Shopping at Aldi

[Egdisney]

I am loving our Aldis.. My brother swears by it and I just never believed him but I have been going for about a month... I buy a lot of our kids snacks- crackers, cereal bars, fruit snacks, cereal, waters, yogurt tubes... I have even bought the canned fruit, creamer, sugar, pancakes on a stick, k cups for keirug, trash bags and paper plates... And obviously you can't beat the produce... Now I do still shop at a " regular" store to get meat, laundry stuff and Diapers but I have saved lots since I've been going.. Probably at least 20-30 a week. The milk at our Aldis is $3.70.

Aldi diapers rank right up there with my favorites, give them a try!

 

[kymom99]

I like Aldi. the thing keeping me from going more often is the location. There is not a store in my area. There is one kind of near my work, but still a little out of the way. To go there, I have to plan ahead and can't buy ice cream, etc. as it would melt before I could get it home. I also have to remember my reusable bags.

What I like is their milk, eggs, and buns. They also have good breakfast cakes, etc. I like the fit&active protein meal bars. I think they are better than the other name brands. Millville Cereal is good. I like the frosted mini wheat kind and the one that is like Life cereal.

They have extra large pizzas (not the frozen type) that you bake yourself. They are pretty good and way cheaper than those from Kroger or Meijer. Their produce can be hit or miss. Sometimes strawberries are bruised but bananas are fine. Bagged carrots are cheap as are mushrooms.

I bought a Boston Butt roast last week and made it in the crock pot. It was really good. It was a Hormel brand roast. I have also bought their Appleton Farms ham which is as good as Cooks.

 

[acc82]

another vote for Aldi AND trader joes! I already knew they are owned by the same company and I them both!

Wanna know why produce doens't last as long from aldi?? BECAUSE it's LOCAL!!! Aldi strives to get produce from local farmers thus stimulating the local economy and providing more fresh produce. I'll take that any day over the other stuff. You absolutely cannot beat the price!

The shelf stable items are very comparable to grocery store brands too!! I usually go to trader joes for meat/cheese because i like organics and then go to aldi or packaged products. Howver, aldi has recently started carrying organics as well.

Only downside to aldi? they don't carry as many products as the bigger stores.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

I converted over to mainly aldi shopping about 3 mths ago. I still get meat at Costco. I only go in publix maybe once a month or less now. Our grocery bill has been cut in half! I only spent $520 in April and out grocery category includes pet, paper and hygiene products!!

 

[Redwitch]

I'm a big Aldi shopper. I buy pretty much everything but meat. I just can't get beyond the fact that there is no on site butcher. My daughter laughs at me, I get so mad at the prices when I need something and stop at another grocery store... "What, they want $0.89 for that? I could have bought that at Aldi for $0.59 yesterday!" One of my favorites is the Fit Active yogurt - I think it tastes wonderful and runs me about $0.40.

 

[crisi]

A lot will depend on your location. I'm between two. The one in the nice suburb is fine - the produce does go bad quickly (I usually buy produce at a co-op or farmers market - yes, produce is supposed to go bad - but not within two or three days even when you are buying organic not treated hippie produce) and the meat I've gotten has been not very good - but for some things they are fine.

The inner city Aldis on the other side - they aren't clean. And a grocery store that isn't clean isn't on my list - even for packaged goods.

 

[stasijane]

I wish I shopped there more than I do.

 

[robinb]

I used to feel the same as the OP. Then I realized the produce was the exact same brands as at my local grocery stores and even Costco! Plus, the Aldi's near me even has a small organics section!
Sign me up for strawberries that are half the price .

I don't like the dairy or the meat, but I do buy some canned goods and some frozen foods. I particularly like the frozen berries. I also like some of their snack foods like pita chips.

 

[Astylla]

I miss Aldi's so much. None here locally where we live in California but I also shop Grocery Outlet which people seem to look down on but we always find great things. It's not a crash and dent store as some would call it.

I think it's unfortunate people think the only "good" items can come from a well known chain - Safeway , Kroger , Publix , etc. While I do most of my shopping at Trader Joe's and Safeway it's more due to locations available.

