quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
I'm a fan of Aldi, although not quite as much as a few years ago.

Pre 2021ish, Aldi's prices made it a smoking deal. It would literally be 1/3 the price to shop my basic groceries at Aldi compared to another grocery chain.

But it seems like Aldi got hit hard with the post-pandemic inflation over the past couple years. Now, many of their items are the same price - or higher - than the bigger grocery chains like Walmart.

I still like going there, since they tend to have interesting stuff each week that other grocery chains don't carry, often including German food that I like, but it's not as much of a cost savings as it used to be.

I agree, RogueJSK.
I still like the place, but everything costs a lot more. It's not much saving compared to my local Schnucks grocery store.

Snack foods, salad dressings and other items have more than doubled in price over the past two years. They aren't the bargain on many items that they were before. I think they carried the price increases to the extreme. Their big advantage used to be price. [I can't believe shoppers there are not noticing this.

One thing I’ve noticed Aldi doing a lot of too is Shrinkflation where they’ll shrink the sizes of things but keep the price the same or even raise the price. All food producers seem to be doing it but Aldi seems to be doing it more often than others.

I have an old ground black pepper container from 8-9 years ago that is easily twice the size of the current one.

Resurrected thread warning.

Well finally started shopping at local Aldi. It is not our main grocery store, Woodmans is but it is close and quick in an out and great prices.

I saw this on the shelf the other day, Park Street Deli pork burnt ends, and decided to give it a try. I was very pleased and it took only 3 minutes in the microwave. Very tasty and tender with zero rubbery fat and only $5.99. There is no close quality BBQ around us and the one we love keeps getting more expensive. I am going to try more of these refrigerated meals and surely be buying more of these. I also noticed that had Kraukus ham sliced in the package at about half the price sold at the deli at the grocery store.

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:
Have you unfriended/uninvited the haters?

Just tell them, "No steak for you!"

to add,
one thing I have noticed is pricing is getting more competitive in this area (Central VA)
Aldi had for the longest time, the best price on bottled water,
now, Food Lion etc will run it on sale for cheaper than aldi does every day,

Used to occasionally shop there. Last time, I purchased a pork tenderloin. 8 hours after dinner the food poisoning hit and I was glued to the toilet the next day.

I had checked the date on the package showing it was good. I cook to temperature not time so it was cooked to a safe internal temperature.

No Aldi's where I am but have noticed grocery prices are coming down. If you shop you find some very good deals these days. Shop sales etc. It is almost a pleasure to grocery shop again.

Both Aldi's and Lidl's show you how much the other grocery stores are ripping you off.

Now you know who not to invite to your BBQ's. I don't shop at Aldi's often but I have shopped there in the past and if they have something I need I won't hesitate to shop there again.

Aldi is great! Quality food, half the price of Kroger like stores on a lot of it. I go there for fresh veggies fruit, deli meat, cheese, etc. Then I hit Harris Teeter for meat and a few things Aldi doesn't have. Then the rest is rounded out with Costco/BJ's.

I love Aldi and Lidl, especially for the cheese and cured meats

Lidl has the $5 flat french bread pizza thing that the wife loves

Aldi is our main grocery store in our town.

But the key is to be a smart shopper.

We buy certain things at Aldi, but there are other things purchased at other grocers. We recently got a Food City store, a converted store from Winn Dixie. They have some good things as well.

I wish we would get a Lidl in Alabama, especially in the metro Birmingham area. We have been to one in NC when we visit family, and really like it. The closest to us at the moment is in Atlanta metro.

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:
Used to occasionally shop there. Last time, I purchased a pork tenderloin. 8 hours after dinner the food poisoning hit and I was glued to the toilet the next day.

I had checked the date on the package showing it was good. I cook to temperature not time so it was cooked to a safe internal temperature.

I bought a pack of fish filets at Aldi. They weren't outdated but the smell was terrible . Trashed ...

quote:

Originally posted by lyman:
to add,
one thing I have noticed is pricing is getting more competitive in this area (Central VA)
Aldi had for the longest time, the best price on bottled water,
now, Food Lion etc will run it on sale for cheaper than aldi does every day,

Around here everybody seems to be selling bottles water at cost or maybe even below as a draw it seems.

Our Woodmans is a monster size store that has every day low pricing and amazing variety. It must be an 1/8 a mile long on the inside and sometimes I go there just to get a few things and walking time as it is more more fun than being in the gym on a bike or treadmill.

Our local Jewel Foods is the old style hot specials but insanely high every day pricing on most items. I can buy a few items at Aldi and still save several bucks usually. I usually go to Aldi intending to buy a couple items and end up buying 6-8 items.

Nothing wrong with ALDI. But to get to the closest one, I will pass 4 other grocery retailers. Living by myself I would never save enough to pay for the gas.

The main problem? they got popular. This invites the idiot 'influencers' to start inventing a new crises. The first one I noticed was the "Aldi only has ONE person in the store!! horror"
the new one is some influencer did a video stating every Aldi product is 'fake' etc.

My first experience was not a good one. I took a grocery lists, I only got a few things on my list, they did not have the rest. So back to the big box store. My other bad impression is mixed: I despised having to put a quarter in to use a cart, I did not have a quarter so I was walking around with a box when someone let me have their cart (on their way out). This is why it is mixed, that was when I started noticing people leaving quarters around the cart area. Kind cool. The next time I went I had three quarters, I left all three quarters

I have no gripe against them, but the Food Lion is on my way home so I tend to 'pick things up' there.

Dollar General, now that is my vibe. I cannot tell you how many times they have saved the day, outing, campfire etc. Love that place.

The Aldi up by my dads house is pretty good, the ones by us are not stocked the same, we've tried it but end up having to go to Publix for the remainder of the list, so whats the advantage for $10 to $20 a week if you have to make two stops.

Publix I can get to on the Golf Cart, Aldi's requires the car, as does WalMart Neighborhood Grocery.

Aldi and Publix don't carry the exact same thing in the exact same size it's hard to really compare...

quote:

Originally posted by bettysnephew:
Nothing wrong with ALDI. But to get to the closest one, I will pass 4 other grocery retailers.

The Aldi near me is on the "far side of the mall", past the mall. Which means driving through the worst congestion, twice. No thanks.