Shopping at Aldi

So, I used to enjoy shopping at Aldi and knew that it was saving us money. Now, I have to be much more careful about what I buy there and doing the big shop there last month was not worth the 20 mile round trip.

In common with many other stores, Aldi have been gradually raising their prices and now that some of the bigger stores are also offering discounted weekly deals on fruit and vegetables I have to calculate whether it is worth going there or not.

They are still cheaper for some things, such as :- meat, cheese, ham, organic milk, flour and toilet rolls. However, the basic ranges in other supermarkets now match their prices e.g.) on butter and they are more expensive on some items e.g.) Tesco basic mayonnaise is only 40p.

All of this means that I have to check prices very carefully before thinking that a big shop in Aldi is worth the petrol money. I think that it would be different if the discounted stores such as Aldi and Lidl were closer to me but all the cheaper stores are a good distance away and that means petrol money ! Doing a big shop might be worth it sometimes e.g.) to stock upon toilet rolls but not dropping in for bits and pieces or taking advantage of the weekly deals !

I only realised this last month when I was trying to cut down the grocery spend for this one and checked every price I could on my supermarket.com. I still check the market occasionally as people keep telling me that markets are cheaper than supermarkets, not in this affluent part of the world !

I guess the message is grow your own as much as possible and keep checking those prices !!