My thoughts on Aldis

[Pegasus]

We finally got an Aldis where I live and DH and I have made several stops there.  I'd enjoy hearing the impressions of other Aldis shoppers.  Here is what I think so far:

 

1. Given the small footprint of the store, they give an unreasonably large percentage of space to junk food, frozen convenience foods, and non-food items.  Why are they selling low-end yard tools and other similar sundries?!? 

 

2. They do have some "wow" prices on items we want to buy, including eggs, which is why we've gone back several times.

 

3. Quality wise, we've found some items we like better than what we'd usually buy from another grocery store.  However, we've also found probably a similar number of items that we've tried and won't get again.  We are maybe averaging 50% satisfaction on the items we buy the first time.

 

4. Their stock is very unreliable.  I understand that the brand name products they sometimes have are special buys.  However, even their own products seem to be on and off.  Each shopping trip is really just for browsing what they happen to have.

 

5. Organization of products is haphazard.  For example, canned pineapple chunks will be on one aisle and canned pineapple slices will be two aisles over.

 

While I appreciate the good prices on some items, I'm not overly impressed.  We'll probably continue to stop there occasionally, when we are already planning to be in the area, but when I need to do serious grocery shopping, I'll head to a store where I know I'll find everything I need.

[KarenNC]

Here they seem to have a rotation of "themes" so Italian food will be featured (I like their jarred pesto), or German, or Mexican, etc. I haven't looked at the rotation closely enough to find a schedule, but it's pretty regular. I don't like their bananas (seem to go from green to black with no intervening yellow), but watermelons are good, and I've had no trouble with squash, cucumbers, mushrooms, etc. The canned chili beans don't have high fructose corn  syrup, which is a plus. They have the best price on lowfat cream cheese in our area.

[marbel]

We shop there a lot.  Dairy products are great and the best price around.  And I'll admit we make use of some of their convenience foods, such as the frozen pizzas.  Their 85% dark chocolate is a staple here too. I can't use it for all my shopping, and it's disappointing to find a great product and have it disappear, but overall I'm really pleased to have one nearby.

 

 

[SpecialClassical]

I agree about the high number of convenience foods. I have noticed, though, that some of the convenience foods have fairly decent ingredients, especially the Asian cuisine. They get people in with the low prices on staples like eggs,milk, and cheese. The yard tools and such are just there to entice people to spend money and make people think they are saving. Some things are worth stopping in for, but it bugs me that I can't get things like whole wheat flour let alone white whole wheat. And I find their quality and pricing on produce is average.

 

As far as the organization of the store, it depends on the manager, I think. The one on the east side of our town was a bit messy and didn't seem real clean. When one opened over here it was nicely organized and with a much cleaner feel. I noticed that manager was always working and was real friendly.. A few months ago in saw him working as a manager at our local Meijer store and now the Aldi's has been reorganized.

 

The best thing about Aldi is that I can go in with my list and leave having spent a lot less than at the local grocery. They even have organic at times. Basically you have to know what you want and ignore the rest.

[redsquirrel]

I live right near one and I never go. I have found their stock to be too unreliable and if they don't have what I need I end up at another store anyway.

 

I am the sort who plans menus and makes lots of my own foods. I buy ingredients, not ready made stuff. My idea of convenience food is boxed pasta. The Aldis in my area doesn't have good fresh produce and doesn't seem to carry the basics (dry beans, flour, baking soda etc) on a regular basis.

 

 

[jeninok]

I buy all of our canned goods like beans and tomatoes there, snacks like.chips.and crackers, and produce. I dont usually get meat, but it isnt that much of a bargain there. We also like their sandwich thin rounds, and their juice has much better ingredients than most for a much better price.

 

Fresh meat and most of our veggies come from Sprouts. It is closer and they have good sales.

[hillfarm]

We have found several things there we like more than the name brand item in other stores. We have also found a few that we don't like as well.

 

In general, we used to shop mostly at a Kroger grocery store. However, their prices eventually cause us to switch our primary grocery shopping to Walmart. Unfortunately, their prices have followed suit and now we do the majority of our grocery shopping at Aldi. There are still a couple of items I go to Walmart to get, and a very few I go to Kroger for. We are very fortunate that the Aldi and Walmart are in the same strip mall and we have to pass the Kroger on the way there.

