Aldi is my favorite grocery store. It just keeps getting better and better as far as prices and selection of food offered. I used to have to get half of our groceries at Aldi and the other half at Giant. Now, we are at the point where we barely get anything at Giant.
Here are some tips for visiting an Aldi store near you!
1. Bring a quarter. That's the only way you can get a cart. You get your quarter back when you return the cart.
2. Be prepared to either bring your own bags, purchase bags, or collect empty boxes as you navigate the store so you can put your groceries in them.
We go the "collect boxes" route.
The cats love when we go to Aldi because they get new boxes to play in!
3. Understand that you will be bagging or boxing your own groceries at an area separate from the cashier. This is a good thing. It means the lines go a lot faster. And speaking of lines...
4. Don't be alarmed if the lines are long. The cashiers are FAST. And lots of times they will open another line for a few minutes when it gets crazy. Even if it looks like you will be waiting, awhile you probably won't be.
5. Try to visit the store on any day but a Saturday! It sure gets crazy in there!
6. Think outside the box and be willing to try different brands. You will find some brand name products, but a lot of the products are brands specifically found at Aldi stores. They stand by their products! If you are ever unsatisfied, they have a double guarantee!
This past weekend, Paul and I broke rule #5 and went to Aldi on Saturday afternoon. Let's just say the fact that we didn't punch anyone out or ram them with a shopping cart is a miracle. We got a bunch of random things. Some were staples, like milk, shredded wheat, cheese, etc. Some were just randos... like marshmallows, srichi mustard, and pop tarts.
Here is everything we bought and how much it cost, just to give you an idea! Later on in the post, I will highlight the things that are the best deals as far as the types of things Paul and I eat!
Mixed nuts- 2.79
pepper jack cheese- 1.89
mozzerella cheese- 1.89
mild cheddar cheese- 1.89
shredded cheddar cheese- 3.29
srichi mustard- 1.19
cous cous- .79
frosted shredded wheat- 1.99
cocoa rice cereal- 1.79
crunchy raisin bran cereal- 1.99
cinnamon crunch squares cereal- 1.69
Twizzlers- 1.84
2 texas toast crutons- .99/ea
whole wheat hamburger rolls- 1.39
hot dog potato rolls- 1.39
romaine lettuce- 1.99
pop tarts- 2.65
foil- 1.99
spaghetti sauce- .99
12 pack toilet paper- 4.99
10 pack turkey franks- 1.49
spaghetti- .89
marshmallows- .79
bananas- 1.17
sundae nut cones with caramel middle-
2.49
apple juice- 1.49
jalapeno chips- 1.79
skim milk – 3.28
AA and AAA batteries-
1.99/ea (not pictured)
The grand total....
Okay, now on to some things I think are awesome deals!
Mixed nuts are cheap. I snack on these at work.
They have many varieties of sliced nuts for baking and they are
less expensive than another grocery store.
Spices are 99 cents!
You can't beat these prices for produce!
Their price on Jennie-O's are about $3 cheaper than at another grocery store!
We love to grill these puppies.
Look at all the hummus!
Tell me a store you can find feta and blue cheese crumbles for less.
Brieeeeee!
Why buy your cheese anywhere else?
79 cents for cous cous!!!???
So a bag of these at another store would be at least $2.99
They have many generic cereals, all less than $2.
Ground turkey for $3.29!
One other thing to note: They do have organic produce as well as many gluten free products! Paul and I don't purchase those items but I wanted to let you know about those options because a lot of people are surprised by that! Their produce is just as good as you would find at any other grocery store. Of course the tomatoes I grow in my back yard taste way better than an Aldi tomato, but they would taste better than a Giant or Weis tomato too. So obviously produce from your own backyard or farmers market would probably taste better than Aldi produce. But if you already purchase most of it at a grocery store, Aldi is comparable to that.
ADDITION: PLEASE NOTE, ALDI ONLY ACCEPTS CASH OR DEBIT CARDS! NO CHECKS OR CREDIT CARDS!
Well there you have it, my Ode to Aldi! I hope if you have an Aldi near you, I hope you will consider checking it out!
Have you ever been to Aldi?
Is there an Aldi near you?
Where do you do the majority of your grocery shopping?
I have never been to Aldi. But did you know Aldi owns Trader Joes?
ReplyDeleteI did not know that! Interesting, because I don't really like trader joes. :( I am always like, "Why not Aldi? So much cheaper!"
DeleteI LOVE Aldi. We split our shopping between there and Costco. We had a Bears season opener party this past weekend and EVERYTHING I BOUGHT was from Aldi. Less than $50 for a party hosting 15+!
