It's taken me a long time to even consider Aldi worthy of reviewing, but suffice to say, I have slowly become a fan. For years, I would never set foot in the place after the whole dead mouse in the can of veggies fiasco years ago, but over the last couple of years, I have slowly warmed back up to the place. You won't find a fancy grocery store here. In fact, the aisles are made up of cardboard boxes full of their food offerings. Shopping carts are 25c (which you get back upon successful return of the cart to the cart corral). Bags are extra too. Don't bother calling them for information either. In fact, Aldi never publishes a public telephone number for any of their stores. Closed on Sunday, too.
What you will find at Aldi is a decent selection of fresh products that compete favorably with the offerings of other, more expensive grocery stores. All of the brands are house brands, with the occasional name brand thrown in to the mix when they can offer the item at a competitive price.
One thing I like about Aldi in particular is that you never have to worry about product freshness. They cycle through inventory so quickly, everything is uber-fresh with expiration dates way out in the future. Unlike the other major grocery store across town, I never find any expired merchandise on the shelves at Aldi.
I don't do all of my grocery shopping at Aldi by any stretch, but I do go there regularly for certain items. Their snack food brand "Clancy's" is excellent. Great potoato chips, especially the Kettle Chips variety. Excellent Cheese Curls too. I also prefer their Nacho Cheese flavored tortilla chips over Doretos. Their house brand of ground coffee rates favorably with me as well and that is what I typically brew for customer coffee at my office. Great robust flavor. Eggs are usually cheaper and the same with gallons of milk. Expiration dates on eggs and milk are usually three weeks out versus 1 1/2 - 2 weeks at a conventional grocery store. Merchandise definitely does not sit for long at an Aldi store. Produce can be hit or miss, so I really don't buy much in the way of produce at Aldi, but the 99c bags of mixed salad greens is a good bargain. Loaves of bread and hamburger and hotdog buns are always VERY soft and fresh too. I have also experimented with some of their frozen food items as well. These have generally been hit or miss, but nothing so far has been objectionable. I have not tried any of their fresh cuts of meat since I prefer to get my meat from the butcher, but one day, I may give some of it a try just to see how it is.
They only take cash at the register (or your Welfare card) and the checkout lines operate with amazing efficiency. Occasionally the lines do get long however and they usually will not open up another line.
So, bring a short stack of cash, your grocery bags and some patience and you will find many a great bargain on some excellent food choices at Aldi.
In fact, as I sit typing this, I have polished off a full bag of Clancy's Sea Salt and Cracked Pepper Potato Chips with my evening cocktail. I guess I spoiled my dinner. read more
