Can someone give me a quick review of Aldis

[lovewdwdvc]

Their vegetables and fruit are wonderful. They go through them so fast that they are always fresh at our store.

 

[aprilchem]

I buy flour, butter, milk, real maple syrup (best price I can get anywhere), fruits, veggies, and meats there. They have an organic brand there but it's expensive, IMO. If you care about high-fructose corn syrup be forewarned that it's in a lot of their foods, and I've found a few things (puréed pumpkin, for example) that were made in China.

 

[Nina1]

Are you 19 and in college? If so buy everything from there. If you aren't 19 and in college, go to a real grocery store. Your intestines will thank you.

Must agree with this. You get what you pay for, especially when it comes to food.

 

[BadgerGirl84]

Are you 19 and in college? If so buy everything from there. If you aren't 19 and in college, go to a real grocery store. Your intestines will thank you.

I totally disagree.

My grocery budget would allow me to shop anywhere I like, but I buy 90 percent of my groceries at Aldis. I love it there...I can get all my shopping for the week done in about 30 minutes and I save so much money. I have never had an "intestinal issue" from eating their food. I don't eat or buy a ton of processed food...I mostly buy dairy, oatmeal, eggs, some meats (prefer buying meat in bulk at costco) and all my produce there. No issues with their canned goods (beans, tomatoes etc) or baking supplies.

Other than perhaps better quality meats...what exactly have you bought at Aldi that has given you intestinal issues compared to your full price grocery store?

 

[jam217]

I'm a little bit confused as well by the comment about intestinal issues. Everything I've always had from there has been very good. For the last couple of weeks, they had pints of blueberries and quarts of strawberries for .99 cents and they were the same ones selling in the real grocery stories for $2.99 and up. The Organic Valley milk is $3.49 a half gallon. Giant has it for $4.19.

Maybe the two other posters are confusing Aldi's with another store.

 

[leahjade]

Are you 19 and in college? If so buy everything from there. If you aren't 19 and in college, go to a real grocery store. Your intestines will thank you.

Brand name snobs would be very surprised to realize that almost all generic brand products are made by the same big name companies they are spending more for and they are sold cheaper because they are able to save money on packaging and advertising.

 

[BadgerGirl84]

Brand name snobs would be very surprised to realize that almost all generic brand products are made by the same big name companies they are spending more for and they are sold cheaper because they are able to save money on packaging and advertising.

Yes. I usually don't eat cold cereal...especially sugary ones...but I had a craving! Picked up a box of the chocolate and peanut butter puffs. DH scanned the barcode with an app on his phone...matched the product to Reece's Peanut Butter Puffs. So the same exact product at a fraction of the price.

Also, Aldi is a sister store to Trader Joes and Aldi carries many interesting foods depending on the season imported from Germany.

 

[LK4Bama]

We shop there quite often. I buy everything there, from produce, frozen goods, meat, etc. The only thing (like another posted stated), that I haven't liked is the coffee.

 

[kydisneyfans]

Must agree with this. You get what you pay for, especially when it comes to food.

I will have to agree with a few of the others. The price difference between Aldi/Meijer/Kroger is not enough to take me out of my way to shop there. Both Meijer and Kroger double coupons, so name brand is cheaper than Aldi house brand anyway.

Produce prices are good, if it's in stock and you swat enough gnats away to actually get to the produce. Milk prices are inconsistent, 1.99 one week, 2.39 the next, 2.69, 2.49, 2.39, you just never know until you get there. Same with eggs, .89-1.39.

Standing in line behind 8 others since only 1 checkout is open stinks too.

 

[Kae]

Are you 19 and in college? If so buy everything from there. If you aren't 19 and in college, go to a real grocery store. Your intestines will thank you.

So you think that only 19 yr old college kids are the only ones that should shop at Traders Joe's too?

Kae

 

[TravelMommy]

Love, love, love Aldis!!! We LOVE their Fair Trade Coffee, it is excellent. We have had good luck with everything except for a few desserts, just not to our liking.

 

[Kae]

the only thing that i have not really cared for is the Meat Marinades, not alot of flavor.

kae

 

[My2CrazyGirls]

So you think that only 19 yr old college kids are the only ones that should shop at Traders Joe's too?

