ALDI

Great prices and now gluten free options and organic! Be ready to wait in line but staff moves you through quickly!

Karen H.‘s tips were right on. IMHO the one downfall is that you are forced to go through an aisle of junk food before you get in the main part of the store. Produce looked good but you do need to look before you buy. Eggs were a bit more expensive than the Trader Joes down the road, so not everything is a bargain.
I was very impressed with one of the houseware items on sale this week — a stainless steel colander had good heft and was a bargain at $ 3.99.
The cashier was polite, friendly and efficient.
Aldi won’t be a must stop place every week but I will return again.

It is a great store for your staples but a little dangerous. People are in quite a hurry and don’t care they knock you over. Wear a helmet and you will be fine.

I was intimidated before my first Aldi trip. Here are some tips for your first time there: Bring reusable bags. Bring a quarter (to «unlock» a shopping cart). Bring cash or a debit card. Realize that you’ll probably need to go to another store to fulfill all of your grocery shopping needs. If you go with those expectations in mind, you’ll be fine. There are good values to be found in their produce, dairy and packaged goods section. The store is small and offers mostly store/​generic brands, with a few brand names thrown in for good measure (I saw Go-​gurt kids yogurt, Pringles, etc.). All of the food I purchased tasted food and we’d buy it again. The cashier accidently rang up an item twice, but was apologetic when I went back to the store to get it corrected. They go VERY fast, so be sure to double check your receipt.

I like Aldi’s because it helps me stretch my budget on many of my basic grocery purchases. I have been satisfied with most everything I’ve tried and find they are very similar to the name brands but at a much better price. Now if I could just remember to bring my shopping bags with me… but they always have boxes etc available to carry home my finds.

Feels & looks like a ‘Dollar Store’. A strange mix of generic grocery staples & random crap (toys, sock bundles & dish sets). Don’t understand the appeal, yet very crowded on a weekday afternoon. If you’re needing the most basic of kitchen staples (butter, bread, eggs), have at it. If you’re needing other niceties (cupcakes, almonds, vanilla extract), keep on moving to a ‘full service’ market.

If you want to save money on groceries and don’t mind buying generic brands, Aldi is a great option. I’m usually not a fan of generic brands, and I’ve been pleasantly surprised by each of the brands Aldi carries. Their cereal is very good (and I’m picky!) and it’s around a couple dollars a box (or so). Their produce is great and very cheap.
I used to shop coupons at Rainbow and was very happy with that until I tried Aldi. Now I’m saving 50% or so on groceries there, and I can get a ton of fruits and vegetables for cheap, which is great for eating healthy.
Remember to bring a quarter for the cart and reusable bags, if you’d like. Otherwise, you can use the boxes that the food comes in throughout the store to put your groceries in. You also can’t get everything there, but add in an occasional trip to the larger grocery stores and you’re set. Debit cards, not credit cards, are accepted.

Yeah, its relatively cheap and in this economy one should try to save $. Plus, shopping here, you don’t have to buy in bulk (unlike Costco and Sams club) thus you eat it before it goes bad.
Buying the regular staples is ok. Check the expiration date just to be secure, but most of the time its ok. I wouldn’t buy meat or fish here. I just have a weird feeling. Also, inspect your produce carefully. Take your time, or you’ll get something that is half rotten.
Shopping here is kinda like a maze, the place is small, they constantly move stuff around and rearrange everything. Honestly this place is a zoo. There are about 40 children running around in every aisle. These children seem to not know how to act in public and their parents dont really care. I recommend you duck and cover, move slowly towards the goods and try to run over at least two kids per aisle.
The lines are a pain. Try to come with someone so one of you can stand in line while the other one is running around getting the stuff.
You have to bring your owns bags.
The clerks are quite bad. You get no love, no «thank you», no «have a good day». I guess the prices are cheap and polite words are not included.

I live near this Aldi, and go there about twice a month. There is absolutely no beating their prices for basic groceries. I usually get milk, eggs, and canned goods. Why pay 20% more for these at another grocer? I’ve never had issues with their quality, although if you get vegetables or produce, take a close look. I almost bought a bag of onions until I noticed some of them were gross (I was at the checkout and just grabbed another bag).
The lines can get long there, but that’s how they roll. You have to expect to sacrifice some of the thrills you get at Lund’s to get Aldi’s prices.
Before I went in there the first time, I thought it would be full of trashy, poor, homeless people. I was wrong. It was regular suburban folk looking for a deal. Just be patient at the checkout line and bring a quarter if you need a cart :)
Oh, and they take cash and debit cards, and some select credit cards (not your typical MasterCard and Visa), so plan ahead.

Aldi is different from most grocery stores in that you have to pay a deposit on a cart ($.25 that you get back) and you either buy or bring your grocery bags. But it’s also different in that the prices on staples are a good 40% cheaper than you will find at most regular grocery stores.
My husband and I buy all our staples at Aldi. We get our eggs, butter, milk, bread, cheese, and meat at Aldi. We can get all our staples for far less at Aldi than what we would pay at other stores. It helps that they are just across the street from our apartment but we would go there anyway.
Once you get used to the quirks, you will never go anywhere else for the regular things you need.
Aldi also features specials in seasonal items so it pays to check their circular to see what’s on special each week. One week it could be Italian food items, another could feature Mexican food items. It pays to stock up if these are things you use regularly.

ALDI is an interesting bird.
The best analogy I can come up with is that its like you get the bulk purchasing price without having to buy a «bulk» amount (so, no gigantic ketchups or cans of nacho cheese sauce here).
The store is a no-​frills sort of place (they actually built this one in the old Cheepskate), but it is easy to navigate, and smaller than traditional American grocery stores so you can hop in and out quickly. If you plan to use a cart, bring a quarter (you’ll get it back), and bring your own bags or you will be paying for yours at the checkout.
Personally, my boyfriend and I hit ALDI for our canned goods and staple needs because usually the prices are about 40 — 50% lower than those at other large chains. In this economy, that’s money in the bank.