Review: Aldi Grocery Store
Great Value
When you are trying to feed a family of five, money can get pretty tight. How do you make the most of your dollars? Where do you get the best value?
While, Wal-Mart has great values, I always end up spending a lot more than I intended on stuff I don't need. So, now I do most of my shopping at a little store called Aldi. Aldi is an international grocery store with a specialized assortment of private label products. So, how is the shopping experience at Aldi? I'll share my shopping experience Sunday with you to give you an idea of what to expect.
First thing you need to begin any shopping experience is a shopping cart. At Aldi, the carts are located outside the store and you will find them chained to each other. To retrieve a basket, you must have a quarter. Simply put the quarter in the slot, and the chain releases.
When you walk through the door of the store you will be welcomed by aisles of values. In our local store, you will find the national brand savings first. These include Splenda, Pringles, as well as many other brands. After you get beyond this initial section, you come into Aldi's specialty products.
Aldi's vegetables, Happy Harvest, are as high quality as their national counterparts. Their brand of Mexican products, La Mas Rica, is very good. I even like the diced tomatoes and green chilies better than Rotel! Even their Bonanza potato chips are pretty good.
They also have their own line of light products called Fit 'n Active. In this line, you can buy everything from light mayonnaise, yogurt, even ice cream. Speaking of ice cream, one of my favorite Fit 'n Active products is the ice cream sandwiches. They taste every bit as good as the Skinny Cow ones, but are a fraction of the price.
Aldi also boasts a decent selection of fresh fruits and vegetables. You can get bananas, apples, grapes, cucumbers, lettuce, tomatoes, and potatoes. I even saw pineapples in there Sunday!
When you reach the checkout, you will have to purchase bags to put your groceries in. If you are willing to use the old fashion paper bags, you can get them for only 5 cents each. If you'd like some heavy duty large plastic bags, you can get those for 10 cents. You will have to bag your own groceries too. Then once you take your groceries to your car, you will have to return the cart to retrieve your quarter. While these things can be daunting, they are what keeps Aldi's prices low.
I was able to get a weeks worth of groceries for a family of five for $40 this week. Beats the $90 or so I would have spent at Wal-Mart. So, for the extra savings I will bag my groceries and return my cart.
Published by Wendy King
After working 10yrs in Pediatrics as a medical assistant, I became a stay at home mom in 2002. I have 3 beautiful children. Two of my children have autism. View profile
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- Aldi is an international grocery store with a specialized assortment of private label products.
- When you reach the checkout, you will have to purchase bags to put your groceries in.
- I was able to get a weeks worth of groceries for a family of five for $40 this week.
27 Comments
Post a CommentIf you want to be treated lik a king, find a Million products you don't need or want, run through a store with 150' aisles, have things bagged and brought to the car , don't go to Aldi. If you're interested in good basic products and some specials, don't need a greeter, pay cash or debit and want to enjoy huge savings (try Milk at .99 or a dozen eggs @ .49 ) then do go. Aldi never claims to offer the ultimate shoppiung experience. They offer good prices kept low by not having greeters, baggers, cart retrievers , not acceptig credit cards and fancy shelves in "faux wood" finish. People complaing about "rudeness/ probably just missed being spoiled and did not undterstand Aldi's successful concept. Take it or leave it. I don't care if they smile when I buy my basic there.
I save lots of money at Aldi's. I love it and can't wait to go there every week. The products are very good quality. I have NO complaints. If you don't shop there, it's a mistake!
I just called the Consumer Affairs number that someone posted in a comment below. I asked for the phone number of my local Aldi so I could check if they had a certain item in stock. She said she wasn't allowed to give me a phone number. I asked why and she said it's "Company Policy" to not provide phone numbers. I asked how I was supposed to find out if the item was in stock and she said that she would have to call the store and find out and then call me back. She did actually call me back after a couple minutes with the information I needed; I just don't understand why the phone numbers are kept "secret" from consumers. It would have been easier for her and for me if I could have called the store myself. Go figure!
Looked like a pretty good special buy at the aldi store in Bradenton, Florida. But since I couldn't call them to see if they still had some in stock. It wasn't worth my time and gas to take a chance on them still having what I needed.
I was always shopping at the chains (Giant Eagle, Finast-or whatever their name is now!, Heinen's) and wondered why I'd just spent $200.00 but don't have enough groceries to last a week!! I'd always seen the Aldi's and Save A Lot stores and honestly, I thought I was better than the people who shopped at these types of stores, event the dollar stores! So...one day when our funds were low and I had to buy enough food to last 2 weeks, I made the decision to go to Aldi's (while biting my tongue!) I was very glad I did go there because I had so much more food and I didn't even use up the money we had allocated for food; I had about $80. left over but I still had a cart full of food and it lasted for 2weeks! The only thing is their meat selection is not on point--the ground beef is too greasy when cooked. We just buy the frozen chicken breasts, some sausages,the little deli meat packs, etc. I have been shopping Aldi's/SAL stores for a few months now and relish the savings they bring. I was k
I shopped at Aldi in different states and my observation that ALL Aldi stores that I have been visiting treating customers as animals. Yes, all of you are right: they throw your groceries in a shopping cart, they do not answer your questions, or honor prices of the false advertisement.
But you get what you paid for. Although, many of Aldi's items are not bad in quality and have lower price (for example, their Chocuer Chocolate brand) than can be found at another supermarkets.
For those of you who do not know: yes the have a website: http://aldi.us/index_ENU_HTML.htm
Customer support can be reached via e-mail (and you are right again: no phone number is given): http://aldi.us/us/html/company/company_customer_service_ENU_HTML.htm?WT.z_src=main
A little research should be done on Aldi's website and here we go: one of their recall letters listed the phone number: "ALDI Consumer Affairs may be reached at 630-761-2740".
Hope, this helps.
Aldi is the best little grocery store I've ever been to, but Aldi is missing one big thing, a self checkout! As a reply to the person who said, "IF ANYONE WRITES SOMETHING GOOD ABOUT ALDI, IT'S BECAUSE THEY WORK THERE AND ARE TOLD TO." I work at a Hy-Vee (A small regional store in the Midwest), but would rather work at an Aldi. I don't, because my town doesn't have one yet.
We shop at aldi's and have found many bargains. What we can't find --is country of origin on the label. We'd buy a lot more if we could find it.
Not being an Aldi employee, I will disagree with "never shop Aldi" probably a disgruntled former employee..if you want great value and great store brand products at great prices you cannot beat it. I always start there, things like "Breakfast Best French toast and sausage" for $1.15 delicious! Their line of mexican products and canned goods are as good or better as any offered by name brands..Came across this store by accident one day, have been a customer ever since!
IF ANYONE WRITES SOMETHING GOOD ABOUT ALDI, IT'S BECAUSE THEY WORK THERE AND ARE TOLD TO. WALLMART EMPLOYEES ARE NOT RUDE. I WALKED OUT OF ALDI & RETURNED TO WALLMART. MELBOURNE FL