Ironic, because the last time I went to an Aldi here in America is was a total rip-off.
Yeah, I agree.
Really had to figure it out for myself, because the useful idiots weren’t telling me.
Yeah the Aldi in my little town sucks. The produce is always in awful shape, their bread tastes awful, and if canned goods are cheaper, it’s usually because they are in a smaller size. It’s essentially just a dressed up Dollar General.
It’s essentially just a dressed up Dollar General.
That makes a lot of sense, dude.
And Dollar General sucks (unless it’s the only store you have.)
What kind of bread? The ones near me have over a dozen different kinds, including the sprouted 7 grain with organic ingredients and no enriched flours and that’s only like 3-4 a loaf. In my experience, their products were worse when they first came over decades ago, but now they are cheaper and have higher quality items - especially things like bread and chocolate. Their vegetables are like 25% of the cost of other grocery stores here and they’re great.
Right now i have whole grain sandwich bread that tastes too sweet and is too soft. I much prefer the Kroger brand sliced sandwich bread and fresh baked loafs.
Care to elaborate? Was everything more expensive than competitors in you area or just certain things?
A high enough percentage of the stuff there was significantly more expensive than nearby grocery stores (idk about Walmart, I don’t shop there) that it was clear that even if some items were the same or cheaper price, to be thrifty I’d have to shop at a second store and I hate doing that unless I have to.
I like Aldi overseas. When I lived in Australia and Europe, it was my favorite grocery store, and it was cheap af, so I didn’t go in with a negative attitude or bad expectations, just to be clear. I was really disappointed though.
In my area, they either have generic brands that are cheap af but at least similar quality, regular name brands, or expensive imported stuff. Their name brands and their imported stuff are both more expensive, but particularly the imported stuff gives good quality and variety.
The fact is, in the states, aldi is not a one stop shop regardless. Their selection beyond staples is poor and sporadic. I see a ton of value going there first, getting what I can, and maybe snagging something interesting while I’m there. If I had to, I could live exclusively off aldi well enough, but it’d be a bit basic. I wish they’d expand a bit, but the niche they’re in right now is nice in its own right.
For me, the prices were comparable to Walmart but everything was lower quality, especially the produce.
They also just, don’t have as much stuff as Walmart lol. With Walmart+ same-day delivery, I haven’t gone grocery shopping in months.
The produce could be better, especially lettuce, but I have not had quality issues otherwise. A name brand is not synonymous with quality, and I find Aldi brands better than Walmart’s Great Value.
You also don’t have to deal with the massive store, crowds of unwashed masses, and lazy staff.
I love Aldi but it’s where you need to grocery shop first since they’re likely to not have everything you need. I wish it was more one-stop.
If they tried to be one stop, they would have to raise prices to cover a larger store with way more items. That is part of how it works.
Thanks! I just figured their cost cutting measures would scale a bit more
Aldi is great. Walmart has been robbing small towns in America without competition for long enough. I hope more Americans shop at Aldi and save more money while getting healthier food at a fair price.
Does Aldi provide better deals than Walmart?
I used to shop there, but the prices were comparable and everything went bad fast.
That’s what fresh food is, not filled with preservatives and processed garbage that contributes to chronic low grade inflammation
Lol
Is their food really “fresher” than Walmarts?
Can you provide any sources to back up that claim?
The fact it goes off quicker is the key piece of evidence. Obviously, they sell items in preserves too, they are a supermarket, and walmart will sell fresh items, but aldis main shtick and selection focus is “fresh, good quality and cheap”, but stocks vary a lot, so you need to be comfortable with some items not being available sometimes.
For example, I wanted cherry tomatoes last week, but they had none so I had to have piccolo tomatoes instead.
That is what fresh food not overloaded with preservatives will do. You should really make fresh produce shopping more of a daily activity as you need it. But not everyone has that kind of time understandably bi-weekly also doable for truly fresh produce along with you plan out your meals for the week
You should really make fresh produce shopping more of a daily activity as you need it.
Are you fucking joking? You expect a single parent working two jobs to go shopping daily as well?
