It should be noted that Aldi and Trader Joe's use the same suppliers, regardless of the company, and sell many similar items under different brand names.

A good example of this is the Jumbo Shrimp that both chains sell, which are sold in exactly the same box (same images, same design), save for the branding.

Aldi is generally cheaper on these items than TJ's.

@CyGuy:

Aldi does carry 100% Whole Wheat Spaghetti, Rotini and Penne Rigate. It is located next to the other pasta items.

You aren't likely to find 100% whole wheat pasta elsewhere. Most all of it is "made with" whole wheat and still contains bleached processed flour.

Several people said ALDI's 'has long checkout lines' I can definitely confirm that is true, especially if you shop there between 4pm and 6pm, or on Saturdays. However, try timing the lines in your regular market, and then in an ALDI's. ALDI's easily handles twice as many customers per register as a typical supermarket. This is due to several efficiency practices of the store: the customer has to bag their items away from the checkout area so the clerk spends 100% of their time running the register; the limited amount of unmarked items means the clerk usually can enter any produce codes from memory; the vertically integrated business model means they control the packaging and they have designed the packages with oversized barcodes that are almost always picked up on the first scan. Altogether, I can't recall ever spending more than 10 minutes from the time I got in line, to the time I had finished paying - I doubt you can say the same about a typical supermarket.

The second 'complaint' is that they don't take credit cards. While I admit this has been inconvenient occasionally, once you are used to it and ALDI's becomes a regular shopping trip, you plan on using ALDI's as your ATM by just getting cash-back by using your debit/ATM card to pay for your purchase. It saves you a stop at your bank's ATM or from paying a fee at another bank's ATM as cash-back on purchases is usually not an additional charge (ymmv).

On the down side, I do wish they had a couple of specialty items, particularly lactose-free milk, high-fiber bread, and whole wheat pasta.

Anyways, I know I've preached at the altar of Aldi many times in the comments. It saves us something like half our bill. I was skeptical at first, but now I am a true believer.

The drawbacks to Aldi is the general disarray of the store (due to the stacked-pallet nature of the goods) and its limited selection on certain things I need (mostly anything that's not a basic staple).

People who poo-poo Aldi for its lack of brand names: fine, go ahead, spend an extra $80 on groceries elsewhere. That means one less person I have to get past in order to get my half-priced milk.

American consumers still haven't woken up to the fact that 40-50% of the prices of the food they buy at full-service stores (e.g. Wegman's, SafeWay, Albertson's, Publix, etc.) are for the additional services such as bagging and free bags, customer service counter, extra employees wandering the store, tens of thousands of items, lots of thrown away produce for the sake of building large attractive displays, etc.

Credit card companies also charge the retailer a percentage of the sale as a fee, so all customers pay for this in the cost of the food.

If you are really willing to pay an extra $50 -100 per month for these things, even if you don't use them, then more power to you. But I believe that if most people knew why they pay so much for food, they'd reject the extra fluff forced on them by these larger grocery stores.

Next time you shop look around you and try to identify the things that are obviously costing the store money, but you don't take advantage of. Then remember that you are paying for it anyway.

@ryan_h:

It's "Tastes Like Butter" not "It's really not butter".

A lot of people look down their noses at Aldi, but I have only purchased one or two items that were sub-par, and received the double guarantee (replacement and a refund, their policy for everything they sell) without a hassle each time.

tenio from Cbus

I love Aldi's. You can get in and get out of the store in about 20 minutes with a cartload of food. So what if you have to bring your own bags/rent a cart.

The only bad food we've had there is the frozen tubes of ground turkey (too many "crunchy bits") and the brown rice (cook time was wrong, tasted horrible).

Mostly i shop at the Ranch 99 Market, which has rock-bottom prices and if you compare your Grocery Outlets you'll likely note that some are better than the others.

Then again, i spent a week in NYC recently and as a direct result, when i returned to town at 1am i blew $40 at Safeway as i was amazed how much cheaper even the overpriced grocery store is here.

@ryan_h: That is a parent problem, though, not a problem of the store. The parent needs to stop that behavior or the manager could come over and stop it. You should have complained. Trust me, no manager is going to mad at being alerted to a safety hazard.

