[UPDATE 2018: I now LOVE Aldi! The produce quality is much better where we currently live, and in my area it’s a challenge to get great deals with coupon matchups — plus, I’m just not willing to put the time in to find those deals and keep up with coupons.]
We recently had an Aldi Grocery Store open in a neighborhood near us. I had heard such great things, so I went in this week to check it out.
I have one word for you…
UNIMPRESSED.
First of all, you have to put a quarter deposit in to use a buggy. I was a little taken aback, but since I planned only to scout out the store I didn’t bother with it. As I entered the store I checked the prices of items I typically buy. Here is a summary:
Dry Goods-I noticed that snack foods were priced about $.20-$.30 cheaper than Walmart, but many of the packages are smaller than the ones at Walmart. Most other foods were about the same or even more than Walmart prices. Pudding was $.49 a box, which is a little higher than Walmart when I last checked ($.44). Peanuts were the same ($1.99), coffee was regular price and canned vegetables were around the same price. I did notice a great price on 30 gallon trashbags- 20 for $2.49 which is at least $1.00 cheaper than Walmart.
Dairy- They did have very good prices on milk ($1.49/gallon) and eggs ($.79/dozen). The cheese was about the same as Walmart and the butter was marked cheaper than Walmart ($1.89) but rang up at $1.99.
Produce– The prices were good for the most part, but the produce was VERY poor quality. Strawberries were marked $.69 but EVERY package had mold or rotten strawberries. I was glad that I had picked up my strawberries at Kroger for $1.88. Avocados were $.49, but they were either too soft to be eaten or so rock hard that I was afraid they might not ripen. I did pick up a 3lb bag of Golden Delicious apples for $1.69 and a 4lb bag of navel oranges for $1.19.
Meat and Frozen Foods- About the same as Walmart with a few items being priced higher (bacon for example). The exceptions were the 16 oz bags of frozen vegetables at $.95 each. The Walmart price is around $1.09 to $1.19 at my store.
Check out: Aldi is so low cost that they don’t provide bags for you. Not a big deal to bring your own (especially with all the free ones Publix has been giving out lately with coupons), but something you definitely want to know ahead of time.
They also don’t take credit cards, debit cards or checks-cash only. It would have been nice if there were a sign to this effect when I entered the store. Thankfully I had cash on me. The cashier, however, did not. She could not make change for a $20 after only 2 customers.
Conclusion: If you are in the area and need milk, eggs or cheese curls stop by. Otherwise, don’t bother. The prices are not low enough to make up for the inconveniences.
NOTE: I was informed that they DO take Debit Cards. You can read my Aldi Update here.
There are some things at Aldi that aren’t the greatest bargain, but I encourage you to go back and check some things out again. We always use their cheese, milk, and butter, which is usually much cheaper than Walmart or anywhere else around here. Also their canned goods, salad dressings, and things like cake mixes are much cheaper. The produce can be a hit or miss, but the prices on what you do choose to buy are usually good on most items. I usually walk out of there with a heaping cartload of groceries for at least $50-100 less than what I would pay for the equivalent items anywhere else.
I go in with an armload of plastic Aldi bags that I reuse until they fall apart (which isn’t very fast because they’re good quality), and I scrounge for boxes as I’m shopping. It’s actually easier to get everything into my car than it would be in the flimsy, flexible traditional plastic bags.
Unless your Aldi is different than the rest, they do take debit cards. They didn’t many years ago, but they added that feature a long time ago. BTW, when you put a quarter in for the cart, it’s just to make sure that you bring it back when you’re done with it instead of abandoning it in the parking lot somewhere. Your quarter is refunded to you when you return the cart.
I don’t know if you saw my second post on Aldi. I know that it works really well for some people and of course, you should do what works for your family. My husband said that the post sounded a little harsh. That wasn’t my intention. Thanks for offering your perspective.
I promise you that whenever I shop at Aldi’s I spend almost half what I would at Walmart! I buy almost the same thing every week. usually $100- $150 at Aldi $225-250 for the same items at Wallie World. But Don’t bother with their soy milk… ABSOLUTELY DISQUSTING! But I don’t shop around for deals either…
That is what I have heard from other people, but in our area the prices don’t seem to be that low.
I was hoping to visit sometime this week, but have yet to make it there. On my morning drive to school I noticed they were yet to be open:9am (I’d have to sit there for an hour in my car to go shop in the mornings, I could be in an out of the other grocery stores in that time).
I was anticipating your review. Thanks for the heads up. I agree with you, ‘It probably depends on what your family buys.’ So true. I will have to go in to see how much of the items I buy will make it a worthy stop for me. If all goes well with the house we are looking at buying, my main shopping stops will all be on Chapel Hill Road.
Too bad for the produce being so poor. That’s one of my grocery pet peeves…bad produce, and bad meat!
Thanks again, enjoyed the read!
Thanks Evangeline!
I, too, was unimpressed. Make sure you check the weight on some items. The boxes were smaller than regular. Also, kinda clostephobic, too small.
Yes, the store did feel a little closed in with very many people shopping.
They do take debit cards, but we do groceries with cash on the Dave Ramsey envelope system so it wasn’t a big deal for me. I had a save $5 when you spend $30 so I stocked up on milk, bread, cereal, pop tarts (their brand). Everything we’ve had so far has been pretty good tasting except my kids didn’t like their goldfish type cracker.
My kids LOVED the fact that they had to put a quarter in the cart and got to pop it out when we finished. It made it a game for them. Was not so convenient when I went today and didn’t have a quarter. Carried all my things in bags through the store.
When we went on Saturday, everyone was very friendly. When I stopped in today, not so much and some shelving in the store was already falling apart. Not sure how they will do here in Douglasville.
Thanks for correcting the misinformation about the debit cards. I didn’t see that on the sign when I checked out. I did forget to mention the bread. It was a good deal as well.
Yes you are right. Kroger did have them for $1 (Turkey) but I have seen that price once since I have been here for 5 years!! I use it for my own homemade ground turkey sausage, and when the mad cow disease went crazy and we weren’t buying beef, we switched to Turkey for a replacement. It has a ton less fat and is MUCH better for you than ground beef.
Things you need to look at that you didn’t put on here. Bannanas are .39/lb. Good luck if you can find that anywhere. Canned veggies are decent prices if you haven’t stocked up from sales. Same with Cereals. But usually we have a stockpile. Also another thing I think you missed was the frozen section. They have ground turkey for 1.19/lb (used to be .88/lb). Good luck on finding that anywhere else cheaper. We also like their stir fry mixes. Also for the most part some things that we can find cheaper (if we don’t have coupons) are: Yogurt, sour cream, and organic blue corn chips. Also their low calorie (low carb) Fit Active tortillas are cheaper than the store. There are more things that you missed. Sorry you were unimpressed. We don’t get everything there but there are somethings that we do get there.
I can see your point. It probably depends on what your family buys. I regularly find bananas marked down to $.25/lb at the Ingles nearby and we rarely eat canned vegetables. I thought they were priced about the same as Walmart. The 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes was $.55 and I think they are $.65 at Walmart, but I could be mistaken. I did not see any organic blue corn chips when I went, but I probably overlooked them. We also do not eat ground turkey, but I thought those went on sale at Kroger for around $1.00. Again, not something I regularly buy. Thanks for the heads up!