Food Shopping

[NW-Bound]

No Aldi or Lidl where I live. In two months, I am sure I will visit many of these stores in Europe, as I did in the past. Love shopping there, particularly as wine in Europe is so inexpensive. Food is not that expensive in Europe if you do not acquire it in restaurants.

 

[NW-Bound]

On the same subject of food shopping, I have been surfing the Web looking for restaurants for my upcoming European trip.

In Lisbon, I find out that a very popular seafood restaurant is only a few hundred feet from my Airbnb apartment. How nice is that! People have to wait for 2 hours to get a table.

Then, I find out that they serve colossal prawn by weight, to the tune of 127 euros/kg. Wow! At that price, most locals would not be able to eat shrimp at all, considering that the average income in Lisbon is 860 euros/month, and that is the highest in Portugal.

I think I will go there and look around their fish market, in order to know what is going on.

 

[sengsational]

Aldi is a German company and is pronounced "all" "dee".

In the south it's pronounced "OWL" "DEE"


For those of you that are near a Lidl and like Belgian beer, they have a really good Belgian tripel for a really good price called "Bronze Schild". I don't think it matches the style very closely, it's more like a Belgian dark strong, but a real price performer if you compare to something similar at Total 'Whine'.

 

[Nick12]

When my parents vacationed in Italy they got the evil eye and wrath from the produce owner at the neighborhood market near their hotel. Apparently you are not supposed to touch and or feel the produce before you buy it.

 

[jazz4cash]

In the south it's pronounced "OWL" "DEE"


For those of you that are near a Lidl and like Belgian beer, they have a really good Belgian tripel for a really good price called "Bronze Schild". I don't think it matches the style very closely, it's more like a Belgian dark strong, but a real price performer if you compare to something similar at Total 'Whine'.

The Aldi pronunciation guides are funny. I needed help pronouncing Lidl.
We finally got one in the area. Even though their HQ in North America is nearby, they don't have many stores open. Quite different experience from Aldi. When I went through the checkout I pronounced it LI-del and got a disapproving look from the cashier. She corrected me: "it's 'LEE-del', rhymes with needle".

Edit: Unfortunately, the local grocery stores can't sell beer which seems to come as a surprise to many folks from other areas.

 

[Jerry1]

I deliberately leave my cart near my car when departing.
It keeps someone employed and I don't care about the increase in food cost.
It is also one reason I refuse to use the self-checkout lane.

Well, I can’t agree with leaving the cart in the lot as it impacts others and has the possibility of damaging peoples carts, but I’m with you on the self checkout. I use the lines with a cashier just fort that reason - keeps someone employed.

 

[Murf2]

Well, I can’t agree with leaving the cart in the lot as it impacts others and has the possibility of damaging peoples carts, but I’m with you on the self checkout. I use the lines with a cashier just fort that reason - keeps someone employed.

This is true although doing it at Aldi provides some cheap entertainment. [emoji16]

 

[Chuckanut]

When my parents vacationed in Italy they got the evil eye and wrath from the produce owner at the neighborhood market near their hotel. Apparently you are not supposed to touch and or feel the produce before you buy it.

The same thing happened to me in France. Live and learn, mon ami.

 

[haha]

?? There are tanks with live king crabs in supermarkets and restaurants in Vancouver.

And Seattle. But maybe they are ghosts.

 

[Chuckanut]

?? There are tanks with live king crabs in supermarkets and restaurants in Vancouver.

The local Asian super markets have them also. I use them to entertain the grand-kids while mom shops in peace.

 

[karen1972]

I just know the Aldis vary a lot on quality and what they stock. I've traveled a lot and found some were disgusting, messy/dirty/frost bitten meat and some were gorgeous. We have 3 in the area and 2 of them are very nice but they carry very different products to match their customers. Most of them though I prefer to shop at in the morning as their fruit and veggies can start to look a little rough in the afternoon from being picked over.

My honey is a huge Trader Joes fan so it took a lot of label reading to bring him around that Aldis was good too and they had a ton of straight ingredient items... like I love their organic hot salsa and there is no dye in jarred items we buy. We are huge fans of their snacks, wine, cheese, hummus, nuts, etc.


I'd say we now save$300-400/month on groceries by buying almost everything but meat there.. I'm still not a huge fan of their meat selection. I see a lot of savings in raw fruit and vegetables which I think we probably eat more than the average person since we don't tend to eat starch.

 

[ransil]

They just remodeled my local Aldi's, more like moved it over to the other side after the Kmart tear down and rebuild.
I'm not a fan of the new layout with the diagonal produce shelving messes up the flow. The aisles are wider but the people seem to be able to block them.
The meat selection has gotten better.
We buy 95% of whet we need there, hate going to walmart but need to for some items and it gotta be an emergency to shop at the local supermarket.

