15 Reasons Why Aldi is My Favorite Store

For some reason, weekly food shopping has always been one of my favorite chores.

I don’t know if its the chef in me, or if it’s just because I really like food, but I find it fun and even a little relaxing. Once our children were born, I started making a game out of how much food I could buy for the least amount of money. I spending a lot of time searching ads, making lists and cutting coupons. I was making myself a little nuts.

Then I heard about this magical place called Aldi.

Aldi is a grocery store owned by a German company, who also operates Trader Joe’s.

They mainly sell their own brands of foods, and all on a limited quantity, in order to sell at lower prices. Sure there are some things to get used to like having to bring your own bags (which is a good habit to get into for every store) and having to rent a cart for a quarter, but the pros of shopping at Aldi are phenomenal. Totally worth getting used to the quirks!

Here are 15 reasons why Aldi is my favorite grocery store of all time.

Their products

If Aldi’s products weren’t tasty, there wouldn’t be much of a reason to shop their, no matter how low the prices are. There are very few items that I don’t think are just as good, or even better, than their name-brand equivalents.

Related Post: Eat Well for Less – My Favorite Aldi Foods

Small stores

This might be one of my favorite things about Aldi. The shops are tiny compared to the usual American grocery stores.  The small size is due to the fact that there aren’t many brands of each type of food. Buying yellow mustard? There’s one kind. Looking for oatmeal? There’s 3 flavors, not half an aisle. No more staring at tons of choices, trying to decide. The simple act of taking these decisions out of your mind will shrink the time you spend in the store down by at least half. It’s amazing.

Kind employees

Maybe it’s just my store, but the people who work at Aldi’s seem to be very patient and friendly.

Return policy

If you’re ever unhappy with a purchase at Aldi, you can take advantage of their “Twice as Nice Guarantee”. This means that you take your item back to the store, present it to a cashier and they will replace the item and give you a refund.

Organic options

If you’re looking to start replacing some of your grocery items with organic foods, Aldi is the affordable place to begin. They have a large selection of organic packaged goods and produce, plus loads of seasonal items.

Earth Grown products

With loads of Vegan and Vegetarian products, Earth Grown is Aldi’s animal-free line. Look for these items around the start of the New Year, when everyone has begun their healthy-living resolutions. I’m planning on grabbing a few boxes of the Mushroom Risotto Veggie Burgers – yum!

Simply Nature products

The Simply Nature foods are free of artificial ingredients and preservatives. There are lots of organic choices in this line, too. You’ll find these year-round throughout the store.

Recycling info on packages

This is one of my absolute favorite things about Aldi. On the outside of every package you’ll find an icon detailing exactly which part of the box or container can be recycled. It’s clear and easy to read and perfect. No more guessing.

Product packaging design

Here is another small thing, but impressive to me. The packaging is well thought out. The frozen chicken nuggets bag can be reclosed. The 3-pack of baby wipes has an easy to peel sticker to separate the soft packs. It’s the little things.

Special sale items

Even though Aldi is a small store, they do sell other things besides food. They have rotating offerings like clothing, holiday decor, gardening supplies, and more. I bought my daughter some fuzzy winter boots last year and I was really impressed by the quality. They lasted until she grew out of them, and we got so many compliments.

International and regional foods

As a part of their rotating selections, Aldi has choices based off of dishes from around the world. Look for their Indian cooking sauces. My family is in love with the Korma, an almond-based curry for chicken. It is seriously delish.

Recognizable ingredients

I’m consistently surprised by the ingredient list on my favorite foods from Aldi. There are very few words that I don’t know. The amount of real food is incredible and makes me feel like I’m making the right choices for my family.

Seasonal foods

Even though they usually have many seasonal and holiday-themed items, Christmas at Aldi is no joke.  A full aisle of tasty holiday treats, gingerbreads, and fancy crackers. This last year they featured an Advent calendar full of cheese. It sold out in days.

No coupons = massive time savings

Because Aldi doesn’t carry many name brand items, they don’t accept coupons. But with the super-low prices, you will save more money without them. And the time you’ll get back in your life now that you don’t have to hunt for coupons and cut them out, or save them on an app? Priceless.

Instacart

Are you looking to save even more time on your grocery shopping? Aldi had joined Instacart, the grocery home delivery service. They don’t have options in my area yet, but you can learn all the details on Aldi’s website.  

Do I buy everything at Aldi? No. We grab big cuts of meat, like whole pork loins, from BJ’s every so often. Our toiletries come from CVS or Amazon. There are other things I’ll have to pick up at farmers markets or larger grocers.

But all in all, Aldi is the first stop for me every week, and I can’t imagine that changing anytime soon.

Are you an Aldi shopper? What’s your favorite thing about the store?

Or maybe you’ve thought about stopping in, but aren’t sure if it’s for you. I say, give it a try. You might be surprised!