Grocery Day

Creative.  This is an adjective I would not use to describe myself; however, when raising a family one must be creative when groceries are the subject matter.  With a family of six, menu planning, budget following, and keeping the pantry stocked requires some creativity. 
We are in the throws of "Dave Ramseying It".  With that said, we have a strict budget.  Well today, I made a delightful discovery.  Aldi's.  Have you heard of this place?  It's awesome, although, freezing! I believe they had the thermostat on 45 degrees.  Anyway, I get most of my groceries from Publix using coupons and BOGO deals.
While watching coupons, sales, and stock pile deals, there are some basic staples that just do not seem to be discounted much.  My man had told me he had visited an Aldi's near his work and was impressed with the low prices so I thought I would check one out near the Publix I shop at.  They have a few differences that do not bother me but may bother others:  You have to put a quarter in their cart in order to use it but it comes back to you once you return the cart (keeps from having to have employees chase down carts all over the parking lot); you must bag your own items; unless you want to pay for bags, you must bring your own bags to bag your groceries; and no credit cards are accepted.  Bringing my own bags is not a problem for me because I usually bring my reusable bags because I HATE plastic bags which only hold like two items.
As far as the prices, it was awesome.  For example, my local Wal-Mart sells a gallon of Great Value brand milk at $3.54; Publix sells their brand at $3.19.  Aldi's milk was $2.89 a gallon.  I was pumped.  Publix's eggs sells for $2.79 a dozen.  Aldi's eggs were $.99!  Publix is running a sale this week on avocados for $1.  Aldi's avocados were $.89 a piece:)  Flour at Aldi's was $1.69 for a five pound bag.  Spices were $.99 and I looked at the spices at Publix - $4.99!  Brown sugar and powdered sugar for $1.39 a piece.  I got nice colored bell peppers at Aldi's for $1.49 which would normally run me over $4.00 at Wal-Mart.  And the quality of the produce was great. 
Now, I did not get all my groceries there but I did get a lot of my normally expensive items.  They do not carry a lot of brands and I didn't want to get caught up in any "junk" being sold.  But here's one last example, I usually think boneless, skinless chicken breast sold at $2.99 a pound is good but today at Aldi's I got it at $2.69 per pound. 
I will be back to Aldi's:)
Have you ever checked Aldi's out?  What are your thoughts about saving money on the basics of pantry items?