 

I have learned to work with Aldi's seasonal/rotational products and stock up on those we really like. I think if all the junk food, frozen convenience items and non-food items disappeared, there wouldn't be a huge amount left. But most of it does happen to be the staples that I use frequently, so I just overlook the items I don't want. I do the same at Walmart and Kroger. Both of them also seem to have quite a large amount of junk, convenience and non-food items. Aldi does not have a large variety of selections, but in general, I have found good value for my shopping dollar and will continue to shop there until I find a more cost effective option.

[Laura Corin]

I agree with a lot of what you said, but it nonetheless works for us.  My Aldi is very close to my regular supermarket, however, so I go to both every week.  I visit Aldi first, then top up from the other supermarket.  Even doing it that way, Aldi has had a significant impact on my food bill.  I have tried a lot of things there and I now know what is good.

 

L

[mumto2]

We use Aldi quite a bit. There isn't one near us or we would be there more! About the items in the center,I have no patience but dh looks. Some fabulous bargains can be found cheap...

[Melissa in Australia]

We go there when once a month when we drive the 100km to the town with the shopping center. we buy things like toilet paper, dry pasta, coffee, cheese , butter and bananas for at least half the price in the other shops.

[Tenaj]

I've found myself buying more and more of my groceries at Aldi's over the years.   I generally skip through all the convenience items just like I do at the regular grocery stores :)   All of our dairy, baking supplies (except for oatmeal and whole wheat flour), pasta, canned goods, cheese and probably about half of our produce now come from Aldi's.    I still do not purchase meat there (I usually purchase our chicken and pork at Sam's Club in large quantities and we purchase a side of beef in the winter from friends).  

 

My shopping routine, though, almost always includes a stop at another grocery store (either Meijer or Walmart) on the way home to pick up the things I couldn't get at Aldi's.    It's commonplace to see the same people that you just passed in the aisle at Aldi's when you are going down the aisle in Meijers a fifteen minutes later because it's a habit with so many people.

[sewingmama]

I have tried shopping at Aldi's but had to stop. I developed allergies to at least one item every time I shopped there. The weird thing is I don't have ANY food allergies but everytime I bought food from Aldi's I got terrible hives...to random and different things. The only thing I could think of was they had some preservative in common or something.

[SLT]

We do 95% of our shopping at Aldi. We get more overall than we did at Harris Teeter for less than 50% of the cost. It is great! I will substitute items that Aldi does not have. For example, I made baked Ziti the other day. I typically use ricotta cheese, but Aldi doesn't have it. I remembered that my MIL uses cottage cheese instead, and Aldi has it- so I substituted with that!

I feed my family of three for about $40 a week at Aldi. It is fantastic. Our Aldi has great produce, and is very clean and organized. I also appreciate the convenience foods now and then- you can really save a LOT. We typically purchase the tortilla chips ($1.20) and organic fruit strips ($2.00) at a much cheaper price than any of our other local stores. We are Aldi converts and I have only found ONE item (sliced muenster cheese) that I don't like.

[teachermom2834]

I really like Aldi. The nearest one is 30 minutes away so I have to stop there when I am in the area. I've only found a couple items we buy that aren't cheaper there. For some reason the string cheese there is high. We've been happy with the quality of everything except the dishwashing detergent. They are building one in my town now and I am giddy everytime I drive by and see the progress they are making. I keep telling my family we will not be out of groceries so often once it is built.

 

There is a lot of convenience food. I do have to watch myself because I am not usually one to buy a lot of snacks and convenience foods but I do when I am there. Their convenience foods are actually pretty good and reasonably priced so I am more likely to buy them there. Snacks get me there too. They are inexpensive and often interesting. They might have something like asiago cheese whole wheat tortilla chips for $1.99 or something like that. I tend to pick those things up on impulse. The problem is I go down every aisle in Aldi while I would just skip the snack aisle at another store.

 

The thing they don't carry that we use is worcestershire sauce.

[Haiku]

When I lived in Belgium I shopped at Aldi and it was like shopping in a regular supermarket. Here in the States it's more like an Odd Lots, so I don't go.

[kathkath]

I go there for canned tomatoes, old fashioned oatmeal, and dairy/baking.  Produce is hit or miss, but when it is a hit it is good.  Yesterday they had great pints of blueberries fro $1.50 each, and I've seen them for lots less before too.

