Monday, June 19, 2017

We Shop At Aldi. You Should Too. Give It A Try.


A year ago tomorrow, I published a post about how we drastically cut our monthly expenses.  In order to save money every month we made a lot of changes. One of those big changes included our food budget. Instead of ordering takeout several times a week, I opted to make homemade meals. We went from 2-4 takeout meals per week to ordering takeout once a month. As of now, we haven't ordered takeout in almost 2 months. We're almost at the point of not missing it. 
To avoid ordering takeout, I started creating a weekly menu of healthy meals and snacks. I based a lot of our menu on the weekly grocery store sale ads. From where Lisa works to home, there are 3 grocery stores to choose from. Most of the time, the grocery list I created only involved shopping at 1 or 2 of these stores.

For a while, that worked and I was satisfied with our savings per week on food. However, at the time, I was focused on how much we were saving per week by not ordering takeout several times a week. What I failed to notice was that our grocery bill, despite shopping the weekly specials and using coupons, was still high. I lost count how many times Lisa came home and said, "Can you believe I spent $140 and this is all I got? I stuck to the list. I didn't buy extras."

I was baffled. We took advantages of the sale items and used a few coupons. Why was our weekly grocery bill well over $100?

One week, in early Spring of this year, Aldi had boneless chicken breasts on sale for really cheap. This is one item we keep stocked in our freezer because it's the protein our kids prefer and what makes up the bulk of their homemade meals. 

While at Aldi picking up several packages of boneless chicken breasts, Lisa pulled out our grocery shopping list for that week. 

When she got home, all of our kitchen counters, and the table, were piled high with groceries, lots of fresh produce, specialty items like gourmet salsa, fresh mozzarella, blue corn chips, and guacamole, etc. 

Lisa had a big ol' smile on her face. 

"Guess how much I spent on groceries including the boneless chicken breasts?"

I scanned the counters and table. I was almost afraid to find out.

"Ummmm...$250?"

"Nope." 

I shrugged my shoulders. 

"I give up..."

"I got everything on the grocery list, including enough boneless chicken breasts for a couple of weeks, and lots of extras."

"I see that...did you get a bonus at work?"

Lisa continued to put the groceries away. She was amused by my reaction.

"Okay, you got me. Fill me in..."

Lisa handed me the receipt.

The total was $107.

I 'bout near fell to the floor from shock.

We literally had enough groceries for almost 2 weeks. Lisa had also purchased lots of extras. Those extras were items I loved, but never put on the list because of the price. 

After we put the food away, the refrigerator and all of the cupboards were fully stocked and we were scrambling to find room for additional items.

To say the very least, I was impressed, but a bit skeptical. My brain kept telling me, "That's a lot of food, but there must be something wrong with it?"

Maybe it was one of those grocery stores that sold food items almost out of code or produce that had seen better days.

Nope. Neither was the case.

The gourmet salsas, guacamole, and everything else was the best I had ever tasted.

The produce was fresher than the produce we've purchased at other grocery stores.

The specialty items were out of this world. 

Since then, I've done a bit of research on Aldi. I've also talked to a lot of people who shop there. And, I've read quite a few blog posts about why people should shop at Aldi

We're hooked. They're incredible. 

And, their pre-made pizza is better than any takeout we've ever ordered. It's only $5 for a 16 inch pizza. We add our favorite toppings, some fresh herbs, and...yummy!

Over the past few months, we've done most of our grocery shopping at Aldi. We love it. The kids love it. 

Best of all, our weekly grocery bill has significantly reduced. 

That makes us happy. 



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