# Aldi Grocery Store



## SP

Have you ever heard of a small chain grocery called Aldi? I really use this store. They mainly sell off brand food items very cheap. They cut costs where ever they can such as having latches on their shopping carts that will unlatch when you deposit a quarter and when you return the cart you get the quarter back. Also you can just take their empty boxes from around the store instead of using bags. All of this equates into really cheap food. Especially cheap canned and dry food that is perfect for food storage. After my initial purchase of about $500 I can now continue to rotate my one month food storage all for about $100 per year using Aldi!

Does anyone else have an Aldi in their area or a store that is similar?


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## survival

I have one 10 miles from me and use it at least once a week. I think its a German based store. They have specialty foods that I cannot get anywhere else as well. You have to bring your own bags, but that is perfect for me since I hate plastic bag waste. I have about 10 cotton ones in the back of my cars.

I actually think the produce is much better than Kroger for some reason. I know it costs half of what Kroger sells it for.


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## keith9365

We have one in my town. You can buy canned or bulk goods to store for probably half the price of anywhere else.


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## bigwheel

They are all over the place up in this area. I tried buying a box of cereal in there once but it looked like it was going to be two hours to get checked out so I set it down and walked out. A lady who works in one and comes to the watering hole on boys day out with the guys says dont buy the meat.


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## rjd25

We have one a few miles from us but it seems to cater to people who tend to pay in food stamps. I went in there once and the clientele alone made me not want to go back. I don't mean that disrespectfully I just didn't get a sense of safety in there. I guess it could just be that particular store in that particular area but it certainly left a bad taste in my mouth.


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## Salt-N-Pepper

We shop at Aldi's once a month. Their canned goods come off the same assembly lines as other store house brands.


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## bigwheel

Gotcha on that Salty. Heard the canned goods were excellent as well as the frozen pizza and boxed cereal. The times I have been in there it seemed like most of the customers were seasoned citizens.


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## SP

rjd25 said:


> We have one a few miles from us but it seems to cater to people who tend to pay in food stamps. I went in there once and the clientele alone made me not want to go back. I don't mean that disrespectfully I just didn't get a sense of safety in there. I guess it could just be that particular store in that particular area but it certainly left a bad taste in my mouth.


No disrespect what-so-ever. I totally understand. It must be different in my neck of the woods b/c when I go I typically see fair dressed, smart, upper middle class folks there. And when I go to the big expensive chain is when I see the food stamps coming out on Delmonico Ribeyes and boxes of Hostess. Must be nice to eat $16 a lb steak every week for free. Guess it's the new gov't cheese LOL!


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## bigwheel

The well heeled yups seem to like the .99 cent only store around here. They do have some good bargains.


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## Salt-N-Pepper

SurPrepp said:


> Guess it's the new gov't cheese LOL!


My grandma got govt. cheese via a senior citizens program&#8230; best quality cheese I've ever had.


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## survival

Salt-N-Pepper said:


> My grandma got govt. cheese via a senior citizens program&#8230; best quality cheese I've ever had.


Best cheese I've ever ate as well... grandparents got it also. I would store my star wars cards in the boxes. Still have them in the cheese boxes.


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## bigwheel

Salt-N-Pepper said:


> My grandma got govt. cheese via a senior citizens program&#8230; best quality cheese I've ever had.


Well my Mama and Daddy got the free cheese back in the 80's. Not that any young whuppersnappers can recall the time frame but it was when Sir Ronald Reagan Maximus cut all the old folks off of food stamps. Was the very best cheese you ever ate. Had the meltability factor one notch above Velvetter (the national cheese of Texas) and a rich cheddar flavor. All of the very best Mexican Restaurants still use it for all their cheese requirements. Its called Land o Lakes Sharp American Extra Melt. You can still buy it from the wholesale food distributors in 30 pound increments of five pound blocks. I been meaning to buy some but looking for somebody to split a case.


