But I was always that person who catalogued her thrifted finds obsessively, so this isn't really all that different (dig back enough and you'll find a few thrifting vlogs that I made too).
SOooooo....today my family went to Aldi for a few things. We didn't buy a lot of necessities, we did buy a lot of snacks/treats, and I have mixed feelings about this but a lot of it will come with me to work so it's OK. Cheaper than going out to lunch for SURE.
We spent $65 (after $5 coupon, yeehaw) and got a ton of stuff. I really do like Aldi a lot, even if the whole "Last time I was here I bought this delicious thing and now it's not here anymore" angle gets a bit tiring.
Afterward, I went with a friend to the new Sprouts. It. Was. Overwhelming. I've been to Sprouts before but I chalked up my freaked-out too-much-stuff feeling to the fact that the main store I used to go to is near a friend's house and it's too far away for me to buy anything of substance (I used it to run in and grab some prepared things for lunch - some veggie sushi or a snack grouping of feta/olives/hummus/pita). Nope, it's an overwhelming store. The price signs are confusing. The aisles are tricky and small. The store layout isn't logical to me. Many items are WAY overpriced. And I wanted to buy some organic strawberries but once I got past the suburban mom who needed to look into EVERY SINGLE PINT (for what?) I looked into ONE pint and it was full of fuzzy white mold so I noped out.
HOWEVER. Sprouts does carry vegetarian items that I cannot find anywhere else - I picked up the Gardein pulled "pork" buns and a single-serve frozen veggie lasagna (that wound up costing more than I thought the sign said, ahem). I also got some organic potatoes, some seitan, some fancy hummus that was on sale (I was going to make some - I mention that in the video - but this was cheap enough to buy instead of making it), and some blueberries that were a dollar and I was like OMGADOLLAR and then when we were at the car my friend pointed out that they were only a half pint - I think Aldi had a whole pint for less than $2 (and these weren't even organic) so boo to that but I'll still eat and enjoy them. Sprouts will probably be a store we go to for VERY VERY specific items (or for things on sale) but I have way too many other good grocery options to make this a regular part of our rotation. (My brain said to me "I'm already juggling Costco, Aldi, YDFM, and Kroger - you want me to figure out if this store's prices are comparable to ALL FOUR OF THOSE STORES? Nope." The bulk bins are very enticing too except I watched a little kid dip her fingers in one that held dried oatmeal when her dad wasn't looking....)
Yay haul videos!
