Aldi

Aldi is a great place to shop! Sure, they may not have everything you’re looking for, but they would have darn close to everything. The employees are always really friendly, too.
I feel like I can get nearly double the amount of food here for the same amount of money I would get only a few things at other major retailers.
Aldi just started carrying a few name brand items, but here’s a secret: the «Aldi brand» items are made by name brand companies, but it’s marked down and the label is different.

If you’ve never been to an Aldi store, you need to go. Aldi is awesome! Their variety of selection has grown so much lately… Gluten free, organic products including fruits, veggies, coconut oil & more. They even carry wine & beer. You can’t beat their prices & every week they have some great «special purchases». I’ve even bought their meat. great quality. The workers in Lisle are so friendly. I wanted a certain salad but it wasn’t in the cooler. A man went & brought more out. Awesome! Dinner that night was complete. Just don’t forget to bring a quarter (for the cart) & your reusable bags (that you pack yourself). I think I go to Aldi at least 3 times a week, if not more. Oh, they are based out of Germany so they have really good chocolate!

I still think the produce is sketch, but I’m pleased to announce that there are now Organic items at Aldi! Hooray for bumping yourself a tad more upscale! Woot to that!

I am obsessed with Aldi. I feel guilty/​angry when I go to other stores because of the extra money I’m spending just for name brand items. Quality is great. Except for those rare produce encounters I’ve had that were moldy on the bottom of packaged fruits. But you really can’t complain because that happens other places too. $ 50 and im set for the week. I just love Aldi. Done.

Aldi Obsession.
I love the concept of Aldi, it’s very hippie… reduce, reuse, recycle baby. I’m all about this little mantra and Aldi fits perfectly into this category. Temporarily pay for your cart to parouse the shelves $ 0.25 until you return the cart (I always keep a quarter in my insulated bag) and reuse your bags. Their bags are the best reusable ones I’ve found so far, they have plastic at the bottom which helps create a sturdy bottom rather than one where all your purchases are going to create an oddly shaped bag, and they’re reasonable.
You won’t spend 45 minutes deciding which brand to get, because Aldi only carries one of everything. Want bread? You won’t find 15 different brands for the loaf of sandwich bread you need, just one, which is really all you need. I’m not a great decision maker so Aldi makes it easy to cut down the time I spend deciding if the off brand is a good deal or not, and just pick it up and keep moving. EVERYTHING at Aldi is a pretty good deal, and they have specialty items that change from week to week. If you see a specialty item you like, pick it up fast and buy a few because there’s no guarantee it will be there next week.
I love the consistency between the chains because I can write my grocery list based on how the store is set up, they are all set up in basically the same order which makes it easier and faster to navigate. Tried Aldi based on a recommendation from a friend, and really enjoyed the savings I experienced here. I don’t buy everything here, but I do buy quite a bit of my groceries here. Worth a shot!

It’s difficult to review and individual Aldi without reviewing them all, as this particular chain provides a very consistent experience from one store to the next. We should first go over a few things regarding the Aldi culture that differs from most chain grocery stores.
Cart Rental — you need a quarter to unhook a shopping cart from the rest. The quarter pops back out when the cart is returned. This saves the business lots of money on workers to gather the carts, and I have never seen a stray cart rolling around an Aldi parking lot. This system clearly makes for a better parking experience than the cart corral/​minimum wage worker method.
Bags — No free plastic bags at Aldi, Bring your canvas bags, plastic bags from other places, or you can purchase plastic, canvas, or paper bags at the store.
Staff — Aldi’s staff on hand is very small to keep down labor costs. The same people that ring up customers are also out there with the pallet jack putting away products. I tend to see the same few employees at my local Aldi, and I think low turnover speaks well of a company. Aldi tends to employ adults who work quickly and efficiently. Because of the smaller staff, sometimes long lines form at the checkout. Which brings us to…
Lines — It is a part of the Aldi shopper culture to allow shoppers with a few small items to but in line if you have a full cart. Many have done it for mw, and I do it for others.
Pricing — Aldi doesn’t issue coupons, doesn’t layout their aisles with higher priced brand names at eye level, doesn’t have a membership card tied to a windshield scraper because no one actually has the card — they have lower prices than the big stores all the time without extra hassle.
So all in all, Aldi brings out the best in people. Aldi encourages the behavior that we should all strive for as grocery shoppers. We should return our carts. We should reuse grocery bags. we should allow folks with small orders to cut in line. The big chains inflate their prices by hiring dozens of cashiers, cart jockeys, product facers, and managers to hear the complains of the angry patrons. As for me, I’ll go to the store that’s staffed by adults and is setup for shoppers who like to take care of things themselves and save money.

