I finally went to Aldi.
I was a little unsure on what to expect. I had read the blogs and articles and knew the basics- bring your own bags and pay a quarter for your buggy. That part- no big deal. The part that worried me as we pulled into the parking lot was what was I going to expect as far as quality. I had read that the Aldi store brand was very good. One of my closest friends raves about all of the fresh fruit that she buys for her kids at a price that is so much cheaper than the regular grocery store. She also happens to live in another state. So of course in my mind, I am thinking that her location is fabulous and mine is going to be awful.
It wasn’t.
I don’t know what I was thinking when we decided to go on a Saturday afternoon! The place was packed!! We maneuvered our way down each aisle trying to check everything out. We bought lots of pantry items and fresh fruit. We did not buy any meat ( except one pack of turkey bacon). I was in testing this place out mode… I was not ready to just dive completely in.
We ended up buying 54 items for less than $100.00.
We took them home and I can say that no one in our family had one single complaint about the quality of anything purchased. They devoured it all within a week.
Our experience has been great.
I also wanted to see if we would really save money by doing part of our shopping there. We generally shop at Bilo (right by our house) or Wal-Mart (open 24 hours). I have no problem buying store brand on most products. There are a select few that I will not budge on and stick to the name brand that we are accustomed to. I carried my Aldi receipt around with me in my purse until the next time I was at Wal-Mart. I did not price check everything- I don’t have time for all that! 🙂
I did make note of the prices of the items that I was either walking past or purchasing.
I compared 23 prices. The Wal-Mart total was $79.27 and the Aldi total was $50.50.

The Aldi in our area is not nearby- it’s about a 40 minute drive from where we live. However, I know that we will be going back. We were quite happy with all of our purchases.
So, check them out!