Too Proud to Shop at Aldi
Posted by jefferson on Feb 20, 2012 in Saving Money | 64 comments
The battle over our grocery budget has been front and center in our mission to save money and improve our cash flow situation. Based on conversations that we have had with friends and family, the amount of money we spend on groceries is pretty much higher than, well… everyone else. Cutting our grocery costs is essential if we are going to get and stay out of debt. Lucky for us, our town has grocery stores that fit every budget:
- There is a Whole Foods where you can find organic, all-natural versions of just about everything, but will certainly pay higher prices for the privilege. We love Whole Foods, but it really isn’t close enough for us to become regular shoppers. That is probably a good thing.
- There are our local grocery store chains (we don’t have Kroger or Publix here, but have these instead) which contain a nice mix of organics, name brands, along with some generic brands. The produce is good and they have a great selection of meats and bakery items. These are the stores we have grocery shopped almost entirely in the past ten years, where we have regularly spent well over $1000/month.
- There are Shop n’ Saves and the super Walmarts, which are comparable to the local chains, but with a few less amenities. The stores are often a little bit chaotic and messy, and the produce and meat quality isnt quite as good.
- Want to save even more money? Then you might want to try Aldi, “the discount grocer” It’s a smaller store with fewer choices, but ridiculously good prices.
Neither my wife or myself could recall ever shopping at Aldi with our parents when we were kids. Even when I was the brokest of the broke during college, I never shopped there. For some reason, I had some preconceived notions about the place, that just had no grounding in reality. I believed, for example, that Aldi sold meats and produce that other grocery stores had already cleared out because they was about to expire. I also thought that the cans at Aldi were typically dented at the warehouse (hello Botulism!), and thus not sellable at “normal” grocery stores. Of course, none of these things are true. Thinking back, I’m not even sure where I got those ideas. I’m sure the FDA wouldn’t allow for those things to occur.
In reality, Aldi does have much lower prices than other grocery stores. They keeps their prices low by limiting selection and mainly offering their house brands. They also only cash or debit (i.e. they don’t take credit cards, checks, *or* coupons), and they require folks to pay a deposit in order to use a grocery cart. But most importantly, there is nothing wrong with the food that is sold at Aldi.
I have trouble putting into words the feelings that have kept me from stepping into an Aldi up to this point. I keep telling myself that I didn’t think that I was too good to shop in a discount store, but perhaps that feeling was inside of me somewhere. Perhaps I had the thought that since I grew up in a middle-class family, went to college, and worked hard for a living– meant that I am entitled to only buy food in the bright, shiny–and completely overpriced–supermarkets. But the reality is that there are opportunities in life to save money on everything, and by not taking advantage of those opportunities- you are only hurting yourself. In this new financial era for our family, it is essential that we use places like Aldi who are just sitting there, waiting to save us a boat load of cash.
So, last weekend, I put on my big boy pants and ventured into an Aldi for the first time. Inside, it looked just like any other grocery store. The selection is much smaller, of course, since the entire store has only 6-7 aisles. They really only have one or two choices of each type of food, so you won’t be comparison shopping there. But rest assured, every single price that I looked at, was about 50% cheaper than the store where we normally shop. My receipt from that first shopping trip is shown below:
I was amazed at how low the prices were for food that appeared to be the exact same quality as what you would find at our regular grocer:
- A big bag of frozen chicken breasts for $5.99! Holy smokes! We regularly buy the exact same thing for $9.99!
- A pack of 4 salmon filets for $4.49, and a big bag of frozen Tilapia for $5.99 are even better deals.
- Granola bars, potato chips, and raisins for much lower prices than the normal grocery. My kids’ brown bag lunches just got much cheaper!
I didn’t bring any change to rent a grocery cart, so I basically just grabbed as many items as I could fit into my arms, and made my way to the front of the store. The guy before me in line was counting out pennies to pay for his food. This was not something that I had seen often at our regular store, and really got my mind spinning. Here we had a guy, just like me, who was trying to pay for food to feed his family. He was apparently barely making ends meet, but more importantly, he *was* making ends meet. For so many years, I had bought my groceries on credit cards with money that I didn’t really have. Basically, borrowing from my family’s future so that I didn’t have to pay attention to prices at the store or spend the time to clip coupons. From here on out, I vowed to be more like the man in front of me in line, and only buy groceries that I could afford. If money is tight one week, then it is good to know that I can actually stretch my dollar pretty far at a place like Aldi.
