Aldi

I have no clue about what to write about today, so I'll share one of my favorite places to grocery shop...Aldi. This store has tons of the regular grocery items you need (milk, eggs, meat, cereal, baking supplies, paper products, etc.) and they also get special items in each week. Their prices are usually much cheaper than any other place around and we have saved money by shopping there. I do tons of label reading and the only negative I've found is that a some of their foods (mostly refrigerated breads) contain trans fats. Overall, I've been really happy with my Aldi experience.

Here are a few of things to keep in mind if you decide to give Aldi a try: 1) Make sure you have a quarter...you have to unlock your grocery cart by inserting a quarter. Don't worry, you'll get it back when you return the cart. This eliminates the need to pay someone to bring the carts in from the parking lot. 2) You have to buy your shopping bags to put your stuff in when you're done shopping. The prices are extremely cheap...5 cents for a paper bag, 10 cents for plastic, and they also have bags for frozen/fridge stuff very reasonably priced. You can reuse them on subsequent visits, so consider it an investment. 3) They do not take many forms of payments, so come armed with cash or your 5/3 debit card.

If my word isn't enough, Clark Howard also recommends shopping at Aldi as a way to save money (check out his program notes from 7/26/07). Who wouldn't love to save a few bucks (or more)?