It was black cherry, IIRC.

Saint Pizza wrote:Has anyone checked out the $19 ice cream makers yet that use gel instead of salt? Wondering how well they work, etc. So has anyone taken one for the team and bought one.

Mrs Ramon ended up buying one of these way back when. It has never been used, sucks dust, and takes up space where my power tools should be, charged and ready for any imminent home repair emergency.

Last Sunday, Mrs Ramon returned from Aldi, her ecological, reusable bags stuffed to the gills with sundry. Of course, while the bags are “reusable” these were newly purchased, as she forgot to take the other two or ten bags she bought on previous trips. More stuff for the dust bin.

Mrs Ramon cannot save money at a place such as Aldi without finding a way to waste more. Inspecting the bags thriftly and fastidiously, I found this (only $3.99!):



Great! Learn Tai Chi Chuan (太極拳) the Aldi way.

I would complain about this purchase, but Mrs Ramon has powerful Qi and mean Repulse Monkey form.

-ramon

Food Nut wrote:I went to the grand opening yesterday of the store at Belmont and Kimball. They were handing out free reusable grocery bags...

They also had some nice specialty items you don't always see: marinated mushrooms and roasted and marinated peppers in jars, frozen stuffed shells, manicotti and cheese and meat tortellini. I also picked up some delicious maple leaf/maple cream filled cookies: delicious.

They also had those maple leaf cookies at Trader Joe's.

Nice to know about those Maple Leaf cookies. Such cookies are very common supermarket staples in my native Quebec under brand names like David (now part of Kraft, I think) and Christie. My parents usually bring some (along with still steaming Montreal bagels of course) whenever they fly in.

Maple Leaf wrote:Nice to know about those Maple Leaf cookies. Such cookies are very common supermarket staples in my native Quebec under brand names like David (now part of Kraft, I think) and Christie. My parents usually bring some (along with still steaming Montreal bagels of course) whenever they fly in.

Just a warning: while hte aldi/TJ's maple leaf cookies are fine, they aren't nearly as good as the canadian ones.

Maple Leaf wrote:Nice to know about those Maple Leaf cookies. Such cookies are very common supermarket staples in my native Quebec under brand names like David (now part of Kraft, I think) and Christie. My parents usually bring some (along with still steaming Montreal bagels of course) whenever they fly in.

Personally, I think that the best maple creme cookies are produced by Dare in Omtario. And Dare does a lot of the private labelled products for Loblaws' Presidents Choice brand.

Personall, I have not seen the maple cookies in Aldi yet as that is not a category that we buy.

jlawrence01 wrote:

Maple Leaf wrote:Nice to know about those Maple Leaf cookies. Such cookies are very common supermarket staples in my native Quebec under brand names like David (now part of Kraft, I think) and Christie. My parents usually bring some (along with still steaming Montreal bagels of course) whenever they fly in.

Personally, I think that the best maple creme cookies are produced by Dare in Omtario. And Dare does a lot of the private labelled products for Loblaws' Presidents Choice brand.

Personall, I have not seen the maple cookies in Aldi yet as that is not a category that we buy.

I agree that Dare makes the best maple leaf cookies I've had in Canada. The Aldi/TJ ones are really a notch or two below. They're still good, but not in the same league.

I bought some maple leaf cookies at Aldi's a couple weeks ago. They were very good.

I could not find the maple cookies.

I had to head to the DMV in Woodstock which is adjacent to the local Aldi store. In general, when i get to an Aldi store, it is generally
a five minute furious run as it is my choice for a one or two item run.

This time, I actually had 20-30 minutes to walk through all of the aisles.

I have to say that I am really impressed by some of the creative things that they do to offer more SKUs while controlling teh amount of inventory.

First, instead of offering one salad dressing per case, they put three different dressings in ALL cases. That way, they can offer three dressings in the space where they could only offerone.

Second, a lot of new items, with a lot of imports from Western Europe:

German pumpernickle,
German candies
New upscale varieties of cookies
More "healthy and fit" selections

And now they have a bargain rack with markdowns.

The maple cookies were one of their one transient products. You may see them again at a later date. Coincidentally, my daughter spotted the same cookies at Trader Joe's that same week. Fortunately for me, although they were quite good, the maple cookies were not big sellers at my ALDI. I went back the following week and they had more than a dozen boxes on clearance for less than half the original price. I loaded my cart and am still working on the last two or three boxes.

Buddy

Joe, do you know that Dare makes the maple leaf cookies for Loblaw's President's Choice? If so, I'll make sure to pick some up next time I go to their big store over on r. Jean-Talon.

Geo

Geo wrote:Joe, do you know that Dare makes the maple leaf cookies for Loblaw's President's Choice? If so, I'll make sure to pick some up next time I go to their big store over on r. Jean-Talon.

Geo

Absolutely. I bought two packages of cookies - Dare and President's Choice (from Schnuck's in St. Louis) - and they were identical. I always try to find out connections between name brands and private labels.

Unfortunately, the PC brand is NO LONGER marketed in the US.

Now, I am looking for a product that I saw in an IGA in Eganville, ON. Sponge Taffy. I am looking for sponge taffy in a large hunk - like 2" x 4" as opposed to the tiny pieces coated in chocolate. Have you seen it?

I can look in the IGA at the corner. What dept did you find it in?

Geo
PS. And tnx for the info on the cookies! I'll check it out at Loblaw's.

It was just in a small gondola in the middle of the store. Originally, I thought it was a sponge that you clean with.

I may have to make my own!!

Hope to make it to Montreal this summer as it has been 10 years. I just have to recruit a couple of nephews to come along.

I've had Dare's maple leaf cookies, and while they are very good, the ones offered at ALDI were clearly from a different manufacturer, and, in my opinion, better tasting.

