There's an interesting article in The Food & Nutrition Magazine that came out in 2017 that discusses the evolving industry of grocery stores. Competitors to grocery stores are discount retailers that give customers access to lower priced merchandise and foods.

How does this affect the low carb community?

In our community there is a mix of grocery store models, from upscale stores that offer bars, café’s, or restaurants; and deeply discounted retailers that come from all over the world with similar foods for less like Aldi. The article highlights the growth in discount grocery stores such as Aldi, Trader Joes, Costco, Kroger, etc. In addition to the growth in online realtors such as Thrive, Amazon Fresh, even Google Express. All of these discount grocery stores use private labels to be able to reduce the price on premium foods. This is attracting more customers and influencing customers to try different selections like fresh produce, organic, MSG free products, trans fat free products, chemical/dye free foods, and overall less processed foods because they’re more affordable.

These discount grocery stores offer competitive prices that are making traditional grocery stores work to keep up. Grocery stores are pushing weekly ads and coupons to try to increase sales. The reason discount grocery stores can afford to give their customers better deals is solely based on they don’t need to advertise for sales, because they’re already at the lowest price. This allows them to pay their staff higher wages and provide more premium products.

Another bonus for discount grocery stores is that they have aisles filled with less processed junk food. In other words, you will have less temptation to buy poisons.

The big take away to these discount stores like Aldi are that they’re great options for cutting cost when it comes to shopping for a low carb diet or any diet really. If you haven't been to Costco, Aldi, etc. we recommend that you at least try them out because when comparing prices and products, you can save by shopping at these stores.

Remember to take your diet do’s and don’ts with you when grocery shopping and don’t be afraid to try new things in regards to recipes, vegetables, or meats.

Fox, L. (2017, October 26). Growth of Discount Grocers. Retrieved from The Food & Nutrition Magazine