Aldi's vs Sam's Club

[bluebird]

I am trying to figure out if it is worth my time, energy and money to shop at Sam's. What do you think? We are talking about using the click and pull so we don't need to shop in the store. Then when my membership is due we can rethink joining too. What do you think?

[RobertaD]

I never found Sam's club to be a great deal the couple of times I have been to one. I can get better deals at the grocery with sale prices and coupons and not have to buy a bundle of 3 or 4 items.

I haven't been in a Sam's in several years though so I don't know if things have changed or not.

I do buy a few things at Aldi's as they are cheaper everyday than the other stores but if the grocery is having a sale and I have a coupon it would be cheaper at the grocery.

Roberta

[pootersmommy]

I go to Sam's a couple times a year. Generally for things like trash bags, t. paper, and tylenol. Sometimes their large pkgs. of chicken and meat balls are a good value. Like getting their cottage cheese (huge container) and some cheeses. I also think they have some good prices on canned goods - but they are such big containers - so you have to do something else with them after opening.

I am definately a fan of Aldi. I do most of my shopping there and the dollar stores. I do some coupons, but not like some folks on here do. I use very few brand names - so Aldi works for me. I feel like I get good deals there. I will not buy meat or bread there. Bread goes stale quickly - and meat - well I just don't get it there - not sure what my reasoning is! LOL

[cat lover]

I shope at SAM's Club about once a month. I keep several of the large can itmes on hand for drop ins. Large cans of chili fixins, baked beans, can fruits and etc. Then when someone calls and said they are on the way I can fix whatever we need for the visit. I also keep some frozen items for the same reason. I like their fresh produce prices and the quantity.
I have shopped in Aldi's in the past ,but now don't have one anywhere near me. They both have their usefullness, but it all depends on what your needs are. Sometimes the regular stores sale prices and using coupons more than surpasses the price at Sam's; like I said it depends on your own families needs.
I like to get my box of copy paper there and my inkb for my printers and DH's herbs and vitamins I can't get anywhere else for as good a price.

[ajrsmom]

I shop at both. I'm either at Sam's once a week or every two weeks.

I buy mushrooms, English cucumbers (they sell them cheaper at 3 in a pk), pork tenderloins, chicken (if I can't find it on sale at a store around me), rotisserie chicken, cheese, and snacks for lunches once in a while. I also buy spices there occasionally. We also buy garbage bags and kitty litter there when needed. I also use it now to shop for my PTA stuff. My kids are spoiled on their pretzels from the snack shop up front. lol! It just wouldn't be right if they didn't get one to eat before we left. We are lucky that our Sam's is less than 10 miles away from us now. When I lived in Pa. and in Kernersville, NC it was much further away and I never really took advantage of it.

I do a lot of shopping at Aldi - but if you've read anything about the money incidents where people stole credit and debit card numbers from Aldi members from the south all up the east coast, that stunk. Unfortunately, it happened to me! Even though my bank ended up refunding our money - I was lucky, I got it all back. Some people did not), the bank froze my debit card and it was a mess to get through. But really, this could happen any where you go.

I like Aldi for eggs, milk, cheese, olive oil, flour, sugar, cereal, juice, some fruit, some frozen foods (they really are improving the quality of some items.). You have to watch the prices of their canned goods now. Sometimes you can find them cheaper on sale at other places. Same with cereal if you find it on sale and you use coupons, too. There are too many items for me to name them all. I'm not crazy about their yogurt, pizza rolls or chopped frozen vegs because they really seem to be bits and pieces.

I don't think that I could choose to shop at one place or the other. If you have the convenience of having both close to you, I would say use both --if you really think that you will use Sam's and not waste the money on a card. Take advantage of their free shopping passes to go and check things out.

[AnnaInOhio]

Tami

OMG! I did not hear about the debit card thing with Aldi's!

I do not shop at Sam's anymore haven't for over 10 years, I really did not find their prices to be that great in comparison to other stores using coupons. We do occasionally shop at GFS (Gordon Food Service) where they bulk grocery store food items but they have increased their prices alot in recent years to where it isn't as much of a bargain as it used to be, they are free to shop at no membership fee's.

Aldi's I shop at weekly for some items.. tomato paste which I make dh's tomato juice from, their cream soups are cheaper than the store and good, I buy their turkey burger but Wow has it went up in the past cpl. years I can remember it being as low as 49 cents a lb. now it's $1.39 lb. ouch! Overall though they have fair prices but still not as cheap as alot of the stores loss leaders. Krogers has cheese on sale about every 3 months 10 for $10 and I try to stock up when they have those sales as we use alot of cheese. Unfortunately I have to do alot of store to store shopping every week to get the best bargains each one has that week.

Anna

[Sandy1970]

I havent shopped at Sams for years. When the kids were little I bought alot of things in bulk but now I don't need to buy so much. I main place to shop has always been Aldis. The only thing I don't buy at Aldi is shampoo, conditioner & face cleaners. Too watery.

[jokir]

DH nd I went to Costco yesterday to see if it would be worth the membership. Truthfully, for the two of us, we can do better with Aldi's, coupons, and sales.

[bluebird]

I am using both Aldi and Sams and staying out of the local grocery store. I do cherry pick locally when I can but I am saving money and have tons more food in the house than I did. Plus Jasmine can help with the shopping when we go to Aldi. Last time the kids shopped at Aldi while Gregg and I went to Sams. Saved lots of time.