 

[Rianne]

We typically buy meat from the Ye Old Meat Market, like a butcher type place with fresh fish. The cost is higher but worth it. I cringe to read the ingredients at Sam's fish and meat packaging. I picture the fish coming from a crowded fish farm.

 

[Scuba]

I went to Aldi for the first time recently. It is fairly new in my area. I bought a dozen eggs, hummus, nuts, and a Thai veggie burger product (interesting but not so good). I had intended to buy more, but don’t like pre-packaged produce and most of what they offered was. Their meats didn’t look that good either. Most of the packaged goods were brands I’ve never heard of. The store location isn’t very convenient for me either. It was an interesting experience but I will keep blowing my dough at Costco, Trader Joe’s and Vons.

 

[Nick12]

Go to Aldi at your own peril. The employees use the floor cleaning machine and forklift to move product in the store during operating hours in the Florida location near my home. Interesting brands from Europe but the oatmeal is dirt cheap.

 

[braumeister]

Their meats didn’t look that good either.

The Aldi near me is small and dingy, but I have to say their ribs are the best I can find anywhere. If you make your own barbeque, I would recommend the baby backs without hesitation.

 

[beppie58]

Well here we have a store called the Sharp Shopper and it's run by the Mennonites and it's all over runs, somewhat expired items. It's like a treasure hunt to go there. You never know what you will find and that's what makes it so much fun to shop there. You can go there and by huge wheels of Brie for about 3.00 or Ben and Jerry's ice cream bars for 3 for $1.00. Dog food is usually the kind you have to buy at pet stores. I love that place!
But for the most part I shop at Krogers and I am very happy with them.

 

[sgstaley]

We’ve shopped Aldi since the late 80s too. Selection back then was limited and you could see all the ways they kept prices low. Cash only back then. The current Aldi setup feels luxurious by comparison. We never shopped at WF but I figure Aldi averages 20-30% less than the typical grocery. Every day every item. No specials of buy 2 get one free nonsense.

Aldi's has really changed for the better over the years. They increase their organic offerings every year and now take credit cards. We use airline points card here.

 

[jazz4cash]

You know you’re an Aldi regular when you get a keychain quarter holder.

I saw an Aldi regular with a slug or a real quarter he had drilled and attached to his keychain.

 

[sgstaley]

People in our town typically just give the cart to the next guy getting out of the car and heading for the store after they have unloaded their groceries into their car. It only cost a quarter to be nice to someone. Even then someone might have given the cart to me for free that day. Paying it forward.

 

[davebarnes]

Interesting read about Aldi.
https://www.theguardian.com/busines...discount-supermarket-changed-britain-shopping

 

[EarlyBirdly]

Couldn't have said it better myself...GREAT article.

 

[sgstaley]

Interesting read about Aldi.
https://www.theguardian.com/busines...discount-supermarket-changed-britain-shopping

I just read that article. It was a great read full of interesting history.

I have always wanted Aldi to go public as they really do well in my small town. I am from Illinois and everyone everywhere (in my circles) speak highly of Aldi.

Thanks for the share.

 

[imoldernu]

EDIT... OMG... don't bother reading, memory problems made me forget that I had already said most of what comes next. This is becoming embarrassing.


Two of my kids live about 10 minutes from Aldi's US corporate hdqtrs in Batavia IL, and we're about an hour and a half away. Our Peru store is one of the "test" stores for the US, so we gt a chance to see a lot of new stuff, new techniques etc. before they go nationwide. We live a few hundred yards from our Aldi Store, and know many of the managers well, so I get a heads up on new or planned changes.

The article is mostly about Aldi in Europe, so many of the things that were mentioned in the article are quite different here. Brand names, suppliers, and some new things that are coming here within weeks or months, such as InstaCart which promises 2 hour or less delivery.

For an old retail person like me, just watching the degree of efficiency as it pertains to people, shipping, display, replenishment and advertising is very exciting. I would have loved to be part of the business.

People are at the heart of the efficiency. An energy level of 110% and a personal challenge to get the job done is the glue that holds the company together. Wages and benefits are substantially higher, and the opportunity for advancement is there... especially now, as plans for hundreds more stores come into being. Not for the faint of heart.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

Well here we have a store called the Sharp Shopper and it's run by the Mennonites and it's all over runs, somewhat expired items. It's like a treasure hunt to go there. You never know what you will find and that's what makes it so much fun to shop there. You can go there and by huge wheels of Brie for about 3.00 or Ben and Jerry's ice cream bars for 3 for $1.00.

We have a few stores good for bargain hunting our area with over runs and close outs. Last week I bought Brie for $1 that is $9 at Safeway for the same brand. A regional dollar store had organic apples and organic strawberries. The apples were even less $1 pound so I bought enough to make baked apples and will freeze some. The week before there weren't any organic apples but they did have organic pears and strawberries. It is always different every time but usually some great bargains on nice quality food.