How Much Does Shopping at Aldi Really Save You?

Quarter for a cart. Small store footprint. Bring your own bags. Food stacked in cardboard boxes. Until this year, they didn’t take credit cards *gasp*! Where are you?

If you guessed Aldi – you are correct! The five things that I mentioned above are likely what most people know or think of when someone brings up Aldi. But here’s a five things you might not know about Aldi. 

1. Owned by the same company as Trader Joe’s.
2. Making a big push toward organic foods; has lots of gluten free foods as well.
3. Just launched a baby line (diapers, wipes, pull ups, baby food).
4. Currently has 1,500 US stores (set to open 500 more this year – some with new store designs that rival Whole Foods 365 stores).  
5. About 30-40% CHEAPER than traditional grocery stores, even Walmart.

Did you read that? Do you like to spend money on things other than food, but still provide your family with delicious and quality food? Then you NEED to put everything down and go to Aldi this week for your grocery shopping. I am all for convenience and love Hy-Vee and Walmart’s grocery pick-up options and even Hy-Vee’s at home delivery when I’m in a pinch for time. However, when the food is 30-40% cheaper every week, that amount of savings is worth my time to do the shopping myself at Aldi. 

Have I convinced you to give a try yet? Let me continue. I work in finance and to me, numbers and Excel spreadsheets used to compare things is how I communicate. With that said, I had to do my own comparison for you to quantify the savings that I have found. Note: this is only ONE trip that took place on September 25. I reviewed my Aldi receipt for all grocery related items, got on the Hy-Vee Aisles online website and put in my online cart the most similar items that I could find and then exported the individual item prices, as well as the total price to a spreadsheet. Then I entered in the price of the same item I purchased at Aldi to compare item by item as well as the total food bill between the two stores.  Here are my results (not including any taxes or other fees)…

Aldi total bill (only food): $74.53

Hy-Vee total bill: $131.25

YOU GUYS!  That is over $50 in savings and more than 40% cheaper in just one visit. 

Here are some of the items that I refuse to buy anywhere else because they are the best deal and quality:

• Green peppers, yellow squash and zucchini – these are an every week buy in our house. You get THREE of each of the above vegetables in a pack for an average of 59.8% lower prices than buying the individual veggies at Hy-Vee
• Turkey Bacon – $1.89 for a pound (36.8% cheaper than the Hy-Vee brand – and my husband says he likes the Aldi kind better!)
• Bag of spinach leaves – we love these for salads, to throw in our smoothies or sauté. At $1.79 per bag, it’s almost 50% savings.  We go through about two per week – so it’s a must buy there!
• GRAPES! These are identical to what you can get in a grocery store for about double the price. Aldi runs sales on these almost every other week as well.  You get about 2 pounds of red or green grapes for around $3 when not on sale – which is over 50% savings.
• We blow through at least a gallon of 2% milk per week, as we have one really big milk drinker in our house.  I got two gallons at Aldi for $2.58 each and the 2% Hy-Vee milk comparable was $3.88 each.  I also bought two containers of unsweetened almond milk on this trip – which was about 31% cheaper than if I would have bought at a traditional grocery store.

All right, I’ll stop boring you with these comparisons (click here to see the full spreadsheet item by item).  But just in the items I’ve listed above, the savings are huge. I did not even get into the savings on the canned fruit, veggies, beans, pasta, etc.  My kids love the Spaghetti-Os and meatballs for a quick meal and they are so cheap (and delicious!) at Aldi. Other must haves that I do not have comparison data on: Greek yogurt, cheese, hashbrowns, fresh fruit (do make sure you examine before you buy), frozen veggies and the weekly meat special that rivals the weekly meat sales of the big grocery stores in Kansas City.

So Kansas City mamas – give Aldi a try if you already haven’t and see what you think! It will help lower your grocery budget, while still allowing you to provide your family with healthy food options. 

While sometimes, the pick up or delivery grocery options are a must, I encourage you to go to your local Aldi – do not forget a quarter and your reusable grocery bags, save some money while grocery shopping. 

And after you are done, swing by Nordstrom or DSW for a new pair of $50 booties that you don’t have to feel guilty about because you just saved $50 on your grocery shopping!  That’s how it should work right?  Or you can just save that money. But just this time, I would buy the booties!