Alpha Mom Must List: Shop at ALDI

Come close.

Closer. I have a great tip to share. You need to check out ALDI.

Have you heard of them? They’re a national supermarket that sells the most popular private-label grocery items at insanely good prices, we’re talking like a 45%-50% discount to traditional supermarkets. And, you don’t need to buy their products in bulk to enjoy the savings, which living in an apartment in NYC, where kitchens are galley-sized, that’s super important. That’s why when I meet those who have shopped ALDI, they’re usually super-fans and give me that look like, “yup, I know what you’re talking about.”

I was first introduced to ALDI on a press visit while at the Mom 2.0 conference in Florida. A group of bloggers were taken to ALDI to shop and we were able to fill up our cart and take our supermarket purchases back to our hotel room. That’s when I fell in love with ALDI’s Anise pizzelle cookies and peanut butter cups.

Luckily, ALDI just opened up their first store in Manhattan (right next door to Target in the East Harlem River Plaza). For a town that is expected to have everything, Manhattan is seriously lacking in good supermarkets and especially in good-value ones.

This week, I partnered with ALDI to host an ALDI Manhattan launch party at my home supporting the Dance Theatre of Harlem. In celebration of its entry into the Harlem community, both ALDI and I will be making a monetary donation to benefit The Dance Theatre of Harlem. Although quiet about it, ALDI regularly partners with various organizations in the communities where they do business. To me it’s clear that ALDI recognizes that entering into a community goes beyond opening a store, it means supporting its members as well.

At the party, healthy fruit skewers, tasty wine (I love ALDI’s Pinot Grigio), and delicious hors d’or oeuvres, all made using fresh ALDI groceries, were served. These hors d’or oeuvres are all ALDI Test Kitchen recipes for the holidays: Mini Thanksgiving Day Bites, Mini Pumpkin Parfait with Cranberry Caramel, Party Poppers (dates & brie wrapped in bacon), and Avocado Cheesecakes. The recipes are available here, just click to download.

I shopped the Manhattan ALDI already and the store is fantastic. I continue to be floored by ALDI’s low-prices. I love Manhattan and it’s a great place to live, but it’s not inexpensive, so when you see a 24-pack of purified bottled water (using reverse osmosis, no less) for $2.29 and a round or Brie for $2.99, you get pretty excited. When it was time to pay at the cash register, even though ALDI doesn’t accept credit cards (they accept cash and debit cards), all the groceries filling my large ALDI eco-tote only came to $22. Ca-ching.