My Aldi Haul For The Week Of December 9th
Hey guys!
Lately, Blu and I have been trying to reduce our food budget because we spend a sizable amount of money on food. We have always been this way. We used to go out to eat a lot AND cook a lot, therefore our monthly budget was ridiculous.
We have managed to reduce the amount of money we have been spending on going out to eat by going out weekly, instead of daily. For the most part, I have eliminated fast food entirely. Well, except for the random Sonic runs, because I love a good root beer float.
To get the most bang for our buck, we have been shopping at Aldi. We were already shopping at Aldi before I decided that being a teacher was NOT for me. However, now that I’m not teaching, and I’m a starving writer, we decided to kick our savings into high gear.
We can get 98% of the food we eat weekly from Aldi. The only things I get from the terrible Big Birdie store is Nutella, because I don’t like the Aldi brand of chocolate hazelnut spread, although Blu loves it. We also like to get our alcohol from Big Birdie as well. Aldi actually does sell the beer that Blu likes, but there’s a much wider variety of beer and wine at Big Birdie and we enjoy trying new craft beers when they come out. I also prefer to get my strawberries from Big Birdie because I am very particular about my fruit and I need at least 10 containers to compare and contrast.
Without Further Ado, here are the meals that I have planned and shopped for from aldi this week.
Breakfast: I try to eat breakfast daily. It doesn’t always happen but the three options I have for myself this week is:
Banana Oatmeal
Ingredients: 1 Ripe Banana, Vanilla Almond Milk, Oatmeal, Sugar, Cinnamon, and Salt
Peach Oatmeal
Ingredients: Frozen Peaches, Vanilla Almond milk, Oatmeal, Sugar, Cinnamon, and Salt
Banana Pancakes
Ingredients: Aldi’s Buttermilk Pancake Complete Mix, Mashed Banana, Water and Cinnamon
Cereal
So Aldi has a lot of great cereals for around a dollar. My favorite cereal is the cocoa krispies….Aldi Brand version. Another one is the Lucky Charms…Aldi Brand version.
I like to eat them with the Vanilla Almond Milk I buy from Aldi. I like the Aldi brand of Vanilla Almond Milk so much more than Silk’s brand. Silk’s brand to me is much thicker, and the Aldi version is more liquidy, but in a good way. I can drink a glass of Aldi’s almond milk, whilst the Silk brand is very difficult to get down since it’s much thicker.
Lunch/Dinner
Okay so lately, I’ve been eating one meal a day, so I’m combining lunch and dinner as one section.
Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
Ingredients: Bread, Cheese, Butter
Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches
Ingredients: Bread, Peanut Butter, Jelly
What I would say is I like to buy two different types of bread when I go to Aldi. I call them cheap bread and fancy bread. I like to use cheap bread for my simple childhood type of foods, such as peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and grilled cheese sandwiches.
I use fancy bread for my deli meat sandwiches and things that have multiple layers to them. The cheap bread at aldi is around 79 cents while the fancy bread is around $1.30.
Also, the peanut butter at Aldi is great. I’m very picky about my peanut butter. Either give me Jif or don’t give me any peanut butter at all. It’s that serious. However, Aldi’s peanut butter tastes exactly like Jif peanut butter to me. So I can work with it, and it’s super affordable, and you can buy it in a large tub so I haven’t looked back ever since.
BBQ Pulled Pork {Tacos and Sandwiches}
Ingredients: Pork Loin, 2 Chopped Onions, One Large Tablespoon Minced Garlic, Cola, Seasoned Salt, Salt, Pepper, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder
Steaked Potatoes
Ingredients: Cubed Stew Steak, Mashed Potatoes, Garlic, Onions, Bell Peppers, Steak Sauce, Sour Cream, Ranch, Cheese if you wish
So I call this Steaked Potatoes. I don’t know another name to call it. It’s what I called it the day I made it for Blu so that’s what we call it.
Chicken and Waffles
Ingredients: Chicken Breast Tenderloins, Aldi Buttermilk Pancake Mix, One Block Cheddar Cheese, Two Handfuls Chopped Green Onions, Egg, Water, Hot Sauce, Salt, Pepper, Seasoned Salt, Aldi Baking Mix (basically flour with leavening agents), Garlic Powder, Onion Powder
I got all the ingredients for this from Aldi, however I’m not going to go through a whole description of how to make them in this article. That has to be a separate article all together. I just don’t have the time, and you want to take the time to make these.
Snacks
Of course I have to get snacks. The only way that I’m not going to go out on the hunt when I get a sweet tooth is to have snacks here in the house.
We bought: Snickers, Chocolate Bites with Caramel inside, Graham Crackers, Pretzels, Peanut Butter and Chocolate Protein Bars, Strawberry Fruit and Grain Bars, and Winternacht Gefüllte Herzen Zartbitter.
Alright so the last one is something that Blu loves! He keeps getting the bag everytime we go. It is a heart shaped gingerbread cookie. It has apricot in the center of it, and the whole thing is wrapped in dark chocolate. When we get them they barely last the week.
With all these things we purchased, we spent around $50 this week. We spent a bit more on Apple Juice containers which are 99 cents for the half gallon size. We buy 3 of them and it lasts us the week. This week I didn’t need to buy anymore Almond Milk because we bought enough last week and didn’t use as much as we normally do.
I definitely stan Aldi, because I’m able to get so many different seasonings, as well as being introduced to many foods I hadn’t tried before, because they often have limited Aldi Buys which change seasonally, even weekly.