Pizza, just bit the bullet, trying something new.

[Brian37]

A good cheese pizza can be remarkable.  I keep buying the ingredients for making pizza and procrastinating until they're no longer good.  Aldi's had 3 mini-pizza crusts at the store, so I bought those and some mozzarella cheese.  Hopefully, I'll get to these this time.  And I've got enough uncooked sausage laid back in the freezer for 100 pizzas.  I've got sweet Italian sausage and banana peppers.  That sounds like a good combo.  And I can do all the preparation in my new, 25-liter air fryer.

Derail: We have an Aldi's about 8 blocks from us but I've never been in. Their quality was questioned in my limited social circle and they never run commercials.

Give me your pro's and con's. How they compare to a normal market?

Brian: Compress the oranges in a paper towel before applying, broil separately then add, or wait till the last few minutes before adding them.

Ok got it, take some of the moisture out. I will keep that in mind next time.

But in all seriousness, even with the soupiness of the result this time, it was like eating a tropical lasagna. I still liked it, I just needed a fork and spoon.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

You might try dried fruit next time. Soak it for a few minutes beforehand. The fat from the cheese might soften it up a bit further.

Boru

Yea I get that, but having worked pizza delivery, why is it pineapple can remain moist but not f up the crust? I've made tons of Hawaiian pizzas and from my perspective the pineapple was just as moist.

Pineapple has a much higher protein content than oranges, which tends to keep more of the water in the fruit during cooking.

Boru

[brewer]

But in all seriousness, even with the soupiness of the result this time, it was like eating a tropical lasagna. I still liked it, I just needed a fork and spoon.

[Angrboda]

A good cheese pizza can be remarkable.  I keep buying the ingredients for making pizza and procrastinating until they're no longer good.  Aldi's had 3 mini-pizza crusts at the store, so I bought those and some mozzarella cheese.  Hopefully, I'll get to these this time.  And I've got enough uncooked sausage laid back in the freezer for 100 pizzas.  I've got sweet Italian sausage and banana peppers.  That sounds like a good combo.  And I can do all the preparation in my new, 25-liter air fryer.

Derail: We have an Aldi's about 8 blocks from us but I've never been in. Their quality was questioned in my limited social circle and they never run commercials.

Give me your pro's and con's. How they compare to a normal market?

Great price, limited variety of options (e.g. frozen orange juice concentrate, but no other flavors). I avoided them for years because of the quality issue, but I've found most of their stuff is fine. Their stuff is about the same as generic merchandise from name-brand stores. But I'm easy to please, too. But most things aren't too different from name-brand stuff. Some things I've been disappointed with, but it's the exception rather than the norm. There are articles on the web about what Aldi's stuff to avoid, but I haven't found them useful (most seem just filler content, poorly researched and thoughtlessly written). They carry a limited selection of name-brand stuff, but the price on that is not anything special.

[brewer]

Derail: We have an Aldi's about 8 blocks from us but I've never been in. Their quality was questioned in my limited social circle and they never run commercials.

Give me your pro's and con's. How they compare to a normal market?

Great price, limited variety of options (e.g. frozen orange juice concentrate, but no other flavors).  I avoided them for years because of the quality issue, but I've found most of their stuff is fine.  Their stuff is about the same as generic merchandise from name-brand stores.  But I'm easy to please, too.  But most things aren't too different from name-brand stuff.  Some things I've been disappointed with, but it's the exception rather than the norm.  There are articles on the web about what Aldi's stuff to avoid, but I haven't found them useful (most seem just filler content, poorly researched and thoughtlessly written).  They carry a limited selection of name-brand stuff, but the price on that is not anything special.

Thanks.

How's their produce, meat and dairy departments?

[Angrboda]

Great price, limited variety of options (e.g. frozen orange juice concentrate, but no other flavors).  I avoided them for years because of the quality issue, but I've found most of their stuff is fine.  Their stuff is about the same as generic merchandise from name-brand stores.  But I'm easy to please, too.  But most things aren't too different from name-brand stuff.  Some things I've been disappointed with, but it's the exception rather than the norm.  There are articles on the web about what Aldi's stuff to avoid, but I haven't found them useful (most seem just filler content, poorly researched and thoughtlessly written).  They carry a limited selection of name-brand stuff, but the price on that is not anything special.

