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ALDI. I finally joined the cult. (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter pollardsvision
- Start date
glvsav37
Footballguy
Not to Hijack, but we have a new Lidl and I'm def digging it. Ironically the Aldi is right across the street, but I seem to dig Lidl more.
everything seems cheaper but equal quality. Not a whole lot of name brand stuff, but its there, and interesting layout with some unique non-grocery items in the middle of the store.
Was able to get a great quality pop up tent for $70 there.
everything seems cheaper but equal quality. Not a whole lot of name brand stuff, but its there, and interesting layout with some unique non-grocery items in the middle of the store.
Was able to get a great quality pop up tent for $70 there.
mr. furley
Footballguy
same here. it's like a random mish-mash of things that may be useful in very specific circumstances, most of which are unlikely to happen.
pollardsvision
Footballguy
I was not impressed at all the first 3-4 times I went (over the course of about 5 years).
The cart thing irritated the hell out of me on the first visit. So, my first visit, I pass through the store already hating the place with no cart. Don't think I bought anything. Seriously, we shouldn't discount how irritating the cart thing is at first.
And the inside is certainly not impressive. Kind of depressing looking. And then, looking at all those yahoos over at the bagging station??? Who are these idiots huddled around hurriedly bagging their groceries like peasants.
Everything about this place was a turn-off, and I went a handful of times over the years.
It wasn't until I took the time to really check out the products and the prices that I started to like the place. Finally started seeing the payoff for dealing with this seemingly pain in the ### store. If you shop there, you will absolutely save money on good products.
And once I was hooked on the value and the products, I grew to love all the horrible stuff about the place. If this is what's saving me money, hell yeah, let's do it!
We like what we like and Aldi just may not be your jam. But if you want to (or don't, I don't care), keep an open mind about the place. It very well could grow on you.
It presents you with all it's annoyances and downsides right up front. They are comfortable in who they are and willing to accept that many will never get past that. But if you do, you'll love the products and admire what they are doing.
The cart thing irritated the hell out of me on the first visit. So, my first visit, I pass through the store already hating the place with no cart. Don't think I bought anything. Seriously, we shouldn't discount how irritating the cart thing is at first.
And the inside is certainly not impressive. Kind of depressing looking. And then, looking at all those yahoos over at the bagging station??? Who are these idiots huddled around hurriedly bagging their groceries like peasants.
Everything about this place was a turn-off, and I went a handful of times over the years.
It wasn't until I took the time to really check out the products and the prices that I started to like the place. Finally started seeing the payoff for dealing with this seemingly pain in the ### store. If you shop there, you will absolutely save money on good products.
And once I was hooked on the value and the products, I grew to love all the horrible stuff about the place. If this is what's saving me money, hell yeah, let's do it!
We like what we like and Aldi just may not be your jam. But if you want to (or don't, I don't care), keep an open mind about the place. It very well could grow on you.
It presents you with all it's annoyances and downsides right up front. They are comfortable in who they are and willing to accept that many will never get past that. But if you do, you'll love the products and admire what they are doing.
pollardsvision
Footballguy
I've never been to Lidl, but I'd like to check it out.
Not sure about Lidl, but ALDI and Trader Joe's are corporate cousins. Back in Germany, the disgruntled brothers split ALDI into ALDI North and ALDI South. One wanted to sell cigarettes, the other didn't.
Anyway, in the US, ALDI South operates ALDI stores. ALDI North operates Trader Joe's.
Juxtatarot
Footballguy
Do most people only go to one grocery store regularly? I assume so and can understand how Aldi would be a big turn off in that regard. There are certainly things you’ll want that you can’t buy there. If someone doesn’t care much about the lower prices and also have a lot of name brand items that they like, Aldi isn’t the right store for them.
MAC_32
Footballguy
The lack of name brands is part of the appeal and we are spoiled with a produce market 2 blocks from our door. Aldi generally fills our needs beyond the market. Just need to mix in Costco (once/month?) and the high end local grocer primarily for meats (once/3 months?) and we're good.
gruecd
Footballguy
gruecd
Footballguy
Moe.
