Keeping down grocery costs (Eagan, Golden Valley: coupons, credit, house)

[ellysbelly]

The underground parking in Bloomington is amazing-- wish all of their stores had it, but I think it's the only one that does. As an added bonus, my kids are fascinated by the grocery cart escalator

[Mason3000]

Interesting to hear about Aldi. Someone told me the German owners of Aldi also own Trader Joe's & that many of the Trader Joe products are also sold at Aldo at a steep discount. I guess that's not true?

Whatever the case, if you have a large family like I do, you can't beat Aldi on price. We buy our staples at Aldo, then hit a couple other places for certain items we can't get at Aldi.

[Radical_Car]

As someone said earlier, theres an Aldi South and Aldi North in Germany. The US Aldi stores are owned by Aldi South and the Trader Joe stores are owned by Aldi North (Not 100% sure on this, so don't quote me on it. If someone knows and I am incorrect, please speak up and correct me! But according to Wikipedia it seems to be correct)

In Europe, theres a competitor to Aldi called Lidl. Lidl is supposedly coming to the United States later this year, starting on the east coast.

List of Lidl locations in the US - Business Insider

Lidl Grocery Stores Coming to America - German Supermarket Chain to Open in United States

Lidl is opening 100 stores in the US - Business Insider

Lidl: First 20 U.S. stores to open this summer

Don't quote me on this but I think it's suppose to rhyme with needle, and not little or idle, so it'll be pronounced Leedle.

[Simple Living]

I don't know anything about Aldi North and Aldi South but, as an ex-employee of both Aldi's and Trader Joe's, both companies tell their employees that the only way the two stores are related is that one Albrecht brother owns Aldi and another Albrecht brother owns Trader Joe's. The stores are operated 100% independently from each other. Having worked in management in both companies, I can tell you that they're not operated the same way. And their vendors are different.

And no. Aldi does not sell Trader Joe's products at a discount. In my five years at Aldi, I've never once seen a Trader Joe's product in the store. Not even with a different label. How do I know this is true? Because the overwhelming majority of Trader Joe's products (almost 100% of them) are non-GMO. If a product contains corn starch, even that corn starch is required to be non-GMO. This isn't true for Aldi.

Two separate stores, owned and operated independently by two brothers. Only the brothers are related.

[WoodburyWoody]

Originally Posted by Simple Living

I don't know anything about Aldi North and Aldi South but, as an ex-employee of both Aldi's and Trader Joe's, both companies tell their employees that the only way the two stores are related is that one Albrecht brother owns Aldi and another Albrecht brother owns Trader Joe's. The stores are operated 100% independently from each other. Having worked in management in both companies, I can tell you that they're not operated the same way. And their vendors are different.

And no. Aldi does not sell Trader Joe's products at a discount. In my five years at Aldi, I've never once seen a Trader Joe's product in the store. Not even with a different label. How do I know this is true? Because the overwhelming majority of Trader Joe's products (almost 100% of them) are non-GMO. If a product contains corn starch, even that corn starch is required to be non-GMO. This isn't true for Aldi.

Two separate stores, owned and operated independently by two brothers. Only the brothers are related.

Ah, brothers ...

Cain v. Abel

Aldi's v. Trader Joe's (grocers)

Puma v. Adidas (shoes)

Bertch v. Omega (cabinets)

To say nothing of internal rivalries for control of companies (the four Koch brothers, the "Tale of Two Arthurs" pitting cousins Arthur T. Demoulas and Arthur S. Demoulas against one another for control of Market Basket grocery chain).

[jtindall]

We're getting ready to move back to the Twin Cities this summer. In my current town in CO, there's an awesome discount grocery store that I'm going to miss dearly. I was looking for something in the TC that might be similar and found this - Mike's Discount Foods | Saving You Money Since 1989 - does anyone have any experience with Mike's?

[Chester Burnett]

My approach to managing food costs includes buying things in bulk. When I say bulk I mean by the pound. Rice, legumes, spices, coffee, tea, backing products and oils are all available by the pound at a significant savings at most co-op grocery stores. It's easy to spend a lot of money at those stores if your not careful, but you can also save a lot.

Cooking from scratch and avoiding prepackaged foods is key for us. We generally don't look for the least expensive version of an item but prefer to buy quality ingredients and save money by cooking smart and buying bulk. Sunday usually involves a significant protein like a chicken or a roast. The leftovers get turned into a stock or soup. Usually a big pot of beans or lentils get cooked as a main dish one night then it's a side dish for a couple of days.

I save more money this way than I ever did running around town trying to see who had the cheapest eggs and such.We do this in a very luxurious way that is light years from the days of my youth where we ate rice and beans because it was all we could afford. Now we do it because it's healthy and tastes good

[1stpontiac]

Originally Posted by jtindall

We're getting ready to move back to the Twin Cities this summer. In my current town in CO, there's an awesome discount grocery store that I'm going to miss dearly. I was looking for something in the TC that might be similar and found this - Mike's Discount Foods | Saving You Money Since 1989 - does anyone have any experience with Mike's?

I popped in there once when I lived in Anoka. To be perfectly blunt, I thought it smelled funny and most of the perishable food looked questionable. But I suppose that's to be expected in a discount grocer?

[jtindall]

Originally Posted by 1stpontiac

I popped in there once when I lived in Anoka. To be perfectly blunt, I thought it smelled funny and most of the perishable food looked questionable. But I suppose that's to be expected in a discount grocer?

Ha, yeah that sounds about right 1stpontiac Discount grocery stores are a bit like thrift stores for food, you never know what you're going to get. And it's true, some things will be close to or past their sell-by date, and I've brought stuff home that seemed alright until I opened it (or, with produce, cut/bit into it), and discovered it was not up to my standards (which aren't too demanding in the first place). But overall I've had a great experience at the one here in Loveland, and will probably at least check out Mike's after we move to MN.

[Carbonx2man]

Originally Posted by WoodburyWoody

Ah, brothers ...

Cain v. Abel

Aldi's v. Trader Joe's (grocers)

Puma v. Adidas (shoes)

Bertch v. Omega (cabinets)

To say nothing of internal rivalries for control of companies (the four Koch brothers, the "Tale of Two Arthurs" pitting cousins Arthur T. Demoulas and Arthur S. Demoulas against one another for control of Market Basket grocery chain).

I love Aldi for the savings and Fresh Thyme for great quality. Both beat Cub foods in price.

I used to live in the East Coast and Market Basket was my go to grocery store (Miss it). Great selection of stuff at super discounts. It's also a great place to get inexpensive Maine Lobster (steamed on the spot). One year, the Lobster was $3.99/lb. Nowadays, they're usually like $4.99 to $6.99/lb.