To ask the best way to shop at Aldi?

[SoMuchPain]

My local Aldi is a good 20 minute drive therefore that in itself is effort with a toddler. I did do well for a few weeks making Tues my Aldi day. But I do find my local Sainsbury's so much easier but literally it does cost me twice as much. Please tell me A) to get off my lazy arse and head back to aldi and B) please tell me the best way to shop there - especially how to handle the tills!

I was going to say the Trolley Bags as well ... I find it too easy to overload an Ikea bag and then I can't get it out of the trolley

Our Aldi is fab. Apparently each Store Manager does their own ordering so if your fruit and veg isn't great, then let them know. You can also decode the picked dates on the packaging to help you get the most recent stuff.

Our Aldi appears to have gone back to standard use by dates on fruit and veg, even though the whole concept on fruit and veg is completely ridiculous.

Things may have been stored for months before arriving at the shop and the storage conditions are much more important than the time on the shelf or at home.

Iv had a few occasions were veg / fruit has gone mouldy very quickly so I tend not to buy to much with the intention of popping in again later in week once stuff is eaten ( I live right near one ) rather than it needing to last a week. Twice noticed mouldy veg in unpacking so am more careful now when picking the stuff up in the store give certain things a quick check . This is probably less than 8 "mouldy fruit/veg" incidents in a good couple of years shopping there though yeh not great but in the whole I find the food good quality and I save a fortune !

I went to Morrisons today. Their 2 for £3 on berries/grapes saved a lot of money

I had a fullly qualified Aldi check out operator yesterday. No faffing about, no niceties and I was shovelling stuff in randomly once I'd put the half a dozen heavy things in the right bags. I did, however, get ahead of her at one point because she had to stop to count the bread rolls! Perhaps that is a stalling tactic - put a bag of things that need to be counted partway through the shopping on the belt.

If that had been my first experience, I would have been terrified! :o

soup I always put something which has to be counted or weighed half way along!

OP I expect those berries are 69p/89p a punnet in Aldi

An Aldi is opening very close to me near my usual supermarket so I had decided I'll try it once it's opened. But fuck that after reading this, what a malarkey. I wasn't aware you couldn't pack at the tills. What's the bloody point? I'm not damaging my food by chucking it in the trolley as fast as I can just to satisfy them and then emptying my entire trolley just to put it all in bags. Fuck off Aldi.

Why would you damage your food?

I've never damaged any food shopping at Aldi .
I don't get all the angst over packing, I've never had an issue. Yeah they're fast... so pack fast. It's pretty easy.

And I've always packed at the tills.

Raspberries are around the £2 mark in Aldi this week. They are lovely though!

I try to be at Aldi for 8am - it's much quieter. The fruit and veg are fine in my local store. You can get round and though the tills like a dose of salts. It's so cheap, and they don't move things round (aka hide the very things you've gone in for). Win-win so far as I'm concerned.

Everyone packs at the tills at ours. yes, the till operators hurry along, but I try to line things up on the belt so things can be packed together- tins then cleaning stuff, ten frozen then fresh. And then consciously resist being put under pressure- I pack at my pace, smile and pay. what are they going to do about it if they have to stop for a minute while I pack my shopping and open my purse, ban me?

The things I like about it (as well as it being cheap) are it's quite small- I find big supermarkets a bit overwhelming, tbh, and tend to drift about faffing over what to buy. They also don't move the layout about- if they haven't got it they haven't got it this week, but I know where to find the staples.

I know it was mentioned at the start of the thread but I actually DID buy a baseball glove at Aldi . It came with a baseball and my DD loves it!