[Cinder]

The Aldi near me is decent but I only go about once a month for butter, eggs, produce and chicken broth. Oh, and trash bags, zip bags and chocolate chips.

[flyingiguana]

When I lived in Belgium I shopped at Aldi and it was like shopping in a regular supermarket. Here in the States it's more like an Odd Lots, so I don't go.

 

Exactly.  The one near us mostly carries stuff we'd never eat.  Looking through it all for a couple bargains isn't really worth it.  The produce is always bad -- and a good chunk of what we eat is produce.

 

And even if I do find something, I'll stand in line about 30 minutes at the check out.  That's really not worth saving a bit of money.  I'd get more bang for my buck being at home cooking.  Anyway, if I buy stuff on sale at other stores, the price is pretty similar.

 

The store near us seems to cater to people who have no car (so they can't get to the other stores easily) and who have a very limited food budget (so they'll buy anything as long as it's calories and they can afford it).  I kind of wonder if this has shaped the "mission" of the store.

 

[regentrude]

Our Aldi carries excellent produce. The selection of items is limited, but they always have at least eight kinds of fruits and eight kinds of veggies, and those are very fresh, because of the high turnover. The prices are the best in town.

They also have very good dairy; it is the only place in town where I can buy good cheeses to reasonable prices. A fresh mozzarella costs about 50% of what it costs at Kroegers. The milk they sell is from cows not treated with growth hormone.

 

Their stocking of store brands is very reliable, and I can find those every time I go. Special buys rotate through several times a year; you have to watch for German or Italian week and stock up on those products to last until the next cycle. Seasonal products are, well, seasonal.

 

I buy the majority of our fruit and veggies (unless it is farmers market season and the produce can be grown in our region), dairy, staples like pasta, flour, sugar, milk, canned tomatoes.

 

I do not buy eggs there, because I do not buy any eggs from factory chickens, and I do not buy meat because it is all enhanced with solution.

 

[Berta]

We have an Aldi that is 45 mins away in an area that I never go to, other then to go to Aldi. I make the trip once every 3 months or so, and fill up 2 or 3 carts. I stock up on all my baking basics, canned and dry goods. I have never had a problem with their produce or meats.There are a few items that we have bought and didn't like the taste of, but 90% of what we buy is good. My normal shopping at the local supermarket is basically fill-in's for Aldi doesn't carry. I don't shop weekly though, I have an extensive pantry and we eat from there.

 

I have never looked at their eggs because we have chickens that supply us well.

 

They do not carry generic brands. They are name brand items under an "alias". That is how it was explained to me. The manufacturers put a different label name on their product to sell at Aldi. So their "Berry Hill" peanut butter and jelly could actually be Jiff, Skippy or Smuckers.

[lmrich]

They have the best price and best tasting almond milk. It is super convient for me so I can easily run in weekly. I buy lots of other stuff there too, but I go for the almond milk.

[BarbecueMom]

The low end lawn tools thing was funny to me. When they had those little solar lights that you line a garden bed with, I bought six of them and put them in my front yard. They were $1.49 a piece, work perfectly, and look nice.

 

After Aldi had sold out, my mom went to Lowe's and bought six of them for $4.00 a piece. She ended up having to return three because they didn't work!

[marbel]

Aldi is owned by the same company as Trader Joe's.  Some of the products are probably the same. 

 

We get a kick out of some of the "brand names."  "L'oven Fresh" bread, "Happy Farms" cheese.   By the way, the whole grain breads are pretty good, no hfcs, etc.    At least, we like them when I am not baking bread (which is in the summer). 

[Lady Florida.]

I agree with a lot of what you said, but it nonetheless works for us.  My Aldi is very close to my regular supermarket, however, so I go to both every week.  I visit Aldi first, then top up from the other supermarket.  Even doing it that way, Aldi has had a significant impact on my food bill.  I have tried a lot of things there and I now know what is good.

 

L

I'm across the pond from Laura but this is describes my relationship with Aldi too. I'm fortunate to have Publix, Walmart, Target, and Aldi all within 2 square miles, so I can easily hop from store to store. Aldi is my first stop, then I go to one of the others for what I can't get (or don't like) at Aldi.

