When we first started shopping at Aldi several years ago it was definitely an adjustment for me. We would still need to go to one or two other places occasionally to get everything we wanted and needed for the week.

But, I adapted and loved it. I loved Aldi’s business model and bringing my own bags. The kids loved inserting a quarter for a shopping cart.

Then COVID hit and we stopped shopping there; we wanted and needed a one stop shop for grocery and miscellaneous. Then we took it a step further and tried online ordering for store pickup.

Overall we had a great experience with another store’s grocery pickup, until last month. After hours of delay, they said our order would not be filled that day. It was Sunday night.

With work and school the next morning we couldn’t just get up and go grocery shopping. Thankfully we were not completely out food and our kids were able to get lunch at school. However, the whole situation, and how it was handled, really turned us off from said store.

We decided we were done with them and took our business back to Aldi!

Returning to Aldi took some adjusting again; they remodeled the store since we had last shopped in person. Also, Aldi doesn’t have all the same brands and items we were used to buying regularly elsewhere.

We had seen they have online ordering with a pickup option so decided to give it a try. We use it weekly now and every experience so far has been great. Sure there are substitutions sometimes, but that would happen other places too.

With Aldi, we get alerted when an associate begins our shopping and are able to check the progress along the way, if interested. We get notified real time if something is substituted so are able to approve or chose something else. There is the option to approve specific substitutions in advance as well, just in case.

There is a similar ‘let us know you’re on your way’ and ‘let us know you’re’ here functionality. There are the designated parking spots and they ask you to identify the spot number and type of vehicle for pickup. They also let you know when an associate is heading out with your order!

Lastly, our orders are always ready on time, if not early. In fact, I think they have been ready earlier more than not. The food is then kept temperature controlled until you get there.

If you’ve shopped at Aldi in the past then you know they don’t have plastic grocery bags like other stores. Returning I couldn’t help but wonder, what about the bags??

When we shopped at Aldi pre-COVID we would always bring our own bags so I was genuinely curious to see how they did grocery pickup. Answer: they use brown paper bags that are made out of 40% recycled material.

Aldi uses far fewer bags than other stores do, both in store and for pickup. And yes, I was someone that would take all the plastic bags from other stores back to the recycle bins in the front of the stores. BUT, bonus points for Aldi: their paper bags can be easily recycled in your bins at home.

Moral of the story: Aldi’s online ordering and pickup is a great succes! I highly recommend it if you have one close to you and are looking to make a change and save some money.