Footballguy
They recently redid the interior of the stores close to my house, and it no longer has that dollar store feeling inside. Even though it’s 100% cosmetic it has definitely influenced my perception of the place. We love it, but I agree with others it’s tough to make it the only stop. The one we go to shares a parking lot with Sam’s, so we generally hit them both at the same time.
Rattle and Hum
Footballguy
The $1.99 soy milk is udderly better and cheaper than Silk.
Caveman33
Footballguy
Definitely not a 1 stop shop but it should be the 1st stop since the limited brands are almost always cheaper than any comparables. If you are frugal and not picky about brands, Aldi is great.
Currently have no Aldi nearby but Grocery Outlet is great and even the 99cent store has some good deals. Family Dollar, Dollar General, etc. are poor people traps that should be avoided
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Hawks64
Footballguy
UOFI_316
Footballguy
We go all the time. Keep a quarter in the car just for my stops. While walking around the store I grab any almost empty boxes and put them under the cart, or sometimes the workers will leave a big wire cart that they have filled with the empties. After I check out I fill those up with my stuff, no need for a bag then, and no worry that a box will puncture the crappy plastic bags you get at a normal store.
If you are looking for name brand you won't find it, and I can see why someone would hesitate to buy Clancy's brand of chips. Aldi "store brand" is better than the store brands at normal stores
Before we started going to Costco we would get the Aldi flavored applesauce pouches. Used to be like 6 for $1.50 or something, then it won something like "Best kids snack" a few years in a row and the price went up a little. Now the kids just want the plain, so the large box at Costco is cheaper.
Every few months or so I will pick up several take and bake pizzas, $5 for an 18" pizza or whatever it is. Will also get them for the kids birthday parties.
Kids love their frozen french toast sticks and waffles.
The produce seems to be hit or miss, but is almost always cheaper
Their "random stuff" aisle usually has something we need.
At Christmas they have beer, wine, and I think cheese Advent Calendars, you need to show up when it opens they day they get them. They sell out within an hour. My mom was able to grab me a beer one this past year, I think of the 25 beers I liked 23 of them. I think they change up the kinds of beer each year.
If you are looking for name brand you won't find it, and I can see why someone would hesitate to buy Clancy's brand of chips. Aldi "store brand" is better than the store brands at normal stores
Before we started going to Costco we would get the Aldi flavored applesauce pouches. Used to be like 6 for $1.50 or something, then it won something like "Best kids snack" a few years in a row and the price went up a little. Now the kids just want the plain, so the large box at Costco is cheaper.
Every few months or so I will pick up several take and bake pizzas, $5 for an 18" pizza or whatever it is. Will also get them for the kids birthday parties.
Kids love their frozen french toast sticks and waffles.
The produce seems to be hit or miss, but is almost always cheaper
Their "random stuff" aisle usually has something we need.
At Christmas they have beer, wine, and I think cheese Advent Calendars, you need to show up when it opens they day they get them. They sell out within an hour. My mom was able to grab me a beer one this past year, I think of the 25 beers I liked 23 of them. I think they change up the kinds of beer each year.
Beef Ravioli
Footballguy
A friend of ours from Germany told us they were brothers but you are correct @pollardsvision. Read a couple of articles for any that are interested. Nothing earth shattering but not long reads.
https://www.aldireviewer.com/how-are-aldi-and-lidl-related/
https://www.producebluebook.com/2019/07/19/aldi-and-trader-joes-are-they-related/#
Johnny Rock
Footballguy
Doug B
Footballguy
As a point of comparison:
My kids drank soy milk as toddlers. Back in the 2004-08 time frame, the local WalMart stores sold their house brand soy milk for $2.12 per half gallon. And that was by far the cheapest we could find it if none of the regular groceries had it on fire sale.
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Johnny Rock
Footballguy
I go mainly for milk, frozen OJ ($1.19/ea unbelievable), fruit snacks, mints at checkout.
