Tales from an Aldi aficionado

We recently found out that our Springboro Kroger store is going to become a Kroger Marketplace- it will be much larger than the current Kroger and will have a fuel station, presumably a Starbucks in it and many of the other features that the large Kroger stores have. This news made me a little sad- I prefer our basic Springboro Kroger over the nearby larger Austin Landing and Centerville Kroger Marketplace stores. While the latter stores have olive bars, sushi bars, sell exotic cheeses aged in the likes of New Hampshire, smelling vaguely of dirty socks and selling for way more than Kraft or store brand cheese, live lobsters awaiting to be "chosen" for someone's special meal, the aforementioned Starbucks and a plethora of other features, I prefer the simplicity, small parking lot, and small town feel of the present Springboro Kroger store.

In stark contrast to the fancy pants Kroger Marketplace concept that will be coming to the Springboro Kroger is the grocery store Aldi.  Aldi is everything a Kroger Marketplace is not- not a shred of superfluous decor, nary an enticing endcap, and most definitely no raw fish or soon to be boiled alive crustaceans for sale. The allure of Aldi stores is quite simple: the prices for products are low, generally much lower than prices at traditional grocery stores. Aldi sells mostly its own "house" brand of grocery items exclusively for a lot of items. So, for a product, say, ketchup, there is one brand from which to choose and that's Aldi's house brand. Fewer choices with a smaller price tag is A-ok with me...

Abby and I started going to a nearby Aldi sometime in early summer- maybe May or early June and have been going once a week to it ever since. We've been going to Kroger once a week, too. Our Aldi trips have been more "supplemental" to our bigger weekly Kroger trips. However, once our Springboro Kroger store becomes a Kroger Marketplace, I intend to do the bulk of our grocery shopping at Aldi and then go to Kroger maybe once every two weeks to get good sale priced items or named brand products that I like that I can't get at Aldi.

Wherever I grocery shop, I feel very fortunate that we live in such close proximity to grocery stores. We have four Kroger stores within five miles of our house and four Aldi stores within ten miles of our house (and a number of other grocery stores, too, within ten miles). I love the convenience of suburban living ;).

Everyone in the family has found grocery items that they like from Aldi. I love shopping there and bringing home goodies... Here are some of our favorites:

Even though Aldi stores are much smaller than typical suburban grocery stores and sell less types of each kind of food, eg. it sells just its house brand of ketchup, the stores contain some products that larger grocery stores don't contain like these protein wraps. The bodybuilders in the family love the extra protein from these wraps. These wraps cost $2.99 for a package.

A bread with zero net carbs? Oh my. Kroger does not sell a specialty bread like this. The only other place I've seen that sells zero net carb bread is online where the price is about $7/ loaf. This is $3.49 making it more expensive than a traditional bread, but from a no carb perspective, it is a great deal. Each slice of bread only has 40 calories. And, I love the taste. I like it better than regular bread and I'd much rather get my carbs from sugary/ dessert type food than from bread. The loaf is bigger than what it appears in the picture- it has been opened and several pieces eaten.

I love to snack on these raw nuts. Aldi sells another package that's just like this with a different nut combination but this is my favorite. Kroger has a lot of nut purchasing options but almost all of them are processed nuts (such as Planter's brand nuts). This package costs $4.99. I go through about a package a week.

This is similar to the Kodiak Protein pancake mix. At Aldi it's $2.99 a box. Every once in a while I find the Kodiak brand sale at Kroger for $2.99 but the normal price is more than $2.99.

Alyssa likes these as a quick snack. They cost $1.99.

One of the kids doesn't like lunch meat from the deli so I always buy it in these tubs. At Aldi, this is $3.99. At Kroger, the cost is about that same amount for 1/2 the amount that's in this tub (the meat comes in two portions that's packaged separately which is nice).

This four cup package of cheese is $2.75. Kroger often times has its cheese on sale for $1.99 but it's for a two cup package of cheese, not four cups. Also, Aldi's 8 ounce blocks of cheese are $1.75 (I think that's right- it may be $1.79)

Aldi has a few bougie cheese options including this Havarti that Alyssa and I both love. It's $2.99 

Alyssa really likes these sea salt veggie crisps. Donnie likes the black bean chips which are comparable to Beanitos, only cheaper. The veggie crisps are $1.99 and the black bean chips are $2.39.

I like to have these on hand for when the munchies strike- these are slightly healthier than full fat chips and cost $2.29. The regular potato chips are $1.49 a package.

Snagged this green beauty for $1.50- though it was on sale at Aldi (sales are not that common since regular prices are so good). The regular price was $3.00.

Aldi pays homage to its German provenance in its small candy section. American chocolaters have not embraced the deliciousness that is hazelnuts and chocolate together but the Germans appreciate it- Aldi sells several kinds of bars with hazelnuts in them. I bought these made in Germany Knoppers the last time I was at Aldi. Schmeckt gut!

I buy other items regularly at Aldi. They include:

Eggs- they're just .68/ dozen. The last time I was at Kroger, they were $1.79/ dozen (the price seems to fluctuate at Kroger from week to week. Aldi's price for eggs has remained the same all summer).

Bacon- $3.49/lb. Can sometimes find it this cheap on sale at Kroger but not usually. 

Bagged Salad Mix- .89. Occasionally Kroger has theirs on sale for under a dollar but it regularly costs more than a dollar.

Canned vegetables- .44/ can- Kroger prices, even for Kroger's generic brand on sale, don't come close to this price. Organic canned vegetables are .89 at Aldi.

85% lean ground beef is $3.39/lb- there was one week this summer that Kroger was selling its 80% lean ground beef for over $6/ lb.When Kroger was selling theirs for $6/ lb, Aldi was selling its 85% for $3.69/ lb. Both stores have since lowered their prices but Kroger has not lowered its 85% to anywhere close to $3.39/lb.

Large (2 lb) container of Greek yogurt is $3.45

Box of baking soda is .50.

1/2 gallon of milk- $1.19

I could list other examples of prices- these are just a few I found from recent receipts. 

A couple of things to keep in mind when shopping at Aldi- you essentially "rent" your shopping cart for .25 but you get it back when you return your cart to the cart corral (this is one way that Aldi saves on labor costs- employees don't have to wrangle carts from the parking lot- customers return carts near the store to retrieve their .25). Also, Aldi does not provide shopping bags. There are shopping bags for sale- poorer quality (though quite large) ones cost .10 while the sturdier, more reusable ones cost .99. I've purchased four of the cheap ones and reuse them. Bonus, you feel like you're doing something good for the environment by not leaving the store with tons of plastic bags (even though the "good" you're doing was imposed because of a policy by the store :)). There are no baggers at Aldi- again this is an obvious savings for Aldi by requiring fewer employees. The cashier places all of your scanned items in your cart and then after you pay, you take your cart to a "bagging area" in the front of the store where you can place your items in bags that you brought or bought. This is quite efficient because the check out line doesn't get held up while customers bag their groceries. Aldi really has thought of a variety of cost saving measures- some savings of which gets passed on to the customer. 

So those are my thoughts on Aldi- I love it! I have nothing against Kroger and will continue to shop there- some of their sale prices are really good; however, for consistent low prices and a very unpretentious, no nonsense approach to the grocery shopping experience, I think I'll remain an Aldi fan girl for a long time :). And, like I said earlier, when our hometown Kroger becomes a Marketplace, I plan to do even more shopping at Aldi.