I was introduced to Aldi by a good friend a few years ago. A small grocery store from Germany may sound strange. If you haven't tried it - you are missing out.
It's a small store primarily because they carry mostly their own brand of everything. I was skeptical at first, since couponing had gotten my family used to name brand foods. However, I haven't tried anything yet that I don't like. Carrying only one brand of each item makes shopping fast and easy. The produce department is small, too. Even so, they carry all of the basics and at very low prices.
There are few things I do not buy at Aldi because I can get them cheaper somewhere else. Milk, eggs, and meat are not priced very low. Occasionally, they will go on sale and they do mark down meat when it gets close to the sell date. As a general rule though, they are too expensive.
They have awesome sale and clearance prices. Since their everyday prices are already so low, a sale price is usually amazing. When I find clearance items, I buy them by the case. They also have what they call "seasonal items" which can be everything from German treats to non-food items. It makes my shopping trip a little more exciting to find these fun items.
Aldi is different from most grocery stores in a few ways. One, they do not accept coupons. This makes sense since they don't carry name brands. Still, their everyday prices are quite low. Not couponing also helps me get in and out quickly. Second, they only take cash or debit cards; no checks or credit cards. Third, they do not bag your groceries nor do they provide bags. They have bags for sale, but that would ruin the whole point of saving money! So, bring your re-usable shopping bags. Last, they purposefully have few employees to save you more money. This includes no one to bring carts in from the parking lot. They have the European style shopping carts to solve this problem. You put in a quarter to get a cart, and when you return the cart you get your quarter back. As long as you keep these few things in mind, I'm sure you'll love Aldi, too.
