Fred Meyer $20.49
This week’s grocery update is a little different because The Girl and I didn’t get back home until saturday. On the way home I had the HH pull into Fred Meyer so I could pick up a few things to tide us over for the next few days. Before we left for our trip I made sure to stock the fridge with stuff for the boys… and when we got home, I was shocked to see that atleast 1/3 of the food was still left. I swear, those boys live off of air.
Yada yada yada.
What I really want to talk about this week is my trip to Aldi in Nashua, New Hampshire. In a nutshell, it was AWESOME.
Fancy English Muffins $.99. I bet they taste just as good as the name brand. 😉
There is a reason why the Duggars shop here. Seriously people. The prices are cheap, cheap, cheap. The Girl and I snapped a few pictures of their everyday prices and let me tell you Bob, they are a steal. Fun fact: Whole Foods Market was across the street. So clearly, peeps can choose to pay triple for the same thing {but different label} should they choose to.
Corn $0.49 a can!!! And it wasn’t even dented or on special.
Sweet peppers 3 for $1.50. Costco sells a pack of 6 peppers for $6.99. I don’t know about you guys, but I’d totally give up free samples and impulse items for less expensive grocery prices. The BIG difference I noticed between Aldi and the regular stores…. Your choice for an item is VERY limited.
Let’s say you are looking for hummus. There is one brand of hummus and maybe 2 varieties to choose from. Not 10. Which, obviously works for the company. Less choices, less store space, less overhead, few employees, lower prices… yada yada yada.
How many times have you walked down the Target food aisles for a box of granola bars and there is an ENTIRE aisle dedicated to granola bars? It’s seriously ridiculous. It’s like the big box stores are stocked with 10 million items just so you’ll stay longer, linger, fill your cart, and buy stuff you don’t need. {Ya think?}. Aldi is my kind of store. In and out in 5-7 minutes with only the stuff I wanted to buy in the first place.
Oh plus, they charge you if you need a bag. And $0.25 for a shopping cart {which you get back when you return the cart}. Which is kind of fun if you ask me. You have to be on top of things… and I like that. It’s kind of like – Hey, here’s a way to save money. Do you want to do it or not? Because if you do, we’re cool with that.
Milk. $1.49 a gallon. And no freakin’ limit! –> That’s my new {to me} jacket I picked up at the thrift store for $6!!! What do you think?
I had no idea they still sold weenies in a can. My dad LOVES these things. At $0.49 a can I should’ve bought a case and brought it back home in my checked baggage.
Powdered and brown sugar in the 2lb bags for $0.99. A 5 pound bag of flour was $1.59. Those Aldi everyday prices are better than the deals we see around the holidays.
Reason #542 to move the the east coast. 😉
Saltines $0.75 a box, Oyster Crackers $0.79 a bag. Even though the HH loves oyster crackers, I usually don’t buy them because they are expense… but if I lived near an Aldi I’d totally splurge and pay the extra $0.04.
Pickles $1.29, Coffee $3.99, Fresh tortellini pasta $1.49
Cantaloup $0.99 each, Gala Apples $2.49 for a 3 lb bag and pint of cherry tomatoes $1.29 {these are consistently priced between $1.99-$2.99 at regular grocery stores.
Party platter dinner supplies and snacks for the next day for $14.
Aldi. I think your prices are AWESOME!!!! I wish we had a store closer to home.
Have a great monday everyone,
~Mavis
- Total Spent This Week $20.49 Groceries, Take Out/Bakeries $0
- Total Spent in Janaury on Groceries $202.99
- Total Spent in February on Groceries $143.94
- Total Spent in March on Groceries $183.35
- Total Spent in January on Take Out, Date Nights, and Bakery Treats $42.19
- Total Spent in February on Take Out, Date Nights and Bakery Treats $118.45
- Total Spent in March on Take Out, Date Nights and Bakery Treats $25.29
Teresa says
Aldi is a regular stop for me – butter, coffee creamer, canned spinach & beets and lunch box snacks for the grandkids.