The store also doesn’t offer grocery bags, so I again scooped the food back up in my arms and carried it out to the car. I should note that it if your family is anything like mine, you may have difficulty making Aldi your full-time grocery store. You will probably need to supplement your Aldi trips with occasional visits to the name band grocer. You won’t find any organic food there at Aldi, and there will often be more nutritious versions of a similar product available at other stores. If you have any allergies (my family does), pretty much everything in the store will have milk, wheat, and soy. In other words, don’t expect to find gluten free tortillas or soy yogurt at Aldi. They really don’t have much in the way of paper goods, trash bags, diapers, toothpaste, etc. But that stuff is probably cheaper at Walmart and Target than your regular grocery store, regardless. Their no-coupon philosophy also may drive you to the regular store from time to time. If you find a great deal, like the one’s often mentioned in Michelle’s deal of the week, it is probably worth a trip to your name-brand grocer.
It is amazing to me that up to this point in my life, I was too proud to shop at a discount grocer like Aldi. Now I realize, that I was just being stubborn and wasteful….and yes, kind of snobby. This is the very type of behavior that has caused our debt problem, and the very behavior that we are now eradicating.
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I love how honest you are about your trepidation at shopping at Aldi. I didn’t know of the store until a few years ago when I started frequenting a PF message board but I initially felt the same way you did. The more research I did, the more I realized I was insane for thinking that way. Aldi has come in handy for my family more times than I can count (I even did an experiment a few years back and over 6 weeks, we saved more than $100 just by making the switch for most items. It would have been more but, well, you know. Things happen).
We still shop there sometimes, though not as often. But now it’s just a matter of me not wanting to make two stops rather than snobbery. I think I’ve come a long way.
I go to the cheapest grocery store possible – I always have. My mom didn’t though, even as a single mom, I guess she outweighed her opportunity costs for driving across town with two screaming, fighting kids in the backseat, lol. But groceries in Canada are just so expensive. I’d be broke if I went to Whole Foods!
Without a doubt, Aldi is going to be part of our weekly grocery ritual going forward.. Luckily, we have lots of grocery stores within a short driving distance of our house (including Aldi).
I hear you about the aversion to Aldis. It’s also a smaller store and the idea of bringing my own bags is somewhat of a hassle. But, you do spend less there – so it’s probably worth it in the end.
I don’t think we have Aldi’s out here. Even when I lived out in NJ, the nearest one was 45 minutes away, which is really too far to drive to buy groceries.
Question: Why would a dented can lead to botulism? Stores sell dented cans all the time. I’ll get dented cans from the marked-down rack at my King Soopers (if it is something that I would buy anyway, or would buy if it was cheaper). There’s a store by my sister called Bent & Dent. It does sell this kind of merchandise exclusively.
In school, I learned that it’s not the aluminum that’s protecting the contents, but rather the coating on the inside of the can. A dented can could conceal a tiny perforation in the coating, causing the metal to react with the contents as well as conceal a tiny pinhole for germs to invade. Some people think that only bulging cans are to be avoided, but they only bulge if there’s NO dent/tiny hole to escape! And botulism has a pretty high mortality rate. I’ve read 10%, but in school I’m sure I had learned it was even higher. I’d like to think I’m healthier than at least 10% of the population, but I’m not willing to bet on it! It’s just too scary to me! Also, the symptoms, even if you are in that 90%, can carry life-long complications like neuropathy or breathing problems. Yikes!
But most cans aren’t coated. I would like to think, like you, that if a selling a certain item was dangerous, the FDA wouldn’t allow it.
My King Soopers also sells expiring meat. I generally won’t buy anything that looks too oxidized, but otherwise, just cook it fully and it’s good to go.
I’ve had a couple minor cases of food poisoning, but it’s always come from dining out, never anything I’ve cooked myself.
The bacteria that cause botulism die easily at high temperature. Cooking anything at high heat (probably boiling) for 3 mintues will kill any of the bacteria that might have been there. My best friend lives in Maryland where “Giant” is popular (I’d never heard of it before. She pretty much lives off beans and veggies from the damaged food shelf.
If the can is dented at the seal,like at the top or bottom rim, that is when you shouldn’t buy it. If it’s in the middle, it is perfectly okay to eat.
Great article.
I personally don’t shop at aldi’s much because my Kroger has fairly comparable prices. I will say that my frozen chicken breast bags are $6.99 (on sale), but besides that, there is no way it is more than 5-10% on most items. Don’t get me wrong — there are a couple of stand out items, but big picture wise, I don’t aldi’s pans out as well for me.
My grocery budget is about $500 for two people a month, but I really don’t limit myself virtually at all.
Keep up the posts, just added you to RSS
I don’t shop at Aldi but we certainly did as a kid. If push came to shove and I really needed to, then I’d have no problem doing it!
I have no real reason for not shopping at Aldi other than I’m too lazy and prefer to get everything done at one place. I know I pay a little higher price, but I do place value in my time and being able to get everything done at once.
