Favorite items from Aldi

Before 2012 I shopped at Aldi only a handful of times.  I was never sold on the awesome-ness that was Aldi.  Anytime I shopped there before then I could never find items that I wanted and so I just gave up.  When we moved back to Saginaw we had an Aldi closer to us and so we decided to start shopping there again.  It was magic!  Maybe it's because I was SO tired of spending an incredible amount of money on groceries every month.  Maybe it's because we were starting to have to feed both kids actual meals and not just bites from our plate.  Whatever it was, shopping there was suddenly something that I enjoyed.  I have found a few items that I absolutely love from Aldi and would love to share them with you.  These are in no particular order. 

1. Milk - when Aldi first opened in our area they offered their milk at an amazing price.  I don't remember exactly but I want to say that it was like $.99 a gallon or something crazy like that.  It has gone up from that price but it seems to still be a deal compared to Walmart and Albertsons which are our two closest grocery stores.  Having three kids under 3 at our house almost full time we go through a lot of milk.  I like buying milk from Aldi also because in our store they advertise that their milk does not have any growth hormones in it, which is important to us for our children. 
2. Produce - Aldi is highly known for their inexpensive, good quality produce, if for nothing else.  When we first started going there to shop they had pineapples for $.99.  I learned how to cut up a whole pineapple on a $.99 pineapple from Aldi and now I love them that way.  We go through a lot of produce with the kids because they love bananas, carrots, squash, and any fruit, so we buy a lot of produce when we go there and I like that it's inexpensive.  Now, granted, this is not organic or local but it's usually fresh and ready to eat that day.  They run specials when fruit is in season like strawberries, and peppers and we tend to stock up during those times.  The last time they had peppers on sale, I bought like 20 of them and Corry roasted them on the grill and now we have fire roasted peppers in our freezer for different recipes that we make. 
3. Spices - for some people this might not work but Aldi sells spices in HUGE containers.  This is very helpful for us because we go through several spices, like garlic powder and seasoning salt and I hate to spend a ton of money on the little jars from the regular grocery stores.  They are probably double the size that you can find at other stores and probably half the price.  Awesome!  
4. Canned vegetables and fruits - we go through a lot of corn, peas, green beans, mandarin oranges and fruit cocktail.  Our kids love fruits and vegetables and I don't want to stifle that by not being able to feed them because they are too expensive at some other stores.  I like that you can buy those cans at Aldi for less than $1 a piece. 

There are a number of other items that we always buy but they are more specific to our store and I don't know if they would have them everywhere.  These are standard items that would be there at any Aldi that you go to and you can always find them no matter what time of the year.  I like that throughout the year you can find different items at Aldi that match the season that you are in.  They have neat items during Christmas that you can use as gifts, like pots and pans, crock pots, etc. that are of good quality.  We bought a dutch oven a few years ago and it is one of my favorite pieces in my kitchen. 

What are your favorite Aldi buys?