What do you think of Aldi?

[towsonmama]

There's an Aldi store about half an hour from my house. What do you all think of it? Do they carry organic items? Is it worth it to travel that far? (I usually do all of my shopping at Trader Joe's.)

[techno_dara]

I like Aldi. They do not have many if any organic options. Aldi is primarily a basic staples store. They carry mainly their generic brand of basic food stuffs. Milk, eggs, cheese, ceral, rice, canned veg, soups, etc. Its a no frills type of store. Everything is sold from the pallets/cases/flats it came in and you bag your own groceries. If you want to buy mostly or a lot of organic, Aldi is not the place for you. If you want cheap, basic groceries, give it a shot. HTH

[towsonmama]

That does help. Will I recognize their brand easily?

[Mama2CarolineLydia]

Pretty much everything in the store has their brand label on it. There is a small selection of name brand items, but I've not seen organics there. Aldi is owned by the same parent company as Trader Joe's, but it's definitely the no-frills, basic leg of the company. I operate on a $75/week grocery budget for my family of 4, so I do get some staples from Aldi from time to time--the things I deem as "of lesser importance" to get organic--canned goods, baking goods, occasionally some of our produce. They do have good prices on milk, eggs, bread too, but I go to the bread outlet by my house for our bread and have Oberweis delivery for our dairy/eggs.

[vickjul]

They do have some non-store-branded items, but those are few are far between. That said, my parents get at least half their produce there as well as a number of canned goods.

[Caneel]

No organic or natural foods in our Aldi. The produce prices are really good, especially the fruit. Unfortunately, it is out of my way and I don't visit very often.

[EFmom]

I don't get there as much as I'd like to because it's a bit of a trip, but I like Aldi's. They are great for things like frozen vegetables, canned goods, baking supplies, laundry detergent, cat litter, crackers, etc. Mine doesn't have a huge produce selection, but the bananas, for example, are fine and cost $.29/lb instead of at least $.59/lb which is what my grocery store wants.

I've noticed that while individual items are priced lower, they are often much bigger than the same item at the grocery store, and so are an even better deal. Thus, a bag of dried beans is $.89, but it's a two pound bag v. the normal one pound for $.99.

What would be ideal, in my case, would be to hit Aldi's and then pick up the remaining stuff at a regular store every week.

They sell chocolate in gigantic bars that is to die for.

[Semi_Crunchy]

They also offer a double guarantee. So if you're unhappy with something, they'll replace the item and refund your money back.

[carolm22117]

I like Aldis. I'd never,ever be able to feed 3 teenage boys on our budget w/o it. It's not organic, but it is alot cheaper than anywhere else.

[RolliePollie]

I like Aldi. They are a must for cheese. Shredded cheese, string cheese and block cheese. Oh, and their mexican melting cheeses. We are addicted to cheese and Aldi is merely an enabler.

[sabrinat]

I love Aldi's. It's helped me slice our grocery budget, but I also am not married to buying all organic so I find that I can get about 70% of our groceries there.

[wonderwahine]

I hate it, both the locations near us the meat smells rotten, the produce is always bad, the store is always a mess, to the point where you cant even walk through theisles, the store smells, the dairy I wouldnt trust, I saw a carton of eggs sitting on their shelf that expired the week before. Any food we have got from them hasn't tasted great, so to me its just not worth it, especially since my local meijers and walmart are cheaper and have better food.

[Purplehaze]

I like Aldi

I shop there weekly. My food budget is, at times very low. We have been pleased with most of what we have gotten there. That said, I don't buy a lot of their "fresh meat" tho we do fine with most of the frozen (don't care for the ground turkey- each time I get it, there seem to be odd "bits" in it...) but I get the bread, the milk, eggs, the cheese, fruits, veggies, dried beans, rice, pasta.... I also buy things liks dish powder, ziploc baggies, plain yogurt and the occasional treats like onion rings, ice cream sandwiches, chips, and yes, the chocolate ....

The down sides are- they don't take WIC, you have to pay $.25 for a cart and you have to bring your own bags. We also can't seem to use their Astra laundry detergent- it made us itchy.

So, like I said, I shop Aldi weekly and then about once a month we go to BJs and then once or twice a month we shop for sales meats at Price Chopper. If I lived far from Aldi, i would think a once a month trip might still be worth it but you would have to figure what it costs you in gas....

[cappuccinosmom]

Ours is great. I think the stores vary according to management, because I have been inside some very poorly run Aldis.

But ours is clean and well organized. My only issue is that they *never* have enough cashiers. THere have been times when the line stretched all the way to the back of the store.

We don't mind buying non-organic, so I get most of my produce, cheese, eggs, frozen veggies, etc from them. I've never had a problem with the quality.

[AngelBee]

I may start shopping there. They are newer in our area.

[LokiPuck]

We had one open about 30 min away from us. I went during the grand opening b/c they had milk really cheap then. I was very underwhelmed. Our didn't have much in the way of fresh produce and that was overpriced. There were no non-store brands either. That and the cart attendant and some fried of theirs were SMOKING when I got our cart and I had to walk through a cloud of ciggarette smoke.

I haven't gone back since.

[shayinme]

Originally Posted by LokiPuck

We had one open about 30 min away from us. I went during the grand opening b/c they had milk really cheap then. I was very underwhelmed. Our didn't have much in the way of fresh produce and that was overpriced. There were no non-store brands either. That and the cart attendant and some fried of theirs were SMOKING when I got our cart and I had to walk through a cloud of ciggarette smoke.

I haven't gone back since.

Just wanted to say that as a rule in my experience all Aldi sells is house brands, I haven't been to one in 6 years but back then it was rare to see name brand stuff. Also it was not a place at that time you'd get fresh produce, it was however great for staples such as butter, milk, flour, canned goods, etc.

Shay

[2babybees]

Aldi's has helped me make it through some really bad budget times. I get all of our staples there. I am not a huge organic shopper because of budget issues. I can get whole oats, beans, tortillas, milk, eggs, bread, etc etc for much less than most of our grocery stores. Their frozen ground turkey for $.99/lb is a big staple in our diet. The produce section can be hit or miss but I always start with my grocery list there first. I like that the store is small. With 2 kids alone in a store I can get everything I need and be out in a reasonable amount of time. Plus with less selection there is less impulse buying. Our stores are clean, the staff is friendly. You see all walks of life shopping there. I like it.

[organicmommy]

For a while my budget was quite low and we would get most all of our stuff there. The milk and eggs are some of teh best prices in my area. The one in my area now carries a lot of meats and cheeses and I try to catch the meat when its on sale. I have been able to stock my freezer with the 2.00 off meats and save a great deal on it.
That said there are things that I don't find to be as good, but we just don't get those anymore. Ours has specials each week that tend to be name brand and some are actually good deals others not so much.
Its a good store in my opinion to get your staples and save a bit to be able to stretch your budget.

Hugs
Jessica

[Stone Fence]

Aldi's brand

Some of their stuff is organic. Blue corn tortilla chips to start. I'm sure there is more.

On the other hand their flour is bleached.

For treats their chocolate is awesome!