Kae

Huh? Trader Joes and Aldi are not the same. Trader Joes products do not contain artificial ingredients and Aldi's is full of artificial ingredients. I bought chocolate (made in Europe) from Aldi for Easter because it was not artificial and was unique but I looked at the labels on all their food and would not buy anything else. As far as "brand name" food being the same as Aldi food, it probably is. It is all artificial and we wont eat it. We shop at whole foods, trader joes, costco (need to be careful here). It is unfortunate that most of the food supply is tainted with artificial colors, flavors, preservatives, msg etc. Not to mention pesticides and herbicides. It takes a lot of effort to avoid it.

 

[MonorailNate]

My DMIL shops at Aldi's all the time. We have never eaten anything that she bought that we thought was edible. Most of it is tasteless and IMO lower quality.

 

[captainjen]

Bought my frozen Butterball Turkey at Aldi's for Christmas. A Butterball Turkey is the same product no matter where you buy it. I bought mine at Aldi's because it was 20 cents a pound cheaper and it was the only place that I could find a Turkey over 20 pounds. Have only had Butterball Turkeys for the holidays since I was little and this Turkey was as good as all the rest (delicious !!!)

 

[mnrose]

Trader Joes and Aldis are NOT sister stores, or related in any way in a corporate sense. They WERE started by brothers, who had a falling out many years ago. They have the same basic model (many store brands), but that is the ONLY similarity. For example, I defy you to buy many of the things that TJs sells at Aldis....nice olives, for example, gourmet mustard and spices, etc. It's a common misconception that they are "related." They are not. And, do not have the same suppliers, etc.

That being said, I shop at both stores. I like Aldis for baking "basics" (sugar, canola oil, milk, eggs). I shop at Costco for most things, and fill it at Aldis and TJs as necessary.

Aldi's produce is hit or miss, as others have noted. Sometimes, it's amazing what you get for the money. Other times, it's a definite pass. Also, I concur with prior comments about many of the canned and frozen item, particularly those which are "meals" as opposed to "single ingredients." Their frozen corn, peas, etc, are just fine. The frozen meals are heavily processed, with lots of ingredients I choose not to eat.

 

[reginaastralis]

The only thing we've had from Aldi that we didn't care for was the shells and cheese. My dd loved it, but I didn't think it tasted very great at all.

We haven't bought much meat from there because it hasn't been a great price. I don't know if this is common, but we just started shopping there more recently.

Our produce aisle there is great. Last week, we bought two pints of blueberries, a quart of strawberries, and 2lbs of grapes for .99 each. The strawberries were grown locally. Publix and Sweetbay had the same strawberries for 2.99/quart. we have a very larger, and pretty cheap, fruit stand a little out of the way, and Aldi is always cheaper. We haven't gotten bad produce from them yet, but we use it up quickly. We're probably at Aldi once a week now, because we can get the bulk of our grocery shopping there for a pretty decent price.

 

[BadgerGirl84]

I will have to agree with a few of the others. The price difference between Aldi/Meijer/Kroger is not enough to take me out of my way to shop there. Both Meijer and Kroger double coupons, so name brand is cheaper than Aldi house brand anyway.

Produce prices are good, if it's in stock and you swat enough gnats away to actually get to the produce. Milk prices are inconsistent, 1.99 one week, 2.39 the next, 2.69, 2.49, 2.39, you just never know until you get there. Same with eggs, .89-1.39.

Standing in line behind 8 others since only 1 checkout is open stinks too.

Sounds like you have a poorly managed store near you. I've never seen bugs near the produce at my Aldi's and almost every time the line is more than 3 carts deep, they ring the buzzer for a staff member to open another lane immediately. I typically wait in line much less than the big name grocery store.

 

[laur roo]

Not sure if I read this in any of the previous comments, but don't forget to bring some shopping bags with you. Aldi will put your items back into the cart after they ring you up and you have to bag them yourself after. They always have plenty of counter space to bag the groceries up, but you will have pay for bags there if you forget your own. Sometimes they have empty boxes you can take, but don't count on it.

I almost always shop at Aldi because it really does cut down on cost. I don't see much of a difference in most foods, to me packaged food is packaged food. It doesn't matter if its brand name cereal or Aldi cereal. The only thing I have ever bought there that I didn't like was a prepackaged pork pot roast meal for the crock pot, but that's because I personally didn't care for the seasoning on it.

 

[DisneyCrazyX5]

Love Aldi's
I buy baking supplies, milk (no growth hormones) sour cream, butter, cheese, whole wheat bread, cereal, cream cheese, frozen corn, peas and berries. I buy potatoes, banana, raisins, natural peanut butter, toilet paper, paper towels, sandwich bags, trash bags, I haven't had many problems at all, but just take it bake for a refund if I do. I do go to Kroger for some of our fresh items and meats.