ALDI v. Wegmans on $, Quality, Options and Experience

Hello!  Welcome to my blog!  My name is Jeanette.  We are coming up on 10 years of living in Erie, PA.  I am a wife and a mom with kids who are ages 7 and 9.  Today I did a little experiment... I went to ALDI to do some grocery shopping.  I had not been there in YEARS.  Let me begin by saying that I LOVE Wegmans.  We actually have TWO Wegmans stores within a few miles of our home here in the Erie area.  If you have never been to a Wegmans, I hope that you get to go one day!  It is my favorite grocery store of all time!  Here is a blog entry with a detailed look at one of my Wegmans shopping trips, including a 4 day meal plan and recipes!   

I have seen more and more people sharing about their ALDI experiences.  So today I decided to go and check it out myself!  I didn't have a list and honestly didn't know what I would find.  I picked up everything which you see in the photo above.  These are my ALDI groceries, spread out on my dining room table!  I then proceeded to write a list, AFTER coming home from the store.  Who does that??  I knew that I was headed to Wegmans next and I wanted to get a "same day" comparison of the items in relation to the two stores.  I was intrigued by what I discovered.  AND I also learned a lot today!  Good and bad.  More on all that below!

The purpose of this blog entry is to write about today's experiences.  I think that both stores are good!  Well, Wegmans is stellar!  ALDI also serves a purpose.  It is not at all my intent to paint either store in a bad light.  And as for me -- life is always an adventure!  My 9 year old daughter is dramatic and let's just say that I can trace that back to a certain source... me!  :)  SO here is the story of my day and what I discovered!

Morning FB Post:

Grocery store FIELD TRIP/EXPERIMENT to keep things interesting!

I admit, it has been a few years since I have been here. I tried coming a few times and the produce was consistently about to turn... just not impressed when we have several other great options in town!

But I have been hearing enough things about ALDI that I decided to give it a try again! I am curious!

Got my quarter, my bags and this is literally 2 miles from home. I clocked it!
Any ALDI fans here among my FB friends? What are your favorite things to get here? Thanks!
Stay tuned on how the experiment goes. Especially with living five years in the Rochester, NY area (Wegmans HQ!) we all know that I am a Wegmans shopper!

And 1 Hour Later...

Okay! I made it! Today was kind of a reconnaissance mission to explore ALDI. 

Going to get my cart, I had a flashback (and sweaty palms!) as I suddenly remembered a key reason why I stopped going there years ago. My son who is now in kindergarten had reached the point where he was no longer in the baby carrier which I wore happily for so long. He had to sit in the cart. For whatever reason, some vandals would come along and cut all of the seatbelts in the carts during the night. It was horrible! Not a seatbelt to be found. Maybe, you would spot one once in a while and it was way back in the row. I did not have that many quarters or that much time to try to access it. I remember trying to shop with my little climber when there was no option of a seatbelt.

Back to the present! I gathered my thoughts and reminded myself that I was shopping solo. Although I had just seen an old friend in the parking lot and her children's current meltdown took me right back to the old days. Hugs for her!
Anyways, I entered the store. It felt like not knowing which lane to be in on a busy highway. You may have an exit just ahead but you don't know when or which side! Some people were gracious towards me and others were not. I tried to smile and explain that I have not been here in a long time and needed to look at the items. Still, in such a busy place I felt as though I were constantly in someone's way during that first aisle. Lots of bumping and shuffling along and I was thinking of a world without Wegmans. 
I did find some really great prices on items which we use here. I also picked up a few different sorts of items for my family to try. We do eat fairly organic, although not 100%. I was pleased with their selection and a parent quality. I look forward to trying out these items here at home.
Bottom line, I do think that it would be worthwhile to return to ALDI. I will have a better feel for the flow of the store and what is available.

Then a Little Game:

Guessing game! Guess the total cost of these groceries?? Comment below!

Today was my first visit to ALDI in years. It was quick and I did not have a list. These are the things that I happened to grab! All but the cheese puffs, they all represent something that I would typically buy at Wegmans. 

