These 10 Aldi Items Just Aren't The Same Anymore, According To Customers

If you know anything about Aldi, you'll likely know that it somehow manages to nail a balance of quality and price. Aldi items are typically surprisingly good for the amount they cost, and its ability to offer good products while keeping your purse happy is partly why it's skyrocketed in popularity over the last few years. However, things are starting to change. Like other retailers, Aldi has had to consider how it can keep its prices low and its profits high in the face of spiraling food costs and tariffs, and one of the ways that it's retained its margins is through quietly reducing the quality of some of its items.

Well, this hasn't gone unnoticed by customers. Regular Aldi shoppers have started to catch wind of the items that just don't feel the same anymore. In many cases, Aldi seems to have changed the sources of its items, resulting in lower-quality versions of the same products. Elsewhere, it looks as though recipes might have been tweaked or altered, which has reduced the nutritional quality and flavor of customers' favorite goods. We decided to check in with customers and their reviews of specific items over the last year, to see where Aldi's been changing up things for the worse.

There was a time when Aldi's Simply Nature Unsweetened Applesauce was a go-to for customers. It used to stand head and shoulders above other grocery store apple sauces, and for many, it was a repeat purchase, primarily due to the fact that it was unsweetened and had a mild, accessible flavor. However, recently, customers have been noticing that something's changed. Now, Simply Nature Unsweetened Applesauce tastes, well ... sweet. "I bought these 3ish weeks ago and had to keep checking the label to make sure I bought the correct one because they were super sweet," stated a customer on Reddit. "I've been buying this one for several years because I don't like how sweet traditional applesauce is, but this most recent pack was even sweeter than those."

We don't think it's unreasonable to expect that store-bought unsweetened applesauce doesn't taste sugary, right? We also don't think it's too wild to hope that it'd feel fresh, but increasingly, that's not what Aldi customers are finding. People are reporting that their cartons of applesauce have an unpleasantly brown tinge to them, and some have questioned whether the apples that Aldi is now using to make them are past their prime. Elsewhere, shoppers have said that they can taste a strange cinnamon note in the sauce that wasn't there previously.

Love Nutri-Grain bars, but sick of paying top dollar for them? Well, Aldi has you covered — or it used to, at least. Until recently, its Millville Fruit & Grain Soft Baked Bars were one of those Aldi dupes that were cheaper than the name-brand version that still promised a high degree of quality. However, customers are now noticing that these bars feel like they've been downgraded in pretty much every way.

Where do we start? First off, Aldi has clearly changed the recipe for its Millville Fruit & Grain Soft Baked Bars. Customers have shown side-by-side comparisons of the old and new versions of the product, flagging the lower protein, fiber, and vitamin content of the current bars (which also have more calories than the previous kind). With that change has come alterations to flavor and texture. Folks have stated that the bars now seem undercooked and that they don't taste like the fruit that they're meant to have inside them. Oh, and did we mention that they're also smaller? Sorry, Aldi, but if you thought we wouldn't notice ... we did.

So, it's probably no secret that store-bought queso will never quite compare to the real thing — but it wasn't long ago that Aldi's version didn't fare too badly. Its Casa Mamita Salsa Con Queso used to have a lovely pop of heat and a slightly irregular texture that wasn't perfect for some customers, but which generally wasn't especially distracting. Now, though, things have changed in a seriously bad way. Aldi seems to have switched up its recipe for its Salsa Con Queso, and the consensus is that it's been for the worse.

Aldi's Casa Mamita Salsa Con Queso is now a thick, pasty affair, which is way gloopier than it was before. It's now got a clumpy, almost spongy texture, and while you can thin it out slightly by warming it up, it doesn't have that same smoothness that it previously did. Additionally, customers are reporting that its flavor now tastes different. Casa Mamita Salsa Con Queso used to feel balanced and lively, but now its taste has been overridden by a distracting salty note. Sorry, Aldi, but you've really dropped the ball on this one.

Park Street Deli Truffle Dip used to be a must-buy for Aldi customers. When it first debuted during the holiday season, people fell in love with its flavor, which had a clear truffle note ringing through it. This hint of luxury put it apart from other supermarket dips, and certainly made it feel way more impressive and upmarket than you might expect at Aldi.

Sadly, though, it seems as though Aldi has had a rethink about how much truffle it can feasibly offer its customers, and now, people are noticing that Park Street Deli Truffle Dip has been downgraded. This dip always had a sour cream base, but now shoppers are finding that sour cream is the only flavor that's actually present. There's none of that truffle-y goodness that people fell in love with, and now it just feels bland and nondescript. Customers have even said that they'd rather throw it in the trash than finish the container. We've got news for you, Aldi: If you create something good, people will notice pretty quickly when you make it worse. Just put the truffle flavor back in it, we beg you.

Sometimes, the products that you find at Aldi are just too good to be true. That's now the case with its Tuscan Garden Quartered Artichoke Hearts. Once upon a time, this jarred item offered customers the ability to take home a classy ingredient at a reasonable price, which was also of pretty good quality. Sure, you couldn't expect the artichokes to be as good as the kind you'd get from a gourmet supplier, but they'd do the job.

