5 Trader Joe's-Coded Items We Found At Aldi (For Slightly Cheaper)

Trader Joe's and Aldi may share common German roots, but the two have taken very divergent paths. The former, with its tiki-themed stores and website full of purple prose, presents itself as the far more bougie sibling (the one with a marketing degree, no doubt). The latter, however, has a no-frills aesthetic that appeals to budget-minded shoppers and is generally the better place to buy groceries if you're looking for low, low prices. (Using Walmart as a baseline, Consumer Reports found Aldi's prices to be about 8% lower, while Trader Joe's were nearly 25% higher.) Despite the differences, there is a fair amount of overlap in the product lines offered by both stores.

Surprisingly enough, there are certain products at Aldi that are just as expensive as their TJ's counterparts, if not more so. The everything bagel seasoning at both stores is priced just the same, while Aldi's answer to Trader Joe's takeout-style Mandarin Orange Chicken may cost a few cents more per ounce. Plenty of other Aldi items, however, are cheaper than similar products sold at Trader Joe's, including the following snacks, sauces, and entrees. While it can be hard to keep up with the pace at which both stores switch up their inventory, these Trader Joe's-style Aldi offerings seem to be part of the permanent roster. Either that, or they're the kind of seasonal items that return with enough regularity that you barely notice they've gone before they're on the way back again.

For over 20 years, Trader Joe's has offered a product called Sweet Apple Chicken Sausages. These are, as the name implies, made primarily with ground chicken, but are sweetened with apple chunks, cinnamon, and maple syrup. Despite the inclusion of the last item, they're not sold as breakfast sausages, and the size is similar to other main course sausage offerings, such as Italian or bratwurst. From this, we gather that TJ's was somewhat ahead of the curve on the whole sweet and savory trend. Aldi may have been a bit later to the party, but its Never Any! Apple Chicken Sausage got there in the end.

Never Any!, an Aldi label introduced in 2016, is meant to be a line of simpler, healthier meat products free of antibiotics, added hormones, and steroids. Aldi offers several different types of Never Any! chicken sausage, but the apple-flavored one stands out for its similarity to the above-mentioned Trader Joe's product. It may not be maple-flavored (although Aldi does offer a Never Any! Apple Maple Chicken Breakfast Sausage), but it does include brown sugar among the ingredients. This gives the sausage a sweet taste that many enjoy, including an enthusiastic Instagrammer who called it, " ... the best sausage ever." It also costs a dollar less than the same sized package of the Trader Joe's sausages, which are priced at $4.29.

Purchase a 12-ounce package of Never Any! Apple Chicken Sausage at Aldi for $3.29.

Corn chips come in all kinds of flavors, from nacho cheese to more unfamiliar options like clam chowder and tandoori chicken. (The latter two are just a few of the unique Doritos flavors from around the world.) Trader Joe's, however, sells something that's a bit more meta: corn chips meant to taste like corn. Well, street corn, that is. Organic Elote Corn Chip Dippers come by their corn flavor naturally, since it is the main ingredient, but they also include chipotle, habanero, and buttermilk powders to give them a hint of chile and cheese. Aldi answers with Clancy's Mexican-Style Street Corn Flavored Corn Chip Dippers, which also take inspiration from the same dish.

The ingredient list for the Aldi chips is pretty similar to the Chip Dippers, since it, too, shows both chipotle and habanero powder. The buttermilk appears to be missing, but nonfat milk is included, as is citric acid, which provides some tang of its own. On an r/traderjoes thread seeking input on the best Aldi dupes, one commenter responded, "The Elote Corn Chip Dippers are very similar." Not only that, but they're also a little bit cheaper. The packages are also different sizes, with the TJ's bag containing about a ½ ounce more, but by our calculations (based on Milwaukee-area stores), the Aldi chips cost $0.23 per ounce while the Trader Joe's ones are $0.31 per ounce.

Purchase a 9.25-ounce bag of Clancy's Mexican-Style Street Corn Flavored Corn Chip Dippers at Aldi for $2.09.

