Wasabi Aioli

This is my favourite aioli that you can get from a supermarket. It is in the refrigerated section instead of just on the shelf and it is not too spicy, just perfect to add a little heat to our weekly fish and chips. The Wasabi one is light green and not pictured here as they had sold out – and I am totally not surprised. Made in Australia, too!

Foaming Facial Cleanser

I use two items of skincare for my face every single day. One of them is this foaming cleanser from Aldi which I use in the shower while my hair conditions. They sometimes have a tea tree oil version in their special buys which I have used before and liked. Both this version and the tea tree smell great and do what they need to do. Made in Australia.

The other skincare item is moisturizer and I have a few different ones I switch back and forth between, including a cream that I credit with keeping my skin awesome which is actually a slightly up money hand balm for gardeners bought from Scully’s in Berry. It smells amazing.

Luxury Hand Wash

If you like citrus chances are you would love this hand wash. I first bought this scent as a moisturiser when they had it on special buys and it smelled SO incredible, the next time it is in stock I am going to stock up big time. But in the meantime I have this luxury hand wash in the guest bathroom and at least once a day I go in there and treat myself to a big scenty lather up. The scent stays around for a long while and the sage adds a delicious smoky element.

I think this might be one of the best smelling hand wash products you can buy in Australia, maybe Aesop has something to compare but the Aesop one is seriously Up Money at $40 for 500ml. I’ll take the $5 version thanks! Made in Australia.

Foaming Hand Wash

My favourite is the passionfruit and guava but they are all good and I have one container of each flavour available in the house at all times. Both the pumps and refills are Made in Australia.

For those of us who do a lot of hand washing, at $2.49 for 500mls these are excellent value and they smell amazing. A little goes a long way with this product, in fact more so than I realised and I was buying one refill each fortnight alternating the flavours until the other half pointed out I had quite a supply of them building up in the cupboard.

Dishwashing Detergent

More great smelling stuff from Aldi. The lemongrass and kaffir lime is great but the pomegranate and mango one is deeply intoxicating. I love using it. Someone has worked hard on all these flavours and it shows. Made in Australia.

Vintage English Cheese

I went for six months without raw cheese in 2017. The one cheese I wanted and craved the entire time was this one. It is super strong and bitey which is how I like my cheese. It was the only one I bought the minute I decided to allow some raw cheese back into my life. Not made in Australia.

Cheese Kransky

I do not normally like this kind of product but The Other Half loves a kransky or cabana. I actually do like this one and I will eat it without any qualms, just not too often because it is slightly higher in sodium than most foods we eat now. It is a rare treat for both of us.

Brioche Awesomeness

I do not eat hot dogs but I love these buns and this is a rare bread treat I will allow myself, perhaps once a month. I like to poach a couple of eggs and place them inside the hot dog bun, and add tomato relish from The Treat Factory.

Pizza Bases

We buy two of these a fortnight, and we get four pizza meals out of each packet of two. They smell amazing, too. Just keep them in the fridge in the warmer months because there can sometimes be a little moisture inside the packet and we’ve had them grow mould before. Made in Australia.

Overall I am very happy with Aldi as a place to shop, especially considering how much effort they have put into sourcing products from our own country, whereas the other two big names tend to be looking to drop the prices down down by importing products from other countries.

Many of you know I am a huge Aldi fan. I thought I would share with you some of my recent favourite purchases – some of which were special buys so if there are any left at your local store, they might be found for a discounted price.

First up, some regular items found on the shelves – the flavoured rice cakes. I love the Sea Salt and Balsamic Vinegar flavour, they do have another one which I think might be sour cream and chives. They are cheap and my go-to replacement for potato chips. Australian made, too!

The reed diffusers smell fantastic – they are not too overpowering which I sometimes find with the more “expensive” brands.

They also have candles in the same flavours from the same brand. And now, some special buys.

These pots are brilliant. Super light, beautiful to cook in, and we bought two of the smaller ones so I can make us separate casseroles now and still fit them both in the oven. I like mushrooms in my casseroles. The Other Half believes mushrooms are evil.

The rainboots I got are black and shiny and just gorgeous. My two older pairs are five years old and best saved for the truly grotty chook jobs now. Plus one of those pairs got stabbed by a cactus and I am always worried that water is going to leak through, if and when it does I will not have to go hunting the Shoalhaven for a new pair – for some reason gumboots are either very difficult to find here, or HUGELY up money. Like $30 for a pair!

And now a sad story of a fail on my part. I bought one set of these socks because I wanted to wash them, try them out and see if I liked them before buying more pairs. When I discovered that I loved them, I went back and they were all gone. I am not surprised because they were a great price and very comfortable.

I do not use very much sugar anymore, just in my coffee. I prefer the darker kinds of sugar as they have better flavour. I got three different flavours – rapadura, moscovado and panela. I already had coconut sugar, so I did not get that one.

I cannot resist a lip balm. I bought one blueberry flavoured one and found it to be fantastic, so on our next visit I got the pineapple one, and the visit after that I got the remaining two flavours – honey peach and mint.

These were $2.49 each and worth every cent. They will last me a long while.