Last week I had to move my Aldi trip from Friday morning to Thursday evening...I know, scandalous. I had a kid that came home from school on Thursday with a tummy ache and I was convinced that puke-mageddon was about to happen and figured I'd be under house arrest on Friday. Happy to report that her tummy was much better the next day. Anyway, I ended up spending $22.83 for a weeks worth of groceries. There were two things that I purchased that weren't on my list: Haribo gummi bears (impulse buy-I had a PTO meeting to go to and figured I'd perform better with those in my tummy) $1.00, and another pack of strawberries $2.39 (they looked good and my kids ate them all in one sitting).
On a side note: I do NOT wash strawberries until we are going to eat them. They keep WAY longer when you don't and I also keep them at room temp, not in the fridge.
On another side note: Rubbermaid makes produce saver containers. I swear by these. When you do cut/wash any type of fruit or veggie (lettuce, peppers, grapes, blueberries, pineapple), these containers prolong produce life. They are pretty stellar and worth every penny. The one on the left are the original version from years and years ago, the one on the right is the new version.
I've already gone through and made my meal plan for the next week+. As well as my grocery list THIS far. Things will come up over the next few days that I will need to purchase/add to the list, and I know the kids are going to want to add a few items for snacks and lunches for next week...and I just realized that I want some Twizzler's Pull and Peel added to the list. This weeks grocery bill will be higher for sure, mainly b/c of the fact I want a ham, and I purchase these Culterelle probiotic tabs for the kids that are ridiculous in price but I feel are worth the buy. Update: I purchased the probiotics off of Amazon and saved $9. I WIN!!!
I again went through our current food and made up a few meals. I have leftover buns, so we'll be having burgers on Thursday. I have potatoes so I'll be making homemade fries and a pan of party potatoes.
I've heard of people making at least one meal without meat every week in an effort to save money - I don't do this. Ever. We are a meat eating family and a meatless meal wouldn't sustain us. Meat is a must for us.
We have a pantry cupboard that's full of canned veggies/canned items. Actually, it's full to last us about a year. Yes, I'm serious. TIP: The week before Thanksgiving, grocery stores have sales on these items: canned corn, canned green beans, cream of chicken (mushroom is also included but I can't even begin to tell you how much I loathe mushrooms or mushroom anything), and chicken broth. These items are at such a huge discount, we stock up over the course of the week to last us a year.
In our house we always have ingredients for these meals: breakfast for dinner (pancakes, sausage, eggs), homemade pizza, and spaghetti. So, should we get in a pinch for some reason (unexpected guests), we always have these to fall back on.
I've included a photo of the "Forbidden Aisle" at Aldi...at least that's what I call it. This aisle will suck you in and you'll find yourself wondering what you can do with a $10 wire basket set of 3 when you don't even need it. This aisle is wonderful and sneaky all at the same time:
This next photo is a food item that still makes me gag just thinking about it. My parents used to make boxed potatoes all the time and I would gag at the dinner table. I still really dislike them. However, if you enjoy them, I won't be hatin'...and they're only $.79 each.
I made the white chicken chili recipe today (crock pot) and it was very tasty. I altered the recipe a tich, otherwise it would have been a little to spicy for my kids. It actually tasted a lot like white queso dip. Overall, it was a tasty meal, but I won't likely make it again. The crock pot had so much in it, that we froze the leftovers for another time. We do this a LOT with meals like chili, spaghetti meat sauce, cheeseburger chowder, taco meat - even if it's just one serving (let's say you've already set aside enough for a few leftovers/lunches for work, but there's still a lot left), I'll freeze it. Many times I will pull this single serving out of the freezer to eat for lunch.
That's all I've got for now!!! Also, I don't take the time to edit - if it isn't spelled right, or I left out some punctuation...I'm over it. :)
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