What do you think of Aldi? - Page 3

[sabrinat]

Originally Posted by wonderwahine

I see nearly everyone on this thread say that it helps your tight budget. IME thats tottaly false with aldi, I keep a price book, and my local meijers was cheaper on alot of the staples, and extremely cheaper on alot of items and they were higher quality than the aldis brand.

Meijers is regional. There is no store in my area that on their regular prices are less than Aldi's. I can watch sales and maybe catch the occasional bargain, but for staples I can't beat the prices at Aldi's.

[phathui5]

If you go to the location in Essex, you'll also be near the Village thrift and a homeschooling consignment store.

[janerose]

Fans of Aldis may find this site interesting:
http://www.momadvice.com/food/aldi_meal_plan.aspx

I do like our local store. It is clean, the staff is fine. The lines can be long, but not really that much worse than other stores. Mine will just use the cart you're using if you tell them to. Oddly I don't go there a lot though. They are slightly out of our way & if I go to Walmart/Sams I can use the big Sams carts that seat two kids. My grandparents do probably 90% of their shopping there & the $1 store and have for the past 10 years or so. They are 88 & 92, so their food can't be that bad for you!

I agree that produce is hit or miss. Hadn't thought of asking which day their shipment comes in. I'll try that! We do try to do organic as much as the budget allows, but when you have to go conventional Aldi does have some good deals.

[MidwifeErika]

I really like Aldi. The times that things have been really tight we have been able to feed our family for under $30 for the whole week. I like their pasta sauce, but it does have HFCS in it, so I feel like I should hate it. We usually buy things like canned goods, tortillas, pasta sauce, whole chicken, butter, brick cheese, potato chips, cereal, oatmeal, and sometimes produce there. I don't depend on their produce, but I do always stop to see if anything looks good. Usually the onions, bananas potatoes, and apples are fine.... sometimes they have other produce that looks really excellent too and then we buy that as well.

I like the fact that it is no-frills and small. I like that I have to bring my own bags. I also had read that they pay their employees really well, so I also like that. I do not always enjoy the fact that there are NEVER enough cashiers and there is ALWAYS a huge line, but I just plan ahead for that fact.

I hadn't noticed the ground turkey, I think I will have to look for that next time.

[dharmamama]

I shopped at Aldi a few times a few years ago. I gave it up because I found that, in general, the quality of their food is really low. They use all kinds of fillers and additives in their packaged food, and their produce is generally going bad right there in the store.

If you have a Save A Lot near you, I'd recommend them. The stores are cleaner and brighter and the food is of better quality. Plus, they sell name brands of things as well as their house brand, and their prices are competitive with Aldi.

I always used to feel kind-of dirty when I shopped at Aldi because it had such a slapped-together feel. SAL was much nicer and felt more like a real grocery.

However, I now do my shopping at Trader Joe's. I spend more, yes, but the quality of the food is much, much better.

Interestingly, when I lived in Belgium, everyone shopped at Aldi, and the stores were way, way nicer than the American Aldis.

dm

[MamaRBH]

Aldi just opened down the road from me.

I was hesitant to go in, but was suprised when I got there to find not only the cheaper groceries, but also household and other items.

I am put off by the dis-organized layout and it's often a mess.

But I can overlook those things to save $$.

[Nursingnaturalmom]

Aldi and Trader Joes are actually owned by the same family. They are brothers

[llamalluv]

I love Aldi's! If I was going to leave my husband for an inanimate object, it would be an Aldi's.

I can feed me and hubby for about $35-40/week, without clipping coupons, shopping "sales", and dealing with the hassles of produce sections that feel the need to put onions in 47 different locations.

They have really ramped up their "light and fit" line just in the last year. I am now able to buy brown rice, whole grain bread, whole wheat pasta, frozen fruit, lean meats, etc. They carry almost exclusively "conventional" foods (not "organic") but my husband's father is a conventional grain farmer, so DH isn't really sold on the benefits of organic.

The fresh produce is really not as great as that of the "fancy" grocery store, but do I really need Star Fruit in January? No. The in season fruits I find are as good or better than the ones at Jewel - like summer cantaloupes. YUM! I can also get WHOLE pineapples there for $1 each during the summer, which is WAY better than the price that Jewel charges for 4 oz of sliced fresh pineapple ($2.99!) or their own whole pineapples ($1.99/#!)

Another thing that I really like is that they are able to give me low prices, but pay their employees decent wages. Cashiers start at over $12.50/hour - my last job offer as an Accounts Payable clerk (which required college education) was at $11.00/hour!

[towsonmama]

Originally Posted by Nursingnaturalmom

Aldi and Trader Joes are actually owned by the same family. They are brothers

I know I shouldn't be surprised by that, but I am. The world is so much more conglomerized (is that a word?) than I imagine it to be in my happy-place head.

[EFmom]

Originally Posted by llamalluv

I love Aldi's! If I was going to leave my husband for an inanimate object, it would be an Aldi's.

This would make an excellent supermarket tabloid headline.

[MamaPam]

I started reading the thread and wondered if we had an Aldi's anywhere near us. Turns out there is one quite close just not somewhere we go by regularly. I guess it doesn't hurt to check it out. We don't by all organics so if some staple items are cheap enough to justify a trip to a different store we might consider it. We also have a Meijers here which has been the cheapest I have found over all. We also like their organic line. I can usually buy their organic brand for the same or less than the conventional name brand.

If you try Aldis make sure you use a pricebook or something to make sure it really is cheaper than an alternative store.