Aldi might be worth another look for some...a friend from Ohio told me Aldi was pretty trashy there, but they've recently opened stores in Atlanta that are clean, well run and have good prices and products. I think they're changing for the better

You know how I save a bit of money on food and gas? I joined the US Army Reserve. I can go to the local Navy base and buy food and gas at 5% over cost plus no tax. That is quite a bit of savings. I am also allowed to join Tricare Reserve Select family plan for $253 a month which is the military health plan which is awsome. It has pharmacy benefits too. I am self employed and would be screwed without this benefit. Don't get me wrong, it sucks being in Iraq for a year every five years without your family, but the government pays well (again tax free + they pay for all your meals and laundry for one year. No car insurance and all the other costs of living) I can handle the lack of beer, the bombs and bullets for one year to save quite a bit of money! Plus you come back a war vet which brings a ton of VA bennies!@Ash78:

I dont know, some of their stuff just dosent look like it would be good for you. not to mention the fact that when I went in there, there were kids playing in the freaking giant cardboard boxes of melons and other assorted fruit. but hey, the off brand names are funny! instead of "i can believe its not butter", you get "its really not butter!!!"

The quarter for a cart thing is a great idea...many large supermarkets had a similar setup in the early 90's (at least in the Philly area), but people complained and they were scrapped. I hate people that leave carts wherever they please, especially when there is a corral right behind them.

Don't see much of those chain discount stores here in New York City (the nearest ones are either deep in Long Island or in Central New Jersey).

My complaint with the store itself is that they are cash or debit card only. But thats not a big complaint. Forget being priced out of Whole Foods, Im beginning to get priced out of Jewel. For an even better deal than Aldi, check out Asian grocery stores!

Kraft food?...quality?

thats funny.

Kaft is crappy
ConAgra is crappy
unilever is crappy...

ect...

I've been an Aldi employee for over 10 years, and am surprised at some of the misconceptions about the company I've been reading in the posts. I'm no cheerleader for the company, and have plenty of criticisms, but one thing I can't stand are people who assume that national brands=quality.

First of all, separate the "shopping experience" from the food quality. The food is all first quality product bought directly from the best American manufacturers. No quality shortcuts are taken to reduce the cost. This is all done at the store operations level (no special services). Only a very few products like some candy, chocolates, and coffee are sourced in Europe.

The national brands have to support their huge ad and marketing budgets to keep the consumers brainwashed, so they cut into product quality when times are tough. Don't believe me? Compare any Kraft product next to any store brand product. 9 out of 10 times the Kraft will be distinctly lower quality. If you feel compelled to buy national brands and "just don't trust" store brands, then you are a walking example of why the big brands spend millions on advertising.

Some things, like milk, are commodities and exactly the same no matter who makes it. The USDA makes this so. You'd never tell the difference if you did a blind test.

Aldi does not sell manufacturer overstock, short dated product, damaged product, etc. Everything is made especially for us. If you see something close to out of date in the store, it's because an employee wasn't paying attention.

The pay and benefits are excellent. That's why we've never been unionized. There's no point for the employees.

Their store brands are very high quality. I was budgeting when we started shopping there, and I was able to see a clear 20% drop in our shopping bill.

I went to Aldi's website to find a location.The only location by me is in the next town over in the ghetto. Too bad because it looks like an interesting store....but I rather not get mugged.

I never heard of putting a quarter in the cart...

Aldi has not let me down yet. I go regularly as it is. Most of the Private Label food products are generally run-offs from mainline suppliers (Once the 'name brand' order has been met for the week, the rest go to generics). Baked goods, dairy, and canned anything are all great values.

Aldi is great. It's stores like them that keep the bigger guys honest. They are actually based in Germany and the reason that you don't recognize a lot of their brands is because they source them in Germany, Holland and Belgium.They only stock about 7,000 items whereas the typical supermarket stocks over 40,000. (One manufaturer/one size for most products). They typically employ no more than 3-4 people on a shift and the phone number is not listed in the book (Managers are expected to work,not yak). Don't think that the managers are mistreated,though. I know one in my town that says that he makes much more money working as a manager at Aldi than he ever could elsewhere. The clerks and stockers make good money,too (according to a couple that I know). These guys just have a different business model than other chains. They are not scared of WalMart.All of you "brand whores " (Love that phrase- thanks, Rten) just go on shopping somewhere else- that means shorter lines for me.

