The Scoop on Aldi

There's been a lot of talk in my circle lately about Aldi, the new grocery store opening up in Saginaw.  In Saginaw there are 2 choices for grocery shopping, Albertson's, which can be expensive or Wal-Mart, which can be painful.  So, the new Aldi going up has stirred up some excitement among those of us that are doomed to do the weekly grocery shopping.
I wasn't really interested at first, because I figured Wal-Mart is always going to be cheaper.  When you're living on one teacher's income, you will endure all sorts of pain and discomfort to save a little money.  But then, all my Facebook friends started posting how much money they were saving at Aldi, so I decided to check it out.

I went to the Aldi in Keller today, since the one in Saginaw is not open yet.  Getting there was a nightmare.  There was some kind of construction or accident when getting on  to 35 and traffic was backed up forever. It took us 40 minutes to drive the 8 miles to Aldi.  This is important because Ella started screaming in the back seat, "I want to get out of here!  I'm stuck!  Help!" about 10 minutes into this trip.  I immediately started thinking, "I should have just gone to Wal-Mart; this is stupid."  I strategically plan grocery shopping trips around when Ella is in a good mood, because it can be a nightmare to take her if she's not happy...so things were not looking good for Aldi.

When we first got to Aldi, I was pleasantly surprised by how nice it looked.  The building was nice and new.  The parking lot was clean and EMPTY.  I got to park right up front...this never happens at Wal-Mart.  I was starting to feel a little better about this idea.

The first thing you need to know, is you need to bring a quarter to get your shopping cart.  They are all locked up at the front of the store.  You put your quarter in, and you can unlock your cart.  When you return your cart at the end of your shopping trip you get your quarter back.  It's really easy and not nearly the hassle that it sounds like.  I lucked out because someone had just finished with her cart and let me have it.  So, I didn't even have to use my quarter.

That brings me to the carts...I LOVE the carts.  They are nice and wide...and in the front of the cart, there is enough room for 2 children to sit.  As all mothers know, this is genius.  If you have 2 kids in a traditional shopping cart, you have to put one in the front and one inside the cart...using up precious space for groceries, and running the risk of little feet squashing the bread and smashing the eggs.  I love, love, love the carts.  I only had one child with me, so I buckled her in, and put my purse in the open spot, leaving lots of space for groceries in the cart.

When I got inside the store, I was impressed with how bright and clean it was.  My favorite part was that the aisles were really wide.  All the prices were clearly marked.  The store was quiet.  There are only about 4 aisles, and they are wide and short, so you can quickly get what you need.  This is important...remember Ella?  She had still not recovered from the car ride.  She wanted in the cart, then out of the cart, then back in...then she wanted a snack and a drink...then she didn't want them anymore....then out of the cart, then back in....I was getting a little frustrated, so I was extremely grateful that there weren't 1,000 different aisles to go down searching for what I needed.

The store doesn't carry name brands...well, only a few.  I did see Pringles there.  That is fine with me, because we usually buy store brands anyway.  I was impressed with the variety of meats.  They had chicken, beef, pork, and several kinds of fish.  The variety of produce was okay...they have all the basics, but not as much as a traditional grocery store.  What they did have appeared fresh.

I got everything I came for...about a week's worth of groceries, in around 30 minutes.  I was amazed at how fast it went because of the lay out of the store.  Just about the time that Ella laid down in the middle of an aisle and refused to move, I was done shopping and ready to go home.  I walked to the checkout and she eventually got up and followed me.

The checkout is interesting.  There were only 2 lanes open, and 3 people in front of me.  I was a little worried at first.  Once Ella got up off the floor, she declared, "I'm better now."  But, I knew that wouldn't last if we had to wait a long time.  Thankfully, the check out went very fast.  They don't bag the groceries. They put everything back into your cart.  You can bag it if you want to, but you don't have to.  I paid 40 cents for four of their nice big bags and bagged the groceries once I got to the car.  Four bags held everything nicely...as opposed to about 40 wal-mart bags.  I think I'll use some old sheets, and make my own bags for the future.  It was really nice to only unload 4 big sturdy bags when we got home.

So, did I save money???  YES!  It cost $80.45 for a little over a week's worth of groceries.  My last 4 trips to Wal-Mart had all been over $100, for a comparable amount of groceries.  I could have made an extra 25 cents off the deal, but since someone had given me the cart, I decided to pay it forward and pass the cart onto someone else.

Here were some of the best deals:
12 oz bag garden salad---39 cents!  Yep, 39 cents each!
10lb. bag of potatoes...1.99
frozen pizza...2.29
whole frying chicken 3.50 (usually almost $5 at Wally world)
strawberries...99 cents
3 lb. bag of chicken breasts 5.49 (almost $7 for the same size at Wal-Mart)

So, what are the downsides?
I couldn't find dried cranberries, so I'll have to go to Wal-Mart to get those.  I possibly could have found them, if Ella hadn't been acting like a 2 year old, so not sure if this is a real downside or not.

No name brands...I know that is important to some people.

Not a lot of toiletries...I'll go to Wal-Mart to buy shampoo, makeup, etc.  I'm okay with that though, because I don't have to buy those items very often.

Most of the produce is packaged...for example, I couldn't buy just one zuchinni...they came in packages of 3.  But, it was only 1.29 for 3, so that's not a huge problem.  The apples were bagged up also...so if you only needed a couple, too bad. This is only a minor annoyance to me, but worth noting I think.

One more thing worth mentioning...everyone that worked there was super nice and cheerful.  They seemed happy to be there.  I'll definitely be going back, and look forward to the one opening in town.  It could easily shave $40 to $50 a month off our grocery bill.  Dave Ramsey would be so proud!