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## pheniox17

SP said:


> Have you ever heard of a small chain grocery called Aldi? I really use this store. They mainly sell off brand food items very cheap. They cut costs where ever they can such as having latches on their shopping carts that will unlatch when you deposit a quarter and when you return the cart you get the quarter back. Also you can just take their empty boxes from around the store instead of using bags. All of this equates into really cheap food. Especially cheap canned and dry food that is perfect for food storage. After my initial purchase of about $500 I can now continue to rotate my one month food storage all for about $100 per year using Aldi!
> 
> Does anyone else have an Aldi in their area or a store that is similar?


They are a slightly larger chain in oz, and are a prepper gold mine around here, 10L drums of water for less than $5

Have electronic specials for cbs, and small old style am/FM radios, cheap hiking gear....

Amongst a series of other random items... A mini gold mine


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## turbo6

Aldis is awesome. 

Their produce is hit or miss here but everything else is great and quite comparable to national brands.

It's big enough to have a good selection but not huge... so you don't have to do tons of walking around and it's not littered with tons of unnecessary impulse buys. 

I do maybe 60-90% of my shopping there, they have nearly everything you need.

And yes, food stamps are probably the preferred payment method there  But there is a diverse clientele there so it's probably not the same as walking into a food bank. Regardless I'd rather see people using their food stamps on essentials instead of Oreos, Mtn Dew etc


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## Maine-Marine

rjd25 said:


> We have one a few miles from us but it seems to cater to people who tend to pay in food stamps. I went in there once and the clientele alone made me not want to go back. I don't mean that disrespectfully I just didn't get a sense of safety in there. I guess it could just be that particular store in that particular area but it certainly left a bad taste in my mouth.


 I like to see people who are spending my tax dollars are doing so wisely. I also must point out that you are judging by appearance... Are you a bigot? I have never really felt unsafe because of the clothes people wear or how they look...

my wife and I shop at Aldi all the time... as mentioned before canned food is great.... we stock their spaghetti stuff, peanut butter, soup, canned veggies, canned fruit...


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## shootbrownelk

We don't have any Aldis around these parts, but my daughter has one near her in her home state. She loves it, and shops there all the time. I go along with her when visiting, and the place is always neat and clean. I've never had anything from them that was sub-par. I especially like that $0.25 cart return deal. You don't see shopping carts strewn all over the parking lot that can be blown around in the wind, nor all the carts filling the handicapped spots. Put there by healthy as a horse, but lazy as hell lowlifes.


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## Pir8fan

We do 90% of our shopping at Aldi. They're great.


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## hayden

I really like the 12 ounce can of chicken breast at $1.79 and 12 ounce roast beef and gravy for 2.99. Both are very good.


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## Moonshinedave

I've seen them around, but to be honest, I don't think I have ever been in one, perhaps that is a mistake on my part?


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## rjd25

Maine-Marine said:


> I like to see people who are spending my tax dollars are doing so wisely. I also must point out that you are judging by appearance... Are you a bigot? I have never really felt unsafe because of the clothes people wear or how they look...
> 
> my wife and I shop at Aldi all the time... as mentioned before canned food is great.... we stock their spaghetti stuff, peanut butter, soup, canned veggies, canned fruit...


I am a simple man and don't know what the definition of a bigot is however I understand statistics and try to heed their warnings. Crime rates in low income communities are sky high and when I see 85% of the people in a store using food stamps to buy groceries a reasonable conclusion can be drawn. If you are afraid of being labeled a bigot by the PC crowd because you are mindful of statistics in my opinion you aren't much of a prepper. You put a lot of time and effort into prepping, evaluating scenarios, recognizing dangerous situations, etc... why would you treat something as simple as a trip to the grocery store any differently? It is akin to the fitness freak who works out 3 times a day and walks out of the gym only to get killed by a bus because he had his headphones in.