Regarding the bags – regardless of where we shop we bring our own non-disposable bags. I’d recommend you just buy yourself a couple of those and bring them to all of your store visits.
Doesn’t hurt to help the planet a bit.
I only wish I had an Aldi’s near me in Utah. I actually enjoyed shopping there when I was in Michigan – it just added to my savings and was easier than couponing.
Isn’t it funny that at Ikea it’s “cool” to not have bags, but at Aldi it’s not? It goes to show how much marketing and trendiness factor into our shopping decisions.
We probably should get some re-usable bags..
We do always make it a point (when going to our regular non-Aldi grocery store) to get paper bags. We then use those paper bags in our recycle bin at home, to hold the paper, cardboard, plastic, and glass that we recycle.
Trees are a renewable resource, unlike oil. So picking paper over plastic should be a no-brainer for folks. But, I think most people are inclined to go the other way.
It is true that trees are renewable BUT the fibers that make up brown grocery bags have to come from older trees in order to have the right length and strength needed for them to be sturdy. Bringing your own bags is the best choice. Just keep a bunch in your car, and after unloading, hang them on your door so that the next time you leave the house/apt you can take them back out to the car.
Aldi sounds like a good store for saving money. I read a post on another blogger’s site about how much she saved shopping there. She also said that you can buy a bouquet of flowers at Aldi for $2.99. That is unbelievable.
Do you guys ever shop at the dollar store? We went last week and we were surprised at what you can buy for a dollar or two. Especially things like shower soap, shampoo, etc.
Yes I totally go to the 99 cents only store! I buy all my cleaning supplies and the little stuff like cotton balls, nail polish remover, etc. I always see a lot of homeless people in and around the store. But it’s a fact of life. We have a huge homeless population. Not seeing them doesn’t make the problem go away. But yes, it’s a good store for a lot of things.
We went to Deals a couple weeks ago for some basics and I found some good prices. The other night, we went to Dollar General, though, and I wasn’t as impressed. That and I’m pretty sure our cashier was completely high.
Oops…that was me, not Jeff. Shoot, maybe I’m completely high? :p
My husband and I checked out Aldi a few months ago when I was keeping a grocery pricebook, but it didn’t overall have lower prices than Costco for the items we buy. Plus, our nearest Aldi isn’t actually in our city so it was quite a hike considering all the choices we have closer. I really liked Aldi’s business model though and was excited to visit.
While I haven’t done this myself yet, my Chinese friends have recommended the local Asian markets for lower prices on meat and such. Maybe you could see if you can get some good deals at that type of store, too.
Yes I probably had similar feelings about Aldi at one time. The thing that can be quite frightening about it at first is that you haven’t heard of any of the brand names there. It takes a bit of time to get used to them, and trust them. After a while you realise that it is good quality. I also go to Lidel, which is similar to Aldi. Don’t know if yo have these in the US?
I agree that you do have to sometimes go to bigger places to get some . Now when I walk around them they seem so expensive, but at one time their prices seemed normal. I realise I too was throwing cash away for many years. At least I’m not now!
ALDI is good for some things, not so much for others. Some of the produce is very good and well-priced. Snacks, olive oil, and bagels are 30 to 50 percent lower than Walmart, the perceived low-cost leader. On frozen meats though, ALDI blows.
Oh.. its not so bad.
I am eating a Tilapia sandwich right now, using frozen fish from Aldi, it is actually pretty tasty!
Was the tilapia farmed in China? If so, do you really, really trust the Chinese. I bought some frozen tilapia and wouldn’t even feed it to my chickens. I was afraid it would kill the chickens. I threw it in the trash and started being more careful about reading the labels.
Practical Parsimony recently posted..Chicken Tracks
Really great post. I have memories of Aldi as a kid, but we also shopped at garage sales and thrift stores.
The part about not having change made me laugh because I’ve been in that boat.
We have a Super Aldi (?) in our town and it seems as if the prices are creeping up to Shop/Save. For example, canned goods are essentially the same price.
I swore i would never shop at aldi’s when i was a kid my mom shopped there, however i have since gotten over that and shop at aldi’s on a regular basis and it saves me about $400 a month easily. i do have to stop at shop n save to get the tea i like and maybe fresh baked bread but i usually budget myself to no more than $20 at shop n save. i remember taking a friend to aldi with me on a friday night before we went out and she about fell over looking at the cheap prices on cereal, milk and eggs.
