8.08.2017

Aldi Experiment and meal plan

I've decided to make a change. Our tiny little town has very few shopping options and the main one is Wal-Mart. Up until this point, well since having 2 kids anyway LOL, I've done 90% of my grocery shopping there bc it's easier. But I've noticed I'm spending way over my budget every single week. Aldi is nice and so much cheaper but it's so far away that it's never been convenient for every week shopping. But now there's a new one on an easier side of town. It's still 30 minutes away but with the new location is much more convenient as far as traffic goes. So once a week I make my meal plan and grocery list and off I go! I've done this for 3 weeks and the difference it's already made is amazing. I get most of my groceries from there and then go across the road to Food Lion to get my meats and I'm done. Generally I've been shopping on Monday so I meal plan from Monday-Sunday. HOWEVER up until this experiment I haven't meal planned for the weekends and we just eat out on Friday and Saturday. I'm trying to cut back on that so I'm making a point to plan for the weekends now.

So here's what I bought this week and our meal plan. Some of the things on this menu are freezer or pantry items as well.

Monday- Hot Ham & Cheese, Hashbrowns, Chocolate Pudding with cool whip (4yo's request)
Tuesday- Roast, Potatoes, Carrots
Wednesday- Sloppy Joes, Mac & Cheese
Thursday- Fried Chicken tenders, potato salad, green beans
Friday- Quesadillas
Saturday- Hamburger Rice a Roni
Sunday- *out of town*

Aldi- Total $45.47- $5 coupon= $41.43
Chicken Tenderloins 5.49
Whole Milk 1.96
Whipped Topping .69
20ct Tortillas 1.79
Onion soup mix .69
4lb sugar 1.39
Vegetable oil 1.49
2 cans of pumpkin .79ea
2 boxes mac & cheese .25ea
1 box mac & cheese .95
Block cheese 1.49
Sliced swiss cheese 1.49
Sliced ham 2.39
Pickles .95
Chocolate syrup 1.39
Shredded cheese 1.69
2 boxes Rice a Roni mix .69
Peanut bars 1.39
Gummy snacks 2.99
Fruit rounds 1.09
Peanut butter 1.25
PB Cookies (knock off Girl Scout cookies that were amazing!) 1.39
2pks Hamburger buns .65ea
2lb carrots .85
Red apples 2.69
10lb potatoes 3.49
Bread .83
Pretzels .89

Food Lion- I screwed up my budget here, but still stayed under my limit. $30.62
2- 12pk can pepsi 3.33ea
12pk coke 3.66
Fritos 3.29
Doritos 3.49
FL brand Chex mix 1.49
2 Chef Boyardee .88ea
FL brand chips 1.49
3 Slush puppies .50ea
Ground beef 3.51
Ground beef 3.35