I often leave my quarter in the cart slot for the next person – just a RAOK.
Jessica says
Where I live a gallon of milk is about $5. Hang on while I shed some tears at the beauty of $1.50
Cat says
I’m with you there. It’s closer to six in Canada.
Wendy says
I don’t know how I would feed my family is six ithout ALDI. I truly am grateful for this store.
Brianna says
My Aldi is a nightmare. I’ve been there once and will not return. They have ladies roaming the lot looking for a gig (it is located across the street from Walmart and Sams Club), people’s cars are often broken into, and many that shop there use EBT (which I can see the need to make their dollar go further, but it causes problems, a lot of people just hanging out in the parking lot too. The store inside is a mess with people changing their mind about chicken and putting it back with the tomatoes, etc. The place is a smaller grocery chain, it isn’t that far to put something back in its proper place. Often if I am driving down the highway by Aldi there is at least 1-2 police cruisers in the parking lot on a call. They would be great if they would get out of their location and move out of the downtown area. I love Aldi where I sue to live, but here not do much.
Laura says
Well, Mavis, Aldi is moving into Los Angeles, so I think it is only a matter of time before they make it up here. At least I hope so anyway.
When we were in the Netherlands a few years ago I made the whole family stop in an Aldi. My husband was all “Why are we going here?” and I was all “Because we can!” It was so fun and we got amazing deals, even for Europe. Still have some of those sprinkles they put on toast over there. Got a huge package for about a dollar. A box one third the size sells for $6 at World Market. It was a lot of fun to wander the aisles and pick up random goodies.
Marge says
Oh, how I miss Aldi! I lived in a large city in North Carolina where there were Aldi stores all over the place. Some were better than others in terms of cleanliness and how well stocked they were. And some were in not so great parts of town. You just learned which ones were best. Also I figured out that certain days of the week were better for produce. The produce aisles are not refrigerated, so you want to get there on days when it’s the freshest.
We moved to a teeny tiny town in New Hampshire a few months ago. There’s no Aldi or anything like it anywhere nearby. I would definitely be willing to drive if there was one within an hour of me. Maybe someday they’ll put one in the next biggest town. I can dream, anyway.
Natalie says
Our Aldi rocks! Can coffee is yucky, and some cereal have an off taste. Love them for cheeses, butter, and hard salami. I believe they also own Traders joe. Same stuff, less cost!
Anita says
I love shopping at Aldi and I do on a regular basis. However, not all items are created equal. For example, those English muffins do not taste the same as Thomas’ English Muffins (not to my taste buds anyway), so I buy the name brand at a local bakery outlet store for even less than the Aldi price…SCORE! 🙂 However, I’ve found the quality of their crackers, pickles, cheese, produce, dairy, and more are all great and I buy those things regularly there. I have found though that the canned products can be iffy…you just need to try them all out to see what you like. If you don’t like something, they’ll refund your money (which I’ve had to do a few times). Overall though, Aldi is a great place to save money on food.
Julie says
Thanks for the “tour” of Aldi, Mavis!! I hear about it frequently from another blog and, like you, don’t have one near me!
Diana says
Old News flash: Aldi is awesome. Aldi is my first and only grocery stop, unless they don’t have an item I really need (e.g., powdered milk), then I go to another store for that item. I hauled home some excellent dairy and produce buys from Aldi just yesterday. Today my dehydrator is busy preserving the stash of lovely, discounted produce.
Jane says
I miss Aldi SO much. Moving to an area without Aldi seriously caused a grocery budget crisis in my life haha!! It was a big reason I was able to stay home when my kids were little! When my mom visits me now, she brings a big haul from Aldi including the chili seasoning which is my very fave.