We don’t have ALDI in LA, but it sounds like a good stock-up store! I frequent the Hispanic grocery store (Top-Valu) that many of my friends look down on. I don’t care because they have crazy deals I don’t see anywhere else, like 6 avocados for $1, or 6 lbs of oranges for a dollar or 30 flour tortillas for $2. My boyfriend and I have a joke that the further east you go in LA, the lower the price of avocados and the cost of avocados correlates directly with real estate values in the neighborhood
.
I had exactly the same problem with Aldis. I had a preconceived notion about what a bad place it was. I have since discovered their cherry pie filling is less than half the price and has more cherries in it than the name brand and triple the cherries(and is still cheaper)than the off brand at my regular grocery store. They have baby wipes for $1.39 and the absolute chepaest you can find ANYWHERE are $1.99. ANd these are just fine for any use. A 16 ounce jar of strawberry jam for $1.59. I use sprinkles for holiday cookies and they are incredibly expensive EVERYWHERE. After CHristmas they had large bottles of sprinkles for $1.00 each. I bought 10. You can save some serious cash at Aldis-even if you just pick and choose there like I do..
six weeks after writing this post.. we have gone to Aldi several times and found that we can save an absolute bundle on snacks for the kiddies (chips, cookies, fruit snacks, granola bars, etc)..
we really could drive our food costs even further by expanding that list to include more frozen veggies, yogurts, and even some more meats.. we will certainly try to do that in upcoming weeks.
My Aldi’s has a brand of organic soymilk that is cheaper than anywhere else around here.
Really?.. How does it compare in taste to Silk?
Thats at Cowra, NSW, Australia Haha
My Aldi
My mom shopped Aldi when I was a kid, so I had no preconceived notions about the store. Even so, I always shopped Fareway (a discount store about a step down from Safeway, Albertsons or Piggly Wiggly but a step or two up from Aldi).
Recently, I balked at how expensive chocolate chips were at every grocery store and began to frequent Aldi for chocolate chips, granola bars, potato chips, and their (super-awesome!) frozen green beans. I’m always amazed at how much I can buy there for so little, but mostly I stick to snacky stuff.
Good for you! By basil seeds or a plant and stop buying overpriced basil sprigs. Basil is easy to grow. If you pick it early in the morning and have too much to use, just put it in a freezer bag after you wash and dry it. Two days later, squish the bag and you have just broken the basil into usable pieces–no chopping and it still tastes like fresh basil.
Buy a big box of raisins and put them in plastic snack bags. Your kids will get over not having the little boxes if you play up the “goody” bags of raisins. If the kids are not taking them to school, portion some in little plastic, washable containers.
If you try hard, you can find dozens more ways to save money and still eat well. I live about 50 miles from an Aldi’s and have never been in one.
Buy not by.
Well, geeee! I cannot even type my own website right! Maybe I need typing advice! So, this will take you to my blog.
Practical Parsimony recently posted..Chicken Tracks
it looks like most of their food comes from Germany, and their fish is imported from China.
I think Aldi is owned by a German company.. So this doesn’t surprise me. Without a doubt, you need to be careful with fish purchases.. but this reality extends to the non-discount grocery stores as well.
Let me qualify my comments: My wife and I are a financially struggling family. We were lucky, sold our real estate at the peak of the market in 2007. We took the $ and bought 70 acres of land with the intent to build. There was no right time, it seemed at the time, so we just up and sold out and quit our jobs and made a plan to build our house. We bought a 40′, 2-bedroom camper and moved it to our land. We broke ground on the day I accidentally landed a good paying tech job. The foundation was poured, the well went in, and the walls and roof were put on, and the rest was up to me to finish. Living in Rural Vermont, we don’t have building inspections. We only have to have a building permit, tell them where we’re going to pour the foundation, and actually put the foundation where we planned to. After that, we can do everything else (except the septic system) ourselves. I worked weekends putting the tar paper up and the windows in, finishing around New Years Day (yes, we had snow the last 3-4 weeks of this work!) In Feb of 2009 I was notified I was going to lose my job at the end of June. I then frantically worked on the inside of the house so we could move in because our trailer was totaled by a falling tree in an ice storm so we couldn’t move back into that. We moved in with inside walls up, all the wiring in the walls, and the inside stairs up and safe. Did I mention our son was 2.5 years old at the time? We used a sawdust composting toilet in the basement. Extension cords brought us one outlet for lights and cooking. I worked on the electric and plumbing, then the kitchen. I took several weeks to work with the septic contractor as a laborer to lower our bill. We could bucket flush on Labor Day. I was ready for an electric panel and hired an electrician for half a day to run the power line from the pole through conduit and into the house. He then showed me how to hook up a circuit to the panel, which just happened to be for the water well. In a few days we could flush a toilet and use the powder room sink, just in time for us to stop taking sponge baths in the stream. In a week we had a kitchen sink and a working electric stove. By early October we had the wood stove and metal chimney installed and we had heat (still the only heat source we have, other than sunlight coming in the 65 windows!) Then I turned back to plumbing, installing a full bath, and we showered on Christmas day. Finally my wife landed a lawyer job that replaced my tech job salary and I became Mr. Mom/part-time carpenter. She worked just long enough to allow us to catch up on bills a bit, then she was laid off in November, her severance ran out this past March, she started a part-time social work job when that ran out, and I’ve been working on starting up my own chimney sweep business since then. Oh, and did I mention Hurricane Irene? we were stranded for a month, having to hike 1/2 a mile to our car (that I parked in a safe place just in case) and a borrowed car? That our road was closed for over 3 months while they rebuilt it, that we had to dodge off-road dump trucks to get to town and back everytime we had to go to town?
