Awhile back, I read somewhere that Aldi carries many of the same items as Trader Joe’s, but in different packaging. I’ve been shopping there and I can’t believe how many items are the same. Last week, I was at TJ and they were giving away samples of goat cheese with dried cranberries in it (ick), and last night I saw that exact thing at Aldi. I’ve also seen other fancy-ish cheese, cookies, and some refrigerated items. Oh! And some cinnamon rolls in a can that were identical to ones I recently got from TJ.
Years ago I was told by a German co-worker that the chocolate they sell at Aldi is pretty good quality stuff. And she was right, it really is.
I love Aldi!
And as an aside, why on earth do people think Trader Joe’s is a health food store? I always call it my fancy snack store, and I haven’t seen much of anything that looks super healthy to me. Unless they are talking about wine, haha.
I think that I’d love to have an Aldi here. It sounds like a great store. The closest Trader Joe’s to me is about 70 miles away. Every time I’m in the area, I buy as much canned catfood as I can transport home. Its Wellness quality at Purina prices. If there is room left, I’ll get some very yummy people food.
I’ve never thought of TJ’s as a health food place. Perhaps people think that way because their food is good quality? Less chemicals and processing=healthy, so it must be a health food store? I’m just grasping here.
I was afraid this thread would repeat the mistaken notion that they’re “the same company,” but Johnny L.A. has already explained that part.
I do notice that in the last year or so Aldi seems to be celebrating its German heritage more and more, with the Deutsche Kuche line of things like schnitzel, and German Christmas cookies and stollen. I’ve also been quite impressed by the cheap wine and dark chocolate.
Damn, haha, that’s what I get for not Googling before posting. I still think it’s cool though, and not exactly common knowledge. As for the Trader Joe’s=health food store thing, it might have been a post in the Pit or somewhere that gave me the idea. I’ve heard people say it before, though, and that’s funny to me, again, because I consider TJ higher-end junk food.
We lived near an Aldi in Ohio, but rarely shopped there because the selection was so bad. I rarely make the trip to Trader Joe’s either, because I can’t do all (or even most) of my shopping there. Where do you guys find /the extra time to go to these stores?
Er… the closest grocery store to me is an Aldi’s. It’s also on the way to/from the post office, butcher, bank, a library branch, and gas station so I can make it part of a general string of errands.
I don’t know if it’s true anymore, but, when I was younger, I noticed that Sonic and Dairy Queen always had the same things. When one got something new, the other wasn’t far behind. And, as far as I know, they aren’t connected, and you wouldn’t even think they’d be each other’s primary competition.
I love Aldi’s the thing is you have certain things that are great. And some things that are vile, you can’t tell till you buy.
Generally their staples, bread, flour, milk, rice, dry beans and eggs are great. It’s when you get into things like canned veggies or condiments or snack food. Some are good some are not. You have to try it and see.
For some reason I love Aldi Coffee but that must be just me, I bet few would agree.
They have two varieties of bagged lettuce – a butter mix and a spring mix – that are great and only $1.99 a bag. The comparable products by Dole in our other grocery store are $3.50. If Aldi just had arugula at bargain prices, I’d never go anywhere else for salad greens. (OK, I take that back. I don’t like their bagged spinach.) Their EVOO is also a great deal.
I buy a lot of La Croix sparkling water. The Aldi brand, La Vie, is about half the price. It only comes in lime, but I actually like it better than the La Croix lime.
Amongst the people I know, if you have a three digit IQ there are a shitload of things that you buy at Aldi because you can buy top quality stuff far cheaper than elsewhere. Mind you they are easy to get to and open at good times around here.
TJ’s can be a health food option if you shop it that way. They have a lot of the same things at better prices - natural cereals, organic or non-organic fruit & veg, plenty of vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free ingredients and prepared foods, natural cleansers, vitamins and supplements, soy and almond milk, organic meats and dairy, etc. I do about 90% of my normal weekly shopping there, with the exception of some bulk items. Probably save about 30% on the average from buying at the local health food store.
Of course, it is easy to look past these and go straight for the wine & party stuff, which I have certainly done many time over the years.
Wow, that’s way different from the Aldi near where we lived. They had huge quantities of a very few things. No way would you ever find even half of what was on the average person’s grocery list. So a trip to Aldi meant another trip to the regular grocery store, and the whole thing ended up taking much longer. We decided it wasn’t worth the extra time and gave up.
Trader Joe’s is similar, but with the added negative feature of being more expensive, too. There are a few things I’ll buy at Trader Joe’s if I happen to be right near one with some extra time to kill. Their frozen mini quiches are excellent, for example. But they’re far enough away (and expensive enough) that I don’t plan regular trips there.
