[Kris10Leigh]

I had a very successful trip to Aldi's today and I just wanted to share. I wrote in another thread that I was going to try taking along a laundry basket to put in the cart and I thought I'd write out the pros and cons.

Pro: The basket made it seem like I had more in the cart than I really did. My eyes bugged out of my head as I loaded the cart full to over flowing! This made me stay within my budget as I asked myself the questions: "Is it on my list?" and "Is this a need or a want?"

Pro: Once I got the majority of the food out of the cart, I lifted the basket out and just dumped it onto the conveyer belt. It made getting everything out so much easier!

Pro: I used fewer bags as most of the stuff just remained in the basket.

Con: The basket was pretty heavy.

Another tip I have is about the quarter used to "rent" the cart. I hate to carry purse and I often end up at the store with no quarter. Now I stick a quarter in a zipper pocket in my wallet and I don't use it on anything but Aldi carts. I can count on it being there.

Today was a good produce day, though it isn't always. The last time I was there most everything was molding. Today, the only thing that was bad were the blueberries. They had gnats all over them! Ewwww. But everything else looked very fresh.

There was a news story in my hometown about a new practice at Aldi and a few other stores where they are packaging meat with carbon monoxide. Apparently those packages that have a lot of air space between the meat and the wrapping are filled with carbon monoxide to keep the meat pink/red longer. This means the meat could actually spoil before it starts to brown. Not to mention the unknown effects of the carbon monoxide. I have always purchased frozen meat at Aldi's, which is not packaged that way, and I am quite happy with it.

All in all, I purchased enough food to last two weeks, filled my cart and walked out of the store having spent $122.00. That's $78 under budget! I love that store! You just need to be careful with fresh meats and produce.