Calm down, that was a general statement that is true. If your circumstances don’t allow it, that sucks.
I gave an extreme example, but very few people’s circumstances at this point allow them to go shopping every day. Even people working a single job are far too exhausted by it at the end of the day to be expected to go shopping after work. If Aldi can’t sell vegetables that last more than a couple of days, people are less likely to shop there and more likely to shop at somewhere like Walmart. If for no other reason than sometimes you don’t get to cook as quickly as you want to and you end up losing more money on the cheaper vegetables than you would have if you just bought the longer-lasting ones.
Even back before supermarkets where you had to go to multiple individual shops to buy food, no one went to the greengrocer on a daily basis. That is not how vegetables are supposed to work.
I don’t comment often and I do know you Squid but you’re wrong on this. Aldi had great food and especially great produce. I’ve been going there for more than 3 years exclusively.
I wasn’t commenting on the vegetables at Aldi except going with what other people were saying about them I was talking about this, which I found to be ridiculous:
You should really make fresh produce shopping more of a daily activity as you need it.
That is beyond what most people should be expected to do and it is beyond what people have done historically and it’s just not how most vegetables and fruits work.
I’m not surprised that isn’t true of Aldi because it would be bad business to buy old produce that was on the edge of turning rotten.
Unfortunately, the American society is just not great for accommodating healthy living. Everything must be done by car and in bulk. And everything must last long because people also want to go once a week. So things are pumped full of unhealthy preservatives as gasses.
It’s not good.
Sure, but vegetables that only last a day or two has also never really been a thing for most vegetables we eat. Is there any Western country where people have to buy fresh vegetables every day?
If you actually continue on to read the entire message you’ll notice the part where I mentioned that not everyone has that kind of time
And my point was almost no one has that kind of time and that it’s not realistic to expect vegetables to only last a day or two when that has never historically been the case.
I don’t they last a day but they shouldn’t last a month either.
Aldi’s produce ”going bad” is on par with my local farmer’s market.
So… like over a week. Which was my initial point to the person I replied to. You don’t have to buy vegetables every day unless you’re buying vegetables that are about to go off, which pretty much no reputable place sells.
That is what fresh food not overloaded with preservatives will do.
What are you talking about? Kroger is not injecting their apples with preservatives.
Aldi provides way better working conditions than Walmart, that’s for sure. Imagine being able to sit during a job that doesn’t require standing – in America!!!
Almost everything at Aldi is private label, which is why it is cheaper (again you only find a few recognizable name brands). However, I will not by fresh foods from Aldi as most of the time as it goes bad fast. I do like their snacks and prepackaged deli stuff tho.
everything went bad fast.
Yeah, that’s because the food is fresh and less treated than what most Americans are used to. Going bad fast is not necessary a bad thing.
No, it’s because it’s old produce that is close to expiring.
The aldi simps here are insane, but another reason why I don’t take the masses seriously anymore.
I’m an Aldi simp too!!! Aldi is far superior to Walmart, I never expect my fruits and vegetables to last more than a week and Aldi is good with that. I will never buy produce or meat at Walmart, the things they do to their meat is disgusting. I buy most my non perishables from Walmart, Aldi for other things, and then Costco every couple of weeks. I’m also a Costco simp. In my experience to get the best quality and price you gotta go to multiple places.
Side note, season, time of year changes where produce is the best. Cucumbers in summer at Aldi where I live aren’t good.
Aldi is far superior to Walmart,
That’s a really low standard to measure against.
Fresh is not necessarily better, there’s nothing wrong with frozen food if you don’t mind the texture. And no it’s not like Kroger is injecting preservatives in apples.
Learn canning and preserving like baba
Or just shop at Walmart.
I drive 20 minutes out of my way to shop at aldi rather than win-dixie (which they’ve bought recently) down the street for my monthly large shopping.
Please please can you open up a few locations in Vancouver, please? Yale town is ripe for the taking
can you open up a few locations in Vancouver,
Or anywhere in Canada…
Aldi and Lidl have done very well in the UK; they’re well run businesses. They’re private and focused, pay & treat their staff well and they have a focused but good product range. They used to have a bad reputation but when the financial crisis hit in 2011 people started taking them seriously and they’ve expanded rapidly. They really do offer good quality at good prices.
