FoodBanter.com - Aldi grocery stores

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Melba's Jammin' wrote:
> What do you know about them?
>

They don't have them here in Portland OR, AFAIK. My Mom liked them -
she was on a fixed income and shopped their regularly (IL). The one in
her hometown was nice and well kept.

-L.

We like Aldi's frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts and the
Grandessa brand frozen fruit bars (coconut, strawberry, pinapple-lime,
and carribean). Sometimes they have name brand items for a good deal.

Living in the land of cows.

I Agree Ms Crue,
the frozen items are a great value and they offer gourmet as
well as staples in their frozen cases. I also love that the frozen
fruit bars
don't cost $2.50 + for 4 bars but a more reasonable $1.69.
I got a beautiful chocolate torte last week for a sick friend and
it costs me all of $3.99 and she loved it. the same type of
frozen torte cake was more than $6.00 at the local Krogers. - Why ???

Aldi's is a wonderful place for those on a limited income.
the folks who work there are friendly and the stores in my area
are sparkling clean and well stocked always. they clean with
bleach and you can smell it when you enter, unlike many majors
who clean at night when they close. if at all. rarely everyday
as in the case of Aldi's. I know what I'm talking about folks..

they offer basic staples at people friendly prices.
they even offer freshly cut and packaged flowers for $2.99 a bunch.

what's wrong with taking your own shopping bags and packing them
yourself ? I prefer it so that I know what's in what bag and that my
purchases will be safe when I put them in the car for the trip home.
no more smashed breads, broken eggs and bruised tomatos and bananas.
also consider how much you help the environment by recycling your bags.

I make them the first stop on my major grocery shopping sojourn
eachmonth.
I do this to make sure that I get the staples out of the way first; at
a price
that I can afford. I have seen them put out wonderful specials like
whole butterball turkeys for $9.99 and the turkey breasts for $9.99 as
well.

they offer fresh milk, bread, bagged salad, and spinach all fresh;
and lots of things that you'd buy anyway at a discount. all you have to
do is just get in there and shop.

so many folks find the extras of bigger supermarkets worthwhile, and
don't consider how much they add to the cost of the grocery bill.
I worked for several major grocery chains in loss prevention and have
seen what comes in and how; so I know the real deal. ask the majors
their label brand packers and I bet you'll see that they also use the
same packers as all the other discount stores, except they just charge
you more.

Aldi is A+ In My Book.
I spend on averge of $25.00 eachtime I go there during the month,
after my initial $50 - $75. for the first of the month.

I can find things like Premade Pizza Dough in the
roll out tins for .79 a tin; vs the prebaked pizza shells
for .99 each at Aldi.
honestly the same pizza crust by a major co. - Pillsbury
costs double plus that and it's the same thing. I tested them
and they are no different. I made two pizzas with the crusts
used the same pizza sauce and toppings and they were
the same. not one person knew which was which; other than me.
I also find the fact that Aldi's being small and getting their
deliveries
daily assures that most things are fresh; unlike major super-markets
which cold store perishable items for up to 3 days sometimes.

anyone ever considered the health implications of that prolonged
storage ?
it costs you more for a lesser quality product, and they don't think
you care ..

I for one would rather buy my frozen chicken breasts at Aldi for $5.99
for a 3lb bag; than pay the super markets $9.+ for the same item.
they have fresh turkey breast; fresh sausage; fresh ground beef and
of course my favorite stretcher ground turkey for .69 a pound. I freeze
it when I get it home so why on earth would I spend double that at a
major.

I guess the real answer is when you have more money, you spend more.
I for one live on a fixed income and know what I will be cooking
usually
that month and shop accordingly. I make a list and take it with me
regardless
of which store I'm going to - to prevent that urge to overspend.

I'm satisfied when I've shopped that my list is a staple list which I
can
create most anything from. why pay .99 - $1.39 a lb for whole chicken
when you can pay .69 a lb ? its frozen and all of it comes from the
same
local suppliers. don't be deluded into thinking that walmarts uses a
different supplier - I can tell you that their company policy says use
the closest and most reliable suppliier - which is what Aldi's policy
is as well apparently.

I shop at Food Basics which is another low price supermarket and they
don't come close in price on some items; but on others they offer a
substanstial discount on prices for the same items they stock in their
sister stores - farmer jacks and a&p.

take time and compare and I bet if you really cook you'll see the
virtue of less is more. $1.79 for 5lbs of sugar, vs $2.79 -$3.25 for
the
same 5lb bag at the majors is just one example of what I mean.

Happy Shopping and Saving to those who know,

~RE

http://ausetkmt.com/food.index

> wrote in message
...
> On Sun, 30 Jan 2005 09:37:10 -0400, "Gabby" > wrote:
>
>
>>My favorite aspect of Superstore had to be the advent of green box
>>shopping.
>>We bought several plastic boxes which fit into specially designed carts (6
>>or 7 boxes to a cart IIRC). All groceries were packed into those boxes to
>>take home. No more plastic bags or need to carry cloth bags.
>
> I would love to see this expanded to grocery shopping worldwide. It would
> make
> it so much easier to get the groceries from the cart to the car to inside.
> I do
> this now on my own, I stuff all the bags of stuff in 3-4 of the Sterilite
> flip
> top bins that I keep in the trunk for shopping. Lots easier to keep stuff
> from
> spilling all over the place.