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## GasholeWillie

I may have to look into the local one. When my mom was alive and shopping, she would buy things because they were a bargain price, not because she needed them. she would hit all the bargain places( Dollar General, Dollar Store, Aldi, Trader Horn) When she could no longer shop and moved to assisted living, I was put in charge of clearing out all the cheap crap she bought and stored. Some of it had been around so long the cans rusted and exploded. Of course that would always happen in the furthest reaches of the storage area. I'm still mulling over how far I want to go with stockpiling stuff. I like the idea of the pre packaged ready to eat meals just add water. I like having canned soup around the house. Pasta type stuff, I'm kinda picky about brands on those items. I freely admit, I do not know prices of things, I see, I want, I buy. Because I am gone from home so much I would be surprised if I had a weeks worth of food in house. The next week, I'll be home for multiple days so I'll have time to prepare some meals or get lazy and buy something pre cooked. There is a store nearby me that has a delicatessen, they do take out meals that plenty of seniors and people like me buy, it is restaurant quality without the table service. Today is chicken parma dinner, $5.09, yesterday was roast beef dinner $5.19. They also had stuff chick breast this month @ $6.39 and chops @ $6.99. these are a 3 piece dinner, entre plus a side or 2 and dinner bread. Hard to go wrong for a hot meal at that price. I try and keep fruit in house and some fresh food, hard to do when away so much. Will have to check Aldi out, has been a few years since I was in there.


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## Maine-Marine

rjd25 said:


> I am a simple man and don't know what the definition of a bigot is however I understand statistics and try to heed their warnings. Crime rates in low income communities are sky high and when I see 85% of the people in a store using food stamps to buy groceries a reasonable conclusion can be drawn. If you are afraid of being labeled a bigot by the PC crowd because you are mindful of statistics in my opinion you aren't much of a prepper. You put a lot of time and effort into prepping, evaluating scenarios, recognizing dangerous situations, etc... why would you treat something as simple as a trip to the grocery store any differently? It is akin to the fitness freak who works out 3 times a day and walks out of the gym only to get killed by a bus because he had his headphones in.


I have never seen an aldi in the middle of a housing project.. they are usually in strip mall area so your thinking is a little off.. There has been crime around them for sure...but nothing like around liquor stores or walmarts

A reasonable conclusion would be that crime in low income areas is mostly in around the house areas. I have to wonder how you came up with a 85% number unless you spent some serious time standing around.

Of course I carry concealed and even if i did not...FEAR will never rule where I go or how I shop...

If I was worried about being PC - I would not have hinted that you were a bigot... it was said sort of tongue in cheek.. Now I know you are not a bigot..you just have a problem understanding stats and crime rates


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## rjd25

Maine-Marine said:


> I have never seen an aldi in the middle of a housing project.. they are usually in strip mall area so your thinking is a little off.. There has been crime around them for sure...but nothing like around liquor stores or walmarts
> 
> A reasonable conclusion would be that crime in low income areas is mostly in around the house areas. I have to wonder how you came up with a 85% number unless you spent some serious time standing around.
> 
> Of course I carry concealed and even if i did not...FEAR will never rule where I go or how I shop...
> 
> If I was worried about being PC - I would not have hinted that you were a bigot... it was said sort of tongue in cheek.. Now I know you are not a bigot..you just have a problem understanding stats and crime rates


I think you're right, do us all a favor and shop there more often. Please don't take offense to that last remark it was said tongue in cheek ;-)


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## sideKahr

The Aldi's near me has produce so cheap that it's worth making a second trip there on shopping day. I stay away from the meat, but a pepper is a pepper, right?


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## 3forus

I can get fresh salad greens and fruit for under $10 per week (organic) and that feeds 4 every day and many times I have several extra kids here to feed, I would not buy ahead , but you can't beat the price on the fresh food there. I also would not store canned fruit for over 2 years, I have had several cans go bad and leak all over .


