Aldi's is it worth the distance in driving

**freyadog** · 03-28-2007, 08:21 PM

Found an Aldi's somewhat near me. 32 miles. Is the saving at this store worth the drive? I've never been to this store so I know nothing about it. There is just my dh and I, 1 large dog and 2 foundling cats. Thanks for any information.

**frugalandsimple** · 03-28-2007, 08:44 PM

If there's other grocery stores that are closer to where you live than Aldi's, then I don't think it's worth it to drive that far to save a few dollars.

**freyadog** · 03-28-2007, 08:48 PM

Thanks Chris for the headsup.

Barbara

**Sara Noel** · 03-28-2007, 09:51 PM

For me it's not, but I'm not as big of an Aldis fan as others. I don't like the whole hit or miss when purchasing food items.

You should give it a try though and see for yourself. I know plenty of people absolutely love Aldis. I'm just not one of them. lol

It is good for many foods. I really love their hazlenut spread that is like Nutella.

**cdmom** · 03-28-2007, 09:55 PM

I really like Aldi and save a ton of money there. Groceries are just so much cheaper there. For instance, big bags of potato chips $.99, cheese $.79 for 16 slices, boxes of instant pudding $.29 and large bottles of bleach $.99 just to give you an idea of prices. It is really a great place to buy staples. They do not have everything that the regular grocery store has, but it is worth the trip just to check it out. Most things are their brand. There are a few things I've tried and don't like, but if that happens they gladly refund my money. Oh, take your own bags and a quarter to rent the shopping cart(you get it back when you turn in it back in). There are a ton of groceries stores between my house and Aldi, but I make a weekly trip to Aldi and do loss leaders at the other stores. Hope this helps!

**warramra** · 03-28-2007, 10:48 PM

Our closests Aldi's is a 15 mile trip, or 18 miles when I add in dropping my kids at their grandparents so I can go alone. I only go one or two times per month and find it worth it even though I have 7 grocery stores in a 3 mile radius of my house. Maybe because I do a lot of scratch cooking, so I don't find many loss leaders at grocery stores for what I want to buy, or things are not on sale when I need them. Are there other errands you can run on the way or in the area that can help justify the trip?

**Marie78** · 03-30-2007, 01:38 AM

I love Aldi! It's just me, my fiance, and 2 house cats here. My Aldi is about 15minutes away and I go at least 2x a month. I justify the trip because my bank and a dollar store are all in the same plaza. I love making the trip and I just went today. I bought a box of their baking mix, I think it might be like bisquick (I hope) it was only 99 cents and it was a pretty big box. I make biscuits each week and pancakes, so to save my flour and other ingredients I am going to give this a try. I also bought choc. cake mix for 75 cents, I like to use this with a 15oz can of pumpkin and an egg to make choc. pumpkin muffins (we love them). Then I got my canned veggies for 39 cents each and canned stewed tomatoes for 45 cents. I bought a block of cheese for $1.39 and my cats like the moist 9 Lives they sell that at my Aldi for 25 cents a can. I also like their scoopable litter, it's $2.99 for a 14lb container and I have two cats and I scoop daily and use sparingly and it lasts me at least a month. I bought 2 bags of bagels they are only 99 cents for 6 in a bag. I don't buy my meat or my produce there, but that's because we like how it looks at our local grocery store better. Overall I think Aldis is a great place to shop for staples. It saves me a lot of money on baking products and canned goods. We aren't very picky and we use generic brands at our regular grocery store, so I don't see much of a difference if any in taste, it's just cheaper to buy Aldi brand: cereals, oatmeal, chips, jar sauce, noodles, tp, frozen orange juice, etc...the Aldi brands are almost always cheaper than the generic brand at my regular grocery store. I keep a price book of the things we regularly use that way I know if Aldi brand will be cheaper for me than the generic brand at my grocery store. Did I mention I am a fan of Aldi? LOL

Just make sure that you bring your own plastic bags to bag your groceries and a quarter so you can "rent" your cart. If you put the cart back in place you will get your quarter back, if you see someone else left their cart in the parking lot, you can put it back and score an extra quarter

**tbs727** · 03-30-2007, 10:18 AM

I go back and forth with Aldi's. They do have great prices on staples, but when I was working full time, it just wasn't worth it. Now that I am unemployed I might change my mind. It was such a hassle to go after work, fight the crowds, bag my own groceries, then have to go to Wal-Mart to get the rest of my list. Now that I have some flexibility in my time, I might consider going back.

**JustJoy** · 05-31-2007, 08:20 AM

For me it is. I used to drive over 30 minutes to get to the nearest Aldi. Two years ago they put one in 10 minutes from my home

**TheRootedNomad** · 05-31-2007, 09:09 AM

I don't use Aldi as my main grocery. I do however use it for certain items. I go ever couple of months and stock up on certain things. A normal trip for me may look like this.

2 cases of mandrine oranges @ .39 a can
A couple of bottles of ketch-up if noone else has run any good sales @ .89
couple bottles of vegtable oil @ 1.39 (I think)
sometimes rice mixes @ .49 a box
a couple of boxes of instant mashed potatoes @ .89 ( I use these to thicken things up not for mashed potatoes)
A case of applesauce (lastes me about 8 months) @ .69 a jar
6 bleach @ .99
8 cream cheese @ .59(might be .69)
milk if its a good price
eggs if I need them

I suggest going with some money to take a look. Nothing may be better than what you can get closer, but on the other hand, some stuff may be a lot better price. Maybe you end up going twice a year to buy a couple of cases of only a couple of things and it may still be worth it.

**Ceashels** · 05-31-2007, 09:26 AM

I noticed an Aldi's circular in the mail and found a store a few miles away from me. I will be checking it out today. Reading this thread has really helped me in my expectations. Thanks everyone.

**justpeachy92** · 05-31-2007, 09:38 AM

I go a couple times a year, for me what they offer is not stuff I want to feed my family on a daily basis. What I buy there is mostly to stock up on sugar and flour for holiday baking, I check out their website once a week to see what that weeks bargains are and if something interests me I will go in when I go to sams club. This week they have kids swim suits on sale for $6.99, all 4 kids need new ones this year so I am gonna see if I can get them there before we look in other stores.