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This may sound strange, but I am having fun finding ways to stretch a dollar. Saving money has become like a game for me. I think a long-dormant 'spend-thrift' gene has been recently awakened; all I know is that nowadays my seratonin levels spike whenever I realize that I can save 35 cents on a can of green beans, or that we can borrow a movie from the library instead of renting, or that Chauntelle can turn a half-pound of ground beef into 48 meat balls that comprise the cores of 3 different meals. This stuff makes me crazy happy, for some reason. It's fun.

So, I went to Aldi today, just to look around. For those that have never been to one, Aldi is a chain of very strange discount grocery stores. The company is based in Germany, so some of the oddness may just be due to cultural differences. For example, you check out a shopping cart by depositing a quarter to unlock the cart from the cart-rack. To get your quarter back, you have to return the cart. Not a big deal, and it eliminates both the problem of carts in the parking lot and the need to hire staff to retrieve said carts. Easy peasy. Also, bring your own shopping bags, or be prepared to pay extra for them. Another European touch: the cashiers (really, cashier singular, since I've never seen 2 employees working at the same time) sit at their registers, just like at ASDA in Trowbridge (ASDA is owned by Wal-Mart, by the way).

Ok, so you've checked out your cart and you're now in the store. First thing you notice- no shelves. No racks. Dry goods and canned goods are left in their cases. The cases have been cut open and stacked in columns and rows. Everything is visible and easily accessible- just not on shelves. Next thing you notice is that almost nothing is a name brand. The whole store is store-brand, with some exceptions. That said, it probable that many of the store-brand items at an Aldi store are actually name-brand products incognito.

You'll also notice the odd German beer that you've never heard of, and European chocolate (real European chocolate) for, like, $1.25. See, that's the big thing about Aldi- everything is really cheap. So, yeah, they don't have Campbell's tomato soup, but the tomato soup they have costs 32 cents. So, if you are already used to buying store brands without complaint (which we are), the fact that you will not see the words "Kraft", "Nabisco", or "Coca-Cola" in the store won't bother you.

This was a scouting mission, plus I had a restless 13 month-old with me, so I limited my purchases to some German beer ($4.99, hard to beat that for a six-pack), sugar, cola, and vinegar (thumbs up on the cola and the beer). Barely cracked $8.00. Crackers and dairy products looked good, canned goods seemed fine, and their coffee is supposed to be good ($2.99 for the premium). The meat selection was meager, but hey, they have great prices on ground beef, and I know I can get cheap chicken at Bloom, so that shouldn't be a problem.

I'll have to grab some of that chocolate next time.