How fresh is the ALDI produce?

When I first heard that ALDI was coming to my area, I looked up articles about the store to find out more about it.  One of the things I read many times was that their canned and boxed food was good, but that their produce wasn't so good.

So now that I am a regular ALDI shopper, what do I think of their produce?

Well, first of all, their items are limited.  You're not going to find unusual sorts of produce here, just the basics.  If you're looking for organic produce, or fruit that is well out of season, you won't find it at ALDI.

But their sale prices on produce can't be beat at any other store.  Each week, ALDI has 4 to 6 different produce items on sale.  One week it might be fruit only, other weeks it might only be salad  vegetables.  Usually sale items are seasonal - you'll have strawberries and blueberries during the summer, and apples and pears in the fall.   So if you see something on sale you like, you'll need to buy as much as you can - or as much as you can use before it goes bad - so that you have sale-priced produce on hand until the next sale on that item.

And the freshness... well, this is a mixed bag.  I have mostly not had any problems with freshness.  However, sometimes items are packaged on styrofoam trays, and when you open the package, some of the items are going bad.  For instance, I bought a tray of eight Roma tomatoes a couple of weeks ago, and I found some soft spots on a couple of them.  That wasn't good - I could have avoided those if they hadn't been prewrapped.

But mostly everything's been fine for me, and that's why I'll continue to purchase sale-priced produce at ALDI!

Here's what I got this week:


Trip #1:
2 dozen eggs @ $1.39 = $2.78
2 gallons milk @ $3.19 = $6.38
1 sleeve celery @ $1.29
2 24-oz cottage cheese @ $1.99 = $3.98
3 3-lb Gala apples @ $1.99 = $5.97
2 cucumbers @ 50¢ = $1.00
1 green pepper 2-pk @ $1.39
1 instant oatmeal @ $1.49
2 apple juice concentrate @ 99¢ = $1.98
1 80-ct kitchen garbage bags @ $4.99
1 2-lb brown sugar @ $1.39
4 cans black beans @ 59¢ = $2.36
1 20-ct tortillas @ $1.99
2 whole wheat bread @ $1.29 = $2.58

Tax: 30¢
Total spent: $39.87

Trip #2:

2 3-lb onions @ 89¢ = $1.78
2.55 lb bananas @ 44¢/lb = $1.12
2 multicolored peppers 2-pk @ $1.29 = $2.58
1 head lettuce @ $1.19
1 16-oz shredded cheddar @ $2.99

Total spent: $9.66

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