I have a tough time with this store sometimes. I don’t understand the cart rental and the rummaging for store boxes to put my stuff in.
That said, I love the cereal, LOVE. They have this one with «red berries» that is awesome. All the ohers are really good. I have not had one that wasn’t excellent. Milk is also good for the price
The wine choices are nice for the price, partcularly the south america ones.
But stay away from the «winking owl» brand. It is horrible, so horrible I have given it too much advertising it doesn’t deserve by just mentioning it
The frozen cream puffs and the choculate eclairs are also awesome. Cheaper than Sam’s club and taste better. No holiday is complete without them.
My neighborhood universally hates the store due to it replacing houses on Rt 53. Many people who live along Rt 53 are not happy about the commerial development is literally in their backyards. Sometimes, I feel wierd stopping in here as I also miss the houses on Rt 53.

My roommate talks about Aldi all the time so I thought I’d give it a shot. If you’ve already been to an Aldi, you know the drill. But if you’re a newbie like me, here’s what you should know.
Have a quarter ready so you can get a cart. You get your quarter back when you return the cart. I remember using carts like this in Japan when I was younger. So ingenious! More stores should do this so that folks learn to put their carts back instead of just abandoning them all over the parking lot.
Bring your own bags and be prepared to bag your own groceries. I enjoy bagging my own groceries anyway because then I get to sort them exactly the way I want. I suppose instead of bagging them, you can also do it Costco style and bring a box to hold your groceries in the car.
Finally, it’s cash or debit only. No credit cards. Which kind of sucks for me because I get double rewards on my credit card for groceries… But I suppose for what I lose in bonus rewards points, I gain in cash! Because Aldi is pretty darn cheap.
I was actually quite impressed by the variety of goods available as well as the prices. Almost everything was a lot cheaper than at traditional grocery stores. Specifically, I was looking at cereals, snacks, baked goods, canned goods, frozen seafood, and fruits. One thing I did notice is that the milk was not that cheap. $ 2.59 a gallon, which is okay but you can find it on sale elsewhere for cheaper. Oh, and don’t expect to find many name brand items. There were some, like Tyson, Oscar Meyer, Nabisco, Dole… but a lot of the stuff is Aldi’s own brands. And expect to only find one brand for each item, and maybe two or three different flavor selections for things like granola bars or yogurt. I sort of liked the lack of selection because it made my trip shorter. I usually spend at least 20 minutes in the cereal/​oatmeal/​granola bar aisle alone, mesmerized by all of the options…
The store itself is quite small — four aisles. Be sure to take your time when you first come in. The first aisle is sort of «one way» in the sense that when you walk into the store, it funnels you right into the first aisle. I wanted to go back through the aisle but felt kinda stupid doing it since I was going against all of the traffic. And it was also particularly busy because that was the snack aisle… on Super Bowl Sunday.
It was only my first trip but I definitely plan on going back. If you’re a bargain hunter like me, you will love it. If you like getting really specific brands of your favorite foods, you’d probably hate it.
One final note. The bananas. SO CHEAP. I don’t know if they’re always that cheap, but I’d go to Aldi just to get bananas. $ 0.29 a pound. That’s easily half as much as I’d pay elsewhere.
Anyway, stop reading this and go visit Aldi!