So I had heard whisperings of Aldi before, but having never been there, it always seemed sort of mysterious and mythical. Is it really this low cost Narnia that everyone has claimed it is?
Well, it just so happens that every year I do an ass ton of holiday baking, and it gets to be crazy expensive when you're buying truck loads of flour, butter and sugar. A friend suggested that I buy my baking supplies at Aldi to save some money. Intriguing? Yes. Risky? You bet. But challenge accepted.
Now, my bad for not doing my Aldi research before embarking on this journey, because I quickly learned that shopping at Aldi is sort of like ordering soup from the Soup Nazi -- you walk in, go to the right, order in a loud, clear voice, step to the left, hold out your money, and receive your soup. No extraneous comments, no questions, no compliments.
Ok, so maybe Aldi's procedures are not quite that rigid, but there definitely is a particular way to do things here that would've been useful for me to know ahead of time. The first rule of Aldi is that there are no carts. Well, actually, there are carts, just not FREE carts. You need a quarter to rent them. D'oh. Yes, I was the jackass tugging on the line of carts not understanding why I couldn't get one loose. The second rule of Aldi -- no free bags. D'oh. Yes, I was the jackass who stared blankly when the cashier started throwing my items into the cart and not into bags (note: they do sell paper and plastic bags to help out said jackasses). Related to the second rule of Aldi is that not only do they not have bags, but the cashier puts your items back into your cart and you are to take it over to the "bagging area" to bag your own. Do not attempt to bag while the cashier is scanning -- once I realized I was supposed to bag my own, I started to do it while she was still scanning and I got scolded (nicely) because she said she could've hit my hands with groceries while I was reaching into the cart. Fair enough. The third rule of Aldi -- no credit cards (cash or debit only). D'oh. Yes, I was the jackass who tried to use my Visa and was puzzled when it didn't work. The fourth rule of Aldi -- don't talk about Aldi.
So other than feeling like a jackass for not knowing the conventions of Aldi, my shopping experience was actually quite positive. Walking through here is kind of a weird mind trip, because many of the products sold here are generic Aldi brand, but they are packaged to look just like those that you'd see at a regular grocery store. So they use identical packaging to make you think, for example, that you're buying a pack of Oreos, but when you look closely, you see that they're "Schmoreos" or whatever the Aldi brand is. So it's kinda like a weird alternate grocery universe. But in this alternate universe, prices are AMAZING. I only hit up the baking supplies (butter, sugar, flour, eggs, chocolate chips, vanilla, etc.), and everything was EASILY half the cost of what it would've been at Giant Eagle. I almost didn't think the prices were real. Crazy affordable. Although the store is small, they had a decent selection as well (including some nice seasonal baking supplies, like red and green colored white choco chips).
That being said, when it comes to baking ingredients, I'm usually super loyal to my old reliable name brands. So I was afraid that using all Aldi brand stuff might affect the quality of my goodies. Well, I had no reason to worry, because everything turned out just as tasty as usual! And the best part is that I spent so much less money than I do most other years (e.g., I spent a total of $44 at Aldi for everything; last year, for the same amount of baking supplies, I spent $103 at Geagle).
Obviously since I only used their baking ingredients, I can't comment on the quality of produce, meats, etc. that I saw they also sell. But as far as their packaged items are concerned, I'm definitely a believer!
This particular Aldi is located in a plaza in Etna (or is it Shaler?) off of Butler Street. Be warned that to exit the plaza, you have to drive to the back of the parking lot, over a little bridge, and turn left on the connecting road to double back to Butler street. There are signs, but I imagine it could be confusing if you don't know what to look for. read more
