Friday, March 02, 2007

Aldi & Spring Cleaning

March is National Frozen Food Month! And will be spring cleaning month here on ASL. If you blog, feel free to join in the Spring Cleaning Fun & let us know how you are making your house happy this month. Once I am fully recovered from my cold, I will be happily cleaning & organizing all most areas of my house. {No, I am not pregnant/nesting/crazy.} I am looking forward to sharing some cool cleaning websites, tips & maybe some before/after pictures of my own house.

But, in honor of National Frozen Food Month, I thought we'd discuss one of many people's favorite discount food stores: Aldi. I used to shop there quite often as we lived in their backyard. Not figuratively. Literally. It was nice to just be able to walk to the end of the fence to pick up a gallon of milk or a $1.99 pizza. Now that we live about 20 minutes from the nearest one {and not near my main grocery stop, Woodman's} I don't shop there as often. Maybe once a month. I am planning on going more frequently though to try and cut down on our grocery bill. I am a huge kind of a food snob, so some things I just don't buy there. We recently tried their beef hot dogs & Rick said they were disgustingly greasy. {This from the guy that pretty much will eat whatever you put in front of him.} I do like their cheap canned veggies {for the kids} and their canned diced tomatoes for Spanish rice. I also have always like their Spaghetti sauce too. Last time I went, their milk & eggs were both more expensive than Woodman's, but I had to buy the milk anyway because I needed it. Their not-from-concentrate OJ was slightly more expensive per ounce than the 96 oz. jug of Tropicana I bought at my main grocer. I used to really love their french toast sticks too, until I discovered OAMC & just freeze my own pancakes/waffles/french toast.

Please help me save money at Aldi. So here are my questions: How often do you shop there? What do you love to buy there because it is a really great deal {and tastes good enough}? What will you not buy there because it is either not saving money or doesn't taste good?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ok so I am an Aldi lover! Although now that we have a walmart supercenter I have just been going there for everything until we get our aldi here in town! I also like to get there pizzas, because dh likes to through in pizza at 9:30 at night and it gets way to expensive to buy the other types. It depends on the day I'm there for some reason as far as milk costs, some days i go and it's 2 something other days it's 1.97. I get their cereals for the kids, and snacks for the kids and dh's lunch(when it gets fixed) I don't know that I've ever compared really close the costs of all the seperate things, I just know for sure that if I go somewhere else and get 1/2 a cart full it is still usually twice as much as a full cart at Aldi. The things I don't get at Aldi is there frozen meat. They do now have a fresh meat section, so I've gotten a couple of things from there and they've been good, and the price does seem to be somewhat lower. I don't know if this helps at all? I was just saying the other day I think I'm going to definetly have to start shopping at sams for our "huge" ;0) family! I still have to price it all out though! Good luck to you in saving on costs!! :0)

Erin said...

igok...so I am not a Aldi's shopper really. I actually HATE driving and hate going to Crystal Lake in general so when the Aldi's comes to Woodstock I will probably go every once and a while.

I go certain places for certain things though and this is what I can share.

SAMS
-Salmon(its fresh and cheaper than I have ever found it on sale)
-Bottled Water(I am a bottled water freak)
-Lysol Wipes(dare I say...)
-Photo Developing
-Croissants(just because they are yummy)
-razors
-juice

ALDI's(this is what I would buy if I were going)
-MILK
-Eggs
-Cereal
-Canned Veggies
-Bagged Salad
-Bread

*I am also a food snob so those things listed above are what I would definatly buy. I would obviously buy more items if I went but those are the things that I would probably eat.

WALMART
-laundry detergent
-any paper products
-yogurt
-bananas

and really pretty much everything else that I would need on a weekly basis.

I am interested in knowing if anyone goes SOMEWHERE imparticular for certain deals that they can't get anywhere else.

E

Rebecca said...

Does anyone keep a price book? I think this is a really great idea & if no one keeps one, maybe I will start one & share it as I go along....Or maybe we can somehow keep a combined one within the group???
Like some people say never pay more than $XX per pound for beef. I don't even know what a good price is most of the time....

Beth said...

I have never shopped at Aldi. I have been there once before I was married when my SIL showed me the ropes there but never went back. So, I really don't know anything about it except for it seems kinda a pain to shop with kids there. I do almost all of my grocery shopping at Super Walmart (there are times where I just run out to Sullivan's if we really need something though). Even before the one opened up in Woodstock I was driving to Lake Geneva. I usually buy all Great Value brand stuff (NOT ketchup though!!!) and I think prices are pretty good doing it that way. I do look through Jewel sale papers and if I see something worth getting, we stop there on our way home from church (like this week we are stopping for milk, bananas, and blueberries). I would rather pay more for food that tastes good than save money and have it be okay. I do think that once the Aldi opens up in Woodstock I would like to try shopping there a few times. I don't know why but the place just scares me though...I guess because it's unfamiliar.

Anonymous said...

I'd never heard of Aldi, but it turns out there is one nearby. Because of all this discussion I'll have to check it out for my collegiate munchies :)

Dan Barnett. said...

Chloe,
Make sure you take a quarter. Don't worry you get it back afterwards.