My Aldi is about 10 minutes away, and down the road from the church we attend, so I try and stop by on Sundays after church. It's even better if I can leave kids in the car with dad - it makes me really focus and get only what I need.

My youngest is still drinking whole milk, so I get that, eggs, ets. If I can't make it on Sunday, I'll try and get there, but won't make a special trip to that end of town. I still shop at other stores during the week, but knowing I can get good prices at Aldi lets me spluge on a few other things.

Jen

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Jen
mom to Matthew (5) & Katie (1)

I have been shopping mostly, actually exclusively at Aldi the past two months - well yesterday I dropped into Giant Eagle, I found things that were cheaper by 10 - 50 cents at Giant Eagle, plus you get the gas perks & double coupons! I guess I just assumed that Aldi was a cheap as you get, so just like I find myself doing at WalMart - you don't shop around because you don't think there is anywhere going to beat their prices. Which I have found that Target (my fav. store!) has lots of things that are cheaper or the same price as WalMart!!! I would suggest as the other mommies who said - do a once a month stock up trip to aldi on the things you know you need & are cheaper - then doing your shopping at the grocery. but most important STICK TO A LIST!!!!! I ran into Giant Eagle just last night & left my list in the car - well, wouldn't you know that I ended up buying chips & salsa too!!!! Totally unnecessary, but it sure did taste good! lol

Good Luck to you - you may want to see how far over budget you keep going & then adjust accordingly ~ I had to raise mine by $15 recently. But what do you do? You are doing amazing by not going out & having dh brown bag it... I just try to remind myself that if I spend $70 - $90 a week in groceries, that is what a lot of our 'Joneses' Friends spend on dinner on a Friday night & that is feeding us all week long!!!!

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the only reason i shop 4 different stores is they are all on the same road and i start at one end and work my way down to the highway i take home(25 min away) i have certain things i buy at certain stores... there are times when one store i end up getting the bulk of my items cause they are having a good sale and skip a couple of the others...i would maybe see if you can do your aldis once a month for staples if they are cheaper than the other stores.

i would also consider upping your grocery budget i had to up ours 25 bucks a week inorder to accomidate the rising prices. even cases of diapers have gone up over $2 bucks here so inorder to get what we needed i had to do it.

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Measure wealth not by the things you have, but by the things you have for which you would not take money.

For us Aldi's seems to be the cheapest unless it a really good sale going on. The Aldi's is 50 minutes from the apartment so we go once a month. If I plan my meals and take a list I can usually get almost everything we will need for the whole month at aldi's alone. I just have to run to the stores close for milk, eggs, and bread if we run out before the next trip. The thing I love about Aldi's is I have never spent over $250 and the one time I spent $250 we bought more for a cook-out we were having.

If you go to there website they have tons of recipes using pretty much all things you can find at there store.

I hear a lot of double coupons under $.50. Does anyone know where in the Twin Cities they do double coupons? I know that Rainbow Foods did the double coupon thing on Wednesday's but I believe that was only on special Wednesday's when advertised. When I was in high school I worked at a local grocery store in a small town, we always doubled the coupons....I don't want to drive 30 mins for double coupons....

Thanks

well, I live 5 min south of St paul and I can tell you that NOWHERE in the cities does any place double coupons. Rainbow foods usued to double up to $1.00 on weds only and you could only use 5 coupons and you had to spend at least $23(?) after coupons. They stopped that a good couple months ago. BUT they are supposedly doing it every now and then. I have seen it once in 6 months. Given the restrictions sometimes I still wouldn't shop there unless it was a good sale for me. There prices are higher than Cub and Target. BTW-Cub does take expired coupons, so that really helps.

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allgirls, mom to 3 girls

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I agree with what most of the mommysavers have said about using both if it's convenient for you. I do save a lot with coupons at my regular grocers but they are all right next to each other also. I know it can be frustrating to keep grocery cost down with everything going up, but there are a lot of great ideas at your fingertips on this website. Keep your chin up!

When we do get to Aldi's which is 30 miles away I stock up, but otherwise I really watch for sales, check the markdowns and use coupons.

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I go to Aldi's first & buy everything that I can get anywhere, then I go to Walmart to buy the things that Aldi's doesn't have. For example, brand name chips, pop, pop tarts. I have saved a bunch of money this way. Also if I have a coupon for something that I am buying at walmart, then I use it.

We don't have Aldi or Walmart here. It makes it more difficult. We have Costco and Smart & Final (big box stores). We have Ralphs (pricey, but good sales & double coupons), Scolari's (generally low prices, particularly on Mexican foods & double coupons), Vons (middling prices, no double coupons), and Albertsons (used to be generally low prices, no double coupons, prices are going up), a couple of health food stores, plus farmer's markets and farm stands, and Trader Joe's, and ethnic stores....whew!

That means a lot of running. But we've generally pared down to the farm stand and Trader Joe's. When we run out of flour, I buy a lot on sale so I don't have to hit the regular stores often. Costco is 1x a month. The health food store (for bulk grains) is 1x a month. I've tried to cut down my shopping to 2x per week.

I cut a lot of coupons and maybe use only 5%. If it's not on sale with coupon on the day I happen to be shopping, it expires.