Do you shop at Aldi?

[moopoint]

Or is there one where you live? It is a super MM grocery store and the quality is actually good!

[honeybee]

I love Aldi. I discovered it when I started graduate school and we were temporarily supporting two people on 20K a year while my fiance looked for work.

We could shop elsewhere for basics now but I can't seem to give up. I can't do all my shopping there though. I tend to buy basics there, head over to our Harris Teeter for some brand items I like then farmers market in the produce seasons for nice produce.

[bella90422]

Yes! Love AlDI. I have some friends who do 100% of their shopping there. I'm more of a 50% girl myself. The quality has really improved over the years. I think they are owned by the same company as Trader Joe's.

[thatgirl2478]

I've been there once. I've never found that the quality & price matched up (much lower quality than I expect for basically the same price I can get at Walmart).

[pugz]

I have resisted thus far. The quarter for a cart thing completely intimidates me.

[starvingscientist]

I have a hard time shopping anywhere else for the majority of my items. They have so many good healthy products (sometimes even organic!) that it just doesnt make sense not to!

I do sometimes go to other stores for some things- especially specialty products- but about 98% of my grocery shopping is done at Aldi.

[Deleted]

I don't go there much anymore because I buy mostly organic/local type stuff. I did used to make a massive shopping trip there once per month though. It was kind of a drive, as there are none near our house, but it was worth it to save so much money.

[satama]

I really wanted to like it, but have been to two different locations and was not impressed. Had trouble finding anything I wanted to buy and they both seemed sort of dirty.

[beer]

I love Aldi. It almost makes me sick if I have to get something I normally get at Aldi - ie: colored peppers - 3 for $1.99 at Aldi and 2.99 per pepper at the regular store. I do about 85% of my shopping there. Sometimes they just don't have some items you need.

[clea]

The quarter for the cart is just to get the cart out. When you put it back, you get your quarter back also.

Some people don't want their quarter back and leave their cart in the parking lot. Other people want all the quarters back and round up all the abandoned carts. Some people just pass on their cart/quarter, like paying it forward.

[minniebee]

I shop at Aldi for some staples, but only do about 30% of my shopping there. They just don't carry everything I buy. And their store hours aren't very convenient (close at 8pm on week nights and 5pm on weekends).

The prices are good, but the service is not. Almost every time, they have a bunch of boxes/carts in the middle of the aisles with employees restocking shelves at the busiest time of the day, and the employees always act annoyed if you need to get something in the area where they're working. Plus, there's usually one check out line open and a huge line of people waiting to check out. I'm cheap enough that I still go there for some items despite being annoyed.

[dietdrpepper]

I love Aldi so much! We have cut our grocery bill in half there. Ours has a much better selection and quality of produce than the grocery stores

[clea]

I do ALDI.

This week cucumbers for 25-cents.
Last week avocados were 39-cents and California strawberries .99.

Our regulars there are - crackers, oatmeal, eggs, Greek yogurt, lit-and-fit string cheese, f&v on sale, balsamic vinegar, canned pumpkin, lite-and-fit Italian dressing for marinating asparagus, loading up on produce on sale, and whatever else they have at a ridiculously low price.

[dreamsofdesign]

We don't have one by us so I've never been.

[thatgirl2478]

I thought I heard somewhere that they don't take credit cards (other than debit cards) - is that true?

[Deleted]

May 11, 2012 11:55:34 GMT -5 thatgirl2478 said:

I thought I heard somewhere that they don't take credit cards (other than debit cards) - is that true?

TRUE!

[pugz]

May 11, 2012 11:55:34 GMT -5 thatgirl2478 said:

I thought I heard somewhere that they don't take credit cards (other than debit cards) - is that true?

ooh yeah I couldn't do this. DH is anti debit cards, so we put everything on mastercard. I hate that I have to write checks at Costco but I do it.

[thatgirl2478]

Yeah - we put everything on VISA and pay it off at the end of the month.

Woodmans (in Wisconsin) is like that too (only cash/check or debit) - except they have the normal national brands.

I think the thing I have a problem with is that their brands are ones I've never heard of before. Even though 90% of the stuff I buy at Walmart is the Great Value brand, I still feel like I know what I'm getting. Not so much with Aldi. Maybe I'll have to try ours for fresh produce (.29 cucumbers?! crazy).

[partiallysunny]

I do and I love.

[sawyerthedestroyer]

May 11, 2012 11:39:05 GMT -5 clea said:

The quarter for the cart is just to get the cart out. When you put it back, you get your quarter back also.

Some people don't want their quarter back and leave their cart in the parking lot. Other people want all the quarters back and round up all the abandoned carts. Some people just pass on their cart/quarter, like paying it forward.

This. Aldi does this so they aren't paying someone to collect carts and people are more inclined to return their carts so they don't have to cover the cost of stolen carts; the savings are passed on to the customer.

I love Aldi. I do about 90% of my shopping there and just fill in the gaps at Walmart. I could do 100% of my shopping there if I had to. I was able to knock about $100 - $150 a month off of our grocery bill when Aldi opened here. We live in a small town and I like that Aldi is small with only a few employees, all of whom know me and my kiddo when we make our grocery trips. And ours is very clean.

[madladybride]

No, I don't really live close to one and I don't buy things with hydrogenated oil or high fructose corn syrup, which most of their processed foods have. I also tend to buy organic/local.

[Deleted]

No, not near one anyway...but I am scarred from my grandparents dragging me there as a kid. My grandparents loved to buy crap from there to stock their basement which was full of canned food. The depression apparently scarred them & somewhere along the lines became stockpilers.

[chessie]

For the basics its fine-Flour, sugar, stuff like that, but the veggies, fruits are normally on the way out from what I can see, and their meats are not lean at all. I found it a waste of trip myself.

[clea]

May 11, 2012 11:57:33 GMT -5 pugz said:

May 11, 2012 11:55:34 GMT -5 thatgirl2478 said:

I thought I heard somewhere that they don't take credit cards (other than debit cards) - is that true?

ooh yeah I couldn't do this. DH is anti debit cards, so we put everything on mastercard. I hate that I have to write checks at Costco but I do it.

Aldi is the reason why I opened another account just for the debit card. I don't use debit cards otherwise, but aldi only takes cash or debit or food stamps.

It is very freeing to go into Aldi and buy whatever I want, however much I want, and not worry about not having enough cash.

When the "debit account" as wel call it, gets low, ';ll transfer over more money.

[fannyprice]

In my town the produce is almost always fresher/keeps better than anywhere else in town, including the independent grocery store. I used to be intimidated, but after going once or twice I learned the ropes and now I prefer to go there.

We don't buy a lot of processed foods there, but we don't but a lot of processed foods anyway.

I would go to Trader Joes, but the closest one is almost 2 hours from my Podunk town.

[annael415]

Never been and reading here I'm really unlikely to. The quarter for a cart doesn't intimidate me, but bagging my own groceries kinda does.

Also, the no credit cards thing is a no go for me. I don't even have a debit card and rarely carry enough cash for groceries.

I am curious to see what its like though, especially since its the same parent company as Trader Joe's (which I love).

[ecupirate04]

No. Ours isn't nice.

[ginkgoleaf]

Thanks for reminding me to try them out again, haven't been in months!

[lizrd7579]

I go, but not all the time as it isn't as convenient. I love that they are small and I can get shopping done in 30 minutes or less. However, I don't like that because they are so small, everyone can hear my daughter singing and talking across the whole store!