Sorry I'm late blogging this week. It's been so busy around here. I wanted to tell you about last weekend though. We decided to try something a little different and do our monthly grocery shopping at two places instead of our usual one Walmart stop. I'm sure a lot of people do this regularly already, but we have a brand new Aldi's in our town and we wanted to know, would there be a big difference in price? I have never been to Aldi before, so, I will tell you our results! We did a price-by-price comparison so I'll go through some main staple items that was on our shopping list and compare the two.
Battle of the grocery heavyweights (ding-ding)!
In this corner...the place I frequently refer to as the 7th circle of hell...WALMART!
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| http://chrisglass.com/album/2009/06/25/no-counter-intelligence/ |
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| miami.cbslocal.com |
And in this corner...the land of the unknown(for me that is)..ALDI!
Aldi's was pleasant enough once I got past the 25 cents to get your cart thing. I thought it was stupid until my husband pointed out they don't have to pay people to take carts in and out. Hmmm. Brilliant! So let's see it pays off for them...
Looks like it's a knockout for ALDI! All of those little things really added up. If this were your weekly grocery bill, and you saved the approximate $10 per week, this could be a $40 per month savings. I don't know about you but I could find something else to do with that:) Keep in mind this is only a fraction of our grocery list. We spent $114.00 at Aldi. That means the savings could even be broader...$40, $50, $60! a month maybe. We can't get EVERYTHING we need at Aldi and that is the problem. Do you really want to go to two places??? In the same day...um...no. But, each still does have pros and cons.
WALMART PRO'S =
Everything you need in one place (that's a big one!), some things are still less expensive, they provide bags!, bank, pharmacy, electronics. The big reason we need Walmart...DIAPERS! Aldi's does not have our diapers.
WALMART CON'S =
Their produce NEVER looks as good as the above photo! Ever! At least at our local store. It's a shoddy selection for sure. The crowds. Ugh! If you have to go on a Saturday. Yikes. If you eat Gluten Free like I do...they have a terrible GF selection and their standard brands aren't labeled as well as Aldi's canned goods. Be prepared to do a lot of reading.
ALDI PRO'S =
Good cheap produce. Not as much selection, but it looks like more quality than quantity. I eat Gluten Free and the Aldi''s canned goods are almost all labeled GF. YAY!. At the right time of day, it seems to be pretty clean and quiet. That's a change from Walmart. Good prices too.
ALDI CON'S =
Bringing your own bags and bagging your own stuff. What a pain! I mean, you do bag your own stuff at Walmart, but at least they help bag a little and put it back in the cart and not shove you over to a side wall where you have to spend time re-arranging everything. Walmart does save a step there. It lacks selection...that's a big con actually! Our location also had 1 checker...IN THE WHOLE STORE! Good thing there wasn't a crowd.
Well...I would say each has there fair share of cons, but overall...I was happy about the price savings and also to find a spot where I can get good produce and not pay the astronomical prices at our local HyVee. Although, if you do eat Gluten Free...HyVee is THE place to be!! Hands down.
http://www.hy-vee.com/
They have a whole foods/organic and GF section of the store with an on-staff dietician no less that will help you with all of your "gluten-y" questions. Plus, everything on the regular shelves have a GF by the label if it is gluten free. Boy is that handy! And the selection, oh the beautiful selection! Bring your pocketbook baby;)
Kudos to Aldi's though on price and cleanliness and may you bask in their sunny windows while saving a buck or two. Not a bad little Saturday after all:)
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| http://www.internationalsupermarketnews.com/news/1108 |
Happy shopping!!
-Jess xo
