“Hi, my name is Nicholine and I am addicted to shopping at ALDI.” If you have absolutely no idea, what I am talking about then let me introduce you to one of the loves of my life! Aldi is an international German chain of small-scale supermarkets spanning 18 countries in which there are altogether 10,000 stores (Two of them are thankfully in my hometown Brooklyn, NY). We first met, Aldi and I, in the Mid-western state of Illinois, which makes perfect historical sense as the supermarket first appeared on the U.S. scene mostly in the mid-western states in 1976.

Originally, Aldi shops were often ridiculed as being cheap shops selling low-quality goods, whose customers could not afford to shop elsewhere.

To be quite honest, I did struggle with that stigma of “slumming for cheap food” when my flirting with the supermarket first began. However, I consoled myself with the notion that a good woman, always does whatever is necessary to stretch the budget and keep everyone clothed and fed. With head held high I marched into Aldi’s every payday to make what I could with the money I had. It slowly became a fun game to me where the rules were to find the best options available from a limited selection and then go home and make passionate love to the products I had and find happiness.

Twenty years later, I am now enjoying a fully-committed and obviously very public, relationship with, none other than Aldi. After being away and looking for grocery shopping security in other places, my husband and I happened upon it’s logo in our hometown of Brooklyn, two summers ago. Warm memories came flooding back of how at one time in my life, when I needed it most, Aldi was there for me. I convinced him to venture in, take a look around and we even picked up a few things. I was hooked, and now my cost-conscious, low-maintenance, “I’ll eat good food from anywhere”  husband agreed to experimenting with shopping almost exclusively there for the rest of the summer.

We have never looked back.

Next week: Top 5 reasons why I love Aldi.