ALDI — Local services in Valparaiso

I've shopped at Aldi's my whole life, so I've seen its evolution from generic discount grocer to I-grocery-shop-nowhere-else level of store. Literally. They have organics, they ha e a huge gluten free section, and their produce section is great. For a family of five, I spend $240-250 every 2 weeks. They always have the same standards I get each time, plus they always have some specialty features that you probably won't see again, so get them while they have them. Case in point, señor Rico's rice pudding. Holy cow, talk about best guilty pleasure ever. They had the big cups for 88cents each last week. $.88!!! You can't get that anywhere else! The gas station has them (much smaller size for 3x as much). Anyway, you can get salt for your water softener there at the very best price in town. I buy all of our meats there. If you used to be an Aldi's shopper but changed to Meijer or Walmart back in the day, you should give strong consideration to taking a fresh look at Aldi's. I do a lot of cooking for my family, but some nights Mama's just too tired. So I rely on things like their grilled chicken bites, which are just what the bag says... Kind of like chicken nuggets, but obvs grilled and this healthier. Microwave a few of those, throw a salad together, a d voila, dinner for the kids in under 5 minutes. If you're a mom/taxi driver, you know how hard it can be to feed your family something nutritious every night, but at Aldi's, you really can. They have microwave meals that are healthy, and if you really want something unhealthy, well you can find that too, just like at any grocer. Aldi's is a German company, so they have a good selection of German chocolate, but also German meats, European cheeses, breads, etc. Imported things that are so awesome. They have the best chèvre (goat) cheese! They also have these amazing pizza crusts you can buy (2/PKG). So you can go home, add your own toppings, and in 7-10 minutes cooking time, have a pizza that is so good because you made it, and the crust is awesome! You gotta...

Updated 3 to a 4. Generally pleasant, decent quality food, prices usually good. Updated. 2 to a 3. I don't think the auburn haired lady works there any more - not a surprise... Everyone is generally okay enough but they could step up the friendly a bit. Think Chick fil A... Smiles and "my pleasure". They get paid well at Aldis' and employers should expect that, and give it their customers. Usually clean and smells okay, bathrooms usually clean also. Feel like they really could take it a level in service though. They are fast which I appreciate. :) Prices decent.

-------------- I love Aldis in general and have went to several different ones, but the one lady with short 'auburn' hair is such an awful employee. Always grouchy and rude. Not once... all.the.time. I'm going to have to go to elsewhere from now on. Pretend to be decent person... You lost a customer with 7 in our immediate household but also has more family who comes to dinner and I help my mom shop too. Today I came in for protein bars and milk but spent $170 instead - not going to be here anymore however. :/ WAIT. I REALIZE I KNOW HER!!.. Just now occurred to me she was the awful person from Knox Dollar General. The company called me to apologize about her! I didn't put it together until I got out to the car. Wow. She actually came and opened the car door with my kids inside! That was in 2016. She simply should not be working with the public ever. Or she needs some serious retraining... If it's the same person my daughter reminded me her name...

Out of town and needed groceries for our vacation. HA what a joke. We went and filled up our cart in a hurry because rain was minutes from hitting our location. Go to the checkout line and was putting our groceries on the conveyer. So once we finished we noticed all of our groceries were just being thrown in the cart.... YES WITHOUT BAGS!!!! What the **? So we asked why he wasn't bagging our groceries and he told us we had to pay for bags. What, how much to get our groceries bagged? $0.85 per bag???? You got to be joking me. So we would have had to spend an additional $10+ just to have bags and he would have to pull everything out of the cart to bag them... No thanks lets just go before the rain comes. Just my luck, we get outside halfway to the car and BOOM!!! Pouring rain all of the groceries soaked, boxes falling apart as we are trying to get them in the trunk.

Oh wait there's more. We get back to the house and now everything that's in a box is scattered throughout the trunk. Macaroni noodles and pasta all over the trunk ruined. Would have taken pictures but my phone isn't water proof and I wasn't waiting until the next day to clean out my...