I Heart Aldi’s

If you know me, whether we are close are not, you are probably very aware of the fact that I am a huge supporter of the food market called Aldi’s.

About 8 years ago you would have never found me stepping foot inside of an Aldi’s because they had a reputation about being for more of the low income families. They were always placed in an area that you didn’t want to step foot in if you didn’t live there. My mom had talked about it and so did my mother-in-law. In fact, my mother in law shopped there when she was running a daycare in her home! But soon into my marriage Aldi’s opened up a new store on the Northeast side of Fort Wayne where a new business development was going in. Becoming a stay at home mom forced me to start looking for ways to save money and I HATE clipping coupons! So into Aldi’s I went! My first shopping trip opened my eyes to a world of savings and cutting my grocery bill in half but keeping my long list in tact. Now living in Westfield the closest aldi’s to me is in Noblesville and because of how much money it saves me, I refuse to shop anywhere else! But today, Aldi’s opened up a new location in the Westfield/Carmel area and I am sooooo excited! And now why you are seeing this long blog post.

I am not writing you this post to tell you what to buy because lets be honest, we all like different things. There are things at Kroger that I wouldn’t buy like say… a can of sardines, so why would i buy them at Aldi’s?? If you are curious how I feel about a particular item though I would be happy to tell you 🙂

7 things to know before you go:

1) Take a quarter for your cart and save it IN your car! To some people this might be considered a small inconvenience but in all reality its just another way to save money at Aldi’s. This is preventing paying people to go fetch carts in the parking lot as well as making people (you) walk it back to the cart line to retrieve that quarter. This ALSO saves your car from those horrible stranded carts in the parking lot that always end up in the middle of nowhere.

2) Take your own bags – Aldi’s will have boxes randomly throughout the store if you forget and also have bags for purchase if you need but taking your own bags and the store NOT bagging them is another way Aldi’s helps you save money. I actually prefer to bag my own groceries and I love having reusable bags anyway.

3) If you are a brand specific person this may shock you – Aldi’s carries zero brand specific items unless they have a special buy and if they do, more then likely its not as cheap because you can’t use coupons at Aldi’s. But never fear!!! Aldi’s brands are just as good if not better then your brands that you are crazy about. Aldi’s does special buys all the time. Christmas time you will see a ton of toys from disney, legos and other brands you are familiar with. Sometimes the price is comparable or better. You will also see this with random food items. I hardly ever buy name brand at Aldi’s because this is the one area they are not that cheap in. They also do NOT PRICE COMPARE OR TAKE COUPONS. This is very important to remember. But like I said, I stand by the majority of their own brand items because they are just as good IF not better 🙂

4) Produce NOT by weight – When you go shopping at aldi’s you will notice that all produce items are individually priced and bagged. Aldi’s has pre-weighed everything for you therefore you are paying PER ITEM (package) and not by weight. This is a huge deal and where you will see a ton of savings!

5) Warehouse style – one thing that might be a surprise on the eyes is the way things are displayed. After shopping there for 5 years, I no longer notice it but everything is left in their boxes that they were shipped in. The boxes were specially designed for visibility; so they look appealing and so that the Aldi’s employees spend less time restocking shelves and therefore making yet another way Aldi’s helps YOU save money.

6) Aldi’s employees get paid well and for good reason! – They are trained to run every single part of your store! The only thing they don’t handle is the buying and that is run thru a manager. So when you see one stocking, and then helping someone and then running to the front to check you out, just know they are working so hard to make every part of the store function.

7) Gluten free and Organic- Over the last few years Aldi’s has been testing and bringing in these specific items knowing that the need for them has exploded. Try them!! They are so good and the prices are far below most name brand specific items. Just remember; if your store is trying something new and it’s gone for a few weeks, make sure you talk about it to the manager and remind them to purchase more. Aldi’s only keeps things in stock that are sold the most or the most popular. (another way they are saving you money!) So if you loved those GFree wraps and they aren’t being restocked, put in a friendly note to Aldi’s and if enough people buy it continuously, they will keep it in stock!

I am, and will forever be, Aldi’s biggest fan. Yes sometimes I run into a problem with a product where it is no longer good but I have had that problem at a big grocery store! If you have had one bad experience at Aldi’s give it another chance. Once you save 50% on your grocery bill without having to give up anything on your list, you will become a fan just like me.

Happy shopping,
Cherith