I just thought of something. If I got bins (left my green boxes with my
daughter when we moved) and took them with me, while I couldn't use them for
the actual shopping because the carts are too small, I could get the clerk
to pack in the bins instead of using bags. Note to self: stop by Home
Hardware tomorrow and pick up some bins.

Gabby

"ausetkmt" > wrote in message
oups.com...
>
> I Agree Ms Crue,
> the frozen items are a great value and they offer gourmet as
> well as staples in their frozen cases. I also love that the frozen
> fruit bars
> don't cost $2.50 + for 4 bars but a more reasonable $1.69.
> I got a beautiful chocolate torte last week for a sick friend and
> it costs me all of $3.99 and she loved it. the same type of
> frozen torte cake was more than $6.00 at the local Krogers. - Why ???
>
> Aldi's is a wonderful place for those on a limited income.
> the folks who work there are friendly and the stores in my area
> are sparkling clean and well stocked always

I just don't find their prices very competitive. I can get similar prices
at Meijer where they will supply the bags, bag the groceries, and provide
curbside service. Maybe I'm just in an area where there is fierce
competition and prices are low. Kroger is always the most expensive store
in this area, which happens to be the corporate headquarters for Kroger. I
don't think it is fair to compare the prices at Aldi with Kroger unless
Kroger is your only alternative.

On Sun, 30 Jan 2005 14:40:50 GMT, "Ophelia" >
wrote:

>
>"Steve Y" > wrote in message
...
>> Aldi is German isn't it ? Here in Europe it is normal to collect your
>> trolley from outside the store. It's only in the UK that you don't have to
>> put a coin in to be able to take one from the rack. Probably explains why
>> UK rivers are full of trolleys !
>
>At the stores I shop we have to put £1 into the trolley which is outside!
>
>Ophelia
>Scotland
>
is it refundable?

your pal,
blake

"blake murphy" > wrote in message
...
> On Sun, 30 Jan 2005 14:40:50 GMT, "Ophelia" >
> wrote:
>
>>
>>"Steve Y" > wrote in message
...
>>> Aldi is German isn't it ? Here in Europe it is normal to collect your
>>> trolley from outside the store. It's only in the UK that you don't have
>>> to
>>> put a coin in to be able to take one from the rack. Probably explains
>>> why
>>> UK rivers are full of trolleys !
>>
>>At the stores I shop we have to put £1 into the trolley which is outside!
>>
>>Ophelia
>>Scotland
>>
> is it refundable?

Yes it is.

>>> Aldi is German isn't it ? Here in Europe it is normal to collect your
>>> trolley from outside the store. It's only in the UK that you don't have
>>> to
>>> put a coin in to be able to take one from the rack. Probably explains
>>> why
>>> UK rivers are full of trolleys !
>>
>>At the stores I shop we have to put £1 into the trolley which is outside!
>>
>>Ophelia
>>Scotland
>>
> is it refundable?
>
> your pal,
> blake

The Bigg's stores in my neighborhood require a quarter to unchain a cart.
You get the quarter back when you return the cart to the cart return and
insert the chain with a tab into the coin box on the cart. Your quarter is
returned.

"big fish" > wrote in message
...
> >>> Aldi is German isn't it ? Here in Europe it is normal to collect your
> >>> trolley from outside the store. It's only in the UK that you don't
have
> >>> to
> >>> put a coin in to be able to take one from the rack. Probably explains
> >>> why
> >>> UK rivers are full of trolleys !
> >>
> >>At the stores I shop we have to put £1 into the trolley which is
outside!
> >>
> >>Ophelia
> >>Scotland
> >>
> > is it refundable?
> >
> > your pal,
> > blake
>
> The Bigg's stores in my neighborhood require a quarter to unchain a cart.
> You get the quarter back when you return the cart to the cart return and
> insert the chain with a tab into the coin box on the cart. Your quarter is
> returned.

That's one reason I never go there. I live near the Eastgate Biggs in
Cincinnati. That store really sucks, and with Meijer just across the street
I don't bother with Biggs and their pay-to-get-a-cart scheme. Now, if I was
near the Mason Biggs store, I might consider shopping there. When the
Forestfair store was new and I lived in Fairfield, I when there, but not
that store looks really tired.

Melba's Jammin' > writes:

>What do you know about them?

>The one in Savage on County 42 is now open and I stopped yesterday to
>have a look and perhaps pick up a couple items. It was an interesting
>experience.

In the U.K. we have both Aldi and Lidl both are German supermarket
chains and the produce can be better or worse than stuff in other
supermarket chains. In fact it's generally held that German's are used to
higher quality produce in their stores so the stuff is usually of a
higher quality and cheaper than stuff in an equivalent British owned
chain (Tesco, Sainsbury or Asda (latter owned now by WalMart). Lot of
the stuff in U.K. stores are based on brands available in Germany so are
sourced outwith the U.K. i.e the same produce you get on German shelves.
They also have non-food stuff from clothing to computers (of which you
pick up some pretty good deals for high spec portables, etc.) but these
are usually limited to a particular week or until stock runs out.

I must say I have a penchant for the chocolate which is usually very
high quality with cocoa butter rather than vegetable oil as you get in
cheaper U.K. chocolate.

Graham