I was trying to think of something profound to post, but, nah, that ain’t happenin’!(If you're looking for profound, go here). Instead, I find myself compelled to celebrate a bit of minutia. After all, it’s the stuff my life is primarily composed of. All of you who admitted to enjoying being alone at Wal Mart on a Friday night can probably relate. Today’s celebration of minutia is this: Aldi is adding a fresh meat section around January 9th! I almost did a little dance at the checkout counter today. What is Aldi you may ask? It is how I can feed three boys with humongous appetites without getting a job to support the food bill. It’s meat for less than $2 per pound. It’s yogurt, cereal, graham crackers, granola bars, and fruit (the kid food Mecca, if you will)…for prices so low it’s almost fun to go grocery shopping. The only thing I didn’t like about it was the limited selection of flash frozen meat. Not anymore! In the place that used to have bread for $.39 a loaf, there are beautiful meat refrigerators just waiting to be stocked.
Another thing about Aldi – you don’t go to Aldi, you do Aldi. It begins with the necessary preparations: one quarter, a bunch of blue bags, a Starbucks to help you keep up with the checkout girl. You take your quarter, give it to whichever kid’s turn it is to put it in the slot, and remove your shopping cart. Each child proceeds through the doors on a mission to collect as many empty boxes as possible while we shop. We go through the aisles, a force to be reckoned with as the boys have each collected at least thirteen cardboard boxes. We load a whole cart with food. We proceed to checkout. The lady and I give each other the eye of the tiger: who will be victorious? She seeks to scan all of my food items as fast as possible. No one is allowed to bag as they go, so I must think fast, “which items are bulky and durable enough to get tossed to the bottom of the cart, which would get crushed?” I have yet to load quickly enough to be waiting for her to scan the next item…it is one of my New Year’s resolutions, though. I finish loading my food into the basket. If I haven’t broken a sweat, I know I wasn’t really trying my hardest. We use the boxes and blue bags from home, to put the groceries in (bags aren’t included; you either find boxes, bring your own, or pay for bags). We return the cart – next kid gets to retrieve the coin. We head home.
One confession I must make. I feel compelled to share this with you in order to help you not make the same mistake. I sent my husband to Aldi once. Okay, I know, horrors! How could I send an unsuspecting guy into a store like Aldi? He was quarterless, bagless, and didn’t know that you couldn’t sort at the checkout counter. People in the line behind him were not friendly…they were like, “Hey, if you don’t know how to do Aldi; you got no business being here buddy.” It was sad. So, please, learn from my mistake. Do not send your man to Aldi to pick up milk and toilet paper.
Those of you from Chesapeake, I’ll meet you in the meat section January9. Maybe we should consider starting a little playgroup there. It’s the one place I can always count on seeing one of my mom friends.
So there it is, a celebration of minutia – Aldi, good food cheap, and fresh chicken coming soon. What bit of minutia are you celebrating today?
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Just the random musings of a Christian wife, mother, and homemaker
11 comments:
This is very exciting news!! Whenever I rave about Aldi's I always say the only downfall is the frozen meat!!! I have been getting my meats at a rival store, I always felt like I was cheating. Hey I live in the minutia, and I'm quite comfortable there.
Too funny that I was at Aldi's today and heard the news myself. But, the country girl who grew up eating my own grandfather's beef, raised on hay and straw, no hormones, no antibiotics, etc...is a bit suspicious of the quality of this new meat. But, I don't want to rain on your parade!
We have become huge fans of Aldi since the boys' arrival particularly.
A poor lady from Towson came today w/ no cash and didn't know her pin # for her debit card; she had to leave half her cart behind. I felt so bad for her. I have a thousand Aldi stories, but I'm sure we all have a thousand Aldi stories.
My most recent favorite Aldi product is the fresh baby spinach, the only fresh spinach I've ever been able to eat and get Lawrence to eat.
Let's see: here's an Aldi fact betcha might not know. My husband claims to be a heir to the Aldi fortune someday because....(drumroll, please) Aldi stands for Albrecht Discounters and his mom's maiden name is Albrecht. Interesting, huh?
Oh, I have some really embarrassing Aldi stories. I am the lady you don't want to be behind. I once had an order for $144, and only $87 on me. I had lost my debit card and Paul had taken $60 out of my purse that morning w/o telling me. I had to run down to Joppatowne to get cash.
Well, glad to hear about the meat coming January 9th. That's my mom's birthday. She's vegetarian. I won't bring it up. She would probably side w/ Bri.
Anyway, this comment deserves a post of its own. But to answer you minutia question, today I did 20 minutes on the dreadmill and burned 101 calories. Woo-hoo. Then I cooled down and ironed 5 shirts and 3 pairs of pants for my hubby. Double whoo-oo.
I used to go with my mom to Aldi's in PA and we'd come home with boxes of stuff. Even the Amish went to Aldi's! I didn't know it was a chain and used to think it was a PA thing before I heard people around here talk about going. I haven't been to one since moving to Bel Air, but am glad it's there for me, you can save a lot of money!
I'm sad to say, I've never been to Aldi's. Did you know that in Germany, Aldi's is THE PLACE to shop?!!
My bit of minutia...there was yet again another oil leak in our school building today--so no kids! Woohoo!
Libby, in all your years living in Edgewood, you NEVER shopped at Aldi's? Or "Aldi," as some say. That floors me.
I never shopped at Aldi til I had kids. In fact, I was a bit of a Giant foods snob. I thought the generic stuff couldn't possibly suit my refined tastes. Then the kids started eating solids. I have been loyal to Aldi ever since.
I was definitely a Giant Foods snob. Then came teenagers. I get incredibly nervous and self-conscious when I go in there. It's never an "express" shopping for me. People behind me seem to be just glaring. I usually say, "4 kids-3 teens, this is just a week's worth.' Of course, you have to say all that super fast while hurling blocks of cheese and pepperoni and grape tomatoes into your cart at the speed of light. I love BB's but have only been there once. Got TWO carts full for $150. ANd they did the bagging at a humane pace.
The ALDI people in Kansas are much nicer, I think. I've never had that experience - and I went in just like Jason the first time.
Everyone in Kansas is much nicer. I used to live there and still consider myself a Kansan. It took me off guard when I visited at about age 25 and went to the grocery store. I started to bag my own food and the man at the end of the belt said nicely, "What are you doing? I got it!" Like I was breaking a custom. Well, I was! The bagger man not only bagged my groceries, he wheeled the cart out to my car and loaded the groceries into it. Never dallied for a tip. I couldn't get my jaw up off the parking lot until the last second. "Thanks!" He said, "For what?" "For doing all this. You didn't have to." He said, "You're not from around here, are you?" I said "I used to be, but no, on the East Coast it's rare to get a bagger, let alone someone who will take them to the car for you."
I MISS Aldi's! When are they comin' up here?!!
By they way, Aldi's has only been in Edgewood for maybe 7 years..that's probably why Libby didn't go!:)
Happy Shopping!
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