The main thing to keep in mind when planning your first visit to Aldi (aside from having to bring your own bags and a quarter to open a shopping cart) is that many of the items everyone raves about are just seasonal or come and go sporadically. Theme weeks are some of the best times to shop for international treats. You should look in the center aisles of Aldi for weekly specials on home goods, pet supplies, toys, and even groceries. Holidays are also fun, especially if you’re a fan of holiday-related cheeses like Halloween pumpkins and skulls or Easter eggs and chicks. But if you don’t shop at the right time, there’s no guarantee of finding a specific limited-time deal.

Because the store introduces new items each week, last week’s special offers may disappear to make room on the shelves. Fortunately, Aldi isn’t just a place for casual shoppers. While the eye-catching special offers are constantly circulating, much of the store’s offerings are made up of standard produce, meat, dairy, frozen foods and pantry items that are on sale year-round.

Below is a shortlist of our favorite cart fillers. While it was hard to choose just a few, we ultimately settled on a shelf-stable salad staple, a simple main dish, a few treats, and a popular inexpensive beverage. Not only are these items always available, but none of them will put a huge dent in your wallet.

While pre-packaged greens aren’t the most exciting thing in the produce section, they’re a basic building block for making fantastic salads. Aldi’s Simply Nature brand offers four salad mixes in plastic containers. Organic Baby Spinach, Organic Rocket with Spinach and Organic Salad Mix all come in 140ml packs, while Organic Spring Mix comes in 450ml packs. While that may sound like a lot of greens, it’s worth it if you eat salad every day, because the plastic containers will keep the greens in good condition for a week or more. (Aldi also offers pre-packaged salad mixes in smaller sizes, but the lettuce in them wilts faster.)

The most surprising thing about these lettuce leaves, however, is that even though they’re labeled organic, they’re less expensive than similar lettuce leaves sold at other grocery stores. While your savings may vary depending on your location and when you’re reading this, starting in August 2024, Simply Nature’s organic lettuce will cost $3.19 for 5 ounces and $5.39 for 16 ounces at Aldis in and around Milwaukee, Wisconsin. For comparison, similar lettuce leaves sell for $3.89 and $5.99, respectively, at local Kroger partner Pick ‘n Save. Okay, the savings aren’t super dramatic—only about 20% in the first case and just over 10% in the second—but if you eat a lot of lettuce (and you should, it’s healthy!), it all adds up.

Aldi’s frozen food section may be small, but it has the essentials: shrimp in a variety of sizes, naked and breaded fish fillets, and even frozen sushi. One of the best deals, however, is frozen mussels in the shell. These come in three varieties (plain, garlic butter, and tomato garlic) and are only $3.65 for a 16-ounce package. (Again, noting that this will apply to Aldis in Milwaukee starting in August 2024—this will be the case for all future price mentions throughout the article).

The plain mussels are great if you already have a mussel recipe or two. For the mussels and sauce, all you need is a package of pasta (of course, Aldi sells this staple too). While the pasta is cooking, you can microwave the mussels in a few minutes since they don’t need to be thawed. When you mix the mussels and sauce with the pasta (about half a pound per package), you have an effortless dinner that really tastes like you paid over $20 for it at the restaurant.

Although Aldi is based in Germany, its private label products in the U.S. are mostly similar to (or identical to) standard American brands, and for good reason. Many of these are made domestically, possibly in the same factories that make some well-known brands: Millville cereal, for example, is rumored to be made by Post, while Stonemill spices are apparently produced on McCormick’s production line. Where Aldi’s roots really show, however, is in its chocolate selection. Moser Roth, Aldi’s premium brand, and Choceur, its less expensive brand, are both imported from Europe.

Of all the chocolate products Aldi offers, the Choceur bars are a real bargain. The milk and dark chocolate bars cost $1.65 per 145 grams and are great for baking or melting, and both bars are also sold with almonds for the same price. Mini bars, perfect for portion control, come in milk and dark chocolate, as well as white chocolate and milk chocolate hazelnut crunch. They cost $2.19 for a five-pack of 40 grams. They and the larger bars cost 31 cents per ounce. They may be less than half the price of a Hershey bar, but the chocolate is far more flavorful. Choceur’s smooth, creamy consistency is comparable to that of a higher-end brand like Lindt or Ghirardelli, making it an affordable luxury even if we scrimp so much that we have Lincoln’s likeness on our fingers.

Aldi’s Belmont and Sundae Shoppe ice cream brands are both reportedly made by a private label supplier called House of Flavors, so there’s no connection to the well-known Ben & Jerry’s brand. Still, Sundae Shoppe’s premium pints seem meant to mimic the more expensive product, right down to the colorful labels and quirky flavor names. Make Fudge, Not War! contains chocolate ice cream and brownie pieces, similar to Chocolate Fudge Brownie. Thank You Cherry Much! is cherry ice cream with cherries and chocolate pieces, just like Cherry Garcia. And then there’s Brookie Dough, which combines vanilla and chocolate with brownie pieces and cookie dough—clearly an homage to Half Baked.

It goes without saying that at $3.65, Aldi’s knockoffs are quite a bit cheaper than competitors that cost full price and can sell for over $6 off sale. The taste is pretty similar to the product, and in some cases, maybe even a bit better. The only gripe we have with Sundae Shoppe is the much smaller selection. While Aldi occasionally introduces a new limited-time flavor like My Peanut Butter Half (a much better name than Ben & Jerry’s Peanut Butter Cup) and Swirlin’ Strawberry (practically identical to B&J’s Strawberry Cheesecake), how fun would it be to see Sundae Shoppe versions of Chunky Monkey, Phish Food, or New York Super Fudge Chunk?

Not all Aldi stores offer beer and wine, but those that do tend to have a small but decent wine selection, even if there’s a conspicuous lack of rare and special vintages for the connoisseur’s palate. (The same could be said of any grocery store, honestly.) But if you just want something cheap and drinkable, Winking Owl—Aldi’s answer to Trader Joe’s Four Buck Chuck—might be one of the best wines you’ll find for under $5 a bottle.

Winking Owl is made by Gallo, a company that also sells higher-end brands like Maso Canali, Mount Peak, Rombauer, and Wirra Wirra under its umbrella. It comes in a dozen different varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Shiraz, sweet red wine, red wine blend, sangria, Chardonnay, Moscato, Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc, white wine blend, and white Zinfandel. Overall, the wines are fairly well-reviewed. They have such a large following that Aldi even once produced a Winking Owl Christmas ornament. Even if you don’t want to drink Winking Owl wines by the glass, these inexpensive bottles are great for sangria, wine cocktails, and cooking (check out this list of inexpensive wine recipes).