My shopping experience at ALDI

“This post was sponsored by ALDI as part of Influencer Activation for Influence Central.”

As a blogger, I get to know lots of people from all over the country. When I started my blog several years ago, I became familiar with the ALDI grocery store especially by any Florida bloggers. When I had the opportunity to visit Florida for the first time two years ago, I saw an ALDI and just had to stop in to say I had been. Now finally, I get to shop at ALDI any time I want and I don't need to buy a plane ticket to Florida because ALDI has come to Southern California! I can finally shop at ALDI whenever I want. Pre-warning to those who haven't shopped at ALDI before and plan to buy several items, bring a quarter and your own bag. I was prepared ahead of time having lived in Austria for a semester and familiar with the European style of grocery stores as ALDI originates from Germany. When you get a cart, you give a quarter to the shopping cart. It will unlatched from the previous shopping cart, but don't worry you will get your quarter back when you return the cart. Second, bring your own bags because they charge you to buy bags to take your groceries home, so help the environment by recycling bags to bring your ALDI groceries home in. With those two things in hand, a quarter and some recycling bags, you are ready to start your ALDI shopping adventure!

When I walked into ALDI, one of the first thing I noticed was how wide the aisles are. Have you ever noticed how small grocery store aisles can be sometimes? Not ALDI, they were wide and spacious so when you had to pass another person with a cart you didn't have to worry about running over their toes. 

Another thing I liked about my experience at ALDI was there weren't too many choices in on the shelves. You grabbed it and on you went to the next item on your shopping list making for an easy to shop food grocery store. I was impressed with the selection of fresh produce at ALDI. All veggies on one side of the aisle and fruit on the other, again this made shopping super easy and simple. 

The organic options in produce were plentiful and easy to find as well.

When we got home, we unloaded our ALDI haul and I was surprised how little we paid and how much we actually got.

We bought some pantry staples like flour, sugar and peanut butter. We also got plenty of fresh produce. Summer is coming up quickly so that means BBQing so hot dog buns, chicken and USDA Certified organic ground beef. ALDI offers plenty of options with  their SimplyNature® brand with their specific liveGfree, gluten-free line, NeverAny!, free from hormones, antibiotics and animal by-products. You don't have to sacrifice these specifics when shopping at ALDI. They are included as a regular item and not found in a specific area of the store.

If you are looking for a different grocery store that will save money AND time by shopping there, consider ALDI especially if you are in southern California as there will be about 25 ALDI locations by July 2016. I bet there will be one near you opening up soon if it hasn't already!