N - New Noms!

It was summer—the sun was shining, the AC in the car was blasting, and Michael and I were shopping around the mall area in Duluth. We were driving by Hobby Lobby when we noticed a new building being built across the parking lot. We were pondering what it could be when my heart leapt with excitement—the shape of the building was familiar to me…it looked like a Trader Joe’s! I would have been as happy as a puppy with three tails if a Trader Joe’s came to Duluth, but I didn’t want to get my hopes up (too much). We decided to do a little drive-by of the construction site to see if there was any information about what was being built there. I held my breath as we got closer to the construction fences…my heart was racing, my palms were sweating…and just like that, my hopes and dreams were shattered. My heart sank as I read the four little letters under the 70’s styled logo of…Aldi.

I’ve only been to one Aldi in my life. Michael and I visited the Aldi in Superior, WI about a year ago, and neither of us was impressed. We recently read that Aldi has been making some positive changes over the past couple years, so maybe those positive changes weren’t implemented yet, or maybe it’s just because that store was in Superior, WI…whatever the reason, we weren’t impressed. After reading Aldi reviews online and watching Aldi taste test videos, we put our preconceived notions aside and decided to give the Aldi in Duluth a try (we intentionally waited at least a month before we visited to avoid the chaos that ensues when any new store opens and people flock there like they’re offering free puppies with any purchase).

We went in with low expectations, and we left pleasantly surprised! Upon entering the store, I realized that we didn’t have any reusable bags or a quarter for a cart, but I wasn’t worried—it’s not like we were going to find stuff we actually wanted to buy, right? Yeah, wrong. We got ten feet into the store and I was already scouring the trail mix selection like a starved hiker lost in the mountain wilderness. We both grabbed a medium sized bag of trail mix and moved on. I had heard that the fresh produce at Aldi wasn’t very good, but the strawberries looked perfect, and the bananas were brand name, so we added those to our arms. I was also skeptical about buying meat there, but the ground turkey looked fine, and it was the last package (must be popular), so that joined the rest of the items we now had stacked in our arms like a precarious Jenga tower. The real fun began when we passed the protein/snack bar selection on our way to the soup; a box of protein bars made it into our arms, followed by three cans of soup and a can of green beans. Our arms were reaching max capacity, so we decided that we had enough items for our first Aldi haul and made our way to the freezer section to add our last item, a bag of tater tots, to our arms. We checked out and were pleasantly surprised that the total was only $28.00 and some odd change (people don’t exaggerate about how much money you’ll save shopping at Aldi)! As we reassembled the Jenga tower of Aldi products in our arms, I made a mental note to bring our own bags next time. *For those of you who don’t know, Aldi charges .25 cents to use a cart (you get the money back once you return the cart) and they do not have any bags, you must bring your own!

Overall, we were very pleased with our trip to Aldi in Duluth, and we decided that we will definitely be going back! We won’t be buying everything at Aldi, but there’s a lot of stuff worth getting there that will help you save a lot of money in the long run!

*Note: My original plan for this blog was for Michael and I to do an “Aldi vs. Brand Name blind taste test” video, but that didn’t work out, which is why this blog post is so delayed (sorry!!). If you would still be interested in us doing a video taste test, let me know and we will make it happen! You can also suggest products for us to compare if you have anything specific in mind. :) Until then, what I will leave you with is a super simple (and inexpensive) recipe for classic tater tot hotdish! We bought all of these items at Aldi for around $6.00 and it made a delicious, classic, tater tot hot dish. Enjoy!

Aldi-Tot Hotdish

Serves 6

3 10.2 oz cans of cream of mushroom soup (Fit & Active)

1 large can of green beans (Happy Harvest)

1 container (~1.2 lbs) 93% lean ground turkey (Fit & Active)

32 oz bag of tater tots (Seasons Choice)

1.     Preheat oven to 350.

2.     Cook ground turkey. Transfer to a large mixing bowl.

3.     Add your three cans of mushroom soup and stir until well incorporated.

4.     Add your one can of green beans and gently fold them into the soup and meat mixture.

5.     Pour entire mixture into a 9x13 baking dish. Top with tater tots.

6.     Bake for 40-45 minutes.

7.     Enjoy!