Knico says
I have to agree with Anita, overall Aldi’s is the place to shop as long as you are willing to sidestep a level of quality. The flours are not as good (rich) as the King Arthur brand and the sugar is ground a bit courser than Domino’s. As far as the fresh veggies go, I have found them to have a shorter shelf life, but if you are planning to use them within a day or two you would never notice. They usually have outrageous meat deals once a week, (This week they have boneless skinless chicken breast for $1.49/lb). And who can deny themselves the bay scallops for $4.99/ lb. Can’t beat those dairy prices either. It is a compromise I can live with.
Laura Z says
Around the holidays they have really good deals on cured meats and cheese. I can get goat cheese, salami, proscuttio, havarti, etc. for less than half of what I’d pay in a normal grocery store. Seems like all my holidays start with big antipasta plates these days — it’s because of Aldi, not because I am Italian!!
I totally cook around their produce specials. They always have about 6 produces items that are super great– sometimes 60 -75 percent off of what you’d pay elsewhere.
One thing that I’ve noticed is that the produce they carry is often slightly larger or smaller than other stores, so I hope they are buying things that might be otherwise wasted.
Rebecca in MD says
So glad you got a chance to visit an Aldi. They just opened one near me about two month’s ago, and I LOVE it. So far I have been pleased with their brands and the fresh produce. I certainly don’t mind putting my own cart back and bringing my own bags – – – which I always do, no matter where I shop.
Shannon says
Mavis, here some cool info about Aldi. Aldi used to be a really sketchy/gross discount grocery store here in the midwest. But they were recently all renovated and they’re building lots of new stores too. From what I hear, they are now owned by a brother of the Trader Joe’s family…so they are basically an even cheaper version of Trader Joe’s. I’ve loved everything I’ve purchased there and the prices are incredible. Like you, I love that I don’t have to stare, bleary eyed, and a wall of 200 varieties of granola bars!
Angel says
We are a family of 8 and I do my pantry shopping at Aldi 2x a month for about $100 a month. I do supplement with a trip to Giant/Sams Club 1x a month but I am able to feed my entire family for about 250/300 bucks a month. Would not know what to do without Aldis. Glad you experienced it while you were on the East Coast
Helen in Meridian says
Thanks for the tour of Aldi’s. We just got Trader Joe’s in Boise 3 yrs ago, so long wait for Aldi’s. At least that Aldi’s Brianna mentioned is in the downtown. So many grocers have abandoned downtown areas. That is why so many poor people buy food at convenience stores I have heard. I love your new down jacket, almost coat length. I MISS MRS HB…..Bring back MRS HB after her kid’s spring break.
Jenny Young says
We started a letter/email campaign to get Aldi to come to our town a few years ago. We’ve had Aldi in the area but the closest store was about 30 miles away. So we’d all drive the 30 miles once a month to stock up. Such a pain when you live within 2 to 5 miles of the local Walmart.
So a friend of mine started writing letters. Then she recruited all of her Aldi shopping friends to do the same…& they came! I could start shopping Aldi every week & always have fresh produce! I was thrilled.
Our store just went through a remodel & it’s even better than before. I couldn’t tell from your pics but I think the Aldi you visited is set up the new way. Ours is more organized with wider aisles & easier access to everything, plus a little more variety of foods. Still one or tow choices of each item but now we have more items.
I love their special buys! At Christmas they carried prime rib roast….something I hadn’t seen at any local store. I bought two, one for Christmas dinner & the second I froze for my husband’s birthday in March.
Mavis send Aldi a link to your post, comment on their Facebook page & recruit your local friends to begin writing letters. You would become a local hero!
Sharon says
There doesn’t seem to be any consistency on the quality of Aldi stores across the board – at least in my area. The one near me basically just throws whatever is the loss leaders of the week on the floor in cardboard boxes, and you are expected to paw through whatever they have to find what you may want. Also – and this is a HUGE annoyance in my book – all they produce is wrapped in plastic wrap and attached to a Styrofoam tray. Sorry, I want to be able to look at all sides of produce before buying! It doesn’t make any difference how cheap things are at Aldi if you end up tossing most of it! But there are some people around that swear by the bargains they find at Aldi. Go figure!