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## wallyLOZ

We've got Aldi here as well. We do shop there, but we have a few locally owned stores that compete with them. We also signed up with Costco again. We had them before but let it drop because we always seemed to spend $150 plus each trip! We shop them all for the bargains. We save enough to afford Delmonico's once in a while.


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## Smitty901

We have them In Milwaukee, will not spend a dime there they are very anit gun owner ship.


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## Maine-Marine

Smitty901 said:


> We have them In Milwaukee, will not spend a dime there they are very anti gun owner ship.


I understand where you are coming from..but I save enough there to buy extra ammo

also Aldis is not opposed to lawful concealed carry...

Aldi Rating | Second Amendment Check

If a local store has a sign up... WELL.. if you are concealed..who is going to know...


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## csi-tech

Aldi is very popular in Tennessee. We like their produce.


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## Smitty901

Well Aldis made it perfectly clear here in Wisconsin where they stood. They can say what ever they want to get a good rating but their action speak for themselves.


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## James m

We have a few aldiz around here. I liked the $1.99 tombstone pizza knockoffs, which are OK if you watch them and make sure not to over cook. The take and bake cheesy bread sticks with the red and white sauce is very good. It comes in a cardboard colored box. I wouldn't say anything there is particularly appealing.


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## GasholeWillie

Well I swung thru my local Aldi's today, really had no intention of buying anything. Ended up with a couple of bags of fruit type snacks, bottle of olive oil, Cinnabon nut tray, package of filets wrapped in bacon, package of cinnamon buns, spent about $20.

Nice clean store, I would shop there again. I sort of have 3 choices, the expensive place, Walmart Superstore, Aldi's. My problem will most likely be familiarity with product. I go to Walmart, I know exactly what it is I am looking for and where it is located. As I said earlier, I do not know prices and would be completely unsure if I am saving money by shopping there or not.


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## shootbrownelk

GasholeWillie said:


> Well I swung thru my local Aldi's today, really had no intention of buying anything. Ended up with a couple of bags of fruit type snacks, bottle of olive oil, Cinnabon nut tray, package of filets wrapped in bacon, package of cinnamon buns, spent about $20.
> 
> Nice clean store, I would shop there again. I sort of have 3 choices, the expensive place, Walmart Superstore, Aldi's. My problem will most likely be familiarity with product. I go to Walmart, I know exactly what it is I am looking for and where it is located. As I said earlier, I do not know prices and would be completely unsure if I am saving money by shopping there or not.


 You'll save $ for sure, prices are way lower than Wal-mart. I like their hot sauce and salsa as well.


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## AlabamaJoe

Their red wine is great too, cheap but a lot nicer than the expensive wines.


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## Prepared One

I went in one up the street once. I remember food strewn all over the place and screaming kids everywhere. The canned goods looked to be a good deal but was so aggravated with the kids I never went back. May give it another try earlier in the morning when the little bastards........I mean little darlings are watching cartoons.


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## TLock762x51

My folks back in Ohio did a lot of shopping at Aldi's, and they loved that place. Now, my brother shops there quite a bit too.

I wish they would build some stores here in the Phoenix area. I'd sure go. The stores seemed very safe back in Ohio, but it is "small town" country, so I guess that could account for that. I suppose if they ever did end up putting some of them here in the more "economically-challenged" parts of Phx, the clientèle might be a bit sketchier. Still, I'd go there. Just pack heat, and keep your wits about you!

Tim


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## turbo6

AlabamaJoe said:


> Their red wine is great too, cheap but a lot nicer than the expensive wines.


My wife has a bottle in a fridge. This will be our first time with Aldis alcohol.


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## Maine-Marine

I went there today and picked up a flat of canned peaches, a flat of canned pineapple, a flat of mandarin oranges, and some kidney beans


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## Dmcmullen

we have Aldi's all over the place here in KC we go there all the time get as much as we can before going to the big box stores


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