cheap groceries at aldi

(note: i totally cut and pasted this post from my other blog. yes, i'm that lazy.)

last month, jenny over at recycled bin wrote a post extolling the virtues of aldi, which i have been hearing about a lot lately. i was curious but had heard all these rumors of how it was so tricky to shop at aldi... you have to pay for your own cart, you don't bag your groceries at the checkout, they don't take credit cards, etc. i was fascinated but scared.

enter here... if you dare

lucky for me, i met jenny recently and she offered to take me on a tour. (totally unrelated, jenny has an awesome blog which just today was announced as the cincinnati women bloggers blog of the week so you should totally check her blog out.) anyway i obviously was happy to take her up on the offer.

in case you have never heard of aldi, or don't know much about it, here is some info from wikipedia:

ALDI, short for "ALbrecht DIscount", is a discount supermarket chain based in Germany...The Albrecht brothers also rigorously removed merchandise that did not sell from their shelves, and cut costs by not advertising, not selling fresh produce, and keeping the size of their retail outlets as small as possible... Aldi until recently accepted only cash... Debit cards are also accepted in the USA...

Aldi specializes in staple items such as food, beverages, toilet roll, sanitary articles and other inexpensive household items. Many of its products are own-brand labeled, with the number of outside brands being very limited, usually no more than two different brands for one kind of product and often only one. This increases the numbers of sales for each article and also allows Aldi stores to be smaller than supermarkets which cover the same range of products but with more diversity... Although not always available, but regularly put up for sale are clothing, toys, flowers, gifts. Specials are only available in strictly limited quantities and for a limited time frame (one week)...

Aldi's "strictly no frills" approach is evident for instance in that Aldi stores do not decorate aisles — or even fill shelves for that matter: pallets of the products on offer are parked alongside the aisles, and customers picking up products will gradually empty them...

These and other cost-cutting strategies save Aldi money and the general price level in Aldi stores shows that most of these savings are passed directly on to consumers. Aldi has carved its own niche with this approach; while some shoppers may not like shopping in a bland or industrial-looking (and possibly congested) store, such lack of frills has become part of the accepted norm with Aldi...

Once products have been scanned, they are put directly in the shopping cart, which has a special dock on the counter for this purpose...the customer is expected to bag groceries away from the cash-desk... In many countries, including most of Europe, the US, and Australia, Aldi does not provide free plastic shopping bags. Instead the customer can purchase various types of plastic/reusable bags at the checkout to cart the goods out of the store. Aldi encourages customers to bring their own bags.

i hope you read carefully because there will be a quiz later.

anyway, cheap + delicious? i was in. saturday was the big day and we met at the store in pleasant ridge. first things first, we went to the carts. what you do is take a quarter, stick it into the cart lock, and your cart pops out. then when you return your cart you get your quarter back. it's free in the end and there are no carts anywhere in the parking lot. brilliant!

the grocery cart locking contraption

we got inside and started looking around. jenny recommended certain items including the wine, aldi's own winking owl brand ($3.39 a bottle, jenny recommends the chardonnay and merlot) and the fit and active brand dried snacks (also aldi's own brand, $1.39 for a package). ghirardelli brownie mix was on special for like $2/box or something. jenny found toblerones for $1.49.

starting the tour

i would like to note that nothing was wrong with any of these products. they were not expired or broken or stale. there were some cans which had small dents in them so if you are worried about whatever that illness is that you can get from dented cans, then i guess don't buy those. but everything else seemed to be in perfect condition.

3 buck... cluck?

there were all kinds of interesting finds. frozen bison burgers (4 for $6 i think), yogurt, patio furniture, lots of different frozen fish varieties, and some pretty damn good looking produce (we are guessing that they get their produce shipment in on friday or saturday). we each got a quart of strawberries... they were $1 each and i am still eating them and they are sweet and delicious. i found a 16 oz. bottle of extra virgin olive oil for $4.99.

nellie's dryer balls: $18 at park + vine, $6.99 at aldi

this place is a deal. that's all there is to it. yes, you may have to be adventurous and try brands you have never heard of. but you will be rewarded. there is no way you can leave this store without finding something good. and you can feel free to experiment and try things since everything is so damn cheap.

time for checkout. what you do is go up to the register. they ring you up and place everything back in your cart. you must pay with either cash or debit card (but only if it has a pin). then you take your cart over to the counter and bag your groceries yourself. we brought our own bags, but they will sell you bags if you don't have any.

check. it. out.

i have heard mixed reviews about aldi stores (they're dirty, they have terrible selection, everything is rotten) but that is not the case at least with the pleasant ridge location. i had a great time and my total damage was $23. i got:

• a quart of strawberries
• a bottle of wine
• a box of ghirardelli brownie mix
• a yellow pepper
• a red pepper
• a 75 foot roll of aluminum foil
• a big bottle of extra virgin olive oil
• a box of spaghetti
• a tub of roasted red pepper hummus
  
• probably one or two other things i am forgetting

that is a bargain. i highly recommend you get your ass to aldi as soon as possible. you won't find everything you need but you can spend the cash you save on some extra goodies at the more expensive stores.