I do actually still need a few specific things at Wegmans and I am headed there next. I made a list of what all I found at ALDI today. I am actually going to jot down the Wegmans price for each item and then I will have a very realistic comparison for myself. Stay tuned for the results!

Then I Left Off Here...

Oh boy! I just finished with the calculator. My ALDI trip came in at $65.40 today. I was super curious to go through and spend a few moments jotting down prices of comparable items at my favorite store – Wegmans.
Any guesses on that price difference?? $65 at ALDI = _________ at Wegmans?
I have to go and get the kids and then the next three hours are a very full time of the day before I leave for Bible study.

I will be back around at 9:30 tonight and will get a post together with some of the things that I learned today. It has been quite informative!

Okay!  Now we are caught up on all of that!  There was some great discussion in the threads below each of the posts!  

This is NOT going to be a cut and dried sort of thing.  We are not exactly comparing apples to apples here.  I may be biased, but there is nothing like shopping at Wegmans.  Their quality is top-notch all around!  And from some discussion on my FB page, it does seem as though perhaps I happened to be at ALDI on an unfortunate day?  Something about social security and a new flyer?  Bottom line, I sooooooooo did not enjoy shopping there at our West 12th Street ALDI.  We do have to leave room for the fact that it was a new experience and I don't know the store or selection at all.  It was crazy crowded, which you could say is a good sign.  But there was 0 room to maneuver or to stop and read labels.

HERE IS MY BIGGEST COMPLAINT.  At least in today's shopping experience, there was literally no time or space to really stop and read things.  There is no "passing lane" in the aisles.  There was a crush of people and plenty of them were not so very pleasant!  Others were friendly.  This could be totally different on some other day and time.  And I do have to leave room for the fact that once I know what I am looking for there and also feel confident of the layout of the store, I will do much better.  I DO plan to return to ALDI and I will take the time to learn what I need to learn as I do see some value in shopping there for certain items.

I bought three things today that I would have NEVER BOUGHT if I had read the labels.  They are each organic.  BUT ORGANIC DOES NOT GUARANTEE HEALTHY.  I was very troubled upon taking a look at them here at home.  More on that later... 

So, on to the price comparison...

I spent $64.50 today at ALDI.  I then went to Wegmans an hour later and compared the closest items that I could find.  This was not hard to do as I know Wegmans very well after being a regular there these past 10 years!  A couple of things were packaged a bit differently and I looked at the price per pound to get the most accurate estimate.  

A similar list came out to be $105.41 at Wegmans.  BUT HOLD ON>>>> There is more to this story and I am going to break it down below!  That  price difference alone is not a "real world estimated impact" for my own household.  I am going to give you more of our ballpark difference below.

Biggest takeaway is that I will continue to visit ALDI for certain items.  And Wegmans for others!

This list rounds up a penny to the dollar in certain areas.  It was just less writing on my notepad! I will list the items with the Wegmans price first and ALDI second.

2 Avocados $3 or $1

12 ounces Blueberries $6 or $3.38

1 Pound Mini Cucumbers $5 or $2

1 Pound Mini Peppers $3 or $2.49

1 Pound Round Tomatoes $4 or $3

9 Ounces Cheddar Cheese Sticks $3.69 or $2.69

Organic Almond Milk $3 or $3.50

Regular Almond Milk $3 or $2.29

12 Ounces Organic Almond Butter $8 or $6

12 Pouches of Non-GMO Applesauce $7 or $4.50

1 Pound Organic, Grass-Fed Beef $7 or $5.89

1 Pound Wild Caught Salmon, Frozen $18.65 or $3.79

(2) 24 Ounces Organic Red Sauce $2.50 or $1.89

Organic Mac and Cheese $2.50 or $1.29

1 Pound Organic Pasta  $2.50 or $1.29

5 Ounces Dried Cherries/Berries Mix $3.50 or $2.45

6 Pack of Raisins $1.79 or $1.29

12 Ounces Organic Raw Almonds $9.50 or $7.39

4 Ounces Organic Cheese Puff Curls $2.79 or $1.99

Box of Triscuit-style Crackers $2 or $1.49

22 Ounce Loaf of Organic Bread $4.50 or $4 

Okay -- so what are the disclaimers here??

