9 Food Items You're Better Off Buying From Aldi Not Costco, According To Customers

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Plenty of shoppers know that Costco and Aldi are two of the best stores for high-quality food items at prices that typically beat the competition. Whereas Walmart, for example, may offer affordable goods, and Sprouts, perhaps, may sometimes be superior in the quality department, Costco and Aldi have each perfected the formula for good food at low prices.

With that said, Costco and Aldi operate under different philosophies. Costco requires shoppers to maintain a paid membership, packages many of its products in bulk quantities, and offers its house Kirkland Signature label alongside name-brand products. Aldi, meanwhile, is stocked predominantly with Aldi-branded items, mostly in smaller-to-medium quantities.

Based on the fact that each grocery store chain does things its own way, there are a fair number of products that shoppers are better off buying from Aldi rather than Costco. Determining this list meant combing through online discussions of Costco vs. Aldi and isolating whatever a plurality of customers have shared that they prefer from Aldi (you can read more about our methodology at the end). Based on that customer feedback, here are nine food items that shoppers recommend picking up at Aldi over its warehouse club competitor.

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What comes up more than any other item or category of item among things shoppers prefer from Aldi over Costco is fresh produce. That shouldn't come as a huge surprise, even to Costco shoppers who have never visited an Aldi. There are, for instance, at least 12 produce items you shouldn't buy at Costco, according to customers. Not only do Costco's typically bulk quantities often result in produce going bad for anyone not buying for a large household, but sometimes Costco's produce just isn't all that great. Bananas, for example, don't ripen properly according to some Costco shoppers.

Costco members looking for an alternative to the warehouse chain's sometimes lackluster produce department can rest assured that many find Aldi's produce selection to be superior in a multitude of ways. Beyond more variety in quantity and a higher baseline food quality, a number of shoppers find Aldi's prices more reasonable than Costco's, too. "Aldi has fresher produce/sides IMO," wrote one Reddit user. "Even their frozen fruits are better bang for buck."

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Plenty of shoppers have shared their preference for bread from Aldi over Costco, giving the former chain a significant advantage in the everyday staples category. The main reasons why Aldi's bread has earned higher marks than Costco's are virtually the same as the reasons customers prefer Aldi's produce. Namely, shoppers who have compared prices found store-brand bread from Aldi cheaper. "Bread and cereal are MUCH cheaper at Aldi as long as you get the Aldi brands," wrote one Reddit user, "which we generally prefer for these items anyway."

Thanks to the nature of how it sells products, Costco shoppers often find themselves unable to finish its bulk bread before it goes bad. Of course, bread can stay fresh past its best-by date in the freezer (as long as you don't freeze your bread the wrong way), but those averse to doing so for any reason will still find that latter quality a disadvantage for Costco.

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While produce and bread are larger departments about which shoppers nevertheless have strong preferences, it's not quite as simple to pick a winner between Costco and Aldi in the overarching meat category. One meat that's always cheaper at Costco compared to plenty of competing stores, for instance, is lamb chops. While in-store prices can potentially vary, Costco's online price per pound for lamb loin chops is indeed lower than Aldi's. One meat, however, that a fair number of customers prefer from Aldi is ground beef.

Per usual, one leading advantage of Aldi's ground beef over Costco's is its value. This value can naturally fluctuate, depending on both location and time, but some customers have indeed found Aldi's ground beef to be cheaper than at Costco and other competing stores. Even customers who pay slightly more per pound for Aldi's ground beef still prefer the fact that it isn't just sold in bulk. Furthermore, some shoppers have found the fact that Aldi sells grass-fed beef to be a distinct advantage over their nearby Costco stores that do not stock grass-fed beef. "Oddly enough I found ground beef to be a better deal at Aldi vs Costco," wrote one Reddit user. "The beef at Aldi is slightly more fatty but only slightly."

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Milk is typically not a product to which customers have much brand loyalty. Sure, factors like added vitamins, organic versus non-organic, and protein content may affect which milk brand a given shopper chooses to buy. When those qualities are not a factor, however, it's rare to hear that one brand's regular old milk is better than another's. Accordingly, shoppers don't have much to say about how Costco's milk tastes compared to Aldi's, but there are a fair number who prefer milk from Aldi based entirely on its superior price.

Aldi's milk is so cheap largely thanks to the chain's commitment to keeping operating costs as low as possible, passing some of those savings on to consumers. Costco has its own strategies to keep prices low, but for whatever reason, it can't seem to keep up when it comes to milk. At the time of this article's writing, the online price per gallon of milk from Aldi was about $0.50 cheaper than milk from my nearest Costco. At various points in the past, customers have reported even steeper savings at Aldi.

That said, Costco can occasionally offer a superior price in certain local markets, but customers have most often recounted finding the better deal at Aldi. "For produce, milk, cheese, etc., Aldi still almost always wins out," wrote one Reddit user.

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Milk isn't the only thing in Costco's dairy department that customers find inferior to its Aldi counterpart. In fact, it's not just one item but the cheese selection in its entirety that has patrons of both stores singing Aldi's praises over its competition at Costco.

Unsurprisingly, there are those who prefer buying cheese at Aldi simply because the chain doesn't require its customers to purchase large quantities. Not all Costco cheeses, for what it's worth, are packaged in bulk, but sometimes bulk is the only option.