I don’t know what the US retail industry is like, but if it was anything like the UK’s (dominated by a few large supermarket chains with big stores, and bloated product lines) then they will do well. There are 1,020 Aldi stores in the UK - and we’re about 1/5 the size population of the US wise. 800 stores is a sizeable number and they apparently already have 2,400 stores there.
Next stop, government subsidized food banks. LesGo.
Here Aldi is one of the more expensive grocers. But better quality stuff.
More green bacon for everyone
Now do canada… Lack of competition here is killing us
Are they one-stop in the US, though?
In Germany you usually have a little shopping center with Aldi and/or Lidl, a DM and an Edeka. Once you have finished shopping at Aldi and DM you can pop into Edeka and get the 1 or 2 items you didn’t get at Aldi and DM.
Many people in Germany are doing it like that. Edeka seems to florish from the people who prefer branded products and/or can’t get into 2 shops because they don’t go grocery shopping by car and can’t really visit more than 1 shop, because you can’t enter a 2nd one with a bag full of goods from the 1st one.
Aldi for the essentials. Then Too Good To Go for fruit and vegetables and bread/ pastries.
It could be one stop, but their produce and baked goods are bare minimum.
The meats are the most affordable around me.
Aldi is barely a 1st stop. It only reliably has the barest essentials.
For some people who aren’t too picky, it might be a one-stop shop. Also true for some basics, like bread, milk, eggs, some produce, or common frozen stuff.
If you are looking for extra variety or less-common ingredients, you’ll have to also shop at a bigger supermarket. But since we usually use cars in the US, it’s not too big a deal to do both the same day
As a Kaufland guy myself I’m deeply disappointed you didn’t mention them.
Hell yeah. Aldi is the shit
Aldi is da bomb
I did nearly all of my shopping at Aldi when I was unemployed. Now I have a job and Aldi is still great, no reason to spend more at other grocery stores. I genuinely like a lot of their store brand stuff too
Most of their store brands come from the exact same farms and factory lines as the expensive brand name stuff. Corporations want you to believe there’s a difference but the marketing budget (and bonuses) is what you’re paying extra for — wasn’t the case in the 90’s, but thanks to decades of corporate cost cutting, consolidation, and homogenization, that IS the case in the 2020’s.
The rule of thumb is the more complex the recipe the greater the deviation. Crushed tomatoes? Possibly zero difference. Sugar cookie? Probably 5% difference (that most won’t even notice). Elaborate cookie? As larger difference as between any other brand.
I compared Aldi and Walmart in my area. They came out about the same. I wonder why that is?
Because Aldi is a scam perpetuated by the “never-walmart” crowd.
Funny how the “never-walmart” crowd always bitches about not having enough money, too.
Useful idiots, I guess.
Idk. Our Aldi’s is mostly cheaper. On some things where they’re priced similarly, Aldi’s still has the better quality (at least produce). I’ve tried shopping at our Walmart for years but can’t cause the produce is horrendous. I’m not even looking for anything amazing- but can’t shop there cause the produce is either empty, half rotten, or other issues. Plus it’s just faster for me to get in and out of Aldi’s than Walmart and a better experience overall. I go to Meijer if I need to get anything non-grocery related or not at Aldi.
I have the same experience. The Massachusetts Walmart are very expensive.
I compared Walmart, Target, the next big brand and the local supermarkets.
Walmart was always mid-level. The only thing that was cheaper were non-groceries.
My local supermarket (WinCo) was the cheapest while still selling quality brands.
I haven’t heard of half the us supermarkets mentioned in this article lmao
For chain grocery stores, there’s only a handful of companies but you likely are familiar with the names they might use locally.
We have an amazing and diverse country. I highly recommends stretching out and seeing more of it!
Diverse is when different stores and soda names🙃
There’s this guy named Pepper who got his MD then went to every other possible school and/or job
