WFMW: Aldi

Is it Wednesday again already? Holy cow!

I have a confession to make - I have been a total grocery snob. I have shopped at the expensive stores, and I have made very token efforts at coupon clipping. Let's face it, it's darn near impossible to get through the store with a toddler and a baby, period, much less a baby and a toddler and a fist full of coupons that are remarkably specific (20 cents off a can of soup, but it has to be the blue label and not the red, and it has to be 18.342 ounces, even though all of the cans are 16 ounces, WTF?).

As gas prices and grocery prices have continued to rise, though, I have finally seen the light. I took Mimi's advice, and I went to Aldi.

I got what would've cost about $200-$250 at my expensive store for $100, y'all. I almost asked the checker to re-ring it, because clearly she missed something, right? Wrong. I was standing right there, she got it all and it was really cheap. I got stuff I would never get at the Kroger, too, like yogurt covered raisins and fruit in a jar instead of a can.

Last night I made dinner entirely from stuff I got at Aldi - Jambalaya from a mix with summer sausage in it, green beans (canned), mixed fruit (jarred), crescent rolls - I am not kidding when I say that it was every bit as good as what I get at Kroger. The fruit was better than what I usually buy. Seriously. Their scalloped potatoes are fabulous, too. I've had those before.

I had to walk past lots and lots of sugary cereals and salty chips (well, ok, some of the chips came home with me) and other bad-for-us stuff to get to the good stuff, but the good stuff is there. I didn't buy any fresh meat (I got all beef hot dogs and summer sausage), because we get our beef from BJ's uncle, and we already had chicken. I got beautiful strawberries and bananas, really nice zucchini (better than what's at Kroger), and lots of other great stuff.

I still need to hit Kroger to get a soapy washer (which is a future WFMW post), coffee, creamer (because BJ's a snob and insists he can tell the difference, although if I had cleaned out an empty Coffeemate carton and poured it in, I'll bet he would've been fooled!), and a few other small things, but I think I'll save a ton if I go to Aldi first (even though it's all the way on the other side of town) and then fill in the gaps at Kroger and Marsh.

So, Aldi, it works for me! If you've been a grocery snob, too, repent! And make sure you bring a quarter to liberate a cart and your own bags.

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Thanks for stopping by! Hope to see you again soon!

Visit Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer for more WFMW tips!