I Used To Be An Aldi's Snob

Pre-Hunter, if my friends would suggest going NEAR the place, I would instantly  turn my nose up at the idea. I don't know what it was.  Maybe a combination of believing they had crap for products, the small size of the store and needing to buy your own grocery bags really turned me off. 



Ummm....yeah. That was the old me.  I now drink the kool-Aid. 



Now, you can't get me out of there.  First of all, let me stress that there are plenty items to choose from, and many have very healthy products with equally healthy ingredients to boot.  Trust me-I'm that mom who checks the labels on everything she buys.  There's plenty of options/choices, and if you'll notice, there are quite a few foods that seem foreign.  That's because Aldi is based out of Germany.  One of my fave labels made specifically for the company is called Fit and Active, which is a really great product line.  It tells you right on the label exactly how many grams of calories,sodium, fat, and sugars are in the food.  And from my experience, they don't add any hydrogenated oils, which is a huge plus.  Hydrogenated oils = icky for the bod, in case you haven't heard.

So, last night I filled up 4 huge bags of fresh fruits, veggies, and other good stuff for only $40.01-enough to feed my family of 3 for a week.  Although  most of the items are already 50% less than major grocery store chains, you can nab really great deals on items they mark down even lower to try to make room for the newer shipments.  I have found they typically do this on Monday's or Tuesdays, so try to hit up the store on those days.  Yesterday, I bought  6 bags of home style frozen egg noodles for $.49/piece, and bought two packages of beer brats for $2.25.  It was delicious.


And the size of the store?  Yeah, it's kinda small.  Yeah, it's no bigger than a drug store.  But holy hell, you are saving money, and your shopping is done in a snap since you don't have to stand there and make decisions as to which brand/item you want since they have scaled that down for you.  And with a bored toddler, you want to be moving-and fast. Not to mention that every dollar saved is a dollar spent on a family vacay, home improvements, or MORE shopping!  I kind of like the more shopping option.  Or the family vacay...it's been a while.   Anyway, if you want to overcome being a 'Aldi snob', you must get over the size- unless you want to shell out more money (even with coupons, most of the time...unless you're the original Coupon Mom herself).   


And yeah, you have to buy your own bags.  Or, you can bring your own re-usables in, which is actually becoming pretty popular lately.  So that saves on cost right there.  But if you opt to buy your bags, they are super cheap anyways.  And you have three options- paper, plastic or buy some re-usables.  The cost per bag is very cheap (pennies a piece) so it's doesn't dent the budget.  

So thats that.  If you haven't been to an Aldi, I challenge you to make the switch for a week or two. I'm not saying I specifically shop at JUST Aldi, I shop at all the other large chains too on occasion.  But even popping in to buy milk, cheese, fruits and veggies can really save you some dollars, which means more money for you and yours. 



 **This is not a paid or sponsored post by Aldi or anyone else-this is me, telling you, how great this place really is.  Aldi, not Save A Lot.  I think I'm still a Save A Lot snob, until further notice.