Aldi, spend a little, get loads! (Aldi)

Member Name: liz3yy

Product:	Aldi
Date:	13/06/09 (84 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap

Disadvantages: Dont take credit cards, bit of a rush to get packed up

Aldi is a German supermarket chain that has gradually sprung up all over the UK, now I have a set of wheels and a license (proper one now, not just provisional!) I thought it a good idea to check my local one out on the outskirts of Yeovil.

I'd never set foot in one before but I knew from other peoples experiences and from what I've read about them that I shouldn't expect too much. Aldi don't pretend to be something they're not and aren't out to compete with the likes of Waitrose and M&S. Think along the lines of a pared down Asda and you'd be about right.

I dragged my partner along with me this morning to our local store to check it out basically to see it was worth bothering with and also to get the majority of our weekly grocery shop done. I was pleasantly surprised when we arrived at the size of the huge car park, I found a space straight away, plus it was situated just off the main road into town so we didn't have to drive around looking for it.

At the entrance to the store were rows of trolleys stacked up, we needed a pound coin to release one.....sod it, partner only had a £2 coin in his pocket so I sent him inside to find some change. Five minutes later I was still waiting and peered inside to see him wandering aimlessly so I marched in, grabbed the coin from him and shouted at the top of my voice, "anyone got change of £2?" the bloke being served at the nearest till helped me no questions asked. (moral of the story, never ask a bloke to do something you could have done yourself!)

With trolley in hand we ventured into the store to get some shopping done. The store isn't huge, I would say it's about the size of the average Co-op or Spar with rows upon rows of food items stacked up still in their packing trays and boxes with simple labels above telling you what the items are and their price. It's not glamorous but it's efficient and we found most of what we were looking for.

Aldi don't sell any leading brand name items, at least we didn't see any, instead there are numerous continental brands that you probably have never heard of before. It's cheap though, very cheap. At the moment they have a promotion running with several fruit and veg items for 49p each, of course we snapped them up. Where else can you buy a pack of 6 kiwi fruits for less than 50p?! Whether that means the quality is poorer than elsewhere we have yet to discover....

You can buy pretty much the same items at Aldi that you would anywhere else, canned goods, olive oil, fruit/veg, fresh meat and fish, bread and cereals. One of the things I loved about Aldi this morning was the fantastic range of chocolates and biscuits. I could have spent a fortune on them but instead plumped for a pack of delightful looking chocolate wafer bars and some large dark chocolate bars (I adore the stuff) which was much cheaper than Cadbury and the like.

It took less than half the time to do our shopping today than it would in Asda or Tesco mainly due to the fact that there's a lot less choice, you dont have 15 types of yoghurt or 12 types of baked bean to choose from. It's good in a way as there's nothing to ponder over, just grab and go. My partner was pleased with this as he hates food shopping normally and cant wait to get out of the place.

At the time we visited luckily the store wasn't too busy, by the time we got to the till to pay (the only one open I might add!) there was just one guy in front who got himself sorted fairly quickly. I should mention that unless you want to pay for carrier bags each time you should take your own. If you forget and have to ask for some you get charged.

The chap at the till serving us was working really fast and whilst he didn't appear stressed I could tell he was under pressure to keep the line moving and get people paid up and out the way as soon as possible. We had just enough time to grab our items as they were scanned and bag them before being moved on. I didn't feel rushed but could have done with a minute or two to make sure our items weren't too squashed up.

*Important note*
Remember when visiting Aldi that they accept debit cards but not credit cards for some reason.

We filled a trolley and it all came to less than £30 which I'm very happy with. We didn't get everything we wanted but it's a good place to pick up the basics and supplement your main shop. I'd happily go back but maybe on my own next time as my other half wasn't keen!

Summary: Worth a look to reduce your shopping bill