One up side to all this is we were able to build our house without a mortgage and we have no car payments. I finished the siding, so all that is left outside is to build one deck and finish putting the decking on a second. The inside is another story, still only half done in there, sheetrock everywhere!
We live very frugally, surviving on very little income (my wife will only make $16,000 this year, I won’t match that until my business gets known in a year or two…), we have a medium sized garden and we are members of a CSA, so we buy no veggies and a little fruit, all organic, at the store.
I would like to have you think about your health a bit more when buying food. The food in stores today are not the same that were available when you were growing up. Cheaper is not better. Especially meat and fish. I urge you to seriously consider buying hormone free, vegetarian fed chicken; buy red meat and pork from someone local, who you know isn’t pumping hormones into the animals and who feed them grass. Fish: you may just want to give up on it unless you only have it once in a blue moon, there’s no way to know how much mercury is in it, especially if it comes from China. My wife and son are vegetarians, which in a way is good. Eating vegetarian is cheaper! I only eat meat once a week or less, mostly chicken, and only when eating out or with friends.
Our food rules: Buy local, organic, no junk (well, very little) and make it from scratch. I make my own pizza, for example, including the dough. Because I use good cheese and organic toppings, it actually might cost almost as much as buying a ready made one, but I know every ingredient and my son knows where food comes from. We often buy organic whole milk from the farm we pass on the way home from town. I skim off the cream and make some of our butter from it. I make waffles from scratch almost every Sunday and make a huge batch, freezing the uneaten ones that we then eat the rest of the week. We don’t buy cereal, only O’s for our son. We make oatmeal many days per week when the weather gets cold, and not the gross instant kind from those sugar loaded packets. We’ve cut out just about all food with high fructose corn syrup. No soda, except ginger ale when sick.
Your food choices are important. Instead of cutting your budget by going cheaper, cut your budget by going lower on the process chain. Buy ingredients and make your own food. Buy local. Bake your own bread once in a while. If you are unsure how to start, search for no-kneed recepies to get you started. Seek out the small farm stand people where you live. Start to grown your own food. Sugar snap peas, right off the vine, can’t be beat! And it’s cheap!
Finally, Ride Your Bike! Get a rack, mount a milk crate on it and do some errands when you can with your bike! It’s good for you! If every family could cut one or two 4 mile trips a week and replace it with a bike trip it would cut the gas price nationally, believe it or not!
Bye for now!
Ok “dream” you obviously have found a way to “survive” in your version of the wild un-regulated outback of Vermont. However, throughout your story you have an under current going. That maybe you would like to join the rest of society and not be the only new-age hippy on your side of the forested mountain!
I completely agree with trying to eat better foods and be as healthy as possible. You seem to be struggling with at what price is that balance always making you on the edge and wondering where your next pay-check is coming from or will you survive the winter…again.
As far as shopping in what ever store seems to be the best fit for your budget or how to go about feeding yourself and family; the common thread of this discussion going on here and above is: Does Aldi provide a real shopping experience that is worth going to or are they like any other business that finds a niche, fits it to the local 10 block environment and preys on the convenience of others not having much of a choice due to their circumstances?
The simple fact is, if you are looking to save money on your food costs.. Driving an extra few miles to an Aldi and loading up, is a pretty smart strategy.
I’ve been a regular Aldi shopper for years, and have noticed the chain has been bringing its A Game lately. New stores are designed nicely, and they’ve even brought in their Fit ‘n’ Active line of reduced/non fat, lower carb, sugar free foods and beverages. Their fat-free lactose free milk is better tasting than Lactaid, and only $2.79 for a half gallon.
I agree.. I wonder if my preconceived notions were due somewhat to that fact that the stores *used* to be a bit shoddy, but recently have undergone a makeover of sorts.. I can’t say for certain, since I never went into one before this year, but the stores are always clean and well kept.
