average H-E-B is roughly 70,000 square feet<\/a>, making the shopping experience in both stores very unique.\u00a0<\/p>\nArticle continues below this ad<\/p>\n
Upon my arrival to the Aldi in Cedar Park, I noticed immediately that you have to walk up to the store to grab a cart instead of having the option to pick one from the parking lot spaces near your car like you would at H-E-B. At Aldi, I used a quarter to unlock a cart near the front door and off I went to pick up my essentials.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
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The meat section at the Aldi in Cedar Park, Texas.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cristela Jones\/Cristela Jones\/MySA<\/p>\n
What is the Aldi’s store layout like?<\/p>\n
I think the best way to describe the Aldi store layout was like shopping in a smaller version of a neighborhood Walmart. Upon entering, I was greeted by the produce section on the right which had a wide range of fresh fruits, vegetables and pre-made meals like H-E-B. I picked up a bag of red grapes and Hawaiian chicken before walking straight forward to the pastry aisles stocked with shelves of muffins, breads and more.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Of course, I chose a pack of cookies as a sweet treat, then made my way to the back left corner to the meat section, which was filled with a variety of pork chops, ground beef, steaks and chicken. I opted for a small pack of chicken thighs then turned the corner to the dairy section where I grabbed my last two items: lactose-free milk and eggs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Milk priced at $2.80 on Monday, July 20 at the Aldi in Cedar Park, Texas.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cristela Jones\/Cristela Jones\/MySA<\/p>\n
Pricing at Aldi’s vs. H-E-B<\/p>\n
For six items at Aldi, my total was $24.94. I’m going to compare each item I purchased at Aldi with the closest H-E-B item on its app for in-store purchases. A pack of red grapes weighing 2.4 pounds at Aldi was $4.07. At H-E-B, seedless red grapes weighing 2.15 pounds are priced at $3.63.<\/p>\n
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A half-gallon of lactose-free skim milk at Aldi was $2.99. At H-E-B, a half gallon of Organics Lactose Free Milk is currently $4.88. At Aldi, a five-pack of bone-in chicken thighs were $5.17. H-E-B has a smaller, four-pack of bone-in natural chicken thighs are $4.28. At Aldi, a 12-pack of large eggs was $1.45 and at H-E-B the Hill Country Fare Grade A large eggs are prices at $1.84.<\/p>\n
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My grocery haul of items at Aldi in Cedar Park, Texas.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cristela Jones\/Cristela Jones\/MySA<\/p>\n
To compare to H-E-B’s Meal Simple pricing, I grabbed a pre-cooked, refrigerated Thai coconut chicken pack for $6.39. H-E-B has a Meal Simple grilled chicken breast for $8.49. Lastly, I picked up a box of Aldi’s signature chewy brookies from the bakery for $3.95. H-E-B sells four-count brookies for $5.98.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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I bagged my own groceries after checking out at the Aldi in Cedar Park.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cristela Jones\/Cristela Jones\/MySA<\/p>\n
According to my grocery list on the H-E-B app, my estimated total for all six items I listed would be $29.10, which does not include taxes. This means that I would save $4.16 shopping at Aldi compared to H-E-B.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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The vibes at Aldi’s<\/p>\n
The check-out process kind of reminded me of a Dollar Tree because at the time when I went, at 2 p.m. on a Monday, there was only one person working the register. However, as I was placing my items on the conveyor belt, one of the cashiers noticed the line behind me was getting long so she called for back-up.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Because I only purchased a few items, the check out process was pretty simple and fast. After paying, I walked straight to a table along the wall to bag my own groceries, which was different than H-E-B where either a cashier or a bagger helps load your cart up. But I didn’t mind the extra task given it wasn’t too much work.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Overall, I enjoyed my short and cheaper grocery trip to Aldi, but I don’t think I’m ready to fully stop shopping at H-E-B. After all, the Aldi Cedar Park is about an hour north of where I live in Austin and the reality is I live closer to more H-E-Bs than any other grocery store.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now, if Aldi keeps expanding in Central Texas and builds a store near my home, that might be a different story. But for the sake of gas, and once again, saving money, I think H-E-B remains a better option for me (at least in the meantime) even if I have to pay a few more dollars. Would you ditch H-E-B for an Aldi near you?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The exterior of an Aldi in Cedar Park, a suburb north of Austin, Texas.\u00a0 Cristela Jones\/Cristela Jones\/MySA Grocery…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":65911,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21128],"tags":[21143,49746,2638,21144],"class_list":["post-65910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-aldi","tag-aldi","tag-mysabusiness","tag-mysastaff","tag-sud-nord"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65910"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65910\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}