How Much Aldi Shoppers Spend On A Typical Shopping Trip, According To Reddit

Aldi is now the third biggest grocery retailer in the United States by number of stores and the chain has big plans for 2026 including opening 800 additional locations. The European supermarket's popularity is impressive but not surprising in an era of rising grocery prices and health-conscious consumers. It offers cash-strapped shoppers who don't want to feel like they're on a budget premium products at low prices. Aldi can sell things like organic produce and grass fed beef despite being a budget supermarket because most products are white labelled. Because it doesn't have to spend money advertising and marketing specific products, it can offer low prices without cutting corners on quality. But how much does a full grocery haul at Aldi really cost? We turned to Reddit to get the tea on what real Aldi shoppers spend on their groceries and how the supermarket compares to other options. 

Overall, Aldi came out looking pretty good. Using cart fullness as a vaguely scientific metric to compare grocery hauls, two Redditors with children, Rightintheear and Cutesalad8000, reported spending $200 to $250 (with a potential trip to Walmart on the side). Other Reddit posters confirm these numbers, with According_profile471 commenting that a full cart at Aldi costs around $200 dollars and lasts their family of three two weeks. The most frugal of Redditors, like no_clever_name_yet, manage keep grocery bills down with great meal planning, spending only "$80 or so every week for a family of 4." Granted, this is supplemented with trips to other grocers. Still, this is pretty impressive given that single Redditors like Excalibur106 and couples like Slow_way7407 are spending about the same amount.

To put the price of an Aldi shop in context, grocery spending for the average American household ranges from a low of $221 dollars per week in Wisconsin to $334 dollars in Hawaii. But that's not the whole story. The average size of an American household in 2023 was just 2.51 people, so a two-parent family with just one child will typically spend more than this.

If Redditor howmuchitcosts shops at Aldi "once every week and a half, to feed 6 people, spending around 200-250," their grocery costs are well below average even if they're in the Midwest and four of those six people are young children. Looking at the range these Redditors are spending at Aldi, it seems clear that keeping things affordable is possible at the store if you go in with the right mindset and a shopping list you can actually stick to. If you have other priorities or a special diet like tacincacistinna, who says "I'm gluten and dairy free and my boyfriend isn't, we literally can't eat much of the same things" which causes them to spend $150 to $200 dollars a week at Aldi, your grocery bill might be higher. Even in these cases, however, shopping at Aldi leaves Redditors well below the average weekly grocery bill for even a Wisconsin household.

Rising prices have changed the way Americans grocery shop, with many now hitting multiple grocery stores. This trend is borne out by our Aldi-shopping Redditors, although most of them seemed to get the bulk of their groceries from the German retailer. Other stores people visit include Giant, where some homemakers, like overcomposer, report getting less bang for their buck. Costco and Walmart are both mentioned a lot. DaMeLaVaca's situation is a pretty typical one –- they rely largely on Aldi and "try to only do Costco once a month."

Aldi encourages another, more European style of shopping. Several Reddit users visit Aldi multiple times a week. Ok-Balance2588 pops in for groceries sometimes three times a week, while PeorgieT75 grabs what they need when they need it as the store is across from their gym. Aldi stores are smaller than most supermarkets, so they're often in more built up areas. It might seem incidental, but stores like this are growing in popularity in the United States. Studies show that families can reduce food waste (and therefore grocery bills) by making smaller grocery runs more frequently.

The one additional factor at Aldi that might skew things? The Aisle of Shame. A few Reddit users report that they and their family members are big fans of the well-loved aisle and can't shop without nosing around for limited-offer items. If this sounds like you, CuteSalad8000 has a solution –- she visits the day before the aisle is restocked, saying it's "Probably better for my wallet."