I understand how you feel! My mom was mortified when I mentioned it was where I went shopping…
But to all of you talking about remembering your bags…the $1.99 ALDI bags ROCK!!! They are the size of 4 of the lil bags you can get from your local Krogers! The handles are comfy and they last for awhile. My ALDI’s bags are goin on 6 years and they still do awesome and hold ALOT.
Spend the $1.99 and buy a couple and use them everywhere.
I think the recyclable bags are the way of the future when it comes to grocery stores.. All it takes is a forced habit change!
I used to hate Aldi’s. I thought their products were terrible. Then I moved out on my own…reality check! I now shop there at least every other month, even though Harris Teeter, Whole Foods, and now Trader Joe’s are closer (within walking distance). I much prefer Aldi to Wal-Mart in fact. By the way, Aldi in Germany is NOT a budget store and does carry organic produce. It also features better bakery items. Too bad the Aldi here is not more like the German Aldi stores.
I would agree very much about the comparison in quality from Aldi’s to Wal-Mart, when it comes to the in-house brands.. Aldi is far superior.. And actually much cheaper.
Great post!
I recently started shopping at a brand new Aldi store near where I live. I always had preconceived notions about it being full of things about to expire. A classmate of mine, who is lactose intolerant, said that he shops there because it is so much cheaper than other “chain” stores. I am on a tight budget while I am finishing up school, so I figured I would give it a go just to see what it was like inside. I was very pleasantly surprised! The store was VERY clean and orderly… much more so than any Meijer store I had ever been in.
Here’s an example: I usually buy bags of nuts to snack on/bake with, but the price has always been a concern for me at close to $9.00 a bag. I priced the whole walnuts at Aldis and they are nearly $4 cheaper than what I find at other major chains! The cost of Aldis chocolate chips was nearly half of what they cost in the big stores, too. And the best part is they taste just as good as the major name brands do! The Aldis brand bagels are better than any major brands I have ever eaten… and I am a picky eater! Same is true for the Aldis brand of Spanish Olives – LOVE THEM! Surprisingly, Aldis does carry several name brand products and they have a sales flyer (check their web side for your area store sales). Also, I like that there are only a few kinds to choose from as opposed to an entire aisle. I like that it’s smaller than most large grocery chains. Honestly… grocery shopping for me has been overwhelming at times. Why do we need 35 different kinds of toothpaste or 15 different kinds of peanut butter or 10 different types of paper towels?
They actually do offer paper or plastic bags, but you have to pay for them… even better reason to bring your own. I think that is ingenious… as is the fact that in order to get a shopping cart, you have to put a quarter in the slot and return it to get your quarter back. That system makes people accountable… and then there aren’t any carts strolling about in the parking lot to hit/dent your car!
The only down side for me (not that it really is that big of deal) is that Aldis is not a one-stop shopping experience. But, to be honest, I am so tired of feeling like I have to walk the length of a football field in order to get groceries anyway. If I need car oil or light bulbs, I will get those at Target.
Another tip I’ve recently started is to shop the reduced racks at any grocery/market I go to. I have found many great deals on those carts from bread to use for croutons or veggies for soups or salads. I actually find it thrilling to look for those kinds of deals. What’s even better is that that food isn’t winding up in the trash/landfill either so that’s another bonus in my book.
I was able to buy enough groceries for the week recently and spent less than $20. The same amount of food would have surely cost me $35-$40 at the other chain store. I can use the money I saved for thrifting my clothes…. which is another thing I recently started doing… and saving a LOT of money on great finds! Levis jeans for $3.99? Franco Sarto shoes for $5.99? Coach purse for $7.99? Yes, please and thank you!
I like that shopping at Aldis has helped me simplify my life and I save money while doing it. I love that the store is new and within 5 miles from my house. I love that I love shopping there. And I am so glad to read so many others who feel the same.
Thanks for stopping by.. You are correct that Aldi’s isn’t a one-stop shopping experience.. We have allergies in my family as well, and we have to swing by other grocery stores to round out our experience.. Since we have little ones in tow, extending the shopping trip can sometimes be problematic.
But at the same time, the months that we do spend a good portion of our grocery budget at Aldi’s, we see a noticeable difference. It is absolutely worth while.
I am finding that most of you live in a fantasy world. While you seem to “finally” love the Aldi experience. the theme here seems to be that your are resigned to shopping at Aldi due your quirky sense of choices. I can assure you, Aldi has no intention of being a leader in any environmental feel good tree hugging endeavor. They are about “cheap” and passing the cost saving to them and inconvenience on to you.
Beware of the origins of their meat products.
Aldi is not cheap
I bought 3 tools from them
all were junk
One faulty designed and very bad manufactured tool wrecked my hand.
