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| - Aldi is the perfect no-brainer for those who indeed have a brain!
Grocery shopping has become a royal thorn in my side in an era of gouge-them-for-all-they're-worth attitudes. Giant Eagle is downright embarrassing with overinflated prices, considering the mass power buying edge they have, and a few others like Shop-N-Save really aren't all that much better. What's really pathetic is that my local Rite Aid, the 'convenience' store, can actually price Haagen Daaz ice cream LOWER than Giant Eagle.
Now, that being said, I should also clarify that several years ago, I opted to do as much cooking from scratch as possible, tired of the processed garbage that Giant Eagle and pals were over-charging for, and passing off as 'food'. Cooking from scratch is easy, can be fun, and let me tell you, it tastes a LOT better than any of the brand names offering a 'quickie meal' that really only satisfies shareholders.
So, Aldi had become my primary source of 'staple' buying.
And really, there is no better. The basics for from-scratch cooking - flour, rice, oils, eggs, butter, cream cheese, milk, etc. - are all simple products. Butter is butter. Butter is $4 at Giant Eagle, and $2 at Aldi. Sure, I can see why you'd want to buy the butter that is twice the price at G.E. - NOT!
EVERYTHING is substantially cheaper at Aldi, and 95% of the time, the quality is just as good as a name brand. And in some cases, even better. I was quite shocked when I started checking some of the ingredient lists on many of the products at Aldi, which come from their own selection of off-brands. I could actually READ most of them - the ingredients being actual 'food' ingredients.
They don't have the big mainstream brands for the most part, and in my book, that's just fine. They don't have screaming 'shareholders' shrieking at them to take out real ingredients, cheapen the product, and raise the price. A lot of Aldi's products are pretty darned real.
And I'll tell you...I'd challenge the Chef's Cupboard cream of mushroom soup against Campbell's any day. Last time I had a taste of Campbell's, my tongue only detected mushY, not mushROOM. And that Campbell's costs WHAT for a can? The Chef's Cupboard is still only 79 cents! Frozen lemonade, 79 cents.
The few items that I do buy as 'convenience foods' like Mac-n-cheese or ramen noodles, just to have on hand when I don't feel like cooking, are again, 69 or 79 cents for the mac-n-cheese, and if you doctor it up with a little extra cheese (and come on, who doesn't?) it tastes JUST as good as the $2 a box brand name, and less than $2 for a full case of ramen. A jar of pasta sauce is less that $2, and I've actually had people say 'wow' when they found out it was Aldi off-brand jarred sauce.
About the only disappointments that I've had were their knock-off brand of Cheetos, which kind of tasted like orange colored Trix or Cheerios (it's the same base people), and the off-brand pizza rolls (like Totinos) just didn't quite have the full flavor I'd hoped for.
Several have complained about the produce, but again, I've never had an issue. No matter WHERE I buy produce, or how much I pay, if I don't use it quickly, it's going to rot. So why should I pay twice the amount at a regular grocery store? Their 'selection' is not large, but again, they do have the basics - potatoes, onions, garlic, mushrooms, celery, tomatoes, some lettuce, lemons, etc. Some things come and go with the seasons. If you're looking for something exotic, you won't find it here, but something exotic would generally require a special trip anyway.
But things like zip lock bags, aluminum foil, plastic wrap...no big names...but they all work just as fine as the stuff that costs twice as much.
Aldi is no frills, but when I go food shopping, I'm not looking for frills. So I have to pack my own groceries, and even take my own bags (you can use the empty product boxes you find around the stores as well). I will need a quarter to release the shopping cart from its chain...but it's ok, return the cart, and you get your quarter back (actually a pretty brilliant way of keeping your carts together and returned - people are beyond cheap - they WANT that quarter back!)
And aside from not getting financially raped by a big bird, there is actually one fun 'community' aspect of the Aldi trip. Don't be surprised when you're returning your cart and someone walks up to you and hands you a quarter. You've just gotten your quarter back in exchange for a smile and a free cart!
Like I said...no brainer...for those with brains.
You may have to run to another store if you need a few more 'refined' ingredients for those recipes. But for the base ingredients, why pay double or more?
Don't worry Fox Chapelites, Mt. Lebanese or Sewickly-ites...we won't call you on 'slumming'.
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