Today was the first day I have ever shopped at Aldi’s. To be blatantly honest, the ones I knew of were always in really sketchy areas so I steered clear. Well, pride had to be pushed to the side cause I needed to start pinching pennies and I had heard so much about the new Aldi’s that had opened not to far from us. With lots of good advice from friends I packed up the kids, tossed my canvas bags in the car and grabbed a quarter.
What’s the quarter for? The grocery cart! It’s pretty ingenious if you ask me. Having been a bagger at Kroger when I was younger I absolutely hated bringing the carts back in from the lot. But Aldi has you ‘rent’ your cart. When you return your cart you get your quarter back. You don’t return your cart? Somebody else will and will get your quarter. Pretty good incentive.
{sorry man I don’t know, but I had five kids and couldn’t wait for you to walk to your car}
I was pleasantly surprised to find the store fairly empty. Now it didn’t stay that way, but the first half of our trip was fairly easy. Around lunch time people started flowing in. But nothing, I repeat nothing, like Walmart on a Saturday! This was still very do-able.
The only problem I had the entire time was that the cart that I received had a broken belt for the kids seat. And technically I could have returned it and gotten another one but I didn’t want to. I just wanted to get the trip over with. However, the lack of a belt really peeved my young son. He kept holding up the broken belt and yelling at me.
The layout was perfect cause the snacks were the first thing we walked into. That’s usually the part I forget! So A+ for layout.
Most everything was off brand and I’m ok with that. I only checked the ingredients on one item and wasn’t happy to find out that high fructose corn syrup was the very first item listed. But it’s ok, cause I know that Trader Joe’s sells the same type of item for the same price. And was however thrilled to find this…
I didn’t buy any but being from Ohio I was thrilled to see these! Go ahead and scoff at me but we all have our guilty pleasures.
So my favorite part of the entire trip was the checkout! The cashier was crazy fast! I started yelling at my kids {in a joking manner} because there are five of them and he was going at super speed! We couldn’t keep up! Of course, he wasn’t bagging any of our groceries. He was scanning and throwing them into another cart. And that is why we brought our own grocery bags. They have a long shelf area where you can load up all your groceries into your own bags.
I used ALL of my grocery bags including that huge Ikea one! You can’t see the one behind my son on the right but there’s a big insulated Trader Joe’s bag. That’s a whole lotta groceries!
So I know you’re curious to know the total. I’m still thrilled. The only item I forgot to get was eggs. And maybe bananas but those aren’t so much a necessity as eggs are. Ready??
$90.91
For an entire week of groceries! Sans eggs. Now granted, we have some stuff in our freezer and pantry we’ll be using, but really, who doesn’t? One of my favorite finds was turkey ham. I totally did not expect to find any there. So when I saw that and the dried navy beans I knew navy bean soup would be on our menu this week.
I am very pleased and can’t wait to return next week! We used to spend three times this at Trader Joe’s. Not that I don’t love TJ’s, it just that it’s penny pinching time for us. So if you haven’t gone, make a trip to Aldi’s! It’s like Ikea in the fact that it’s ‘an experience’.
Blessings!