 

 

I still do not purchase meat there

I don't care for their meat either.

 

 

In terms of the junk, yes they do have a lot of junk, but so do large stores.  Percentage wise it is probably similar.

I agree. I think it's more noticeable at Aldi because the stores are smaller and don't have fancy displays. If you were to compare Aldi to a large supermarket I think you'll find the processed/convenience/junk foods are equal.

[Serenade]

Our Aldi carries excellent produce. The selection of items is limited, but they always have at least eight kinds of fruits and eight kinds of veggies, and those are very fresh, because of the high turnover. The prices are the best in town.

They also have very good dairy; it is the only place in town where I can buy good cheeses to reasonable prices. A fresh mozzarella costs about 50% of what it costs at Kroegers. The milk they sell is from cows not treated with growth hormone.

 

 

 

 

I second this.  Our Aldi has great produce.  If the location were more convenient to me, I'd buy all my produce there, with the exception of what I can get in-season at the Farmer's Market.

[chiguirre]

I'm lucky that my Aldi is only an extra minute off my drop off/pick up route to GW's school. I go several times a week. I love that I can go in and get milk, OJ, eggs, bread, ham, cheese, bagged lettuce and produce in under 10 minutes. There is no way to do that at Walmart (which is on my route) because of the store size. Aldi does have a lot of prepackaged stuff, but that convenience aisle is very convenient. I can go in, see if they have the dark chocolate/hazel nut bars for $2 (!!!!), get a bag of penguins (strangely yummier than gold fish), get real maple syrup, nuts, cereal, granola and I'm done in less than 5 minutes. Getting all of those items would take at least twice as long in a regular sized store if the kids didn't dawdle, plus we're in the junk food gauntlet for less time so I only end up buying one treat for the kids instead of fielding and rejecting constant requests. The only thing that's really disappointed me is the lack of some categories of cleaning products. They don't carry scrubbing powder or toilet bowl cleaner, which are fairly basic items. They do have Fabuloso and glass cleaner.

[Joyofsixreboot]

My choices are Aldi or Walmart. Aldi has better stuff where I live and better prices so they win.

[AngelaNYC]

My Aldi is about 15 minutes away.  It's where I do the majority of my weekly food shopping.  Almost all my dairy, produce, frozen veg, frozen fish, cereal, coffee, coffee filters, toilet paper, deodorant, tuna, olive oil, mayo, some organics, etc. are all significantly cheaper there.  The only non-frozen meat I like at Aldi is a pack of pork chops for $2.29/lb and their corned beef in March.  The only other meat I like there is frozen - the tube of ground beef, bag of chicken cutlets, and box of turkey burgers are a really good value.  Costco is right next door, so after loading up the car with my Aldi stuff I run in there for some more groceries (eggs, butter, batteries, coconut oil, etc).  And dh does a quick supermarket run on Sundays for good cold cuts, bread, & meat.  I've unit-priced everything and got the weekly shopping trips down to a science, lol.

[LazyDazy]

My understanding is that Aldi only stocks the top selling products based on what other stores are selling, such as the top 200 selling products in the grocery business nationwide. They don't stock any speciality items because they are looking to move product quickly. Their products change as those top products change. Seems like it was something about the manufacturers willing to run an extra amount of their most popular products relabeled as the Aldi brands. (I think this may also be why the stock is not consistent.) You may notice that sometimes you can figure out what the "other" brand is by the shape of the container. This is all based on information I got from a family member who works in food manufacturing.

[Katy]

I cook almost everything from scratch because I'm allergic to wheat and hate onions.  Because of that I buy a lot of our groceries at Aldi's.  I love that Aldi's clearly marks things as gluten free (even though I can eat other glutenous grains, if it's marked gluten free I know it's not contaminated and won't cause me to break out in hives or get breathing issues).

 

Aldi's is fantastic for staples (eggs, dairy, oils, canned goods, salsa, sugar, spices, frozen catfish, frozen fruit, etc). Many of their salad dressings are gluten free.   Fruits and veggies are hit or miss - they often have very inexpensive deals but sometimes they are moldy in the store.  I can often find really cheap prices on fresh flowers or even orchid plants there too.  Many foods there are specifically marked Gluten Free for items that are not gluten free at other stores (chicken), or which are impossible to find gluten free unless you spend four times as much at whole foods (frozen whole turkeys for Thanksgiving - I hate turkey in general but will buy Aldi's smoked turkeys - gluten free and delicious).

