This MoM Can't Live Without: ALDI!!



http://www.twinbabiesmall.com/twins-clean-shopper.html

A few weeks ago, I told you about how I started saving money by grocery shopping at Aldi. I was back again recently for a trip, and I noticed something I had never noticed previously.

Their shopping carts have room for two kids in the seats!!! Let's have a Twin Mom Hallelujah!

(Why haven't I noticed this before? Because I've never brought the kids with me during my Aldi trips... Usually my mom would watch them, or I'd run on a weekend when my husband was home. This time, I had my mom with me so we were either going to use two carts or one of us would push the stroller. Imagine my surprise when we noticed this! I could have done a cartwheel in the parking lot.)

Twin Moms know what a dilemma shopping carts can be when you have more than one child in the toddler stage. (Here's another article on it here.)Your options for shopping are limited. You can either put them in a stroller and pull a cart behind you or carry a basket or just put your food under the stroller -- the latter two definite hinder how much you can purchase. Or you put one in the seat and one in the main part of the cart -- we all know how that can turn out.

The only other store that I've noticed with double shopping cart seats is Costco.

Just knowing I can go to Aldi without another adult and get the things I need whether or not a babysitter is available is such a relief. I felt idiotic for never noticing this, but now it makes my life so much easier to know I can run there with both of them and be able to handle the trip.

My recent trip yielded a lot of produce and frozen vegetables, since the "cupboard" was getting bare. A recent commenter remarked on the lack of fruit & veggies from the USA on Aldi shelves, so I took an informal inventory when I got home to see what is and what isn't from the U.S. Out of the produce I brought home, pears, corn on the cob, carrots, lettuce and frozen peas were all grown in the USA. Frozen beans are from the Netherlands. Grape tomatoes, seedless cukes, red/orange bell peppers and green/yellow squash are labeled from Mexico.

As I said to the commenter, I think Aldi is not alone in importing some fresh fruits and vegetables. Regular grocery stores also import fruits and veggies, but perhaps the difference is that they don't sell as many in packages so you don't have a label to read. Also, it has to do with availability -- you might not be able to grow something here in the U.S. at a certain time of the year. I worked with produce for a long time in my youth, and there were certain times of a year where things like a melon was imported and other times when we got them from a New Jersey farm. There are a lot of factors involved. But that said, it's what matters to you.

I also noticed really pretty fresh flowers at the store -- $3.99 for a bunch, making them a very inexpensive way to brighten someone's day.

So if you haven't checked Aldi out just yet, it's worth a trip to lighten up the grocery bill -- and shop with your twins at the same time!

To find other products which have saved my sanity

as a MoM (mom of multiples),

check out my MoM Reviews here!