When I was growing up, grocery shopping was usually a family event. We all got in the van and rode to County Market or Walmart for a fun time of walking the aisles and filling the grocery cart. I always enjoyed grocery shopping with my family – unless we ended up at Aldi. Horrors. Everyone knew that Aldi was the poor people store – you had to scrounge for empty boxes (this was long before reusable shopping bags were a thing) and they didn’t even bag the groceries for you. Sometimes my parents let me stay in the car. I was much happier in a cold van listening to my Walkman than schlepping around the chaotic aisles of Aldi with all the other poor people. #teenagerlife
Fast forward 14 years…and guess what folks? I still hate the Aldi experience. My reasons are different now…there’s no embarrassment factor, but the aisles are still crowded and chaotic. Someone always abandons their cart, making it impossible to get around them without pushing it out of the way. My groceries get thrown across the counter and haphazardly into my cart, where I then have to bag them next to someone with eight hundred crazy children. So yeah, it’s a pain. But I’ve reached the stage where low prices supersede my need for convenience and calm. I hate the experience…love the prices. Anyone else feel this way?
I braved another Aldi’s trip – and lived to tell about it!
On The Menu (*indicates a new-to-me recipe)
Breakfast:
- Cheerios with Peaches
- Eggs and Bacon
Lunch:
- Leftovers
- Pasta Salad with Chicken and Veggies
- Turkey Sausage
Supper:
- Turkey Meatballs with Mushrooms & Creamy Gravy/Rice/Green Beans
- Spaghetti/Salad/Garlic Toast
- World’s Best Chicken/Roasted Fingerling Potatoes*/Lemon Garlic Broccoli
- Chicken Enchilada Bake*/Tossed Salad
- Crock Pot BBQ Rotisserie Chicken*/Garlic Green Beans/Mac & Cheese
- Date Night! 🙂
- Leftovers
Come Home For Comfort 
I gotta say, this made me not so sad that we don’t have and Aldi’s. The prices do sound pretty great, though.
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Yeah it’s hit or miss in there!
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I love shopping at Aldi. I find the prices great and the produce is usually very good. Your chicken recipes sound delicious, I am always on the lookout for more.
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I’m glad you’ve had positive Aldi experiences! Yes, I love their produce prices. Thanks for stopping by my blog!
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We didn’t have an Aldi growing up, but I’m not a fan now that we have one. I’ve tried it a few times, but it’s always so packed & the produce has been 50/50 on whether or not it was good. My favorite stores are Kroger & Sam’s. And there are a few things I like getting at Ingle’s.
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Yeah I’m with you Christina – the produce is good when it’s good and really bad when it’s bad. Alli’s been telling me about her awesome deals at Kroger…I wish we had one here!
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Aw, I love Aldi! I can understand your frustrations, though. However, as Aldi has been my primary grocery store for a few years now, I’ve learned that there are better times to go than others. I try to avoid the busy times and always have my re-usable bags with me. Believe it or not, with their the low-low prices and all their new organic products and I’m actually a really big Aldi fan these days :-).
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Oh yes – Aldi is a great place to buy organic. I imagine it’s so much cheaper than whole foods!
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Aldis are kinda new to our area, so we didn’t have them when I was a teen. So my experience with them has actually been pretty good! Since ours are new, they are clean and easy to maneuver through. I love the deals there. Not sure I’d feel the same about them if I’d had to endure them as a teen, though. 😉
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I’m glad you’ve had good Aldi experiences, Jamie! The one I shop is really old, but a new one is going up not far from me. I’m looking forward to that one opening.
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Well hopefully you’ll have a better experience at that newer one!
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I was also one of those horrified Aldi teens but then I grew up! I hated everything about it. My worst fear was having one of those Aldi’s brand boxes left in the car and a friend see it, or having a friend over and the chips were off brand! It was messy, smelly and disgusting to me. Then…..the brand improved, the stores seem cleaner or I wasn’t a teen with disguise at every turn and my budget was my own. I came to embrace it and now that we’ve moved to an area that doesn’t have Aldi’s I actually miss it! Went home a few weeks ago and stopped just to pick up a stash of there Mentos knockoffs. My second favorite miss is Dollar General! Not sure how the northern prairie exists without them either! Probably there are teens up here scowling as their parents pull in to Cash Wise and Family Dollar!
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Haha Diana, I’m so glad my teenage self wasn’t the only one horrified to be seen in Aldi! I’m sorry you don’t have Dollar General…that’s one of my favorite stores! They have such reasonable prices and a wide variety of merchandise.
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I had to laugh at your teenage self. I seldom go to Aldis as I am like you…not a fan of the experience! I shopped at Publix this week and got lots of BOGO deals that we actually use so I was a happy camper. I have a feeling I will be at Aldis with the poor people once Marvin retires. lol….
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Yep…there’s nothing like that Publix experience. But now listen Arlene, you can still shop at Publix once he retires…you’ll just need to use coupons and shop the sales cycles! You are not doomed to spend the rest of your days at Aldi! 😊
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Thank you for that hope Whitney!!lol!! Made my day!
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