[hostagal]

Aldis is where I buy our milk & most fruits & veggies every week.
The only thing I have had problems w/ is the strawberries-won't buy them there.
Everything else is great.
I learned to let my avocado soften 1-2 days then put in the fridge-lasts alot longer.
I used to buy my chocolate chips there-but with the continual price increases, I can buy them cheaper at the reg. grocery w/ double coupons.

[deedeeandme1]

I really don't have a problem with Aldi but you do have to watch what you get. I have noticed price increases so going to a regular grocery store with coupons means you can get the name brand stuff. We only get the certain items we like each week but the milk has been at a great price @$1.49 so I will buy 4 at a time and it seems to keep for a while, just watch the dates on the carton.

[SarahD]

I love aldi for some things:
yogurt covered raisins
cereal bars
fruit cups
baking stuff: flour, sugar, quick oats, brown sugar
bagged frozen chicken
turkey filet mignon
lunch meat
brick cheese
capri sun type drinks
some fruits and veggies--I'm careful on picking them
shredded cheese
polish sausage.

Ours is clean and the people are super friendly. I take my reusable bags and it's a cinch. My DS usually finds something he needs/wants too...and I usually always get out of there for under $30 for quite a bit of stuff. They have some special purchase stuff we enjoy too.

[Luv2Shop247]

I'm not an Aldi shopper, but my dad used to deliver groceries to them and most of the items are from "name- brand" manufacterers, just put in a different box or label to cut the advertising costs. My parents occasionally shop there and have always liked how long their dairy lasts, and have said their produce lasts longer too.

[ambersue33]

I always take their ad to Walmart and price match. Aldi products just never looked as good or fresh to me as Walmart, but they do have good prices on certain items every week.

[missymssy]

I always check their fruit/produce and buy something. It does go bad quicker, but I freeze a lot, especially fruits for smoothies. I'll go home, cut it up, put it right in the freezer. Because of Aldi, at any time I can pull out any color sliced pepper, strawberries, pinapple, bananna...

Things I can't freeze, if I'm not planning on using it all, I don't buy it.

Melissa

[miralys]

I like most of the products at Aldi's. I really like their fish and their ground turkey is the best price around. I have no complaints about their dry goods or produce. The only thing I would not purchase again from Aldi is their bananas. They were too chalky, even when they were quite ripe.

[shana5522]

Avoid the 3- pack garlic bulbs. They are ALWAYS bad (beginning to sprout). I also find the bags of potatoes and onions go bad really fast, or basically any produce item that comes in a bulk bag. I haven't had a problem with fruit that I can select individually. Some days they have fruit for $.25 per piece. Their ground meats are good, but not their steaks.

[crackedwillow]

I prefer ethnic food stores, and shopping meat deals. Both of these, often help me "beat" Aldi's prices on produce and meat....

[busylizzy]

I shop ALDI once a week but only for certain things. I buy their tortilla chips,frozen fish,con queso cheese dip and french onion dip. Occasionally I will pick up other items but i prefer certain brands over others. For example, I will ONLY use Hellmans' Mayo.

[foodie]

I also prefer ethnic markets. In N VA area (MD and DC areas too), we have Hmart/Super Hmarts, Lotte's Plaza, Asian grocers, Latin/Hispanic, Italian, Middle Eastern, and other ethnic grocery stores. Also, check out ethnic bakeries for breads, pastries, cakes, pies, etc. Yummo!

Check out ethnic stores in your areas if you are nearby. Great prices on all spices, etc.

Web sites are below--

www.lotteplaza.com (Lotte's Plaza site/info.)

www.hmart.com (Hmart/Super Hmart's site/info.)

Foodie

[gracie3536]

I like Aldi's products. Yes you do need to watch out for some of the produce freshness. The ghiradelli brownies are not an Aldi product exclusive. You can buy those in the "regular" grocery store. I have found their cake mixes and frosting comparable to brand mixes. Cereal is pretty good, just remember it is not name brand. Meats are good, I believe because of the standards for meat itself. I know if I buy the ground beef in a tube that I am getting ground beef in a tube and not something extra special. Aldi's is great since I am unemployed and really have to stick to a budget.

[Henna]

We love Aldi's veggies - the fruit is hit or miss at ours but it can be excellent at times. Just look over everything closely, give your bag of potatos a sniff to make sure there's no weird dank smell, check all your onions. Try going a different day - I am not sure how often most Aldis get new produce but ask the cashier or manager what days the produce truck comes.

The raw shrimp at Aldi is not very big, but for $3.99 a pound it's fantastic and it's really tasty. You have to peel it but it IS deveined so that's good. I think it's way better than the cooked shrimp. If you like other seafood, they sell a mix of calamari, shrimp and little scallops for a reasonable price (I think $4.99 a pound?) and it's really tasty. Even the calamari stays tender if you cook it gently. They also sell orange roughy that's lovely, and wild caught salmon that is pretty decent. It's not as good as the stuff I get at Byerly's (which is a pretty upscale place in MN) but that's SPENDY, so for $4.99, a pound of wild salmon is great.

I've also bought the frozen fruit for using in homemade jam and it was great and a good price.

The frozen green beans are EXACTLY the same as the French beans at Trader Joe's, but cheaper. All the frozen veggies are good. Some of the frozen novelties are yummy as well (I can't remember what I've bought, though!)

[Arianya]

I bought two twin packs of green peppers and a bag of sweet onions last week. When I pulled an onion out of the bag I noticed that it went bad but I'm not going to complain. I bought an identical bag of onions as I normally buy at the grocery store for less than 50% of the cost. The peppers were really tasty. I did notice that the stems were a bit mushy but I think that's from how they prepared them for packaging to ship.

[kvilledrummer]

I've been hitting their fruit deals recently (pears, pineapples, grapes, etc) & have never had a problem with the quality. The only thing I can say is to pay attention to what you are buying. In many cases (like the pears), they come prepackaged so you must make sure that everything in the pack is good.

[oceanmyst2]

I really like shopping at Aldi's and have purchased fresh produce there and never had a problem. In fact, their bananas stay greener longer than those at Walmart, but then again most stores have better produce than Walmart. I love all their snack foods, their store brand Fit & Active is really great: yogurt, soymilk, rice cakes, cereal, etc. I like it and it's very reasonably priced. Also, their milk is usually cheaper than Walmart, Kroger, Food Lion, etc. I have purchased cheese and meat there, which were both just fine. As far as the carts go, just return the cart when you are done and you get your quarter back. Also as far as bags go, I use a combo of the boxes sitting there, my eco bags that I bring, and for larger items, just put them in the car as is. I enjoy shopping there...

[CouponingInNorthCarolina]

I shop at Aldi's sometimes but not every single week. I buy a lot of their produce when I do go there but only if it looks good. Sometimes it does and other times it doesn't.

I like their salmon (frozen) and the kids love their frozen pizzas. I don't care for their bread at all, but love their liquid detergent that is comparative to Tide.

[Aradia_Silvermoon]

I shop at Aldi's once a month and I always get frozen fish, shrimp, fruits and vegetables.

I love their fruits and vegetables! I love how cheap they are comapred to other stores and they taste delicious. Last night I bought a 3 pack of multi colored peppers for $2.49. A single red pepper at another store is over $2! I chopped half them up for my salad the rest I store in those Fresh Extends baggies. I also got broccoli, tangerines, mushrooms, cucumbers, lettuce, and apples.