Photo: A.A. Newton

Grocery stores are at a confusing juncture. Amazon is Whole Foods’ dad now, Publix expands ever northward, and Trader Joe’s prices keep creeping up. Thank goodness for ALDI, which has always had exactly one goal—to keep prices extremely low—and after more than a century in business, they’ve got low prices down to a science.




There are a few quirks to be aware of before your first ALDI trip. First, you have to bring your own bags and a quarter; ALDI does not provide bags for its shoppers, and you have to deposit a quarter to unlock your cart. (You’ll get your quarter back when you return your cart.) Second, ALDI stocks and staffs its stores in a way that’s laser-targeted to the communities they serve. In other words, the product selection varies wildly store-to-store, and each store has different hours depending on peak local traffic. Third, they accept debit cards, EBT, and cash only. (Update: An ALDI rep reached out to me to say that ALDI does in fact accept credit cards, including Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and AmEx.) By putting the responsibility for bag and cart wrangling on its customers and stocking only what sells, ALDI is able to save a ton on overhead costs—which enables them to explicitly cater to low- and fixed-income folks. ALDI rules.


Most—but not all—of ALDI’s offerings are gold, and I’ve written a handy guide based on my last shopping trip to help out. So, grab your reusable bags and some quarters and join me on a journey through the aisles of ALDI, won’t you?

What to Buy

ALDI is great place to buy staples of all kinds, but some of their offerings are truly special. Here are my top picks.

Snacks

Photo: A.A. Newton. The knock-off Girl Scout cookies are THE BEST.


If, like me, you become hazardously mad without emergency snacks on hand, may I recommend ALDI? Their snack game is unimpeachable. I went in on my most recent trip and bought knock-off Triscuits (my preferred snack cracker), Cheez-Its, peanut butter-filled pretzels, a tub of olive tapenade hummus, and three varieties of fake Girl Scout Cookies (Coconut Fudge/”Samoas,” Mint Fudge/“Thin Mints,” and Peanut Butter Fudge/“Tagalongs”). Those last three cost one American dollar per box and they’re so, so good.

Cheese

Photo: A.A. Newton. Except for the jam, everything on this cheese plate came from ALDI.


Cheese is my second favorite food after “every vegetable” and I eat a lot of it. ALDI boasts neither the reliability of the Trader Joe’s cheese section nor the super-niche options I get at Cousin’s, but what they do have is excellent and inexpensive. I bought four kinds of cheese on my last trip: a small brick of Cabot Seriously Sharp, some two-year-old English Cheddar, a wheel of Edam, and a wedge of Danish blue cheese. None of them cost more than $3.49. Did I want to buy the mozzarella sticks wrapped in prosciutto? YES. But moderation is key, or so I hear.

Meat

Photo: A.A. Newton


ALDI’s meat prices are very, very good, particularly their weekly specials; for example, my store recently had pork butt roasts for $1.49 per pound and marinated salmon for $9.99 per pound. I’ve got fajita-based plans this weekend, so I picked up four pounds of chuck steak for under $20.00—not even my beloved Winco sold chuck steak for $4.99 a pound. Whatever ALDI meats you choose will be cheap and good, but if you check the weekly ads before shopping you can save an astounding amount of money.


Produce Staples

Photo: A.A. Newton


I’m talking onions, potatoes, lemons, bananas, celery, carrots—that sort of thing. My house was good on onions and lemons at the time of my most recent ALDI trip and I still bought 3 pounds each of yellow and red onions ($3.78 total), a packet of green onions for $0.69 (nice), and a 3-pound bag of lemons for $2.89. I know I’ll go through them, and I’ve only ever seen lower prices at Cash & Carry.

Cooking Oil

I’m a trash golem who prefers vegetable oil to canola for frying, marinades, and homemade mayonnaise, so imagine my delight when I found a 1.42-liter bottle of vegetable oil for $1.85! Our household is set on olive oil for a few months, but when we next run out I will definitely be checking ALDI’s offerings first. I spotted a 20-ounce bottle of pretty good-looking extra-virgin olive oil for $3.99, and the slightly smaller bottle of fancy Sicilian stuff was $6.99.


Dried Beans

ALDI’s dried bean selection is small but powerful. We eat a ton of black beans, so I bought two 2-pound packages for $2.49 each. Dried pinto and mayocuba beans were the same price; Great Northern beans were $2.99 per two-pound bag. Meanwhile, my Whole Foods charges between $2.99 and $3.99 per pound for dried black beans. Hisssss.


