Shopping at Aldi

I have been shopping at Aldi since I got married in 2000.  At the time, there were only two stores in our area, one in Canandaigua and one in Henrietta.  Since TJ and I lived in Farmington at the time, we did most of our shopping at the Canandaigua location.  At first, shopping at Aldi, seemed a little too good to be true.  For just the two of us, my shopping bill was usually around $50.00 a week (I could do it for a lot less now that I meal plan) but at the time, that seemed like a great deal!

     Over the years, I have strayed away to shop at other retailers like Walmart and Wegman's, but I always go back to Aldi.  When I realized that we were going to have to shop differently in order for me to remain home with my children, I immediately got out my Aldi canvas bags and took a trip back.  

    Aldi is not like a typical grocery store.  First of all, they don't take credit. which is a good thing for me because I am terrible with a credit card!  They do not sell any tobacco or alcohol (which is fine by us too!), they don't bag your groceries for you, and you have to put in a quarter to get a cart (you get it back when you return the cart to the front of the store.) 

    But it is worth it when you are saving almost 40% on groceries!  Here is an example of what I mean, Walmart is currently selling its brand of butter for $3.48/ lb, I get it at Aldi for $2.36/ lb.  Wegman's 20 oz white bread is currently $0.99/ loaf, the white bread at Aldi sells for $0.89.  And that is not all, Aldi has a wide variety of items that sell for less that Wegman's and Walmart and the quality is great, things like oatmeal, nuts, flour tortillas, cheese, and yogurt.  

     I wanted to share this with you so that you might go in and give Aldi a try.  Part of living on a budget means making some choices about how you want to spend your money, in our house we are not brand loyal.  I feel that most generic products are equal to their name brand counterparts and therefore we eat all generic foods.  Aldi carries its own label and therefore, you can only find a name brand there if they are running a limited offer.  We have become very fond of many of the products that Aldi offers and we have never felt that we were missing out on anything by shopping there.  

    This week, shopping at Aldi, I was able to shop for my household of 7 for just $54.00!  This was the only shopping trip that I took this week (other than the vacation shopping I did at Big Lots.)  We are eating healthy, hearty, delicious meals by shopping there.  If I hadn't changed my grocery shopping habits, I would probably have to go back to work and that is out of the question right now.  I hope that you will take a trip to Aldi to see what they have to offer your family.

Blessings to All!