Talk to me about Aldi

[Jen in PA]

#1 reason to shop at Aldi

 

Holiday Chocolates!

 

:iagree:

 

I feel about the holiday foods at ALDI the way my kids feel about toy stores. So many nice imported chocolates/cookies/cheeses!

[melissad2]

We love our Aldi in Greenville! Especially at Christmastime - I stock up on ground ginger, 5-6 jars to last throughout the year. Their spices are about $1 a jar.

 

Our grocery bill is much cheaper at Aldi's, compared to Walmart or Bi-lo.

 

Aldi's does not accept manufacturer's coupons. **

 

I'm in Anderson!

[abacus2]

so I bought a box of saltines for 89 cents, which I considered to be suspiciously cheap, since I usually pay close to $4.00 a box for our regular brand -- and come to think of it, those saltines from Aldi were GOOD. :)

 

 

This is the beauty of Aldi. Not only are their brands surprisingly good, they are actually a lot cheaper than the name brands in the regular grocery store. I rarely buy generics at the regular grocery store because typically it's cheaper to wait for the name brand to be on sale.

 

I love Aldi's sliced swiss cheese. It is better than the name brands and less expensive, yay! Their produce prices are sometimes decent, but sometimes unbelievably amazing. I always buy onions there.

 

I never buy bags anymore. I just use one of their extra boxes.

[Lisbeth]

Maybe I'm the odd person out, but I went into an Aldi exactly once, and was extremely unimpressed. It looked very no-frills, and there were almost no name brands sold there whatsoever.

 

It seemed very cut-rate and my dh even said, "Why would anyone shop here?"

 

Maybe other Aldi stores are nicer than the one we visited -- I was expecting a large, nice store, and this place was TINY for a grocery store, and although it was clean, I was hesitant to buy off-brand food. I didn't pay much attention to the produce or dairy, though, so I can't comment on those.

 

Agree, especially since I can hardcore coupon and get name brand items for next to nothing.

[LizzyBee]

I *think* they are owned by the same company as Trader Joe's? We buy almost all of our produce there, all canned stuff, and all dairy. Their meat is not that great of a deal, although they did have chicken breasts for $1.69 last week. In the summer I buy tons of seasonal fruit and freeze it, their peaches were so good this year!

 

I've heard too that they're owned by the same group as Trader Joe's.

 

Around here, Aldi's is the best place to get good quality, affordable meat (unless you're looking for organic, grass-fed meat). Their produce is even cheaper than Walmart, but the quality is as good as the more upscale grocery stores (Lowes, Harris Teeter), except bananas and tomatoes because they put them in plastic bags! We buy their milk because my research found that the suppliers they use do not give their cows hormones, and it is not ultrapasteurized. Also, their Fage Greek yogurt is way cheaper than elsewhere.

 

The funny thing about Aldi is that previous threads have stated that their products are the same brands found in other stores, but with different labeling; I think one of the women who posted that said that her husband works for Aldi. With most of the products, you can tell which brand by the similarity of the labeling. Of everything we've tried, nothing has been awful. I think we got some spaghetti sauce that I didn't like because it was too sweet; I really don't get why commercial spaghetti sauces have sugar added. We usually make our own from tomato sauce with no additives. My dh likes their coffee, but I don't. We like some of their cereal but not others. I don't eat much cereal and I wish my family wouldn't, either; but my dh buys it because he thinks that what "normal" people eat for breakfast.

 

The first time I went to Aldi's, I was not impressed and didn't go back for probably two years. Now we shop there all the time and I can't figure out why I didn't start shopping there sooner. I like Trader Joe's for certain products, but overall we buy more at Aldi's than TJ's. We also buy some things from Costco, but the meat at Aldi's is about the same price, and it comes in family size instead of bulk packages, so it's more convenient.

Edited October 9, 2012 by LizzyBee

[Jenny in Florida]

It's true that many of the generics are made by the same manufacturers as the name brand products, but it's also true that they are often using lesser quality ingredients, like a lower grade of vegetables in the canned vegetables, or fewer raisins in the cereal, or fewer chocolate chips in the cookies.

 

Well, see, I don't buy any of the things you mentioned. No canned veggies (we use fresh or frozen) except tomatoes. I can't remember the last time I bought a box of cold cereal. (Wait. Yes, I can. My daughter was a toddler, and I used to buy Barbara's organic stuff for snacks when we were on the road.) I almost never buy boxed/prepared sweet stuff or baked goods, both because we're vegan and because I make my own.

 

I buy mostly single- or few-ingredient items such as canned tomato paste. I want only the kind without salt or sugar, and Aldi's brand has "tomatoes" as its only ingredient. A banana is a banana, and Aldi has them for half the price of the local grocery stores. Salt is salt. A bag of dried beans is a bag of dried beans. Unflavored, old fashioned oatmeal is exactly the same thing whether it say"Quaker Oats" or "No-Frills." So, the label is of no consequence at all to me, and the quality never suffers.

Edited October 10, 2012 by Jenny in Florida