I would love an Aldi in the bay area.

 

[dsneprincess]

I, gasp, have given up shopping in Wegman's and switched over to Aldi's, BJs and Sam's for what I can't get or use bigger quantities of. We don't have a Trader Joe's. I was very resistant to trying Aldi's and most of my neighbors look down on it, even though they have never been there. The biggest sell for me was the Italian bread and bagels with no high fructose corn syrup. This is huge for me as it is very hard to find around here anyways. I get most of my produce at Aldi's, although Target has been priced super and keeps well for me lately. I avoid produce at WalMart. As theirs is the one that always spoils for me. All our Aldi's are busy, clean and turn merchandise quick. Try it, you'll like it, OP!

P.S. I also have great success with their floral purchases!

 

[taymaesmom]

I also love Aldis! I used to only shop at Super Walmart as I hate Krogers and those were our only options in town. But since I discovered Aldis I get the bulk of my groceries there! I love their fancy pasta (what its called in the store) and I LOVE their pork chops, they are the best and sooooo much cheaper. I also really like their toilet paper, we have to use a thinner brand due to bad pipes and theirs is the best.

 

[3happydancers]

Our Aldi's milk is $1.99 a gallon. I love Aldi, their prices are great and most of the stuff we have tried we have been very happy with.

I guess they charge more here on Long Island

 

[EMode]

I guess they charge more here on Long Island

When I saw what others were paying I'm surprised its so low here, its a high COL area.

I'm running up there this morning to stock up on stuff

 

[3happydancers]

When I saw what others were paying I'm surprised its so low here, its a high COL area.

I'm running up there this morning to stock up on stuff

I think it's still cheaper than the local grocery stores (aside from the "Mart" stores), so I'll take it. Still, I'd love to get my milk for 1.99. This week I saw they had cantaloupe for 1.29 each, not too bad as I think our local stores get about 1.99.

 

[amcc]

someone already mentioned bagels without the high fructose corn syrup, but I also find that alot of their foods are better ingredients. Their multigrain tortilla chips are cheap, delicious, and they only have 3 or 4 all-natural ingredients (fine, they're chips, but still!). They have mustards from France, pasta from Italy, spaetzle from Germany, the chocolate for Easter was German and Polish amazing quality for half the price of any at Target. They have jarred salsa that is all-natural, with an ingredient list that you can recognize and understand each item. For the past month, strawberries were $0.99/lb! I buy all my produce there and we eat more produce than ever for less than half the price.

 

[FairestOfThemAll37]

OP here, glad to hear people like the produce at Aldi. That's mainly what is be going for and nuts and seeds.

I pretty much just eat vegetables and meat with small amounts of dairy, nuts, seeds and fruit.

Because I don't want to have to take out a loan for groceries, I do a mix of conventional and organic.

I'll be honest that as much as I'd love to save money on fresh produce I'm not able to force myself up at 6:30 on sat. Morning to drive 20min to the farmers market and fight for parking. Hopefully Aldi can help me out!

I've heard mixed things about the meat and dairy there so I'll probably take a stab at some veggies and hopefully there's good prices on almonds and such!

 

[GFShelley]

They are building an Aldi's two miles away. I was not happy but after reading this thread, I'm looking forward to it! Has anyone had experience with gluten free products at Aldi?

 

[girli565]

They are building an Aldi's two miles away. I was not happy but after reading this thread, I'm looking forward to it! Has anyone had experience with gluten free products at Aldi?

I just saw that they have a new gluten free line, this blog reviews/discusses it. http://smartaldishopper.com/aldi-adds-gluten-free-livegfree-brand/

 

[Dakota731]

I love Aldis but the only negative I found is that the organic produce doesn't seem to taste as good as their regular fruits and veggies? Is that true for all organics at other stores? The organic bananas were tasteless and hard and I found the same thing with the carrots and some other items. I'm puzzled why this would be?

 

[Egdisney]

They are building an Aldi's two miles away. I was not happy but after reading this thread, I'm looking forward to it! Has anyone had experience with gluten free products at Aldi?

I'm addition to the gluten free line they also do a really good job of labeling items so you know if it is gluten free or not.