Sav-A -Lot is another no frills outlet that I love. I wouldn't buy some things there,but their cake mixes, sugar, bread and frozen prepared foods are better than most national brands.On "check day " around here (when EBT money is available for food stamp recipients), you can't get in Sav-A-Lot to save your life. You see families with twoor three carts of basics and staples loading up for the month.

I've found their vegetables and fruits to be especially fresh, more so than other stores around my area (with the exception of the farmer's market).

I've been shopping at Aldi for a while, I've never been disappointed. I think the quality of their private label is better and cheaper than a lot of grocery stores. The only thing I'm not crazy about is their half-and-half but the knockoff Coffeemate is awesome, the ground turkey is great, and I've always been pretty pleased with the produce and baked goods. Give it a shot, haters!

We've had good luck with Aldi's produce, peanuts (in the jar), and other canned/boxed items. They have 1 pound rolls of ground turkey for $1 which is half of what our other stores sell it for.

We avoid the milk, though. Tried it twice and tasted nasty both times.

There's also one in Bennington, VT should you be out that way. When I moved there I was shocked to find an Aldi, but when I started to meet my fellow townspeople the shock quickly dissipated.

Sir Winston, do you live on one of the islands? I've taken that ferry.

Currently, I buy meats and stuff I can freeze at the local butcher store and pretty much everything else at Stop & Shop. Their store brand is really good, IMO, so I save quite a bit that way.

And then there's my monthly trip to the fancy Big Y three towns for a couple gourmet things I like once in a while. Generic stuff tastes better topped with really good Reggiano Parmesan, I've found :)

"In the USA, Aldi Nord CEO Theo Albrecht started a family trust that owns the Trader Joe's chain of specialty grocery stores, which is separate from both Aldi corporations.[citation needed] It is not Theo but his brother Karl Albrecht's Aldi South that conducts Aldi's operations in the USA."

So looks like Trader Joe's is owned by the brother of the dude who runs Aldi in the US.

The problem is that most of the Aldi's near me are quite a bit of a drive away, and in not-so-great neighborhoods. If I had one next door to me, I'd probably do most of my shopping there, instead of a couple times a year.

I don't have any Aldi's near me, but as far as other items, I always go to Marshall's or Ross first for clothes, Costco and other online sites for everything else.

been doing so for years. Why spend so much more? I don't understand it. I don't need the hottet new shoes.. I graduated high school years ago.

Oh man,
The funny thing is that I grew up eating alot of Aldi's food.
I remember going to get chips, soda (brands that I never heard of) and Elio's Pizza. The pizza was a lot cheaper than it was at ShopRite.
Now that I am an adult, I wouldn't shop at Aldi's for food. My younger sister and lot of peope that I know on welfare shop there. Of course, I am not saying that all "public assistance" folks shop there but where I am from they do.
Also, I don't like Aldis because they have one right in connection with a apartment complex. Thus, gauranteeing that they can just walk off of their porch and be 20 ft from Aldi. Alot of these same folks don't have a car. So this is cake for them.
I don't like that.
I also believe Aldi's and similiar stores sell "hormone qualified foods". There is no mistake that we see 10 year olds with big breast and butts.
I know a 8 year old that has high cholesterol and high blood pressure from eating food from there. However, this is the only place her family can shop. Maybe offer more vegetables or have a farmer's market once a month in the parking lot?

We moved to Chicago, and now shop mostly at the independent ethnic fresh markets in town. You won't find a lot of processed or frozen foods (or brand names) but the basics are good quality and very inexpensive (milk, eggs, breads, fruit and vegetables).

Unfortunately they're not common in rural/suburban areas, but if you have one of these markets in your neck of the woods (look for green awnings and a name that includes the words "fresh," "fruit" or "produce"), be adventurous and give them a try! Some people are scared off by the fact they're usually staffed and patronized by non-English speakers, but you will likely be pleasantly surprised. Hint: shop early or late at the fresh markets, as they tend to get very crowded with large families on weekends or mid-days.

The staff is minimal, but always nice. The customer mix isn't the greatest, but then again, you ARE shopping with a WIC-heavy crowd. The bags, incidentally, have made my wife and I more slightly more environmentally conscious.