Now, though, customers have identified that something's changed. The texture of the artichokes has deteriorated, and people are now noticing that they're grittier and tougher than they were before. It's gotten to the point that customers now feel they're unable to use them in their dishes because of how difficult they are to eat. This is perhaps a processing problem, with a reviewer identifying that the outside leaves are just too thick and fibrous to chomp through. What used to be a go-to is now something that people are leaving on the shelf.

Sometimes, when Aldi changes the quality of its products, it's imperceptible. Other times, the alterations slap you in the face. This is what happened when it decided to change its Simply Nature Organic Quinoa and Brown Rice, a move that's made some customers seriously irate. The product "used to be so moist and flavorful with the olive oil," said one shopper on Reddit. "Each grain of rice was like biting into juicy goodness. These days, it's dry like undercooked rice, and there's barely any flavor. It's almost like eating cardboard." The customer then concluded by saying, "I'm extremely sad about this change."

Elsewhere, Aldi shoppers have pointed out that the smell of this quinoa and brown rice product is now very unpleasant, with one person stating that it caused them to stop buying it entirely. There also seem to be issues with quality control here, with a customer finding a suspicious-looking green blob in their packet of Simply Organic Quinoa and Brown Rice, which could potentially have been a big lump of mold. Forgive us if we don't grab this one any time soon.

Okay, so we know that people likely aren't expecting a lot from Aldi's sourdough. It's probably never going to reach the heights of a homemade sourdough, or an artisanal loaf you'd get at a neighborhood bakery, right? However, it used to be the case that its Specially Selected Small Batch Sourdough was surprisingly good. It was once a regular buy for some customers, who lauded it as the best supermarket sourdough around, which spoke to its quality.

Unfortunately, times have changed, and so apparently has the recipe for this sourdough. Aldi's Specially Selected Small Batch Sourdough is now anything but impressive, with customers noticing that it now seems to be more like a loaf of standard white bread. It's soft, it's boring, and it has none of that identity and zip that sourdough usually has. It also seems to be going bad more quickly, as one customer observed. On Reddit, someone put it pretty plainly with their response to the new sourdough: "It stinks." Well, we guess that's that.

Everyone likes to buy something sweet when they go shopping, right? Aldi customers certainly do, and its Baker's Treat Honey Buns used to be just the ticket. However, these buns have been a victim of Aldi's tendency to change up its products without telling its customers first, and now they're far from the joy that they used to be. Multiple customers have said that the Baker's Treat Honey Buns feel different now, with one person saying that they had to throw theirs away after a single bite because they were so bad. It seems as though Aldi's altered the recipe here for the worst, and people aren't happy about it.

Baker's Treat Honey Buns have also seemingly shrunk in size. Several people have noticed that the buns are noticeably smaller, so much so that it's almost comical. What used to be a beloved item is now one that people are walking past at the store, and it's pretty sad to see.

Okay, so we can sort of understand how Aldi could justify changing up products that people rarely buy. After all, if no one's going to notice the difference, then it's kinda fair game. What's harder to get is how it thinks it could get away with altering a weekly staple like its Countryside Creamery Spreadable Butter. Alas, it clearly thought it could, and it switched up the recipe for this frequently used, formerly loved food. Oh, and in case you didn't know, people aren't happy about it.

Customers have observed that Aldi's Countryside Creamery Spreadable Butter with Olive Oil and Sea Salt used to be comparable to a similar product made by Land O'Lakes. This gave shoppers a great dupe at a lower price. Now, though, Aldi seems to have pumped the product full of ingredients, thereby lowering its quality and ruining its taste in the process. It also looks different, too, and is now lacking in any of the rich color that it used to have, with each tub instead containing a pallid pile of white fat. It's kinda wild that Aldi would ruin its product in such an obvious manner, but hey — that's big business for ya.

In the past, if you wanted to make yourself an awesome homemade sausage, egg, and cheese McMuffin without spending too much money, then Breakfast Best Pre-Cooked Original Sausage Patties were a good place to start. This product, which has a standard flavor and a maple one, is one that customers are very familiar with. So much so that a lot of shoppers have noticed that Aldi has apparently sneakily changed the recipe of both of its varieties, and trust us when we say that people aren't happy. Social media is awash with comments from folks who are devastated by the new flavor of these patties, and they now have a horrific taste that is causing people to run for the hills. "The frozen breakfast sausage patties went from delicious to inedible and borderline rancid," said just one comment on Reddit.

It seems as though there's been a recipe change here, with one eagle-eyed shopper noticing that the meat composition itself has been altered. Now, turkey is way more of a prominent ingredient, and this seems to have thrown the balance off-kilter. What adds insult to injury is that customers have also noticed that Breakfast Best Pre-Cooked Original Sausage Patties have also gotten more expensive, shooting up in price by a couple of bucks. Paying more for less? Yeah, we'll pass on that one, Aldi. Thanks, though.