Buddy

I saw about 2.5 cases of maple leaf cookies yesterday at the Melrose Park Aldi store. It's on North Ave. across the street from Winston Plaza. They also had some Holiday Season leftover packages of what looked like Oreos, but with peppermint filling, for 50 cents a package.

Cogito wrote:I saw about 2.5 cases of maple leaf cookies yesterday at the Melrose Park Aldi store. It's on North Ave. across the street from Winston Plaza. They also had some Holiday Season leftover packages of what looked like Oreos, but with peppermint filling, for 50 cents a package.

Sounds to me like the Peppermint Joe-Joe's from Trader Joe's. Aldi and TJ's do share the same owner...

AaronSinger wrote:Sounds to me like the Peppermint Joe-Joe's from Trader Joe's. Aldi and TJ's do share the same owner...

Sort of. The Trader Joe's chain is owned by a family trust setup by the owner of Aldi Nord (Theo Albrecht), which owns most of western Europe, northern Germany & Poland's Aldi stores, while American Aldi stores are owned by Aldi Süd (owned by Karl Albrecht), which also owns Aldi stores in the UK, Ireland, southern Germany, Greece & eastern Europe (except Poland). Why the split? The two brothers who co-founded Aldi got into a fight over whether or not they should sell cigarettes at the register.

However, the companies have long since kissed & made up, and now often team up to combine orders in order to score better prices from suppliers.

Anyhoo, finally got to taste those Trader Joe's maple cookies...wow. If the Canadian ones are better as some have claimed, I'm not sure I want to try them due to what I can only imagine to be opiate-like addictiveness. It's hard enough not to snarf down the entire TJ's box in one sitting as it is.

Khaopaat wrote:
Anyhoo, finally got to taste those Trader Joe's maple cookies...wow. If the Canadian ones are better as some have claimed, I'm not sure I want to try them due to what I can only imagine to be opiate-like addictiveness. It's hard enough not to snarf down the entire TJ's box in one sitting as it is.

I will say this. I have friends who BAKE their OWN cookies who have said that DARE cookies are as good as their own. That is something you generally don't hear.

When I lived in Detroit-Windsor, I would periodically buy a DARE product, although the maple ones are not among my favorites.

Evanston Aldi is now open!

is Aldi any good for general grocery buying, Im not talking about private labeled niche items like you find @ Trader Joes, but everday items like produce, meat, deli, etc.?

I have always assumed not, but am curious.

jimswside wrote:is Aldi any good for general grocery buying, Im not talking about private labeled niche items like you find @ Trader Joes, but everday items like produce, meat, deli, etc.?

I have always assumed not, but am curious.

Deli is all precut and packaged, not much selection. What they do have isn't bad if you can use it. Prices are low.
Meat is all prepackaged. No personal service at all. Not much selection. I doubt you'd like it.
Produce is hit and miss.

If you can find something you need, you should try it. But the odds of finding what you need, if you are used to TJ, Caputo's, Tony's, etc., is low.

Cogito wrote:

jimswside wrote:is Aldi any good for general grocery buying, Im not talking about private labeled niche items like you find @ Trader Joes, but everday items like produce, meat, deli, etc.?

I have always assumed not, but am curious.

Deli is all precut and packaged, not much selection. What they do have isn't bad if you can use it. Prices are low.
Meat is all prepackaged. No personal service at all. Not much selection. I doubt you'd like it.
Produce is hit and miss.

If you can find something you need, you should try it. But the odds of finding what you need, if you are used to TJ, Caputo's, Tony's, etc., is low.

thanks, I have a couple near where I live(ottawa & morris), and hadnt been in one since I was a kid, and wondered about them.

jim, i think aldi is good for dairy. their milk/butter/eggs/cheese are inexpensive. their cereals are pretty good knock-offs of the main brands as well. i think their french onion dip is the best store bought version i've had... you're bound to find a few items they do that taste better than main brands... aldi's not a bad store in my opinion.

MBK wrote:jim, i think aldi is good for dairy. their milk/butter/eggs/cheese are inexpensive. their cereals are pretty good knock-offs of the main brands as well. i think their french onion dip is the best store bought version i've had... you're bound to find a few items they do that taste better than main brands... aldi's not a bad store in my opinion.

thanks, its close to our usual weekly staple place, so it wouldnt be bad to make a stop.

You can buy German ground coffee there, and they've recently begun selling single-country fair traded beans which are quite good. Plus, if you like any sort of chocolate, they're the best grocery in existence. Austrian, Swiss, German... and for excellent prices. And they've got bagged almonds, salted or smoked, for an incredible price—great product.

Geo

Geo wrote:You can buy German ground coffee there, and they've recently begun selling single-country fair traded beans which are quite good. Plus, if you like any sort of chocolate, they're the best grocery in existence. Austrian, Swiss, German... and for excellent prices. And they've got bagged almonds, salted or smoked, for an incredible price—great product.

Geo

Did you ever expect that Aldi would get this much love??

Aldi is good for pantry items, dairy, and very basic meats like chicken breasts, ground beef, pork chops. It is not good for specialty meats or produce. They do sell produce, but it's just average quality/price and the selection is small. It works in a pinch for that. I go there weekly and think it is worth it for the pantry items. I am thrilled the Evanston one is open!

Ditto. I discovered entirely by accident, that their premium olive oil is pretty good certainly comparable to higher-end ethnic-grocery oils.

The only meat products I would recommend are the Butterball frozen turkeys .99lb when they have them,likewise the Butterball Smoked Turkeys for 1.69 Lb,Corned beefs,and their spiral cut hams usually about 1.59lb. The rest is safety sealed crap that I avoid everywhere.