My Weekend Field Trip: Aldi



This weekend I had the opportunity (yes, I said opportunity) to visit the grocery store Aldi with my hubby and kids. I have been shopping at Stop & Shop since that is one of two grocery stores in Cheshire. I like Stop & Shop, but it gets expensive, and on our fixed budget I needed to find a good staples store. Well, I’m happy to say I found it! We don’t have any Aldi’s on the West Coast, but I think we should. They claim to even beat out Walmart in prices (woot!), saving you up to 50% more than other grocery stores.

Aldi’s has several things going for it that other stores should take into consideration. You BYOB. That’s right; you bring your own bags. There are bags available for purchase (insulated for frozen foods, shopping bags, and brown paper bags) if you don’t bring yours. I know the paper bags were $.06 each. They do this in order to be more green-less plastic in land fills but also to cut back on their grocery prices. Yes, you do pay for those “free” grocery bags if you aren’t bringing your own at most stores. The cost of the bags is rolled into the grocery prices.  That $.05 or $.06 back per bag you get when you bring your own is just a reimbursement for the extra being added into your purchases.

Secondly, you need a quarter for a cart. All of their carts link up via chain. In order to use a cart, you must insert a quarter. When you’re done with the cart, you put it back on the chain, and you get your quarter back. This saves them money (hence you save money) because they don’t have to hire extra staff to chase carts around.

Another interesting detail is the fact that they don’t take manufacturer coupons. This one was a bit of a bummer for me, but after seeing their selection I get it. You don’t really need them (which saves me time) because most of their inventory are their brands. If you brought your coupons you wouldn’t find much of anything you had coupons for. By doing so, they don’t have to deal with manufacturers vying for advertising and shelf space, or the loss associated with any coupon fraud. If I’m dissatisfied with the quality of any of their products they will refund my money and the product (their double guarantee).

They don’t accept credit cards, which cuts back on costs. Nor do they accept checks because they just take up more time in the checkout process. Aldi sets out to make shopping at checking out smooth and fast. You will also find their stores to be small-yet another way they cut back on their grocery prices. Everything is bare bones. Rent is less due to the smaller size, as are their light and heating bills. All of these expenses get rolled into our groceries, so it’s no wonder their prices are rock bottom.

I still plan to shop at Stop & Shop because they carry certain things that Aldi doesn’t, but for the basics, Aldi is my new favorite store! If you have an Aldi near by and haven’t visited it yet, I would encourage you to check them out and see how much you can save. For more I information, check out their webpage here.