We only have very few grocery stores in Honolulu: Safeway, Times, Foodland. There are also Whole Foods, Some groceries at Target, Costco and Sam’s. We don’t have all those other stores you do.
I went to Aldi yesterday. It’s my go to place because the dairy products have no hormones added. Milk etc…ver reasonable prices.
Yesterday I got some very good cheese, guacamole, organic pizza that was awesome, cottage cheese, Caesar salad mix which is very good, excellent cookies, blueberry muffins, eggs, half and half. I spent less than $25.
The only thing I absolutely will not buy there is cold cuts. But I don’t buy those much anyway!
Don’t let long lines deter you at Aldi’s; their checkers are trained to move at breakneck speed!!
^ no kidding they are FAST. I read somewhere that Aldi products have bar codes on all sides to help them go so fast, I haven’t checked.
Certain things I like to buy are always cheaper than my local store there. Milk, eggs, cottage cheese, yogurt, string cheese, fresh mozzarella, guacamole, hummus, frozen chicken breasts, frozen fish filet, olive oil, olive oil spray, crackers (sea salt pita is my fave), green tea, coffee pods, chicken broth, quinoa. Sometimes produce is great, not always, I find peppers and asparagus are consistently good and inexpensive.
I often go there just to get those things, then if there’s something else that looks good, cool. I try not to eat much chocolate but I agree theirs is really good.
We don’t have Aldi’s or Wegmans or so many of these stores. We are deprived!
C’mon @HImom - you live in Hawaii! I’ll take your state and it’s weather and beauty and you can have my Aldi’s AND my Wegmans!
We got a four pack of their large blueberry muffins to try…and they are DELICIOUS! I would buy them again. They also have a kitchen sink cookie that is to die for. Delicious!
I get my butter and cream cheese there too.
The quarter/cart thing is not unique to Aldi. Our Shoprite in NJ did this and we moved from there in 1999. It really kept people from just leaving carts all around the parking lot. When they first implemented this, they gave out little vinyl doodads that would hold a quarter and go on your key ring.
My D shops at an Aldi (she lives in an urban location where her closest grocery store is Whole Foods and she’s too frugal for that). She doesn’t get everything there but does stock up on some basics that seem perfectly fine. I confess I have an aesthetic reaction that they cross the line between minimalist to sketchy but I have also heard that they have improved lately so I will give one a chance based on this thread. I like Trader Joe’s a lot personally.
I would go relook at ours as well if I felt safe to go there - seriously, the one nearest to me is NOT in a good spot! It’s next to a Walmart that has a fair bit of crime in the parking lot. I actually hate big box grocery stores and prefer to shop at Costco, a produce market and a meat store - and then make an occasional stop at a big box for canned goods and such - Aldi would be a nice medium because - am I correct? - they seem to not be too overly large???
The Aldi supermarkets are small. You can whip through them in no time!
Love Aldi. Know them from when we lived in Germany. Some are larger than others.
I’ve always liked Aldi. As anywhere, you have to know your typical prices in order to figure out the deals, and experiment some to determine what meets your quality/ingredient standards. Produce is great if you skip bins with any items that look sketchy. Our locations tend to be safe/look like any other small footprint store. The only reason i dont shop there more is that i have 2 other grocery stores w/in a mile of home, so Aldi - 3 in neighboring towns -is a deliberate trip. Forgot that the were a German thing - will have to remind my son to see any are nearby when he gets over there in the fall!
My Aldi list: I buy German chocolates (especially at holiday times) and other imported German food products (sausages, etc.), cut flowers, bagged spinach, Greek yogurt, better cookies, fresh veggies/fruit (green peppers, bags of limes), frozen veggies (asparagus!)/fruit, raisins/dried fruit, some better breads, tortillas, baking supplies like flours/sugars/oils/rolled oats, frozen fruit bars/ice cream, frozen edemame, cold chicken salads, better cheeses (ex. Irish imports, fresh mozzarella balls), bottled olives, (for parties) chips, bagged tea leaves, dry pasta, hams, bagels, cream cheese, butter, some canned fruit like peaches and Mandarin oranges, dry quinoa/lentils, cereal/granola, rice, frozen shrimp/fish (not talking fishsticks), Fluff knockoff, salsa, fruit preserve spreads, natural peanut butter, canned refried beans.