FIRST, I only buy whichever fresh berries are a low price.  We buy frozen organic (SO DELICIOUS!) more often than not and just pick up the others when they are in season.  I do shop at Sam's Club occasionally and always check their berries, typically buy almond milk and also a few of the kids' snacks.  Plus they have a bread that we like, called "Dave's Killer Bread" and in the two-pack it does come in just a bit less than the comparable bread found at ALDI.  Plus the taste is MANY times better.  That being said, Ezekiel bread is still my go-to and I always have a loaf of that in my freezer.

Other HUGE thing here is that I NEVER, never buy the wild caught salmon at Wegmans!  At $18 a pound, it is just too expensive for our family budget.  Sometimes Sam's Club will have a nice salmon option.  Sometimes not!  Wegmans does have the farm-raised salmon for around $7-$8 a pound but everything that I read suggests going with the wild caught.  I am somewhat suspicious how the ALDI wild caught salmon can be $4 per pound??????  We will give it a try on Friday!

I was REALLY DISAPPOINTED in myself with the red sauce.  Clean eating is important to me and my family -- check out this blog entry for my clean eating 101.  The sauce that I bought at ALDI (didn't read the label in all of the confusion today!) is way HIGH IN SODIUM and it is not something that I would choose to feed my family or eat myself.  We just do not eat things like that.  Period. There is a sauce at Wegmans which we really enjoy.  It is also organic and has good ingredients!  Comparison is 200 mg sodium to 490 mg of sodium per serving!  I don't mind that the sauce on the left has a few more calories and saturated fat - it does contain a bit of cheese.  It is SUPER delicious and we all love it.  I use approximately two jars per month.  The price difference between Wegmans and ALDI on this sauce is $.70.  So, for $1.40 more per month, I will go with the lower sodium!  The organic mac and cheese that I bought today (for the kids!) is also quite high in sodium.  This is just not something that I would serve to them.  There are better options out there!  With them having this twice per month, that winds up costing $2.40 more per month. 

We have tried out all of today's produce finds with the exception of the cucumbers.  I have been pleased with it!  Given the fact that we go through A LOT of produce around here, I will for sure be checking back at ALDI for our produce needs.  What I brought home today is quite nice and I am hopeful that this is their consistent quality.

I like the almonds that I bought.  The kids like the ALDI "squeezy applesauce" and that is a big savings right there.  

Beef and chicken (cooler section) are similar between the two stores.  Tomorrow we will try the beef from ALDI and see how it compares to the beef from Wegmans.  

The kids are yet to try the cheese and we have not opened the new almond milk.

They liked the cheese puff curls.  I tried a Triscuit sort of cracker and didn't care for it myself.  BUT, I am not a big cracker-lover anyways!  The bread is ho-hum and I prefer the options from Wegmans and Sams and the prices are all very close on that.  

Oh!  And the almond butter!  I was hoping to love it for the $2 difference in price.  BUT, it has sugar added!  Again, something that I would NOT have purchased if I were reading labels as usual!  Yikes!

Takeaways - my ALDI list will for sure include some produce, nuts, some snacks for the kids and perhaps the salmon if we like it!  I imagine that as I shop there again, I will find other staples that suit us.  The savings in produce alone will make it worthwhile!

BUT, I will always be a Wegmans shopper.  Too many of our staple pantry items from there are just not replicated in other places!  We use mainly fresh foods but there are some pantry things that I like to keep on hand.  And Wegmans offers sooooooo many other perks.  Too much to list here!

I can see myself making an ALDI trip weekly and a Wegmans trip weekly.  This could work!  I currently visit Wegmans twice a week anyways!  I am just going to have to find my own rhythm between the both of them!  A major benefit is that they are both super close to our home!

In my mind, my "true savings" today are on the items that I will be using and will continue to buy on a regular basis.  That adds up to be around $14-$15.  All in all, this experiment has been worthwhile!  Follow me on my personal FB page for more of my adventures found in the everyday details of life!  Check out my business FB page for an album of clean eating recipes and daily health inspiration!