Aldi: The New Store in Town

OK, I was one of thse crazy people who braved the crowds to get into the new store in town, Aldi. It is a German-owned company, and all their products are "store brand." Not a single Kellogs, Sarah Lee, ProctorGamble name to be found in the whole store (it is a TINY STORE by comparison). So I went in, swooped up some stuff, and walked out with two canvas bags of groceries( Aldi charges for their bags) for a grand total of $40.85, BUT THAT'S NOT ALL.... I had a coupon for $5.00 off a purchase of $25.00 or more.
Tonight I made a complete Aldi meal. Here it is:
Penne Rigate: .89
1 lb 93% ground beef: 3.77
fresh mushrooms: (I used 1/3 of container) .53
4 0z cheese: 1.00
pasta sauce: 1.79
broccoli crowns: 1.39 ( although I didn't use all of them, I did use more than 1/2)
Total cost of meal, for 4 people (and we have some leftover pasta) $9.37. Add to that the cost of a pineapple for dessert later (.99) or peaches (.29 each) and that is an economic meal. I wouldn't want it everyday, but really the prices were good! The pasta sauce was very thick and had big chunks of tomatoes. I don't think the beef was any more/less than the cost at my regular store. The real savings come in at those packaged foods that are not name brand, such as cereal bars (1.89 for generic nutri-grain bars) & tortilla chips (1.19) and milk (2% @ 1.69 a gal, yes, that is a dollar sixty nine cents a gallon!) and bread (1.29 for a 1 lb loaf of whole wheat.)
The tortilla chips were good. I'll let you know what my kids think of the cereal bars.
So the downside of Aldi: No name brands, at all. You have to bring your own bag or pay 6 cents for paper or 10 cents for plastic bags (or it could be reversed, I don't know!) You also have to put in a quarter to get a shopping cart, but you get it back when you return it. On the day I went they were giving customers the quarter to show them how to use the carts. Interesting concept, we will see if it works!