Finally, the creator of the quarter/buggy thing should be lauded as a genius. I haven't been to a Wal*Mart or Target in years and had a cart as clean and as in good a shape as the ones I routinely get at Aldi.

Not in Canada...Pity

This means _my_ Aldi is the nicest in the US, because whenever Herr Doktor Aldi wants to check out his store, he visits that one. My aldi is ... perfect, and the help is super nice.

I love our Aldi's! I shop there for pantry staple items and their dairy products are very cheap. Also, our Aldis takes credit/debt cards and they do advertise.

I loved ALDIs when I was in college. They had boxes of pancake mix that came from some country in South America and sold them each for a quarter. They also had big boxes of dry milk (cows?) for about 50 cents. Then some cheapo brand of syrup in a big bottle for a dollar.

I'd eat pancakes made with rehydrated milk and some sort of sweet syrup for every meal. Each meal cost about a dime. It was great. Saved a lot of money for booze.

I shop Aldi's for the staples. The "brand whores" who insist on brand names only should take another look. I've seen pallets come in still shrink wrapped, want to guess what was on the pallet packing slip?... "General Mills Cereal Distribution Center". Take a guess who makes at least some of the private label cereals. Same too with seeing Keebler on a palet packing slip.

The make money by only stocking the 750 most common items people buy in exactly one size, which drops the number of shelves and stockers needed. Our local store runs on 6-7 employees for an entire weeks schedule. I've never felt they compromised quality, just the brand glitz.

Save-a-Lot and Aldi's both in the Cleveland, OH market take debit card (not credit) and cash. No checks.

You have to bag your own stuff at both
Aldi's make you deposit a quarter to get a shopping cart which is given back when you return the cart to it's rightful 'home'

I go to either one of these stores for most items first, Then down a few blocks a "typical grocery store" for large meat and/or produce-type purchases.

I find that Save-a-Lot's produce is better than Aldi's

I shop about 3 times a week because I prefer things fresh.
That and I'm single, food goes bad when I buy in bulk.

I've never did the math, but I'd guess I've saved at least 25% by going to these types of stores first. Thankfully, these stores are near the typical grocery stores here so gas waste isn't an issue.

And no, I don't eat the processed food stuffs save for an occasion hot-pocket purchase :)

Oh and I find that Milk is ALWAYS cheapest at Dollar
General.

@Ron-Mexico: Wal-mart generally puts other stores out of business, not the other way around.

One thing you won't get at Aldi is customer service. They have a sort of "move it buddy" attitude and the cashiers all seem to not care about anything. Oh well, you have trade offs in everything, I guess.

@Oface: yeah considering they don't bag and they get swivel chairs to sit in while the scan. I wonder how good the benifits are? Or do you get a discount on top of their already discounted prices?

It's definitely not for the stuck up, or those who value the comfort of name brands, but I can honestly say that everything I've gotten from there is just as good as the same name brand stuff, and yet is more than 50% less in most cases.

Hey, at least the shopping carts are cheap. In Europe, it's a Euro coin deposit ($1.55 or so) and in the UK, many small grocers require a pound ($2). Of course you get it back, but it's just enough deterrent to leaving the cart in the middle of the parking lot. Cuts down on labor cost.

My brand preference is for Trader Joe's, though (also owned by the Albrechts).

It's the same story with Aldi, the closest store to me is about 10 miles down the road on city streets.

By the way, I know a few rich people that go there too. Like I said, some of their items are very high in quality. They have "starbucks" drinks that are better then starbucks and only a dollar.

It just makes sense.

@boomerang86: They started taking credit/debit cards a few years ago in our town. I don't think they take checks.

@Ash78: I agree that with you in the whole change what I eat process. Don't go into an aldi's expecting to buy a certain meal. It's likely they will have maybe one or more ingredients needed, but not all of them. Then you have to drive to another store to make a complete meal. Factor in the cost of gas, and you really didn't even save much money, and now you have a bland tasting dish.

However, I disagree with the DG pricing... For example: Dove soap at DG is like $2 (they round everything up to the dollar) but at k-mart the exact same soap is $1.97. I know .03 cents, but DG does this with everything they sell.

