An 'Aldi' but Goodie!

When I was a kid, we were a family on a very tight budget, so my parents shopped at Aldi.  What I remember about Aldi is hot dogs, potato chips, white bread, giant bags of potatoes, carnation powder milk and orange soda.  

Aldi is a deep discount grocery chain, with mostly off-brand items and a label of their own.  They don’t spend money on much floor space, signage or advertising, so their overhead is low.

I haven’t really been to an Aldi since, until recently.  There isn’t one located near us, so I stopped in  one while on an errand. To my surprise, it’s not exactly the same Aldi I remember as a kid. Even a grocery snob could love the Aldi of today.  Organic items, whole grain items and even some name brand items for great prices. They’ve got a new label called Fit N Active that’s comparable to Kashi, NutriGrain and other well known brands, for less than half the price.

Here’s what I snagged for $25 (all the cash I had in my pocket): 

Box of whole grain rotini
Box of whole wheat penne
Box of whole wheat spaghetti
A fresh pineapple
A can of 100% natural pineapple
100 calorie packs roasted almonds
Box of organic green tea
Box of whole wheat crackers
Box of whole grain fruit bars
2 avocados
100% pure organic pomegranate plum juice
100% pure can of frozen cranberry juice
Yogurt covered raisins
2 bottles of wine. $2.99 bottle of wine??! Say what??  Yes, it’s called Winking Owl. I did buy it because I loved the lable. It’s pretty tasty and already has good reviews online. A fun surprise. 

I could hardly believe it. Only $25 for all of this? This would have cost me at least $45-$50 at Hen House, Hyvee or Price Chopper. Wowzah.

After some research, I discovered Aldi is originally a European discount grocery store chain. They have stores in Spain,  France, Germany, Switzerland, Australia and of course several hundred in the United States. If you see one, check it out…oh, & bring your own bags.