 

I love their salsa, I use their Masa to bread things for frying once or twice a month (I make fried catfish and chicken nuggets from scratch).

 

They have special seasonal non-food items that are really inexpensive each week, I just watch the sales flyers to see if I might be interested in any of them.

 

I have no idea why the pineapple was in two different places.  That seems like a mistake.

 

Adding a spoonful of Aldi's storebrand vanilla pudding mix into a vanilla protein shake makes it taste surprisingly like Dairy Queen's Vanilla softserve and is a favorite when I'm on a diet.

 

Their storebrand energy drinks are really inexpensive (my neurologist recommended to drink an energy drink or Mountain Dew with headache medicine- the caffeine helps a lot).

 

I still go to the regular store for name-brand paper products, soda, soy sauce, barbeque sauce, ketchup, varieties of frozen veggies Aldi's doesn't carry, gluten free pasta, gluten free bisquick, whey protein, and loss leader sales.  We also frequent Sam's Club for inexpensive meat purchased in bulk for our deep freeze.

[JadeOrchidSong]

I love my ALDI 1 mile from me. I go oce or twice a week. I respect people who woke at ALDI and will gladly work there myself to help customers save money.

[JadeOrchidSong]

I love my ALDI 1 mile from me. I go oce or twice a week. I respect people who woke at ALDI and will gladly work there myself to help customers save money.

[MyThreeSons]

I don't know how I would have made it through the years of three teen boys without Aldi.

 

Our Aldi is clean, well-organized and well-stocked. The prices are consistent, which is a huge help in budgeting.

 

I don't buy much meat there. The produce is seasonal, of course, but the prices are excellent and the quality is fine. We buy lots of peppers and avocados, as well as Romaine hearts and other salad fixings.

 

Dh goes through tons of bagels and peanut butter. And their Mexican foods section has good stuff at good prices.

[Goldilocks]

I love Aldi!

 

The speed of their checkers is AMAZING!

[beaners]

I like Aldis, but it's the kind of place where you have to know what to expect going into your shopping trip.

 

They do have a lot of snack foods, and it did take me a few trips to "look around" those to the things I actually wanted to buy. "Oh, there are the 17 kinds of breakfast cereal and bars I don't want, and the oatmeal I do!"  We do buy more processed foods when we shop there, but I don't fret much over that because the rest of the time we eat beans and rice. I've been able to purchase a lot of items I already planned to buy from their non-grocery items in the past, so that doesn't really bother me either.

 

Their milk prices are the best we've seen around here.  I don't know if OH is a state with a minimum milk price, but I know PA was.  Here in OH we buy a few gallons at a time and freeze them when the price is good.  It was 1.88 a gallon last week!

 

If things aren't out on the floor, that means either A) they were only available for a limited time, B) someone didn't pull the pallets out of the back, or C) the warehouses messed up their ordering.  I don't know how much things have changed in the last couple years, but I do know their managers don't have the kind of power managers normally do.  They've actually been sued before because they pay their managers salary although they didn't meet the legal wage definitions such as controlling hiring and firing or consistently supervising multiple people.  

 

All in all, they're worth it for the way we shop, but they aren't worth it for everyone.  

[LNC]

Our Aldi and Tjs are down the street from eachother. I buy 95% staples at aldi, no convenience etc tortilla cnips and animal crackes. I go to Target for the few things on my list they don't have, dried bean varieties etc. Sams for chicken breast and beef.

 

Our long term goal is to buy 1/4 grass fed beef and better chicken. Also switch to dirty dozen organic produce.

[MyThreeSons]

A little pet peeve: it is Aldi, not Aldis or Aldi's. We don't say Walmart's or Safeway's or Bi-lo's, so why do so many people want to throw that "s" on there?

[beaners]

A little pet peeve: it is Aldi, not Aldis or Aldi's. We don't say Walmart's or Safeway's or Bi-lo's, so why do so many people want to throw that "s" on there?

 

It's regional, I believe.  Where I grew up, we add an "s" to lots of thing. JC Penney was called "Penneys."

[Haiku]

It's regional, I believe.  Where I grew up, we add an "s" to lots of thing. JC Penney was called "Penneys."

