Aldi: Green and Cheap, but My Husband Hates It

My sister Julie tipped me off to Aldi, a grocery chain with prices so low, they send us frugal types into a frenzy.

I had noticed an Aldi under construction in a run-down area just blocks from my neighborhood. I couldn’t wait to get in on the bargain action.

I researched the company and learned that Aldi keeps its prices low by offering a limited assortment of brands, mostly their house label. Grocery carts require a quarter deposit, and the store doesn’t accept coupons, credit cards, or checks, though debit cards are okay.

The best part: Aldi doesn’t give away plastic bags. Customers can buy sturdy, reusable ones, or they can use the cardboard boxes food comes in. Or they can bring their own bags from home. I am trying to live green, so this jibes well with my lifestyle.

Julie raved about the store, saying she slashed her grocery bill in half. She lives in the New Jersey suburbs with her husband and two kids. They have a high-end grocery store that offers childcare (!), where kids do arts and crafts while Mom shops. At every checkout, TV shows blare from plasma screens. Chefs give cooking classes. In short, it’s as high end as high end can get. And Julie was fed up with the high prices. Nothing, after all, is free. All those frills were built into the prices.

She heard about Aldi, located in a Spanish neighborhood several miles and a world apart from her McMansion City. The rumor was you could fill up the wagon for a hundred bucks. “We put on our ski masks and drove over there,” she jokes.

She took fourteen-year-old Anthony and twelve-year-old Katie. The first thing she noticed was that only three employees ran the store, which wasn’t very crowded or very big. And the stock was limited. Instead of ten brands of mustard, there were only one or two.

Julie and the kids had to get used to the Aldi shopping experience, as they were accustomed to having dozens of choices. They got lots of avacados and tomatoes, things familiar in Spanish cooking. And they loaded up on Aldi’s store-brand cereal, canned goods and bread.

Sure enough, the bill was under $100.

Over time, the family grew to love the giant bag of chicken tenders for $5.99 and the cooked shrimp for $3.99. Katie reaches for the chicken potpies for a dollar as well as the fresh crab and store-brand chocolate chip cookies. Anthony likes Dr. Dazzle soda, which is similar to Dr. Pepper. Julie likes GT Cola, which she says gives Diet Coke a run for the money. She also loves Aldi’s healthy items, such as banana granola cereal, billed as “fit and active.”

Aldi has a routine and a rhythm that patrons learn over time.