Laura Z. says
I have three stores within 20 minutes of me. One is great, one is average, and one really could care less. The bad one is pretty bad. They will leave rotten produce sitting out, etc.
I shop at the best of the three, and because the produce flies out of there so quickly, the quality there is as good as the normal grocery stores, if not better. I recycle the styrofoam trays and the plastic wrap gets recycled with grocery store bags.
Diana says
I live in Ireland and we have Aldi and Lidl (Aldi’s twin). I find that the manager of the store make a great difference because they decide what to throw, what and how to order.
Carolina says
One good turn deserves another and you learn something new every day!!! You have done your good turn by letting me know about the Aldi’s in Nashua. I had no idea that we had not one, but several, Aldi’s within 30 miles of the NH seacoast. As soon as I recover from the flu, I will be checking out the one in Nashua!!! PS The first thing I thought of when you showed the picture of the ginger snaps at Calef’s was, “I hope they had the free samples.” And you did!
Heather H says
Wow! I’ve never heard of the Aldi store before! Amazing deals! Anybody know when one will be popping up in the Northwest?
I live in Northern Idaho, and we seriously miss Trader Joe’s so much (from our California/Washington days), that we drive to the one in Spokane whenever possible. But this Aldi’s store….amazing!!!
Lauren says
Mavis you are always pining for the east coast…do you not like Seattle? My family may be moving there soon. Any info you care to share?
Sue says
Mavis, living in central Alabama we have four season’s of course, just wondering which seasons you have. You say you have two but I think I have noticed Spring, summer, fall leaves and winter snow. I would love to know which two you have. Just curious! Thanks! Would love to visit the northeast someday.
Rhonda Relyea says
Oh sweet Lucy. I love her pics and felt so bad for her when you were gone. I know how crazy my dogs act when I’ve been gone an hour or a week!
I wish we lived closer so I could sit down with you to help you with your crochet. I understand why you stopped, but I love it so much and been doing it since I was 7 or 8. I guess I thought I could make you love it, too, or at least enjoy it! Lol
I enjoy you blog and read it daily. I also enjoy you on Instagram as @kometfan77. I don’t send you comments very often because I don’t want to bother you. Take care and show us your accomplishments on the quilting.
Mavis Butterfield says
I know who you are from Instagram!!! 🙂 Thank you for your comment. 🙂
Alison R says
The next town up I – 95 from me is getting an Aldis and a Lidl (Aldis German competitor) across the street from each other!! I can’t wait!!!!
Yay! Finally!
Sharon says
Just curious… Are the products at Aldi’s labeled with their country of origin?
Vicki in Birmingham says
Yes! And most everything is from the good ol’ USA
OregonGuest says
Oh, man — my father-in-law LOVES those Vienna Weenies, gross, nasty and disgusting as they are! They have got to be on the TSA’s banned items list (don’t they explode like lithium batteries and take the plane down??). Would love to have an Aldi’s, though.
Vicki in Birmingham says
Aldi’s is where I do a LOT of my shopping. I have purchased eggs there for $.69 a dozen. The produce is ALWAYS cheaper and I even bought a bag of 6 organic avocados for $3.99. They don’t have many brands with which was familiar (once upon a time), but I would say that 99% of the brands they have are fine, as good as the brands I have used for years. I love that store! I am glad you got to experience it!
Oh yeah, a couple of weeks ago, I bought 3 bouquets of tulips for $2.99 each! So beautiful and fresh!
Gina says
We have Aldi’s here in South Dakota. So far, I’ve only bought their produce which is ridiculously cheap and good quality! I am asking all of you Aldi Veterans if the quality of the off brands are as good as name brands? Example: boxed crackers, cookies, soups, etc. Is their generic brand of soup better than Campbell’s? Thank you all!
