Aldi

OK, I’ve tried Aldi’s twice now — the one further east on 135^th, and now this one. This one seems slightly better… but not by much. Aldi’s just isn’t for me, and I don’t understand how people can do all of their shopping here. It’s full of a bunch of junk, and the rare «find».
So yeah, some of the products here are good. We got a package of assorted crackers that went very well with even good cheese. They have a few name brands here for decent prices. Otherwise, some of the stuff is okay, and a lot of it is crap. Fruits and veggies seem disappointing. Most of the food here is so ridiculously unhealthy that the trade off for cheapness will come back in the cost of weight loss surgeries down the road. The people here aren’t all that friendly either.
I don’t like Aldi. No thank you.

This Aldi is across Santa Fe (135^th St.) from a big Hy-​Vee, and within a few blocks you can also find Price Chopper, Hen House and Walmart, as well as a couple of dollar stores. So this is a great area for thrifty food shoppers — if you shop sales and use coupons you can hit all the major stores without having to drive all over town wasting gas and time!
For those who don’t know Aldi, it’s a German store that’s owned by the same company as Trader Joe’s. Aldi’s works very much like Trader Joe’s — it sells store brands almost exclusively and there’s only one choice of any item, which helps keep prices very low. The difference is that Aldi’s primarily sells supermarket basics, while TJ’s carries more «gourmet» items. However, Aldi also has some surprising items — they have a selection of excellent store brand European chocolates that rival any of the name brands. There are often imported German treats in the freezer cases, especially around Christmas, when they load up like all the other stores! This year they had a superb «butter stollen» (not frozen) that was absolutely delicious!
This store is a bit larger than the Aldi at 135^th and Antioch and has a bit larger selection of Mexican food items, reflecting the demographics of Olathe. Although virtually everything is store brand, everything I’ve bought there is excellent quality. My mom loves Aldi’s, too, and swears that their Bisquik baking mix equivalent is better than the original! Items like milk and cream cheese are very reasonably priced — their reduced fat cream cheese is usually 99 cents, nearly a dollar cheaper than the other stores! As for milk, they have several varieties, including lactose-​free. Since I Iive on my own I find myself using instant coffee a lot, and theirs is about $ 3.70 for an 8 ounce jar. And it’s good! Corned beef hash for breakfast is one of my guilty pleasures, and theirs is also very well priced. (This one is a teensy bit bland, but a little seasoned salt and some pepper added while it’s cooking makes it perfectly fine!) Aldi’s carries basic selections of baking products, produce, some meats and cheese, frozen stuff, etc. One frustrating thing is that some of those are only carried seasonally. For example, they had some incredibly reasonable packages of frozen bay scallops that were marked seasonal, so I bought several. Sure enough, they’ve now disappeared. They also had a very good frozen eggplant parm that’s also gone to wherever it is discontinued Aldi items go!
Finally, there are always specials on houseware items — usually mystery brands but good quality. I recently got a great stainless steel stock pot/​spaghetti cooker with a steamer insert and all for a give-​away price. Today I noticed they had a very nice looking espresso machine for $ 66 or so. It would probably be $ 235 at one of the more posh stores!
If you like Costco or Sam’s Club and their store brands you’re going to like Aldi. It’s particularly useful for singles or older people who want to save money but don’t want to buy in the large quantities you’re often forced to at the big box discounters. I do buy some stuff at those big stores if it’s an item I’ll use pretty quickly, like canned tomato products or canned corn. But for stuff I’ll use less frequently Aldi is a great option! If you haven’t been, check it out — you’ll be pleasantly surprised! There’s a reason Aldi is so insanely popular in Europe! It’s hard to beat the combination of good products at great prices!
Oh – to keep prices down they only take cash and debit cards. They don’t bag your purchases (but you can buy inexpensive reusable shopping bags in the store). And you have to insert a quarter in a slot to get a shopping cart (you get the quarter back when you return the cart).

Yes I shop at Aldi, judge me all you want. I’m not ashamed of buying generic to save some cash.
I admit that not all their products are stellar and their produce is hit or miss. But my plan of attach lately has been to swing through Aldi, grab cheap basics and then head across the street for Hy-​vee if I need something Aldi doesn’t carry.
Aldi carries a lot, they have the basics then they also carry toiletries and some household items too. Some products I like are their chocolate peanut butter protein bars, organic soy milk, canned goods, dried fruit, frozen fruit. They have this «Fit & Lean» brand that’s great for health conscious people. Occasionally they have some brand name items on sale, like Jennie O turkey for $ 3.50, that’s about $ 1.50 off depending where you shop.
If you come to Aldi, bring a quarter with you to unlock a shopping cart, this isn’t a badge you earn. They literally lock up their shopping carts. Insert a quarter to unlock and then lock it back up and you get your quarter back.
Bring CASH or a Debit Card as they don’t accept credit cards.
Then also remember your own grocery bags (they don’t have any). Yes it might seem odd, but hey they pass down the savings so that makes me happy. On average I save about $ 12 – 18 at Aldi as opposed to going to a store like Hy-​vee and getting the same stuff.