Thanks.

How's their produce, meat and dairy departments?

I'm not really the person to ask. I think they're fine, but I don't know how to tell good from bad with that stuff. I haven't been disappointed with any of those, but I've read varying opinions. The meat, while inexpensive, supposedly is not as good as name-brand stores' meat, but I don't have enough experience to know if that's true. I buy a lot of their staple items, cooked sausage, cheese, sour cream, etc. Most is fine. Some of it, you get what you pay for. Cooked sausage and hot dogs are good. Uncooked Brats are lacking a little something in the flavor department compared to local brands or Johnsonville. People say their produce doesn't turn-over as fast as a regular grocery store and so it's not as fresh, but I've never had a problem with it. Eggs, how can you screw up eggs? But again, very basic selection in general. That being said, they do stock a good bit of specialty items from their brands, which is usually a very good buy.

[brewer]

Thanks.

How's their produce, meat and dairy departments?

I'm not really the person to ask.  I think they're fine, but I don't know how to tell good from bad with that stuff.  I haven't been disappointed with any of those, but I've read varying opinions.  The meat, while inexpensive, supposedly is not as good as name-brand stores' meat, but I don't have enough experience to know if that's true.  I buy a lot of their staple items, cooked sausage, cheese, sour cream, etc.  Most is fine. Some of it, you get what you pay for.  Cooked sausage and hot dogs are good.  Uncooked Brats are lacking a little something in the flavor department compared to local brands or Johnsonville.  People say their produce doesn't turn-over as fast as a regular grocery store and so it's not as fresh, but I've never had a problem with it.  Eggs, how can you screw up eggs?  But again, very basic selection in general.  That being said, they do stock a good bit of specialty items from their brands, which is usually a very good buy.

OK, no hidden bogeyman, I'll give it a shot.

One other thing, I've heard that once you enter it's like a maze, you have to go down every isle before you can exit. True?

[Angrboda]

I'm not really the person to ask.  I think they're fine, but I don't know how to tell good from bad with that stuff.  I haven't been disappointed with any of those, but I've read varying opinions.  The meat, while inexpensive, supposedly is not as good as name-brand stores' meat, but I don't have enough experience to know if that's true.  I buy a lot of their staple items, cooked sausage, cheese, sour cream, etc.  Most is fine. Some of it, you get what you pay for.  Cooked sausage and hot dogs are good.  Uncooked Brats are lacking a little something in the flavor department compared to local brands or Johnsonville.  People say their produce doesn't turn-over as fast as a regular grocery store and so it's not as fresh, but I've never had a problem with it.  Eggs, how can you screw up eggs?  But again, very basic selection in general.  That being said, they do stock a good bit of specialty items from their brands, which is usually a very good buy.

OK, no hidden bogeyman, I'll give it a shot.

One other thing, I've heard that once you enter it's like a maze, you have to go down every isle before you can exit. True?

Nope, not true. The only exception is that in some stores the entrance leads directly into the first aisle with no escape. After that, it's no different than any other grocery store.

[Angrboda]

I realized there were a couple of oddities I forgot to mention. In order to use a shopping cart, you have to unlock one using a quarter; you get the quarter back when you're done. They don't have any hand baskets. And no free bags. IIRC, paper bags (no handles) are $0.07 and plastic (with handles) are $0.10. Some people use the empty boxes that are left after products are stocked, and you'll find bins of those wherever they are stocking. Otherwise, bring your own bags.

[brewer]

I realized there were a couple of oddities I forgot to mention.  In order to use a shopping cart, you have to unlock one using a quarter; you get the quarter back when you're done.  They don't have any hand baskets.  And no free bags.   IIRC, paper bags (no handles)  are $0.07 and plastic (with handles) are $0.10.  Some people use the empty boxes that are left after products are stocked, and you'll find bins of those wherever they are stocking.  Otherwise, bring your own bags.

Tried Aldi's this morning, bought a few things. The only drawback was limited selections. On the plus side prices were low. And I specifically nabbed things I don't find at Kroger.