Shopping at ALDI

If you’re just now discovering this blog about cheap living and you wonder why I’m even devoting an entire post to the subject of shopping at ALDI, let me say that grocery shopping at ALDI is Jedi-Knight-level frugality in action. If you’re not familiar with ALDI stores, let me first of all say that I feel sorry for you, almost to tears. If you are familiar with ALDI stores but yet don’t have one in your area, I honestly don’t know which is worse—to not know about ALDI at all, or to know about it but not be able to taste the fruit of frugality that so plentifully drops from the wonderful tree known as ALDI.

For the uninitiated, ALDI is a grocery store that offers probably the cheapest prices of any store around. They can do this because they eliminate a lot of overhead by keeping the store somewhat bare-bones—there are no fancy decorations, no bag boys (yes, you bag your own groceries as a rule), and no frills whatsoever—but, they keep the prices so low that you really don’t give a crap. As of this writing, a gallon of milk at the ALDI in my area is $1.49—that’s almost unheard of for today’s times. Even during the summer last year, when food costs were skyrocketing and a gallon of milk would cost $4.29 at the local big-name grocery store (well, it did at mine anyway), ALDI still beat the crap out of everyone else by offering milk for $2.99 a gallon. Everything at ALDI is cheap, and everything they offer is quality. They have a lot of private label products that you can’t find anywhere else, but the quality is really good. Their produce is the bomb as well—again, speaking of my local ALDI.

I happen to really like their oatmeal and cereals there…I actually think that they’re of a higher quality than the name brand stuff at the regular store. And again, the prices are awesome. A box of Kidz Crunch (a Captain Crunch ripoff, but tastes just as good, if not better) at ALDI is only $1.89, but the Captain’s gonna charge you about $3.00 for the same amount of cereal. I could go on & on with other price comparisons, but suffice it to say, EVERYTHING is cheaper at ALDI.

So again, if you are able to partake of the privilege of shopping at ALDI, for your own sanity and for the love of everything sacred, please do so.

Here's the link to locate an ALDI store near you.