Aldi Love

After a long break for a wonderful Christmas and New Years with my family (more on that later), I am back and ready to share what we've been up to on Planting Purpose. For now, I have to share our recent re-discovery in saving some money while still eating fresh and healthy at Aldi!

I am always looking for ways to eat clean and healthy on a budget (hence a 2,000 SF garden in our back yard!), but when it comes to the grocery store, my desires don't always meet up with reality. We have settled into a pretty solid routine of what fresh and packaged items we buy organic and which items we compromise on due to price or availability. I have gotten into a routine of shopping every week in Kroger and have my shopping "route" down to a science. We recently have started focusing closer on our grocery budget and I decided to check out Aldi again.

Aldi is a discount grocery chain that has a unique atmosphere and an interesting back-story. The groceries are quite a bit cheaper than you find at conventional grocery stores for several reasons:

1. They are only open during peak shopping hours to save labor costs.
2. They do not waste money on labor costs for baggers or employees who hunt down grocery carts in the parking lot. You bring your own bags, and you place a quarter deposit down to borrow a shopping cart and receive your quarter back when you return it to it's proper location.
3. They do not accept credit cards. Credit processing fees are expensive, so they only accept cash, debit, and EBT cards.
4. They stock only the fast moving, most common grocery items rather than a huge inventory of obscure products. This keeps the stores smaller and cuts down on rent and utility costs.

Once I got used to the quirky differences, I really started to enjoy shopping at Aldi. Picture a mini Costco where the items are displayed in boxes rather than on shelves and you are bagging/organizing your purchases yourself. I had tried Aldi several years ago and wasn't impressed, but what has me excited this time around was the fact that they have really stepped up their game with organic and gluten-free items. I will likely have to go to a conventional grocery store 1-2 times per month to supplement, but I'm thrilled with the savings with most items at Aldi. We were able to purchase an entire week's worth of groceries for our family of 4 for less than $100!

Here are some items I found this time around that were healthy and extremely affordable:

- Shredded Wheat Cereal with wheat as the only ingredient
- Organic Apples
- Wild caught canned tuna 
- Sea salt grinder
- Organic Spaghetti Sauce for only $1.79! (I've never found this under $2.50)
- Organic Vegetable Broth also for $1.79
- The world's best Garlic & Herb Goat cheese, 4 oz for $1.99 (love this on salads and in eggs!)
- Organic bananas
- Organic corn chips
- A great variety of gluten free products including corn pasta, brown rice pasta, crackers, pizza crust mix (not pictured), sandwich wraps (not pictured). I won't pretend that gluten free products are a "health item" as many are highly processed and contain a long list of ingredients, however it is awesome to have some easy/quick options for snacking and dinners when you are intolerant of gluten.

There were several other items that I didn't get to try this week and am looking forward to checking out. They had organic grass fed ground beef for $5.99/lb. Their produce also is priced well and they have some organic stuff mixed in depending on what's available. I'm hoping for even more organic options as we draw closer to summer. For now, I'm happy to find somewhere that helps save on the grocery bill while not compromising on quality. You can look for an Aldi close to you by clicking here!