Its cheaper and safer to buy one good tool in hardware shop.
To get any compensation from Aldi I found to be impossible.
Best stuffed clams I have bought pre made were from an aldis there is no reason to not shop at this store
Beware of the origins of their meat products.
Aldi labeling leaves a lot to be desired. When trying to find the true origin (USA or not) there is no discrenable way to find out. Unless you happen to run a cross one of their suppliers on the shelf that has a nice prodigious stamp declaing USDA Certified product. and then you have dig deeper to make sure it all came from the same source or location and not aggregated from Mexican, Chinese and US producers together, then stamped with USDA. ( like Walmart!)
Look for “product of USA and location of origin. This will give you a Better sense of its validity. However, just buy your meat at a local meat market or shop and you’ll be okay. Aldi needs to be more forthcoming with their “Distributed by Aldi” labelling.
I love aldis. Grew up on it. Had a roommate who thought all the food was expired at aldis. Wouldn’t touch it. But when his money ran out and I started cooking big kettles of beans and soup etc from there… He changed his tune.
Btw there is some connection between trader joes and aldi. I shop mostly at aldi but treat myself now and then at TJs compare their red pepper tomato soup. Identical price, packaging, font and photo.
That’s correct. Aldi in Germany was founded by two brothers and they independently ran two businesses Aldi North and Aldi South (one owned stores in northern Germany the other in southern Germany). They decided not to compete with each other and even split up the international market. However, in the USA, Aldi South runs all Aldi stores, while Aldi North owns the Trader Joe’s. The reason why there is no Aldi in California yet is because that is were Trader Joe’s originated from and again the Aldi brothers decided not to compete in their home territories. I think this will change soon, but California likely will be one of the last states to get a real Aldi store.
I am originally from Germany and in Germany, Aldi is the dominating discount grocery store. If Aldi lowers the price for milk by 5 Cents, everyone other grocery store will adjust to it. In Germany, not only financially stressed people go shopping there but also wealthy people who are smart shoppers.
You may be surprised to hear that Walmart tried to do business in Germany, but after about 10 years Walmart went out of business. Why? Because Aldi was cheaper and had better quality products. No one would shop at Walmart which also had a bad reputation for its mainly “made in China” products.
ALDI is gaining in popularity in Georgia where I live. I shop there often and now only buy certain products there. I went to an ALDI where my mother lives and was suprised at the number of organic produce products that they carried. I am very leary of the fish however… But it could just be me.
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I can only speak for the German Aldi but the fish quality especially of the frozen shrimps/king prawns and salmon is of the best you can find. Used the Aldi salmon for sushi several times and never had any problems, neither had the 30 people who ate it over time.
I found this website whilst searching for “Aldi shoe trees” – a bit obscure, but they were selling them here in the UK for £3.99 ($6) back in late 2009 and my wife and I went round 3 different Aldi’s to get enough sets to cover most of our shoes. They keep your shoes in shape better than paper, so you save money in the end. These things are oak, not plastic, and even on e-bay they’ll set you back about 4 times that price, at least.
I first came across Aldi on a short holiday in Germany in 1997 and was astounded at the price of top quality German beer. When they later showed up in Manchester my wife and I had recently taken big cuts in pay due to redundancy and were extremely pleased to find that the tools at Aldi were really very cheap. People who start going to Aldi always begin by wandering round with an amazed look, staring at the price tags and muttering to each other, picking things up and eventually staggering to the till with more items balanced precariously in their arms than they would expect to legitimately carry without sinking through the floor or dropping one or more and causing a traffic accident in the aisle. Then they have to buy a bag or two because they hadn’t actually intended to buy anything at all.
We used Aldi to supplement our shopping at another local supermarket until we realised that this was a mug’s game and that it was cheaper to simply buy all the stuff at Aldi, and laugh at the people in Tesco or Asdfa (Walmart) who think it’s a sign of poverty to shop at Aldi. You get these people all over the world – however, I always get a more expensive instant coffee than Aldi provide, sometimes cutting it with Aldi’s. We have a firm called Home Bargains here for stuff that hasn’t sold very well from big manufacturers, so you can get Douwe Egberts packs for £1 ($1.50), and so on.
We used to use Aldi for the cheapest way to buy somewhat exotic foreign foods, but now we’ve retired we use it almost all of the time. And the booze is about 2/3 or less of the price anywhere else in the UK – but in continental Europe it’s pretty cheap anywhere – you can get a litre of wine of extremely acceptable quality in Italy or Spain for about 1 Euro.
Let’s face it, the British Empire is long gone, the US economy is going down the pan, the Euro is a prison for the people of the European continent. We’re all, except that pesky top few, much more uncertain of the future. Companies like Aldi have been a lifeboat for millions. What they’ll do when the oil and petrol get more expensive is anyone’s guess, though.