I’ve read that a good percentage of Aldi food is the same as the name-brand and manufactured in the same plant. You just have to figure out which items meet your tastes/needs. Then you wind up with a list of favorites.
Basically, the less processed items seem better to me. We’ve purchased some real duds. In general, I’m not big on their meats, canned or processed foods (like the Pasta-roni knock-off – DD loves the real Pasta-roni brand). And while the frozen organic roasted veggie pizza was good, the regular pizza wasn’t, imho.
I’ll also check on the special buy items (need a beach chair or silicon baking mat?).
Recent switch: Aldi bagged walnuts are consisently “off” and boardering on rancid, so now I buy those at TJs.
I used to view Aldi as the grocery store for homeless people. I tried it when I wanted to see if it made sense as a way to decrease our food costs. Have stuck with it as part of my grocery store mix since then. I like “smaller” in-and-out grocery stores, like Aldi is, too.
I’m a regular Aldi shopper. I recently discovered that their pulled pork BBQ is pretty darn good. Better than some restaurants. (H is from Memphis, and he likes it, too!) I’m really glad they take credit cards now.
I was disappointed with some frozen salmon that I bought. It smelled fishy. I don’t have that problem with frozen salmon from Costco or Sams.
I’ve liked other stuff from Aldi, though.
I am pretty sure our Aldi’s still only takes cash or debit, but will ask next time I am there.
The family connection with Trader Joe’s is closer than cousins - brothers from my understanding.
There was an Aldi for many years in my hometown in WI, and back then it was more ‘warehouse’.
Aldi is really expanding across the US. I like many of the things mentioned here. I usually am by it once a week and pick up at least 5 different items.
H had to go to Home Depot that was nearby and I asked him to get a few things at Aldi’s - he is not a big shopper if it is not Home Depot, but the grocery items were things he used up. I did hear one complaint from him. He just doesn’t like shopping unless Home Depot.
After Easter, WalMart had a good mark down on some packaged ham ($25 marked down to $5). I would rather buy fresh meat at Aldi’s than WalMart.
There are some things I buy from a variety of different stores, so depending on when I am driving by that store, or sometimes I ‘suck it up’ and just pay more or for a different brand at a store that I am driving by.
I do get into the savings at CVS - Sunday I knew I would save $6 if I spent $30 (had an email and had the savings go right to my CVS card). Well they also had spend $30 on particular groups of items and get $10 savings (the coke products we buy were in there, so that was easy; coffee was in there and that finished up the $30). I also had a $2 off spit out - so I saved $18 on things I would be buying anyhow and not paying more than I would be paying. I use up my $$ off when in the store so I don’t have to get by the store again before they expire.
This has been an interesting and timely thread for me. Aldi’s will be opening within the next couple of weeks about 20 minutes from my Southern California neighborhood. Unfortunately it is in the opposite direction from the stores where I usually do my shopping but I do plan on stopping by if only for the chocolate… 
Trader Joe’s is very well entrenched here in So Cal so it will be interesting to see if Aldi’s can win over any of their customers. For those of you who have both stores in your neighborhood, do you prefer one over the other? Are there items you buy at one store that the other doesn’t carry? FWIW Fresh and Easy (Tesco) opened a number of stores in So Cal a few years back and they’ve all closed now. Too much competition in this neck of the woods.
Some of the newer Aldi stores are nicer…wider aisles, very bright, not a warehouse look at all. My DD shops at one in Suwanee GA, and it’s a VERY nice store. Ours is the old,style…but we really like it.