Aldi.

Years ago I went there once or twice but never got into the habit of shopping there. Recently, my neighbor has mentioned it repeatedly as her go-to place for grocery shopping. Turns out she's right.

It's kind of Trader Joe's on the cheap. Those big English cukes are 99 cents. Sweet potatoes are 89 cents a pound. Bag of four jalapeno peppers for 99 cents. They had a private label canned pumpkin product that was 89 cents a can; they've been out of it for a few weeks now so I had to buy the Libby's, which at $2.08 is still cheaper than any other grocery store. Decent cheese, dips, German chocolates....you get the picture.

I especially like that the produce department is small and targeted. I can get all the basics and the fruits and veggies are always very fresh and reasonably priced. I think they get small shipments and turnover is rapid. The thing with the quarter to get a cart is odd but seems to work. And there is often only one cashier but even so, I'm always out in 20 minutes or less.

Anybody else tried shopping there?

Yes! My sister showed me the light!

ALDIs has a lot of great stuff and it’s very cheap. The thick sliced bacon is the best I have ever eaten. Very meaty. The charcuterie is excellent and half the price you’d pay at other stores. Cheese is absurdly cheap. Produce is no worse than the stuff I can get at fancy stores and you can’t beat the price. You can’t beat the deal on olives they’re really good.

I haven’t really looked at their meat prices and I haven’t seen canned pumpkin. I’ll look more closely next time. I bought sweet potatoes the last time I was there - they’re not evenly sized but Ruca doesn’t care.

Just remember to bring a quarter so you can get a cart.

We were buying the canned pumpkin for quite a while but it's been out of stock for the last month or more. Our usual backup is the Target Good and Gather canned pumpkin, which I think is like $1.69. It's been out of stock for about the same period of time. But Libby's is in stock everywhere.

I think it's a conspiracy.

quote:

Originally posted by wtg:
Aldi.
…
It's kind of Trader Joe's on the cheap.

Aldi’s founder and Trader Joe‘s founder were brothers.

See https://www.almostallaldi.com/...es-the-same-company/

There is an Aldi near me and I like it just fine for what it is. Not sure if it’s just that particular Aldi or if it‘s generally true of all Aldi locations, I don’t think I‘ve seen loose fresh vegetables there. Prepackaged vegetables and salads, yes, but not loose vegetables.

At the stores near me (there are three locations within 10 minutes of my house), some produce is packaged, other items are loose and priced by the pound. The nice thing about the packaged stuff is that it's not more than I can use before it goes bad. Like three bell peppers to a package. Or two pounds of apples.

Sweet potatoes are loose, as were some types of apples.

Veg aren’t sold loose at the one by my house. OTOH the packages are so cheap I don’t care.

Flip side is that the farm stands are starting to fill up and have the most beautiful produce I’ve ever seen anywhere.

Who knew there were so many different onions?

I don’t know how much of their stock goes nationwide, but if you find the Seedtastic bread it’s worth a try.

Best heavy natural bread I’ve ever eaten. Makes Orowheat Oatnut taste like Wonder Bread.

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Miller:
I don’t know how much of their stock goes nationwide, but if you find the Seedtastic bread it’s worth a try.

Best heavy natural bread I’ve ever eaten. Makes Orowheat Oatnut taste like Wonder Bread.

Great bread! We go to Aldi all the time since it moved into town a few years ago.

Aldi has a lot of great stuff at even greater prices. Like 10 lbs of chicken leg quarters for under $5. Bought some filet mignons there for a reasonable price - $20 a pound, and they were all center cut, 5 or 6 oz steaks (perfect) and tasted great. We get MFR's beloved cashews for about $13 rather than $20 elsewhere.

Mushroom risotto is excellent - $1.79. Park Street Deli hummus is best prepackaged I've ever found. Great wines if you look at the reviews on Reverse Wine Snob (a very valuable resource even if he is always trying to sell you his wines).

Plus the added benefit is it's not three city blocks long. If you miss something in one aisle its maybe 10 steps to get back to it.

Hadn't looked at the breads; will have to check out Seedlicious Seedtastic. Also the meats.

Mik, was wondering what you thought of Reverse Wine Snob. I think you ordered some of his wines as an experiment. How were they?

How do they manage those prices and still pay a living wage?

quote:

Originally posted by wtg:
Hadn't looked at the breads; will have to check out Seedlicious Seedtastic. Also the meats.

Mik, was wondering what you thought of Reverse Wine Snob. I think you ordered some of his wines as an experiment. How were they?

They were pretty good. The Oregon pinot noir was nice. The others were undistinguished but good table wine. I think he is more valuable for his reviews of Costco, Adi and TJ's wines.

I have recently had good luck with Laithewaite's, a British wine outfit that does wine clubs here in the states. I got 15 wines for maybe $100 or so and most were quite good.

I also recently gave Naked Wines another try because they made me a good offer - yuck. Stay away.

Laithwaites is the only wine club I have ever found that might be worth trying.

quote:

Originally posted by Mikhailoh:

quote:

Originally posted by wtg:
Hadn't looked at the breads; will have to check out Seedlicious Seedtastic. Also the meats.

Mik, was wondering what you thought of Reverse Wine Snob. I think you ordered some of his wines as an experiment. How were they?

They were pretty good. The Oregon pinot noir was nice. The others were undistinguished but good table wine. I think he is more valuable for his reviews of Costco, Adi and TJ's wines.

I have recently had good luck with Laithewaite's, a British wine outfit that does wine clubs here in the states. I got 15 wines for maybe $100 or so and most were quite good.

I also recently gave Naked Wines another try because they made me a good offer - yuck. Stay away.

Laithwaites is the only wine club I have ever found that might be worth trying.

Re: Naked Wines. What did you find that was so objectionable?

quote:

Originally posted by Cindysphinx:
How do they manage those prices and still pay a living wage?

Signs are up at the store that say their starting pay is $16 an hour, which is competitive with other grocery stores in the area.

Mark, every wine I have opened was mediocre at best, and unbalanced. Better wine can be found for $5.99 at the grocery. All the American reds had that fake vanillin oak flavor that comes from putting oak chips in with them. Ugh.

All the Laithwaites wines I tried were good examples of their type, full flavored and varietally/regionally correct. Good food wines.