Lots of products are just not as good. Not just food either. Blue scour/sponges bleed color. Not good.
I go there once in a while now but almost always don’t get a cart. I’ll carry 3 milks, a cardboard tray of OJ cans and one or two misc items, check out in 10 seconds and bail. Since they don’t have checkout on an app like Sam’s Club the key to speed is inserting your card as soon as they scan the first item.
Lots of products are just not as good. Not just food either. Blue scour/sponges bleed color. Not good.
I go there once in a while now but almost always don’t get a cart. I’ll carry 3 milks, a cardboard tray of OJ cans and one or two misc items, check out in 10 seconds and bail. Since they don’t have checkout on an app like Sam’s Club the key to speed is inserting your card as soon as they scan the first item.
Juxtatarot
Footballguy
My experience regarding the produce quality:
Good: Onions, celery, peppers, potatoes, bagged lettuce, carrots
Usually good: Bagged apples and oranges, cucumbers, broccoli, cauliflower
Questionable: Bananas, berries, most stone fruits (besides in-season cherries such as right now), radishes
Good: Onions, celery, peppers, potatoes, bagged lettuce, carrots
Usually good: Bagged apples and oranges, cucumbers, broccoli, cauliflower
Questionable: Bananas, berries, most stone fruits (besides in-season cherries such as right now), radishes
Doug B
Footballguy
Within a few months, we're getting Aldi in the New Orleans area for the first time -- four stores opening up at roughly the same time. They were announced in 2019, but apparently the openings were delayed due to the pandemic. But they started hiring staff in June, so it shouldn't be much longer now.
Anyway, from what I've read in this thread ... it appears that Aldi will be a VERY mixed bag for people used to our usual local groceries. But I'm hoping that "new stores" = "awesome look and feel of the store interior" -- we have a Save-A-Lot close by, so I understood those references.
There was once a local grocery chain that did the "pay a quarter deposit for a cart" thing. It may or may not have been a contributing factor in the store's ultimate lack of success (they had about a four or five year run in the Nineties).
...
Also from reading in this thread: I get the impression that Aldi, compared to regular groceries, is weaker on staples and much stronger on boutique items (specialty seafood and meats, alcohol, specialty anything). Seems like in a way, it'll be competing with our three Whole Foods and our one Trader Joe's more than it will be competing with our Winn-Dixies, Rouse's (local co.) or WalMart Fresh Markets.
...
How is Aldi on paper products (paper towels, TP, plates, red Solo cups, etc.)? Just the savings on paper products alone keeps WalMart in our rotation -- they undercut every other grocery by a good 30-50% on paper. And "cheap" with paper products usually means "lousy" or else "super-skinny rolls of whatever" -- we're discriminating paper-product shoppers
We do not treat them as "it's all the same" commodities.
Juxtatarot
Footballguy
No, staples is it’s strong point. We just have a lot of specialty meat and alcohol type guys posting in the thread.
gianmarco
Footballguy
Yep. It's awesome for staples.
I went to an Aldi long ago and didn't like it. Same reactions as many here. I also think some are better than others, probably regionally.
As someone else mentioned, they redid most of their stores and gave them a facelift. It was much needed and they are nice to go to now.
Don't go looking for namebrands, but a lot of stuff is not only cheaper but better, IMO.
As @Juxtatarotsaid, some vegetables and fruits are better than others. I agree with most of his list where we are as well.
We are able to do 75% of our basic shopping at Aldi. The rest we get from Sam's or our local big supermarket. It helps having Aldi and the supermarket 5 minutes from our house and Sam's 10 minutes away.
Doug B
Footballguy
For us, the closest new Aldi is going to be about 20 minutes away, with three other grocers within a ten minute's drive -- our main grocery is maybe three minutes away. We'll see how Aldi ends up fitting in.
Juxtatarot
Footballguy
SeniorVBDStudent
Footballguy
Doug B
Footballguy
I'll put it this way: Our one metro area Trader Joes is about 25-30 minutes away without traffic. It's been open I think five years and we've never set foot inside. We talk about going all the time, and we looked forward to the opening after hearing so much about TJ for years.
