Originally Posted by
Unfated33
About six months ago my wife made the decision to drive past our local grocery store and start shopping at Lidl instead. Lidl is pretty much the same thing as Aldi, only you don't have to pay for your shopping carts and the checkout process is not quite so barbarian or annoying.
And... we haven't really gone back to our regular grocery much at all since then. We pay somewhere between a quarter to a half of the price of our former shopping bills at Kroger. Proteins in particular are much cheaper, though the selection is also seasonally limited (Halibut and Rack ribs show up for a few weeks and then disappear again). Also seasonally the Lidl franchise seems to do theme offerings - Taco Month or Greek Month or similar where they have an aisle just dedicated to items that fit within the theme. Not just competing on fruits and vegetables, they also sell European brand hardware, tools, clothing, and toys. It's an interesting addition to the original premise of much cheaper groceries.
I read a newspaper article that said the stores are basically designed around attracting people in upper middle class areas, and it certainly seems like the store is catering to my interests and tastes (specialty coffees and pastries, artisan cheeses, etc.). Has anyone else tried switching to Aldi/Lidl, and what are your thoughts about the good and bad of making a switch like this?
TLDR: I feel like I'm winning a grocery store game when I buy salmon and prosciutto for a third of the price of my old grocery bills.