Tips for curbing spending on food

[Anonymous]

It’s odd to me that people who want a variety of produce are considered snobby. I guess it really says something about America, this time period, and our health, doesn’t it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s odd to me that people who want a variety of produce are considered snobby. I guess it really says something about America, this time period, and our health, doesn’t it?

Yes, but also a variety of produce in the most populous parts of the country is dependent on resource intensive growing and shipping for 3/4 of the year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s odd to me that people who want a variety of produce are considered snobby. I guess it really says something about America, this time period, and our health, doesn’t it?

Yes, but also a variety of produce in the most populous parts of the country is dependent on resource intensive growing and shipping for 3/4 of the year.

I worked at USDA. This is a solvable issue.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I don’t get the Aldi hate on here. The one I go to is super popular and has fresh stuff. I’ve shopped there for years initially because they had the easiest to maneuver surface parking lot vs those awful parking garages at all the other stores. I’ve never had a problem with quality, ever.

If y’all want to throw money away, ok. Seems like a stupid way to go.

The two near me are messy and look dirty, their produce goes off quickly. Their berries will not last more than a few days before becoming moldy. Unreliable stocks. Sometimes they have stuff, sometimes they don't, so it's hard to plan a reliable shop around Aldis.

I value quality and Aldi isn't quality. It's a great option when you have to watch every penny. I don't have to watch every penny. Food retailing is so sensitive to pricing that the gap between Whole Foods or Wegmans and Aldis isn't that big, so it's a waste of time and money for me to bother with Aldis. If Aldis was really that great and cheap, all other supermarkets would go bankrupt. But they aren't and that tells you something.

Agreed. Maybe some Aldis are just better than others? Ours is more similar to this PP's. I'm not saving money if the produce goes bad in a couple days and I have to toss it.

Unfortunately we don't have one that close to us anymore but I grew up with Wegmans and still think it's the best balance between quality-selection-prices. It's not the cheapest but for most things we buy the prices are competitive with (or better than) other stores. And I can get everything I need in a single shopping trip, which is really valuable to me now that I have kids.

Maybe we just have a good one, but Aldi produce going bad quickly is not an issue for my family at all.

I went to Aldi last Thursday, 2/15 and all of the produce I bought is still good. I have no idea what people are babbling about that their food isn't good quality and goes rotten. Can you buy some strawberries that seem to go back in 2-3 days, sure, but I've had that happen at Wegmans, WF, Safeway and HT. This is not an Aldi problem. People are just snobs for some reason and are uptight about shopping there, except in my neighborhood where I see plenty of people I know there on a regular basis. NBD.

This thread was asking for tips on curbing spending on food and one of the obvious ones for me would be to shop at a less expensive grocery store, like Aldi. But it seems that people come up with every counter argument to not take the obvious advice, so keep spending I guess.

This is essentially it. Produce sometimes goes bad wherever you get it from. And all grocery stores have return policies. I’ve talked to friends who complain about the shopping cart quarter, bagging your own groceries, needing your own bags, the produce stacked in their original boxes, less selection, etc. if you want to spend 2x the Aldi price for milk, great.

No, “this [people being snobs]” is not the reason many people avoid Aldi.

I already have to go to a health food supermarket to get many of the items that I use regularly. And then I still also go to a regular supermarket to get other some other items I like (gasp, Doritos). I don’t want to add a third supermarket, especially given that they have limited selection and the lines are often long (at least at the Rockville store).

I consider myself very frugal, but it’s still not worth it for me.

Same. And honestly, someone who is spending that much at Whole Foods on produce and grains every week, like the OP, is simply not going to find a comparable selection at Aldi. It would mean changing WHAT they buy altogether, not just switching to buying those items at a different grocery store. If they really want to same $$, I would cut down on the takeout first.

People who shop at health food supermarkets are not going to be Aldi shoppers. They are also not willing to change anything about the types of produce they buy to save money. Aldi definitely has organic items but the disdain for Aldi is preconditioned.

My problem with Aldi is not the lackluster strawberries (that’s common anywhere this time of year!) but that the produce selection in general is limited. I was there a couple weeks ago and they didn’t even have bunches of parsley. I don’t consider that something only snobby health store shoppers would buy, but YMMV. Forget anything like kale or chard.

I get Kale with every Aldi order (via instacart)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s odd to me that people who want a variety of produce are considered snobby. I guess it really says something about America, this time period, and our health, doesn’t it?

Yes, but also a variety of produce in the most populous parts of the country is dependent on resource intensive growing and shipping for 3/4 of the year.

I worked at USDA. This is a solvable issue.

I don't doubt that it will be, eventually. But at this time of year something like half of non-potato/corn/apples fruits and vegetables comes from the CA central valley. There really isn't anywhere else to grow it, reasonably. 100 years ago people around here were not eating many fresh fruits and vegetables in late winter.