It's All Good at Aldi

I'm sure you are desperately waiting for Part II of The Makeover Story, but in the meantime I had to rave for a bit on another topic. On August 4, 2005, the act of grocery shopping for the Lebens Household changed forever. Just up the road in downtown Rosemount, an Aldi store opened. I'd heard Aldi described as "kind of ghetto" by a pal who shopped the Inver Grove Heights store shortly after it opened. And it really is! You have to rent the cart for $0.25 and bring your own paper bags. It's my kind of store. Everything in the entire store is generic. Aldi even has generic Nutella (a European hazelnut spread I like to eat on toast.)
I stocked up on generic garbanzo beans and brown rice. They have red and yellow bell peppers 4 for $1.49! I've been on a red pepper frenzy for the last two months. Usually they're so expensive, I stretch them out with the green peppers. Now I just grab one and chop it for a snack. I've been including them in pizza, curry, tacos, pretty much everything. The other night I had soy nuggets with red peppers on the side.
I'm so happy. Not since the demise of Buy'n'Save have I enjoyed such reduced grocery bills. Aldi carries Whippy's favorite variety of squash, so I've been saving quite a bit on the cost of iguana chow alone. I'm channeling my grocery savings towards furnishing my new house entirely from IKEA. I finally obtained a "Klippan" black leather couch on clearance that I've been hoping to buy for two years. Now I don't have to sit on the floor while watching movies in the family room. I have Aldi to thank, in part, for my new couch. Tonight I'm going to sit on the new couch while munching a generic vegetable frozen pizza from Aldi and enjoying a Metallica DVD. It's all good at Aldi!

My New IKEA Klippan!