Our Aldi Jelly Bean Adventure

We've had an Aldi grocery store down the street from us for a couple of years but, living in a neighborhood that has half a dozen grocery stores within a five minute drive, we've never felt the need to try out Aldi, a chain that started out in Italy and is known for REALLY cheap prices (and which I assumed equalled REALLY poor quality).

So when Ruth's friend, Deidre, mentioned that she bought her jelly beans there for Easter because they're really yummy, and knowing that Deidre has pretty high standards in the choices she makes, we headed over to our Aldi store yesterday morning with the intent of just buying some jelly beans. However, once inside the store, we were so impressed with the prices that we couldn't help but fill our cart with everyday groceries, you know... milk, bread, juice, etc. as well as some south american beer and some nicer chocolates and a bird feeder that looked identical to one we bought a Lowes a few weeks earlier but which was half the price.

Upon checking out, you discover one of the few minor down-side's of Aldi's -- a lack of cashiers -- one of the reasons I suppose they are able to keep prices low. We were lucky -- there weren't too many shoppers in there so it wasn't a big issue for us. Also, grocery bags are not provided free so you'll either need to buy a reusable back from them or pack your groceries into a box.

In terms of choice, Aldi do not offer much brand variety in the products they stock and many of the products they do stock are unheard-of brands. Also, you can't guarantee Aldi will have evry product you're looking for to complete your grocery shop. While they seem to stock the basics and plenty of Easter goods, your chances of finding less popular items are low. Only a small selection, for example, of soup varieties or ice-cream flavors. In my case, I tried to find some lime juice but no luck. So unless you lead a very meagre existince you would probably need to supplement your visit to Aldi with an ocassional trip to a store that has the less common items you sometimes need.

Unlike many experiences at my neighborhood Food Lion whre customer service was, until recently, an unheard-off phrase,the staff at Aldi seemed friendly.

So how about quality? The cheap South American beer we bought tasted great last night with dinner -- both Ruth and I concur on that. We also had some of their take-and-bake rolls and those too were really scrummy. So no evidence, so far, of low prices equating to low quality.

Oh -- and those jelly beans? Well, I'm not jelly bean connoisseur but the few I had were flavorful and juicy... just not sure if with three kids in the house the jelly beans will make it all the way to Easter.