Let me say first. I do not go to Aldi primarily because to save money. I go to ALDI to save time. I can park my car right outside with no fear of dings from some thoughtless people’s shopping carts left in the parking lot, buy my groceries quick, as I know where everything is and what I need, pay for the items, put all the groceries in the blue IKEA bag that I have been using for a year or so. load the car, return the cart and go. All in less then 20 minutes. I hate parking in some huge parking lot, walking around in a super center and buying stuff I don’t need, and waiting and waiting to pay at the cashiers. I shopped from ALDI when I was in Germany, and I was happy when they opened a shop nearby. I think the quality of their food is comparable if not better than the goods sold in other markets. I like the fact that some of their items are made in Europe (Italy, Germany, Ireland, England) which would cost arm and a leg to buy these “imported” stuff in other stores. Their wine and beer prices are very reasonable and I find their quality very good. I also noticed that their prices are kept pretty stable, not like the yo-yo pricing in other markets (this is of German mentality I think)
I also like the fact that they pay their workers decent wages…
As a former Aldi employee, I can assure you all of the meat comes from the US. It is all actually National brands. Every single chicken product is Tyson. 70% of all of Aldi’s product is actually National brands repackaged in Aldi packaging. Bread products are Sara Lee. All milk, eggs and produce come from local suppliers. I worked at Aldi a few years ago in college and now that I have a family of my own, I am trying to save as much money as I can. I do not feel that I am substituting quality when shopping there. Maybe it’s because I am a former employee and I know that it is good quality products. Its at least worth a look around the store and try it out just once. the Aldi “experience” is different and definitely not for everyone, but if it can save you money, yet provide you and your family with quality, then it’s at least worth a try. I really have to admit that before I worked at Aldi, I was also to snobby to shop there. I originally thought “im a college student and I can work here for $12 an hour?….yes!” But I started buying some items on break if I forgot my lunch and thought “hey, this isn’t too bad” so I decided I was going to start doing my grocery shopping there. I honestly haven’t been in an aldi in 2 years. My husband is military so we do most of our grocery shopping at the base commissary/ walmart but, we have decided to start shopping at Aldi to put extra savings into our pocket. Every bit helps these days!
Aldi in Australia have an organic and free rage alternative to their normal home brands and they have locally fresh produce such as fruits and veggie. Since I live in Victoria,one of the biggest wine regions in Australia, Yarra Valley is located here therefore most of their selections of wine is local as well.
It is great and my family shops there every week and other food items and necessities are supplemented from Woolworths and Coles.
The three biggest supermarkets in Australia are Coles Woolworths and Alid (in no significant order)
I’d be just as worried about meat coming from the US as from China. Don’t they allow lots of chemicals and growth hormones in US meat that is banned in other countries? Wouldn’t touch it with a barge pole. It always amazes me when people talk about how cheap they can buy chicken in the US, a huge bag of it for $6? Doesn’t it concern anyone why meat could be that cheap? Animal welfare would probably be pretty bad wouldn’t it? I bought an organic chicken on the weekend for $23. I know food is expensive anyway here in Australia but I’d rather not feed my family crap. I just eat meat less often. I And I am another Aldi lover! Great Palazzo chocolate biscuits!
Jane… answer me this: My colleagues from Australia visit my company here in the states and specifically Michigan quite often. Of which all are seasoned travellers and professional men and women with many having outback ranch and even culinary back grounds from Australia; yet all they want to do is go to any store buy up steaks and chicken and throw them on the grill every single day and night! Interesting I wonder why?.hmmmmm
They are absolutely in love with the quantity and quality of store bought and packaged meat here.. When I inquired soem tiem ago, they all said, “…we eat meat anytime we can but the abundance and quality here in the states is tops!…” Soooooo Jane I find your comments on the quality and cost of meat here in the states to be rather flawed. Yes you may find some quality in handling issues now and then, and when you do they are quickly and thoroughly dealt with. Overall American meat (beef, pork poultry and seafood) is the best in the world. Keep buying your $23.00 dollar organic chicken.. If it makes you feel better then do it. You’ll be broke soon doing so.. ( remember organic is a nebulous term, your idea of organic and the farmers and others is different too. Wait I need to take an organic relief of my bodily functions.. I’ll be back…. Ok I’m back…
The biggest reason you need to inquire as to “origin ” of Aldi meat is just that. Where is it coming from. If it’s a product of Mexico or a blend of other countries…run away from it as fast as you can. Until Aldi puts origin (place and time) of the contents on the packaging, I and many others will pass on it.