Saving the Green, Shopping at ALDI

When the going gets tough, the tough go grocery shopping! Today we ventured to the new ALDI that opened up the street a few months ago. For those of you who have not heard of ALDI, it is a discount supermarket chain based in Germany. According to Wikipedia, ALDI stands for "ALbrecht DIscount."

The chain is made up of two separate groups, ALDI Nord (North - operating as ALDI MARKT) and ALDI Süd (South - operating as ALDI SÜD), which operate independently from each other in specific market boundaries. The individual groups were originally owned and managed by brothers Karl Albrecht and Theo Albrecht; both have since retired. However, they are still Germany's richest men, earning an estimated €1.5 billion per year.

I wonder if the Albrecht's shop at ALDI?

Back in North Carolina, when we first arrived at ALDI earlier this afternoon, we learned that they do not accept credit cards - only cash or debit. Sigh. I had my debit card, but didn't know my PIN number. My husband knew his PIN number but had left his wallet at home. We turned right around and went back home to grab the wallet and head back for our second attempt. After we finally figured out how to extract a shopping cart (you have to put a quarter into a slot to release the cart from the row), we were on our way to shopping savings! Feast your eyes on some of our bounty of ALDI goodness...


Mmm...lovin' those L'oven Fresh Hot dog buns


And 3 pounds of smoked saugage to accompany the buns!


Because 3 pounds of smoked sausage makes you feel fit and active...


Screamin' Dill Pickle Pringles (you know, very few foods are labeled by the word "screamin'")


A general assortment of other goodies

In addition to what is pictured above, we also bought pasta sauce, salsa, cereal, more yogurt, deli ham, honey mustard, BBQ sauce, flat bread wraps, ice cream sandwiches, and tuna. We had a pretty good first trip to ALDI, and I'm sure that we'll be back. With gas and the price of groceries going up on a weekly, sometimes daily basis, it only makes sense to try and find cheaper shopping options. At ALDI, we spent a little over $28. At Harris Teeter, this probably would have been close to $40. That's quite a savings in my book. And if you really want to save some money and eat good, you make your own bread...