Why I Shop at Aldi

Yes, I know that you think that I have given up on blogging, considering how infrequently I have been updating this, but the website has taken precedence over blogging these days.

I have had many projects in the works for the past few months and one of them has been creating a menu plan just made from ingredients purchased at Aldi’s. I had decided to make it my goal to create a month’s worth of meals, complete with a price book, of dishes you could make from this supermarket. You will see this up on our website at some point, but it is going to take awhile since it is 25 pages of information for my husband to post for me. I could see him visibly cringe as I revealed that I had finally completed my masterpiece, and oh by the way, it is 25 pages that need to be broken down by meal, by tip, by item, by grocery list, etc… Considering his busy schedule it might be a little while before it is up, but in the meantime I did write an article on Aldi so make sure you check that out too. You can also show your appreciation to me by clicking our Google advertisements, on our site, so I can continue wasting time on the internet and claiming it is research for all of you.

Now the main question that people have been asking me since I wrote this article has been if I have been endorsed by the company in any way, shape or form. I never approached the company about my idea, but considering their “no frills” approach to the grocery experience, I doubt if I could get anything for my efforts anyway. I would love some money, of course, but would settle for a few other perks from them. VIP parking, no deposit on my cart, free bags, a small discount….well, that is just to name a few. For all the business that I have been bringing them, a small spokesperson position would be lovely too.

We shop at Aldi once every two weeks, in an effort to save our family some money, and I usually take my son with me to do the shopping there. Now my son can be a real handful, at times, but he is also is about the friendliest child you will ever meet. He is very persistent in getting to know every single person around us whether we are at the grocery store, the gas station, a public restroom, a restaurant. You see his love for people just has absolutely no boundaries.

Now, not to characterize the average Aldi shopper, but just like any other grocery store, there are some interesting people shopping at the store while we are there. Ethan does not seem to mind if these people have absolutely no interest in him or if they are particularly weird, he just prevails on…”Look! Look! LOOK! Look at my dinosaurs!” or “Hi! Hi! HI! HI!” until he receives an acceptable response. If no response is given he will continue on until he, at the very least, gets a nod from the person who could care less about the engaging conversation that he has to offer.

Now in spirit of the interesting shoppers, I have been meaning to blog about my particular experience that I had as I was shopping at the store one day with my son. We were just beginning our shopping and we were headed towards the milk, when we overheard (I use this term loosely since she was shouting at the top of her lungs) a young woman on her cell phone. Always a people-watcher, I pretended to browse the milk section (believable isn’t it considering there are only three types of milk there) as she was talking, just to get a closer look at her. Here is how her conversation went…

“No, you will NOT be moving back to my f*?%$#$@ house and sleeping on my f*&^%$#@@@ floor and I will NOT put up with your f%$#@$% s%$#@ anymore you, f$#@$% piece of s%$#%. NO, NO, NO, F&^%$ Y&^%#! Mother @#%###@”

As the woman hung up the phone, she then repeated exactly what she said to her girlfriend who was standing next to her. I then wondered if she had no idea how loud she was or if she had any idea that every single person in the store had stopped to watch her in disgust and/or amazement. Apparently oblivious to us, she continued repeating word for word what she had told this guy on the phone as though we all had not witnessed her nasty vocabulary.

Now this, in and of itself, was a classic moment in supermarket visit history for me, but I haven’t gotten to the good part yet….are you ready?

So then her phone starts to ring and I begin to unconsciously hum along to the ringer tone. Was her ringer tone hard core gangster rap? Well, considering her language that is exactly what I had expected….but no….that would not be very funny, now would it?

Are you ready????

Her ringer tone was, “Our God Is an Awesome God.” (this is a popular Christian hymn, for all of you heathens out there!)

When it finally registered what I was humming along with, I had to run away from the milk section so that I would not bust up laughing and become the new target of this woman’s anger.

Apparently, I caught her in a fallen moment from her Lord, but it certainly brought some irony to the situation.

I just don’t think you can have an experience like that at any other supermarket and that is just one, of many reasons, why I shop Aldi Supermarket.

Published August 24, 2005 by:

Amy Allen Clark is the founder of MomAdvice.com. You can read all about her here.

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