-Mavis- always look forward to your blogs every single day! Keep keepin’ on, it’s good stuff!
Cass says
In short, yes. Their crackers are as good (if not better) than the national brand. I don’t buy cookies there. Soup? OH MY, their chicken noodle soup (49 Cents) is BETTER than Campbells. I alway buy my ‘sick soup” there.
I am one of the crazy prepper people so I have stuff in advance. Somehow I missed an expiration date on Aldi’s brand cheese crackers (think Cheese Nips)….I missed it by TWO YEARS. (oops) So, since they were going in the garbage anyway, I opened them and tasted one. Long story short-I ATE THE WHOLE BOX….they were yummy and crisp. (and I lived to tell the tale….don’t get me started on expiration dates)
Marybeth says
We love Aldi. When we first started to shop there I would try a few items every week. The hummus and whipped cream are the 2 things that did not live up to our standards. The cookies are good but they are not chips ahoy. More like store brand. The peanut butter, Jellies, pickles, crackers, steel cut oats, mayo. ketchup are all very good. Bread, English muffins, buns and cakes are great.
We went to South Carolina a few years ago and we saw a Piggly Wiggly. I was so excited I made everyone go in. My husband took a picture of me in front of the store. So glad there are others out there like me.
Katy says
I don’t consistently shop at Aldi because I usually need quite a few items they don’t carry. My time is more valuable to me than shopping at multiple stores every shopping trip. However, if I’m having a party I always take my list to Aldi as my first stop to grab the things they carry then i’ll supplement somewhere else. I tend to throw large parties so it helps me keep the food cost down so I can spend more $ on beer and cocktails. lol!
Patty P says
I agree with the quality part…some of the stuff is great, other stuff not so good… those tortellini you have pictured there were in the not-so-great category for me. I was so disappointed! On the other hand I love their sweet potato chips!
Cass says
I buy all my “junk food” at Aldi’s….99 cent bag of corn chips? Can’t beat that. $1.49 for potato chips? Sure I’ll take 4 – 6 each trip. (I only go about once every 2 months) Even M&M’s are only 2.29 a medium sized bag (3.99 at supermarket)
I buy their canned stew for camping…not as good as national brand, but VERY edible. I bought their “chicken and dumplings”. Not good. The chickens enjoyed it. IF I had known that you could return it, I would have and gotten more Beef Stew. 🙂
But my biggest score? In the freezer section 1 pound of ground turkey for $1.69. I bought 6 the first time and 4 each time after that….don’t want to run out and why use beef at 3 times the cost?
Bring your own bags and use the counter at the front of the store to bag up your stuff the way you want it to be when you get home. For the price difference I can bag my own stuff.
Chris says
As a recovering grocery store snob…I was totally sucked into major $$$ shopping at Whole Foods…I love Aldi! I have been shopping there for a couple of years now. Their holiday selections are fabulous. I will happily bag my own groceries and be happy with 1 or 2 options for an item. However, I will not purchase their bread items, too many questionable ingredients, especially DATEM.
Overall, Aldi is a winner!
Nichole says
I LOVE my Aldi. It is the only reason our family of 5 can stick to $150 a month for groceries. Your reaction is my reaction every I shop 🙂
Laurie says
I just saw this post and almost spit out my water. I live in Nashua, NH. Love the Aldi too! Too funny!
Melissa in Oz says
I love Aldi here in Australia but I wish the prices were as good as what you get! The prices we have are still cheaper than the other 3 supermarkets that we have here (Coles Woolworths and IGA – yes, we only have three supermarkets in Australia!!!) I am always astounded when people can buy a dozen eggs for less than a dollar – how does the chicken farmer make any money????? I’m all for inexpensive goods but not at the expense of the grower/provider’s welfare – it costs more to produce a dozen eggs than that!