the food front, Aldi stocks a number of chips, most of them under the Clancy’s label. Those chips include Aldi imitations of Doritos, Tostitos, Fritos, and even Pringles or Lay’s Stax. In our experience, most of these chips taste good and are, by and large, indistinguishable from their brand-name counterparts. For example, we think Clancy’s Nacho Cheese Tortilla Chips (aka Aldi Generic Doritos) and Clancy’s Ranch Flavored Tortilla Chips are a pretty close knock-off of their brand-name counterparts. We also think the Aldi takes on rounds, triangles, and dippers are pretty good Tostitos impersonations. On the other hand, we think the Pueblo Lindo Restaurant Tortilla Strips aren’t as good as as restaurant chips at many other grocers.
Aldi also offers a few dips in the Regular Buy section, among them a terrific Friendly Farms French Onion Dip, a few kinds of salsa, and the ingredients to make a pretty solid nacho dip. We think the Casa Mamita Salsa is good.
Entrees and Side Items:
Finger foods seem to be more popular on this day than actual entrees, but if you’re looking for more than grazing food, Aldi offers plenty of that. The grocer sells a mean burger, along with a solid collection of French fries and a decent boxed and refrigerated macaroni and cheese lineup. Aldi also has all the ingredients for a substantial sub sandwich, which can be served in large entree-sized portions or cut smaller as finger foods.
Beverages:
Aldi has a range of options on the drink front, including sodas, teas, lemonades, iced coffee, and, where allowed by law, alcoholic beverages, including beers and wines. We’ve written about their sodas, which are mostly solid imitations of brands … except for the cola, which is adequate but is not going to be confused with Coca-Cola. (Aldi does sell some name-brand sodas, though, in case you need them.)
The Aldi Finds:
Aldi famously rotates in products to its stores throughout the year, and that includes putting in plenty of Aldi Finds in the weeks leading up to NFL’s last game. In most Aldi stores, these products hit shelves on Wednesdays. Aldi seems roll out its football-specific offerings in waves, including a fair number of them a week and a half before the game itself.
On the non-food front, Aldi is known to sell football-themed tableware like plates (often disposable) and napkins, along with kitchen utensils like spatulas and pizza cutters. You might also occasionally find appliances, like air fryers, show up in the weeks before the Big Game.
Food-wise, there is plenty that is rotated in among the Aldi Finds, although it can vary a little from year to year. You might see limited runs of dips, various bite-sized batter-dipped foods, and limited-edition pizzas, both frozen and take-and-bake.
A Final Note:
Keep in mind that many of Aldi’s Super Bowl-aimed foods this time of year are Aldi brands, while others are national brands. While Aldi store-brand prices tend to be very competitive, that’s not always true of their name brand prices, so you might want to do some price comparison on those. And, as always, we’re interested to hear what people think of Aldi’s Super Bowl offerings in the comments.
