Shopping Cart at Aldi

Shopping Cart at Aldi

Even though I already had a post dedicated to Aldi and its newest store in Sanford, FL (see Day 44), I wanted to just quickly put together a list of things you should know before shopping at Aldi.

Today was my official first visit at the Aldi store in Sanford and I was excited to compare it with the Aldi supermarkets I know from Germany. I actually went with another friend from Germany and it was nice to see that our opinions were the same.

Aldi continues to be one of the best value supermarkets even here in the US. Pricewise I was pleasantly surprised.

I bought some “test merchandise” and tried it so I could also compare the quality. The meal I prepared was one of the most economic meals of our times, pasta with tomato pasta sauce an vegetable. Along with it a glass of red wine. The pasta I bought was probably a little pricier than elsewhere but the taste was great (believe me, I am a pasta expert). The tomato sauce I bought was $.99 which puts it in the same price range as the one they sell at Wal Mart. However, even though I used to buy the Wal Mart one a lot, I got very tired of it soon and switched to the $2.99 Target brand which I love. So I never went back to checking out cheaper sauces. I took the risk with the Aldi sauce though and was very pleased. I might start buying a cheaper brand again đŸ™‚ The vegetable I chose was Zucchini which was on sale (a lot cheaper than at any other supermarket). Very good taste and fresh – I might start eating vegetable again. Used to eat a lot more when living in Europe since it was cheaper, fresher and I trusted the quality more. The red wine was only $2.99 and pretty good. Well, I am not a wine connoisseur and understand that good wine is sometimes pricier, but I always follow the simple principle of “good wine is the one that tastes good to me” regardless of brand, age or price. So Aldi checked out great for quality/price relation!

Here a list of things to bring when shopping at Aldi:

  • Bring your debit card or cash! Just like in most European supermarkets, credit cards are not accepted!
  • Bring your own bags or containers to store the products after purchasing them. European supermarkets are environmentally friendly and never give out plastic bags for free. In fact, when living in Germany I always had a linen shopping bag with me. A good idea is to have a container in your car already that you keep there all the time. Whenever you go shopping you just push your cart to the car and fill up the container with the products. That way it’s also easier to carry them inside your home.
  • Bring coins with you! In order to get a shopping cart you will have to slide in coins. Aldi wants to be sure you bring back the shopping cart to the main covered shopping cart station after shopping. No more leaving your cart on the parking lot unloading the products. Keeps you fit too đŸ™‚

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