Superfans of self-referential foods will of course want to pair their corn-flavored corn chips with corn-flavored dip, and both Trader Joe's and Aldi can fill this need. They do it in slightly different ways, though. Trader Joe's Everything And the Elote Greek Style Yogurt Dip and Aldi's Park Street Deli Street Corn Dip both contain corn, although in the latter, it's the main ingredient, while the former has it in second place behind yogurt. Both also include chiles, cilantro, garlic, and cheese — parmesan and an unidentified hard cheese for TJ's; cotija, cream cheese, and Monterey Jack for Aldi. The main difference lies in the creamy element, since the yogurt dip, of course, uses yogurt while the Park Street Deli one opts for a mixture of mayonnaise and sour cream.

Once again, both dips come in slightly different-sized containers, with the Trader Joe's product being 2 ounces smaller. The Aldi dip is still about a ½ buck cheaper, though, and the price per ounce is just $0.33 compared to the $0.47 per ounce you'd pay for Everything and the Elote. As one r/aldi member said of Park Street Deli Street Corn Dip, "Itsssss soooo amazing!!" Another warned, "This stuff is dangerous. The first time I bought it I ate the whole container in one sitting with tortilla chips." In addition to its merits as a chip dip, Park Street Deli Street Corn Dip also makes a perfect taco topping.

Purchase a 10-ounce tub of Park Street Deli Street Corn Dip at Aldi for $3.29. Availability may vary by location.

Once upon a time, we thought pesto was just that green stuff you get when you mash up basil with pine nuts and parmesan. By now, though, we're well aware that pesto comes in all the colors of the rainbow, and one popular pick is Trader Joe's Organic Roasted Red Pepper and Almond Pesto Sauce. In addition to the named ingredients, it's also made with Pecorino Romano cheese, onions, garlic, basil, marjoram, and paprika. Since it looks (but does not taste) like a tomato-based product, it can make for a rather surprising pasta sauce.

Equally red and pasta-worthy, if slightly different in composition, is Priano Rosso Pesto Sauce, one of the seriously cheap sauces worth buying at Aldi. It actually is made with tomatoes (sun-dried and tomato puree), but uses cashews as the nutty element and a combination of Pecorino Romano and Grana Padano cheeses. Basil and garlic make up the main spices, giving it a bit more of a traditional pasta sauce profile than TJ's red pesto. As one Redditor remarked, "I don't even know if I should call it a dupe bc Aldi's version is so much better than TJ's but their pesto Rosso is to die for!!" It's somewhat cheaper, too, with Trader Joe's larger jar being priced around $0.43 per ounce and Aldi's at $0.41.

Purchase a 6.7-ounce jar of Priano Rosso Pesto Sauce at Aldi for $2.75.

Trader Joe's offers an assortment of vegan entrees, among them its Vegetable Pad Thai, which is made with rice noodles, tofu, shallots, radishes, chives, and cashews in a tamarind-tomato sauce. If you're looking to boost your fiber intake, though, you may wish to consider Aldi's Earth Grown Pad Thai instead. The tamarind-tomato sauce is similar, but the other ingredients include textured soy protein, carrots, peanuts, red peppers, and water chestnuts. In addition to the different proteins and vegetables, the noodles are made from konjac instead of rice. This Asian root vegetable is known for being especially fibrous, and its presence provides the Aldi pad Thai with 9 grams of that nutrient per serving. This is nearly double the 5 grams found in TJ's version. In fact, this item is one of our top Aldi finds you need for a fiber-heavy diet.

Apart from supplying nearly ⅓ of your daily fiber requirement, Earth Grown Pad Thai is also a pretty tasty product. "Tried this plant based pad thai for lunch today and it's excellent. Great texture and a pretty good amount of heat," posted one person to the r/aldi forum. "So easy, affordable, and yummy!" added another. And yes, it too is cheaper — $0.33 per ounce as opposed to the $0.36 charged by Trader Joe's.

Purchase a 10-ounce pouch of Earth Grown Pad Thai at Aldi for $3.29.