 

Yup. People around here shop at Krogers, Meijers, and Penneys. It's just how people talk.

 

But I understand. I hate the words "tween" and "rising."

 

Actually, my son and I were talking about "tween" yesterday. He said he likes it because he's "between" single-digits and teen. He said "pre-teen" sounds boring. :D

[Cinder]

Actually, my son and I were talking about "tween" yesterday. He said he likes it because he's "between" single-digits and teen. He said "pre-teen" sounds boring. :D

 

Funny, ds and I were also talking yesterday about how we both hate the word "tween."

[Hwin]

There is enough in the store to make it worth a trip, but for specific items. I don't usually buy ALL of my groceries there, although when we're flat broke I'm grateful to be able to.

[MyThreeSons]

It's regional, I believe.  Where I grew up, we add an "s" to lots of thing. JC Penney was called "Penneys."

 

Ahhh ... but for a while, anyway, at least some JCPenney stores actually had a logo/sign that said "Penneys".

 

(link removed)

 

 

And if you scroll down in this article, you will see a summary of the official company logos over the years:

 

(link removed)

Edited September 18, 2014 by MyThreeSons

[Hwin]

A little pet peeve: it is Aldi, not Aldis or Aldi's. We don't say Walmart's or Safeway's or Bi-lo's, so why do so many people want to throw that "s" on there?

 

Oh, there are people who say Walmarts.  :tongue_smilie:

[MyThreeSons]

Yup. People around here shop at Krogers, Meijers, and Penneys. It's just how people talk.

We don't have Kroger or Meijer around here. It seems that whenever I've read about them, I've always seen the "s".

[Laura Corin]

Shops that end with a vowel (or do in the local accent) grow an 's' in Britain: Tescos, Marks and Spencers, Aldis, Asdas.  I think it's actually a possessive, left over from 'So-and-so's shop'.

 

L

[Jennifer3141]

Does Aldis ever have anything that is organic and/or locally produced? I get that their prices on milk are good but ethically, I cannot buy CAFO milk for my family.

[SpecialClassical]

Our Aldi has carried some organic processed food, but not any staples or produce that I've noticed.

[chepyl]

I can shop for a week's worth of groceries in under 30 minutes, with three kids, and spend less that $100. I cannot walk out of walmart spending less than $100 and I still won't have enough food for a week.

 

I don't buy everything there. I get ground beef, frozen chicken, whole chicken, pork tenderloin, hams, and whatever the meat special is for the week. The usually carry ground chicken, no one else does. They always have all the ingredients for lasagna :)

 

I buy all of our canned goods there. They are significantly cheaper than Walmart and Target.

 

I have had good luck with produce, cheese, milk, eggs, sausage, bacon, etc. They don't always have the same produce, I go in knowing we will eat what they have. If I need something they don't have (cilantro, parsley, etc then I make a quick run in walmart.)

 

The 2 I have been to always have a full stock of baking needs, with the exception of whole wheat flour. I only use that for bread, cakes and cookies, etc - the white flour is fine.

 

They have some GREAT candy! I cannot wait for truffles at Christmas!

 

I don' t buy cereal there. We don't like most of the crackers - the animal crackers, however, are amazing!!

 

The frozen and fresh pizzas are good for quick and easy meals. I am not a fan of the frozen dinners and kids don't like the chicken nuggets. But, we don't buy that stuff as much since we started going there. We have been eating more homemade and less processed.

 

LOVE the money we save!

[marbel]

Does Aldis ever have anything that is organic and/or locally produced? I get that their prices on milk are good but ethically, I cannot buy CAFO milk for my family.

 

What is CAFO milk?  The milk says there are no growth hormones used; is that the same thing?  I'm guessing not.

 

They do sometimes have organic dairy products and local/organic  produce; I know I've bought organic butter there but not sure about milk.

[Haiku]

What is CAFO milk?  

 

CAFO means "concentrated animal feeding operation," and it basically means a factory farm.

 

Unfortunately, buying organic milk does not ensure that the milk is not from a CAFO. Organic only means no antibiotics or growth hormones; it doesn't have anything to do with the conditions of the animals.

 

I read enough articles about "organic" dairy still coming from nasty places that I finally, after 15 years of vegetarianism, went vegan.