ReplyDeleteYES!!! I buy all my party food there!!!!! I am glad you are fully aware of the wonder that is ALDI!
DeleteI have never been to an Aldi (that I can remember) and I don't think we have any in Baltimore. If we do I guess they aren't in any areas where I have lived. I have been enjoying going to Trader Joes lately but they still don't have everything, so we usually end up making a trip to a shoppers or target or something too.
ReplyDeleteWhen Paul and I were in Baltimore one night we went to an Aldi! It was the night before one of his surgeries and we had time to kill before he saw his next dr. So we drove prob 15 min away from the hospital to have lunch at a panera and there was an Aldi! We went in because we were like ooooh I wonder if they have different stuff. They had the same stuff my Aldi has. :)
DeleteUghhh I NEED to go to Aldis more! My in laws love it, but the closest one is in a terrible location - lots of traffic. I go to Wegmans, which is definitely expensive. I almost threw up in my mouth when I saw your receipt - $58. FML. My weekly grocery bill is usually triple that. For just myself and my husband. I am totally doing it all wrong.
ReplyDeleteYes, go go go! I understand the sucky location, but maybe if you could get 2 weeks worth at once and stock up, you could go less often. Now obviously the stuff we bought in this trip was a lot of just rando things because we already had a lot of our essentials, but you CAN see that we got an insane amount of food for very little!
DeleteI have memories of the Aldi in my hometown being pretty cool but the one in our neighborhood here was just awful. It was just depressing and gross in there.
ReplyDeleteWe're trying to do more of our grocery shopping at our local natural foods co-op. We can't do all of it there because it'd be too expensive, but the produce can't be beat. For the rest of it we go to the Pick n Save, which I imagine is the equivalent of your Giant.
That makes me sad that your Aldi isn't very good!
DeleteOh, I wish we had a store like that in Colorado. It's awesome. I am all about saving money on groceries since we spend SO much on food (but I am a believer in getting what we want so I know it's gonna be a lot). I do all my non perishable (coffee, tea, gum, etc.) and paper products at Walmart.com. We shop a lot at Sam's for produce, meat, eggs, almond milk and then I fill in w/ our local King Soopers. I don't love going shopping so the online stuff and having Rick always go to Sam's for us is a huge help!
ReplyDeleteShopping can definitely be a chore. That is very smart to do it online. I remember seeing King Soopers which we were in CO. :)
DeleteMemphis has tons of Aldis. For some reason I just do not like it. Maybe because my mom thinks it is the best thing since sliced bread. You know you can never admit your mother is right. LOL Thanks for sharing
ReplyDeletebakingrunner.blogspot.com
Haha yes I know what you mean. :)
DeleteThey must not have them in VA!
ReplyDeleteI really like Aldi too but don't go nearly enough. There is one near my work but I am usually in a hurry to go straight home after work so my "Go to" store is Weis Markets. I like how Weis supports the local farmers in our area!
ReplyDeleteBut I have to say those are awesome prices at Aldis and seeing you share the prices of the stuff you got is making me thinking I really need to make the effort to get there more often. I always thought the produce at Aldi is actually good. MUCH better than Walmart. I don't buy any produce at Walmart anymore cus i've gotten bad stuff there before. Did you know that Walmart gets the produce that does not pass the first round of inspection at Weis? At least in our area that's how it is. Anyway, good post. Sorry my response is so long winded!
Ewww the walmart produce info is gross. I agree I don't like wal mart produce. I do not go to the Weis here because the one near me has HORRIBLE service. I know they must not all be like that, because if they were, they wouldn't be in business anymore! It sucks because Weis is literally the closest grocery store to my house in which I *could* buy the couple things I can't get at aldi- like cat food, litter, a fresh herb or something you know? Like those little weird things you don't get often but don't want to drive 10 min just to get!
DeleteOh, and I also wanted to say that you are right. Those cashiers are super fast. My mom and I would joke that they must be on piece work...lol
ReplyDeleteI would be a great cashier there because I am speedy!
DeleteI do not think we have Aldi here in Canada, but I may be wrong. Definitely not here in Nova Scotia anyway. I wish we did since you get such great deals there!
ReplyDeleteI wonder if there is a Canadian equivalent?
DeleteAfter reading this post a few days ago, I wondered why I hadn't gone to Aldi lately. So today, we went there! The kids each turned in a cart, so with those shiny quarters I'm sure they will want to go back again and see if they can get another quarter!!
ReplyDeleteOOH NICE!!! Glad my post inspired you to go get some deals. :)
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