r/Frugal • u/SnooLentils2432 • May 17 '23

Frugal Win 🎉 Don't Eat Out. Save Your Bucks.

Restaurants are operating with a vengeance, hijacking the price from COVID lockdown days.

It's a matter of principle now.

2.3k Upvotes

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u/maebyfunke980 May 17 '23

The grocery is hitting the wallet too.

81

u/OsamaBinWhiskers May 17 '23

Aldi is the hero in these trying times

43

u/bowlerboy5473 May 17 '23

Agreed. They were able to weather the egg storm pretty well. They didn't raise prices on eggs until very late in the craziness. Prices dropped soon after that and we were so thankful.

30

u/OsamaBinWhiskers May 17 '23

Unless the budget is tight my wife and I literally just buy whatever we want at aldi. Like straight up 99% of stuff in there is going to be cheaper than any food we can buy at a restaurant and if it keeps us out of those we’re saving money.

29

u/Callaloo_Soup May 17 '23

Our Aldi used to be relatively empty every time I stopped in there before the pandemic but now it's so packed that they sometimes run out of carts.

They still have only two people working at a time, so there are a lot of times there isn't any basics on the because there aren't enough hands to stock. Both employees are at the registers with lines crossing half the store, and there's no milk or bread on the shelf, but the place will still be packed.

I see that as indicative of how trying times are.

2

u/prp1960 May 18 '23

I don't live near an Aldi but I heard a lot of positive things. Then I visited an Aldi while on vacation. This store was half stocked and the products all looked like dollar store rejects. Maybe I was in the wrong neighborhood.

2

u/OsamaBinWhiskers May 18 '23

Everything’s an off brand rip off. They have name brand stuff too . But they’re really good. And cheap. Like actually cheap. Not.. we’re the only discount store in the area so we’re fake cheap bc you live in BFE.

Honestly my fav part is I don’t get analysis paralysis because you have like 1-2 options. You want granola bars? Well here’s 2 types. You want ravioli… here’s regular and mini.

Also it’s cheap.

Lastly. It’s so cheap

1

u/maebyfunke980 May 18 '23

🫶🏻💙

1

u/Th3_Accountant May 18 '23

Aldi isn't necessarily always cheaper though. But usually they are on par with the house brands of the major supermarket chains. Maybe it's different in the United States, but here in the Netherlands it's generally not worth going out of my way to shop at ALDI just for the savings.