Is it worth going to Aldi for gluten-free food?
Were you excited to see the newsflash? That Aldi's stocking gluten-free goodies this week?
It wasn't easy to get to my "local" (all the way across town) but I decided I had to because the cheaper supermarkets don't usually stock gluten-free staples (and they'll only think about doing it permanently if the products actually get bought).
So off I went to explore...
I'd been told the products weren't all together but dotted around the store, which proved incredibly annoying. Either I missed some of the stuff rumoured to be on offer (including Genius bread and black bean spaghetti) or mine had sold out (that's Bedminster in Bristol, if you're wondering).
But! I did manage to find a few goodies to throw in my trolley, including:
B-free wholegrain pittas
Rice meal one-pan kit
and the ingredients:
Refried beans
Gluten-free Enchilada Kit
Granted, it's heavily weighted towards Mexican food (although you won't hear any complaints from me) and the prices aren't that different from other supermarkets, but the very fact they're stocking the goods cheers me no end.
Aldi have gone gluten-free before (you may remember me crowing about it) which puts them a step ahead of Lidl who (so far) have yet to stock more than a few gluten-free crackers and Mrs Crimble's macaroons.
Not only that but you'll see from the labels that much of the food is egg- and dairy-free, too, which is handy if you have other things to avoid as well as gluten.
And there was an added bonus when I got to the checkout: several packs of gluten-free crisps I'd not tried before, including this one:
But is it worth going? If you've got an Aldi that's close by then I'd definitely pop in before all the stock goes. But given I didn't actually find much I couldn't get at a closer supermarket for the same price, I don't know I'd do it again.
However, if Aldi said they'd consider stocking gluten-free permanently if enough people bought it, I'd probably make the journey more often...or ask Aldi to build a store on my side of town.
What do you think? Have you been? Were you impressed? Do comment!