I guess we're just creatures of habit around here.
gianmarco
Footballguy
I'm surprised NOLA is finally starting to add these. The lack of chains there was something I thought would continue for a long, long time.
Doug B
Footballguy
It's kind of hit-or-miss what chains make it down here, but we've been getting them pretty consistently for a good 25 years now.
When I was coming up, there were several regional titans of retail that ran the show in New Orleans and throughout a lot of the Gulf Coast, too. There was no Kroger or Publix, but we had Schwegmann's and Delchamp's. No Macy's or Neiman Marcus, but we had Maison Blanche, Krauss, and D.H. Holmes. No Eckerd or Rite Aid, but we had K&B and Majoria. And so on.
Capella
Footballguy
When we went to Nola a few weeks ago we couldn’t find a grocery store. Had to finally pull into a fresh market. Is that a thing there?
PlayaHata
Footballguy
We've had an Aldi by our house for years, but it was always pretty run-down so I never bothered. But they're remodeling and expanding it right now as well, so I'll give it another try soon.
Doug B
Footballguy
Harder to find dedicated groceries in downtown New Orleans, but there are a few. The suburbs are rife with grocery stores, though.
I'm not familiar with the term "fresh market" as opposed to "grocery store". There are WalMart spin-offs here called "WalMart Fresh Market", but they are really just grocery stores and I trust that's not what you're talking about. When you say "fresh market", what do you mean?
Chemical X
Footballguy
lidl >> aldi
FairWarning
Footballguy
First time I stepped foot in one today. About what I expected. You can definitely save money if you have a big family. Bought some cat food, we’ll see if the cats like it. The cart deal is genius, really saves on labor.
Super King
Footballguy
The Mama Cozzi frozen cheese stuffed crust pizzas are THE BEST frozen pizza on the market. And they are $5. Also, all their chocolate is amazing. Also, their Italian sweet cream coffee creamer is amazing. And its only $1.19. the same flavor you get in the brand name is $5. I've been shopping at Aldi's for about 12 years. I've been up and down that store. Agreed that produce is hit or miss.
Nemesis
Footballguy
Thanks for the pizza suggestion…will give it a try.
surprisingly Aldi has some good mangoes & avocados in season right now (at least near me)
UOFI_316
Footballguy
Something I just thought of, does Aldi have copies of local beers?? Like New Glarus beer is only available in Wisc, do Aldis in Wisc carry their version of Spotted Cow?? In-Laws have a house up at Lake Geneva, so when we go I will swing by WalMart for a case or two, but that means I have to deal with the people of Walmart. There is a Aldi across the street but I haven't thought to look.
Bossman
Footballguy
Snoopy
Footballguy
FairWarning
Footballguy
Capella
Footballguy
Place called fresh market on st Charles. They are big in Florida, I take it not so popular there?Doug B said:
https://www.thefreshmarket.com/my-market/store/3338st-charles-avenue-new-orleans
Doug B
Footballguy
I’ve seen that place, but didn’t realize it was part of a chain. Yeah, that must be the only one in the area.
EDIT: there are a bunch of local independent grocers that compete in that upscale grocery niche. That’s probably slowed down the spread of competing chain grocers.
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Klimtology
Footballguy
Haven't been. How is their produce?
Apples etc?
Apples etc?
Ok reporting in. Made some reverse seared flank last night with chimchurri. I forgot to buy fresh garlic and oregano so used powders (yes I am an idiot). Also called a little bit of an audible and used italian parsley cause the regular stuff at publix was not good. Also threw in some fresh mint which cut some of the richness a bit. Overall tasty and went well with the flank. Will make again but use fresh garlic/oregano.
thanks for the recipe.
gianmarco
Footballguy
Yes, use Italian parsley (flat leaf). Oof... No mint. And definitely fresh garlic. Dried oregano is completely fine and what's intended. I think you have to adjust amount for fresh oregano.
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