I'm Joe. I'm a freelance photographer and when I'm not making images, I'm taking care of my two kids, Maria (turns 5 next month) and Joseph (3). Being a self-employed parent, particularly during this recession, it's extra important that I'm frugal with the shopping. So I do 90% of my grocery shopping at Aldi. In fact, this blog was born from my idea to review Aldi's store brand products, because the quality can be hit-or-miss.
If you're not familiar, Aldi is a German owned grocery market that is known for their low prices. I think they're unfairly labeled as a "ghetto" market. Some of the ways they keep prices down are by requiring a quarter deposit to get a shopping cart, assuring that you will return it yourself and they don't have to pay someone to retrieve it, like the baggage carts at some airports. And if you want plastic or paper grocery bags, you have to pay for them. They sell mostly products that are various store brands of their own (you can tell because they have a "Double Money Back Guarantee" on the back) but also sell some major brands, though the don't tend to stock the same ones all the time.
I will try to do some more thorough reviews later, with photos of course, but for now I can just offer you a list of a few of their products and what our family thought of them. The "brand" names I don't remember necessarily. If I list one, it might be wrong.
Mama Cosi's Rising Crust Pizzas - We got the Philly Cheesesteak and Chicken Spinach pizzas. The toppings were great, but the bottoms of the crust were incredibly hard and unpleasant. We cooked them just as we do DiGiorno and Freschetta, directly on the over rack. Perhaps a different cooking method would product better results.
Clancy's Sea Salt and Cracked Pepper Kettle Chips - I am addicted to Mike Sell's salt and pepper chips. Clancy's (Aldi's store brand for chips) makes a salt and pepper kettle chip. I'm not crazy about the kettle chips, they're too crispy. Mike Sell's are regular thin chips, and they're light and crispy. I much prefer the Mike Sells chips to Clancy's. But I bought a second bag the last time I was there, so they must be alright. I do need to compare the per ounce cost of the two though. A 9 ounce bag of Clancy's is $1.99.
Clancy's Tortilla Chips (small and large round) - Not much to say. They're tortilla chips. They're ok.
Chocolate Chunk and Toffee cookies - These are the bomb. The downside is that there are only eight in the package. I've loved toffee cookies since the Heath Bar cookies at Insomnia, 10 or 15 years ago. Pat knows what I'm talkin' about.
Frozen Gumbo and Jambalaya in-a-bag - These were a little disappointing. They lacked flavor. Though, with a lot of extra salt and pepper, the jambalaya was edible. The gumbo was ok, but I don't think I'm going to buy it again.
Chinese Food - All the frozen Chinese food is great, especially the egg rolls and pot stickers (I love the pot stickers). The bottled sauces are also awesome, particularly the Plum sauce. The frozen Orange Chicken is delicious, but there's only about enough for one fat guy (like me) or two regular people (for $3.99). I've tried several of the frozen in-a-bag entrees, generally suplementing the included noodles or rice with some of my own. I've not been disappointed by any of the Chinese-style food from Aldi.
Cheddar bratwurst - I know brats, and these are not brats. Which is surprising from a German owned company. They're more like seasoned hot-dogs with cheese in them. which sounds unappetizing to me, but with some good mustard they're really good. They come cooked and in a sealed hot-dog-like package, so I usually keep some in the fridge for myself.
Schwabian style Spätzle - If you don't know spätzle, it's a German egg noodle. They come dry, in a bag, like any other noodles. They're longer than I'm used to, but the flavor and texture are very good. We made Kassespätzle the other day (spätzle w/ Swiss cheese and onion) and it was awesome.
Iced-coffee drinks - They're Frappuccino knock-offs. They're pretty good. No caramel flavor though. :(
German Roast coffee - I've long been a fan of coffee, though only in the last year or so have I become more particular about it. I ran out of my usual brand, Crimson Cup, and was at Aldi, so I bought a bag of this stuff. It was watery and not very flavorful. I was disappointed. Will not buy this again.
That's enough for now. I intend to write more about all these products in the future.
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I've always liked Aldi and I don't mind them not providing free bags cause there are always empty boxes available to pack your goods into. The new Aldi over on Hamilton Rd in Gahanna is just as nice as any other name brand store. And I hear they are a great company to work for, paying better than others.
ReplyDeleteOur stores up in Canada (or at least in Vancouver) all have the "cart deposit", even the big national chains. Superstore (which is kind of like a poor man's Costco without the membership) requires a loonie ($1) but the others require a quarter.
ReplyDeleteI was shocked the first time I shopped up here because I had never seen that before.
firstsoprano: I shop at the Bethel and Sawmill location. It's clean and the employees are very friendly. I'm glad to hear they have a reputation for taking good care of their employees.
ReplyDeleteDave: I noticed that on an episode of The Bridge I saw! :) There was a homeless person with a shopping cart, the chain had been broken and was hanging from the handle.
I think it's a European thing that Canada picked up and the US didn't. I don't mind it at all, particularly if it keeps their prices lower.