Simple product quality as well as the breadth of cheeses on offer are likewise among Aldi's strengths. Even if Costco maintains a respectable range of Kirkland Signature cheeses, Aldi's Emporium Selection label is highly regarded among grocery store house brands for a wide selection of well-made cheeses at budget-friendly prices. "Their cheese selection is great," wrote one Reddit user. "Almost nowhere around me has halloumi, but Aldi? They have it." Highlights include Champagne cheddar, honey goat cheese, and dill Havarti.

While 31% of people Mashed surveyed agreed the worst ketchup is from Target's house brand, fewer than 5% of participants had bad things to say about Heinz ketchup. Heinz is synonymous with ketchup, and it so happens that Costco does sometimes carry Heinz ketchup on its shelves. Nevertheless, there are a handful of reasons shoppers ultimately prefer to buy their ketchup from Aldi over packs of Heinz from Costco.

First and foremost, cost is the most common reason customers opt for Aldi's Burman's brand tomato ketchup over whatever is available at Costco. With that said, Costco has been known to cycle Heinz ketchup out of its inventory — a move that typically draws criticism from Costco shoppers. At Aldi, at least, the same kind of ketchup remains on shelves at all times.

Plus, there are, of course, Costco shoppers who do not want to buy their ketchup in bulk. "Aldi: in and out in 20 minutes, no membership fee, know exactly where everything is, no need to buy [128-ounce] containers of ketchup," wrote one Reddit user, perfectly summarizing why so many turn to the chain over Costco for their tomato condiment needs.

Value is a common reason shoppers prefer Aldi products over their counterparts at Costco. Aldi sells at least a couple of different kinds of tortilla chips, one of which is cheaper per ounce and one of which is pricier per ounce than Costco's flagship Kirkland Signature organic tortilla chips. Price, however, is typically not a major factor for those comparing both stores' tortilla chip selections. Quantity, rather, is far and away the key deciding factor.

At Costco, a bag of organic tortilla chips totals a whopping 40 ounces. Aldi, meanwhile, packages tortilla chips in quantities ranging from 8 to about 14 ounces. Simply put, Costco shoppers online have regularly reported their inability to finish a full bag of the warehouse chain's tortilla chips. Their preference, therefore, is for Aldi's alternatives.

There are also those who think the flavor of Kirkland Signature tortilla chips is going downhill, while, concurrently, the flavor of Aldi's organic chips has been praised by many. "I used to buy them, but they'd go stale before we finished them," one Reddit user wrote about Costco tortilla chips before pledging their allegiance to Aldi chips instead.

When shopping for ice cream at a grocery store, it's important to pay attention to the labeling. On the highest end of the spectrum is "super premium ice cream," a label brands typically use to describe ice cream with exceptionally high fat content and low overrun — a word effectively synonymous with airiness. Both Costco and Aldi sell super premium ice cream under their house brands. However, a fair number of customers enjoy Aldi's super premium ice cream more than Costco's.

The popular brand behind Costco's ice cream is Humboldt Creamery, a name brand that produces the chain's super premium Kirkland Signature ice cream. Judging by reviews from customers on Reddit, people generally like it. Nevertheless, Aldi's Specially Selected super premium ice cream has won out in the taste department among those who have tried both products, including even Costco regulars. Plus, Aldi offers a chocolate flavor, whereas Costco sticks strictly to vanilla.

So, even though Costco's super premium ice cream is well-liked, Aldi is the only chain with a store brand that customers enjoy more. "It's sacrilege to say here in the Church of r/Costco, but I highly recommend the Aldi super-premium ice cream," wrote one Reddit user. "I prefer it to the Kirkland offering because it doesn't have the gummy texture." The people have spoken.

There's a lot to like about the selection of sweets at Aldi beyond just its super premium ice cream. The best sweet treat first-time Aldi shoppers should never skip, for example, is its cheesecake sampler. Another fan favorite is Aldi's pack of assorted baklava. In fact, in a Reddit thread dedicated entirely to comparing it to Costco's equivalent, the majority of comments described Aldi's baklava as the superior product.

For what it's worth, the baklava from Aldi isn't perfect. Among criticisms of the product are that it's a little chewy and noticeably inferior to freshly made baklava. However, Aldi shoppers have largely enjoyed the baklava despite its flaws. One fan of the product even described it as the most authentic grocery store take on the dessert possible.

Costco's baklava, meanwhile, has been near-universally panned by those who have tried it. "The Costco package I had was hard to eat. Literally hard! If I didn't live 25 minutes away, I'd take it back," wrote one Reddit user. "It went in the trash. Stick with Aldi."

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Determining the list of products that shoppers prefer from Aldi over Costco first required finding online discussions comparing similar items from each chain. That largely meant scouring Reddit, because it's far and away the foremost source of detailed brand discussion among large numbers of individuals.

For an item or category of items to make this list, there had to be multiple posts specifically weighing the advantages of the Aldi version over the Costco version. That way, the source of each Aldi item's superiority was a plurality of customers who had tried it alongside its Costco counterpart. Plus, those posts had to reflect a prevailing sentiment in the Aldi or Costco discussion, rather than the opinions of a few dissidents. Each entry on this list is backed up by a majority of shoppers in one or multiple Reddit threads arguing that Aldi's product is superior to Costco's.