Yogurt

Photo: A.A. Newton


I loathe reduced- and non-fat yogurt because they make it impossible to pretend I’m eating a bowl of sour cream (which is obviously my goal at all times). Full-fat yogurt lets me do that and it makes excellent marinades, dressings, and cakes. The Friendly Farms brand of whole-milk Greek yogurt at ALDI is $3.69 for 32 ounces and might be better than my beloved Fage—but even if the Fage did taste slightly better, I’d still rather spend half the money on something that’s 95% as good.

Soda and seltzer

Photo: A.A. Newton. ALDI’s knockoff La Croix has a fakey-French name, too!


Pennsylvania has a soda tax, which is bad news for my Diet Coke and seltzer habits. La Croix and Polar are pricey and surprisingly hard to find here, so I’ve been mostly skipping them, but I’ll stock up on Diet Coke at CVS and/or Rite Aid when they’re having a BOGO sale. I will definitely be coming to ALDI for both from now on, though. I picked up two 12-packs of flavored seltzer (lime and grapefruit, obviously) for $2.49 each, and saw 12-packs of Diet Coke for $5.49—elsewhere, they’re at least $7.99.


Diapers and Other Baby Stuff

This doesn’t hold much weight for me because I don’t want kids. However, between an emergency diaper stop with a parent friend last week and learning that shelters can’t or won’t provide diapers to folks displaced by Hurricane Harvey, I’m suddenly super aware of how expensive diapers are. ALDI has great prices on all manner of baby stuff and menstrual supplies: a big pack of Always pads is like $3.49, and 60 diapers cost $12.49. Good luck finding anything that cheap at Target or Walmart.


Assorted Veganism Supplies

Going vegan is as urgent a priority for me as motherhood is, but should I change my mind, I’ll hit up ALDI for low-cost vegan alternatives. I saw a ton of tempting options, from coconut “butter” to almond milk to packets of quinoa and millet, all for very low prices. Shoot, my store even sells cashew butter! It’s $5.99 a jar, but it’s not like you can find it cheaper at Whole Foods.


What You Should Skip

ALDI has more hits than misses, but there are some items that aren’t worth the investment.


Butter

I’m gutted to report that ALDI’s butter prices weren’t nearly low enough to warrant a stock-up: $2.99 a pound is fine but I can get butter for far less at Cousin’s. For someone who keeps at least four to five pounds of butter in her house at all times, this was a disappointment.


Name-Brand Snacks

Most ALDIs stock a certain amount of, say, Pringles and Gushers, but they’re not all that cheap; plus, most retailers that accept coupons (ALDI does not) will have a better deal at some point. If you’re devoted to a certain brand of snack, it’s probably best to clip coupons and wait for a good sale elsewhere.


Pet Supplies

This could be because my precious idiot angels eat only the finest of chicken-less kibble (the younger one is allergic to chicken) but I found the ALDI pet food offerings both paltry and low-quality. Cat litter was dirt-cheap at $3.49 per 10 pound jug, but all of it was scented, which I avoid. You might have better luck at your local store, but I wouldn’t bank on it.


Brownie Mix



Photo: A.A. Newton


This was the ALDI item I was most excited about. If you read the comments on pretty much any article like this one, the top one will tell you to pick up a box of their amazing brownie mix. I spent $0.89 on a box and made them as soon as I got home. The verdict? Ehhh. If you’re a huge fan of boxed brownies, you might like these more than I did, but I was pretty disappointed. They did the trick, but I doubt I could pick them out of a boxed-mix brownie line-up—which, at less than a dollar a box, could actually be an endorsement of sorts.


Coffee

ALDI’s German-Roasted coffee is another cult product, so I was stoked to try it. I’m in a committed—and very modern—relationship with Cafés Bustelo and el Aguila, but I’m always looking for another low-cost option to add to my rotation. Even though I have gnarly insomnia, I made myself a cup of this coffee at three in the afternoon to try it out because I care about you, the reader. Guess what? It sucks. Bustelo is better, but it somehow costs $2.89 a pound at ALDI—meanwhile, Cousin’s sells 4-for-$5.00 bricks of Bustelo and el Aguila. Boo to ALDI coffee.


I’m sure there are some items I’ve missed—thanks to Pennsylvania’s wackadoo liquor laws, I can’t explore ALDI’s beer and wine offerings, but would very much like to someday. What else should I check out when I have the chance?

