Why Aldi Should Be Your First Choice for Grocery Shopping

From baby diapers, wipes and formula to organic produce and household staple items; Aldi USA should be your families first choice for grocery shopping.

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Great news! The long awaited Aldi location in Wesley Chapel, Florida has finally OPENED as of July 9th, 2020! As a seven year resident of Wesley Chapel and a six year resident of New Tampa, to say it feels like I’ve waited a lifetime for Aldi to come to this part of town would be an understatement.

For those who may not know, Aldi is a European grocery chain that prides itself on quality groceries at an affordable price. Think Sprouts but on a smaller scale and without all of the bells and whistles. A majority of the products they sale are Aldi brand, which helps to keep their prices low. I can attest that 90% of the Aldi products I have tried, compare equally to national brands and well known store brands.

To my surprise, there are some people that have reservations about shopping at Aldi and purchasing their store brand products. I implore you to give them a try. As a family of five (2 adults and 3 kids), Aldi has been a life saver to our pocketbook! We immediately became hooked on shopping at Aldi from their amazing produce prices. Everywhere else we found shopping for healthy foods to be a detriment to our pockets and grocery budget. We wanted to eat healthy and introduce healthy habits to our children but it was hard to do before we found Aldi. We can shop at Aldi and stick to our weekly shopping budget and come home with a shopping cart full of food! In this day and age that’s hard to do at other grocery stores. I’m so thankful for Aldi and I encourage everyone I know to give them a try.

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ALDI FACTS:

If you’re a newbie Aldi shopper here are a few housekeeping rules you need to be aware of:

1. Bring a quarter: In order to use their shopping carts you must have a quarter, no worries, you get it back at the end of your shopping trip once you return the cart to the designated cart area. This helps ensure customer’s return the shopping carts and eliminates the need for an Aldi employee to man the carts. Which in turn helps to keep their prices low!
2. Bring your own bags: Before it was cool to “go green” Aldi was already ahead of the game. Plastic bags are not provided to bag your groceries. You must supply your own reusable bags. I keep mine in the trunk of our car and van so we don’t get caught slipping. If you happen to forget your bags they do have some for sale or you can utilize their empty boxes at no charge.
3. Bag your own groceries: Keeping cost low for their customer’s is Aldi’s motto. That’s why you won’t find any designated employees arranging your groceries into bags. Once the cashier swiftly rings up your items there is a designated bagging area where all customer’s bag their own groceries.
4. Weekly ads: Be sure to check their weekly ad online before you go shopping so you can see what’s on sale that week. Aldi sales run from Wednesday – Tuesday of the following week. You can always grab a flyer on your way out for the upcoming week ahead and plan accordingly.
   

Now that we have the housekeeping rules out of the way, let’s talk “favorite things” and why I love to shopping at Aldi. There’s nothing more satisfying to me than going into an Aldi store and going down EVERY single aisle. The cool thing about Aldi is they have their own staple items that they always carry, but weekly they throw in a few specialty items that can be found throughout the store. That’s why I love going down every aisle. You never know what you’re going to get! Also, Aldi is one of the few stores I can go to and throw items in my cart without studying the price too hard. I know that the average item cost between $1.50 – $3.99 so I feel pretty safe throwing things at random in my cart.

I can’t forget to mention their baby aisle. Their $10.99 boxed diapers have been a God send to our family. All parents know, diapers are EXPENSIVE! If you would have told me to try Aldi brand diapers during my first pregnancy I probably would have laughed at you. Once you add more children to your family all of those preferences go out of the window! Be sure to check out their baby section, from water to formula to diapers and squeeze pouches they have it all for such a low price.

If you want an idea on what I typically purchase from Aldi on a consecutive basis I created a list for you. These items are staple items that get replinished frequently on a weekly or bi-weekly basis.

Meat:

Frozen chicken breast $5.59

Turkey lunch meat $2.49

Vegan meatballs $3.89

Vegan chick’n patties $3.29

Dairy:

Eggs $1.06

Sliced cheese $1.79

Shredded cheese $2.79

Ice cream $1.95

Coffee Creamer $1.79

Almond milk $1.79

Fruits/Vegetables:

Apples $2.79

Pineapples $1.29

Apple Juice $1.09

Spinach $1.29

Conidments/Pantry Items

Ketchup $1.19

Mustard $.89

Vegetable broth $1.79

Rice $3.89

Spaghetti noodles $1.89

mini pizza packs $2.79

Marinara sauce $2.89

Daily Items:

Bread $1.69

Frozen waffles $1.19

This entire list came to $52.91! Now do you see why my family shops at Aldi? Let me know if you shop there and what staple items you purchase for your family.

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