I knew it !!!!

I wanted to post something about how much I looooooooove Aldi for weeks...
With Mr L. we noticed many products that looked a lot like Trader Joe's stuff, only super cheaper.. Well it took me all those weeks but today I googled "Trader Joe's Aldi", thinking I would find an other blogger in love with both to share my joy and suspicions of shared business... Well imagine my surprise when I found that it's not even a secret!! They are owned by the same people.
So if you like Trader Joe's don't wait, get yourself to Aldi! :)

A few links to let you know this is real: New York Times and none other but the wall street journal!
Unfortunately I don't have access to the full article on WSJ :/ so I don't know much more than the first two paragraphs..
The NYT article seems unfinished to me (it stops right after TJ employees are not allowed to say U-boats, I will never know why..)

And I did find one blogger telling about her experiences here. And one more here.

My reasons to love Aldi:

- I'm European. I know sounds weird, but bear with me. Aldi is extremly cheap in Europe (here too I guess). Aldi is how many people in my family get to eat various food instead of just pasta. My grand father survives on Aldi food. When my sister or cousin have rough patches they go to Aldi. Actually they go there for basics and complete somewhere else usually, unless dire times.

-They carry european stuff: german saussages, german cakes, italian specialty, swiss chocolate, belgian chocolate.

-They have incredible basics. I get everytime: 1 gallon skim milk ($1.99 since Monday, but $1.79 for months before this) $1.99 for 12 eggs. $1.39 for a big yogurt container, plain fat free. $1.49 for unsalted butter. 20cts per grapefruit. about $2 for a bag of GOOD oranges. Good oranges are hard to come across, even in high end grocery stores. $1.89 for grape tomatoes full of flavor (but I stay away from the cheaper, bigger tasteless tomatoes) $1.99 for bagged salad. I would not normally buy baged salad, but their butter lettuce is really good!
I also get most of canned products there: stewed tomatoes, peaches, baked beans..

-They have wonderful luxery items: did I mention chocolate? And Christollen!!! I'm currently dreaming of those mini frozen eclairs.. $3.99 for 40!
And frozen shrimps :) I love their frozen fishes. This is how we noticed how similar the products were to Trader Joe's..

-Fast check out. Sure you have to bag your own, but honestly I like to bag my stuff. In Europe every store let you bag yourself.. With my sister we would play the organization game. Group stuff by where they go in the house: frozen, cupboard of sweets, cupboard of baking, fridge, pantry... Just more convenient to do it yourself.

-Unbeatable: there is an Aldi right down my street. 10 min walk away. :)

-Socializing. Really I know no one here. The most people I talked to were in Aldi. Lots of first timers who ask questions (where did you find those beautiful tomato grapes ?" "how are their shrimps?") I had a couple chit-chat of 5 min at a time. Sweet when you really have not much contact with the outside world..