And to those who don't know what an aldi's is: It is a discount store where they sell stuff that was over produced. Canned goods, snacks, lunch meats, etc. they do have milk and almost everything a grocery store should, but it's off. It looks like a grocery store, but look down the canned goods isle. Its a bunch of shit you'd hardley ever use, except for maybe corn, grean beans and such. But everything at aldi's is fairly cheap. Canned corn is something around 20 cents. AND... You have to pay a 25 cent deposit for a cart (you get it back when you return your own cart) and like 15 cents per grocery bag. It's best to find a box in the store to use instead of bags. Oh and you have to bag your own stuff. I heard their cashiers (in my town anyway) start off at like $10/hr.

You can't beat the prices on baking supplies, dairy, eggs, canned and boxed goods. The only things we get from nicer grocery stores is produce. We have found that Aldi's produce isn't very fresh. But we save so much money by shopping at Aldi's that we don't mind having to go to another store to buy produce.

@B: Aldi's is a no frills supermarket. I have never seen more than 2 employees in the store at one time. Canned and boxed goods are set out on pallets. They don't pack up your groceries for you. In fact if you want to have paper bags you have to buy them at $.05 each. Otherwise you are free to use empty boxes you find in the store or bring your own. If you want to use a shopping cart you have to put a quarter in the slot to unlock it from the other carts. You do get the quarter back when you return the cart, though. I know it sounds weird, but I like it because there are never any stray carts out in the parking lot to ding your car.

Hey Grocery Outlet guys! Re-open your southern California stores! We want you back!

I shopped at Aldi a lot when I was a broke grad student. When I moved to Florida I was sad that there would be no Aldi around, but I've recently learned that they are opening a bunch of stores here.

@battra92: I also shop at BJ's, and get gas there exclusively, and I use as many of the BJ's coupons as I can.

One thing we've found, though is that taking a monthly (or every other month) run to a Super Wal*Mart and BJ's.

My problem with Aldi's food isn't an ego thing...it's that it's almost all just canned and overprocessed stuff. I don't buy that stuff normally, so it makes little sense to compromise my eating habits just to find a deal. However, if you already eat a lot of canned/processed/frozen food, I can see the attraction. Plus, the stores are clean and well laid out.

As I mentioned above, most Dollar General stores are about 10 minutes from each other (they have 3,200 locations or something) and tend to be better stocked. Cluttered, but better stocked. Prices are at least as good, and they bag your groceries for you. It's like the best parts of Walmart, with none of the bad stuff.

Now if you want to choose to disown TJ's because it's not local or truly independent, have at it. But vilifying them just because they aren't seems silly to me. They are a well-run, clean, appealing place to do business.

Aldi's is none of those. Ownership is irrelevant in this case.

Now I just go to Publix, buy on sale when I can (two for one FTW!) and buy store brands most of the time.

There are three Wal-Marts in my town that I know of. I never go there.

Aldi is fine if you can put up with (a) long checkout queues, (b) having to bag your own groceries, (c) BUY bags if you forgot to bring your own, and (d) forego using a credit card or personal checks since neither are accepted there.

Granted, to shop and buy there, one has to be quite comfortable with buying generic products, but honestly, most of if not all the food is comparable to the name brand stuff. I stay away from the 'fresh' food there, but I load up on canned veggies, fruits, frozen foods, and pre-packaged meals/mixes (like MacNCheese and Hamburger Helper rip-offs), and baking supplies.

I shop there all the time and they do have some really good deals. I cut my grocery bill in half by shopping there. No they are not brand names, but its still good food. I need to get my girlfriend to shop there now so we can cut our grocery bills because she thinks if its not a brand name its not good, and thats a bad way to think.

It might not be the best for picky palates, but I never got food poisoning from their products.

Shop smart...shop S-mart!

I find that on other things, a combination of loss-leader sales and coupons enable me to do better than Aldi.

Aldi will also have special buys every week, that range from name-brand food items, to toys and clothing, to electronics. My computer, a Medion, came from there, and I have nothing but good things to say about it. I also have shrubbery growing in my yard I got from them last year. They have a weekly email about the special buys, or you can check their website.

A good piece of a sound shopping strategy, IMO.

I've tried. I really have. But I just can't bring myself to touch most of Aldi's stuff. They apparently do pretty well, but I don't really get it.

I much prefer going to Dollar General and buying brand-name stuff for Aldi-level prices (even before the expiration date!)