ALDI Shopping List – $64 Family Budget Continued

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Check out this complete Aldi Shopping List to feed your family for just $64! you can make twenty meals from this super simple list!

Before we get started, have you seen the first part of this ALDI grocery budget series? Click here to read that first: 64 Dollar Grocery Budget – Aldi.

See how this mom uses her 64 dollar grocery budget at Aldi, and turns her groceries into 20 meals for the week! See how this mom uses her 64 dollar grocery budget at Aldi and make 20 meals.

On our 64 dollar grocery budget post, we focused on the tips and tricks to help you keep costs down when shopping at ALDI.

Today, I’m going to share what I bought, why I went over my budget by 2 dollars, what I could have done differently, and what meals I’m planning for the food I purchased.

Stretching ALDI Grocery Budget

So, let’s talk about this total. My grocery total was $66.26. I went over my budget by 2 dollars.

First, I added 6 cents to my bill since I purchased an Aldi paper bag. I needed it to take that pretty picture above, so technically it’s a business expense. Ha!

Also, I purchased orange juice and 2 boxes of cornbread mix. Truthfully, I didn’t need either.

With a subtotal of over 3 dollars for those 3 items, I could have left them behind and purchased more bananas or carrots.

Looking to use your grocery budget wisely at Aldi? Check out how this blogger used her 64 dollar grocery budget at the famous chain store.

Processed Items – Needed Or Not?

Processed items tend to always take my budget up a notch, so I try to stay away from them, if possible.

Since I had chili on the menu (more on that later), I grabbed the boxes of cornbread. I have one extra box sitting in my pantry, since we used one already. Money wasted? We’ll see.

Now let’s get down to the real reason you’re reading this post: the receipt and list of meals.

I’ll list each and every item I purchased, and then I’ll share what snacks, breakfasts, lunches, dinners I have in our meal plan for the next 7 days.

64 Dollar Grocery Budget – ALDI Shopping List

  • 9.4 pounds of chicken leg quarters for .95/lb – 8.94
  • Fresh ground turkey – 3.29
  • 10 pounds russet potatoes – 3.99
  • 2.8 pounds bananas at .44/lb – 1.26
  • 2 pounds Carrots – 1.59
  • 1 pound of tri-colored peppers – 1.99
  • Celery (3 pounds I think. It doesn’t say on the pack) – 1.49
  • 4 packs of garlic bulbs at .89 each – 3.56
  • Half gallon Lactose free milk – 2.79
  • 2 half gallons organic soy milk at 2.29 each – 4.58
  • 2 cans diced tomatoes at .55 each – 1.10
  • 1 can stewed tomatoes – .59
  • 2 bags garden salad at .99 each – 1.98
  • 3 pound bag of onions – 1.89
  • 2 bags of medium flour tortillas at 1.19 each – 2.38
  • 1 tub old fashioned oats – 2.29
  • 2 boxes Jiffy corn muffin mix at .47 each – .97
  • 32oz container plain yogurt – 1.69
  • 2 pound bag dried pinto beans – 1.89
  • 1 bottle organic agave nectar – 2.49
  • 1 paper bag (dangit lol) – .06
  • 3 dozen large eggs at 1.65 each – 4.95
  • Creamy peanut butter – 1.69
  • 1 loaf 100% whole wheat bread – 1.29
  • 1 box crispy oats – 1.69
  • 1 French baguette – 1.49
  • 1 bag dried cranberries – 1.19
  • 1 half gallon Orange Juice – 1.69
  • 2 pound bag long grain rice – 1.49
  • Total — $66.26
See how this mom uses her 64 dollar grocery budget at Aldi, and turns her groceries into 20 meals for the week!

Prep For The Meals

Soak and cook the bag of pinto beans.
Take one leg quarter, 2 stalks of celery, 2 carrots and make slow cooker chicken stock.
Roast both packs of chicken legs; pull off the meat from one.
Use half of the oats, half the box of crisp oats, agave syrup, dried cranberries and brown sugar that’s already in the pantry to make easy granola.
Wash, chop and pan fry 2 pounds of potatoes.
Hard boil 18 eggs.
Freeze soy milk in one ice cube tray.

{Related: 4 Ways To Add Beans To Your Meal Plan}

Short on time and need an easy granola recipe? This one uses items that are right in your pantry!

Breakfast Meal List

  1. 6 Breakfast burritos – using tortillas, fried potatoes, 6 scrambled eggs, and pinto beans
  2. Granola, sliced banana and yogurt in mason jars (these could be snacks too)
  3. Hard boiled eggs and toast drizzled with agave nectar
  4. Homemade granola cereal with sliced bananas

Lunch Meal List

  1. Hard boiled eggs with carrot sticks and cup of OJ
  2. Garden salad with sliced hard boiled eggs and dried cranberries
  3. Bean dip with carrot, celery and pepper sticks
  4. Peanut butter and banana quesadillas (a kid favorite!)
  5. Chicken, bean dip and veggie roll ups – using tortillas, pulled chicken, leftover bean dip and julienned carrots and peppers
See how this mom uses her 64 dollar grocery budget at Aldi, and turns her groceries into 20 meals for the week!

Dinner List

  1. Turkey chili with cornbread
  2. Roasted chicken leg quarters, onion, carrots and peppers served with rice
  3. Cream of carrot soup with side salad
  4. Garlic soup topped with fried onion strings
  5. Baked potatoes topped with chicken, onion and pepper gravy
  6. Chicken, bean and rice soup with baguette slices and olive oil dip
  7. Skillet chicken pot pie with a cornbread topping

Quick Snack List

  1. Small bowl of granola and yogurt
  2. Banana smoothies using OJ, yogurt, and frozen soy milk cubes
  3. Homemade potato chips made in the microwave
  4. Roasted and seasoned pinto beans (using this method)

20 meals and snacks from a 64 dollar grocery budget!

This mom uses her 64 dollar grocery budget at ALDI, shares what she learned, what she bought, and her meal plan for the week.

{Related: Weight Watchers Foods To Buy From ALDI – Midlife Healthy Living}

Technically it’s from a 66 dollar grocery budget, but you get the idea.

After making all of these meals and snacks, I’ll still have some bread, tortillas, soy milk and eggs left. These can be rolled into next week’s meals.

Looking for more ideas to stretch your small grocery budget? Check out our 64 Dollar Grocery Budget Challenge Series.

Do you have any tips to add for shopping at ALDI on a very small grocery budget? Please feel free to share below!

About Amiyrah

My name is Amiyrah and I'm an an African American fashion & lifestyle blogger based in Ohio.

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75 Comments

  1. 1.21.15
    Hitenney said:

    Thanks, Amiyrah – I really appreciate the breakdown. It’s hard for me to visualize turning the purchases into a menu plan. I tend to buy according to today’s budget; if I have money, I buy meat, if budget is tight, I just buy whatever fresh I need to complete a meal. So your meal planning tips are really helping me.
    Aloha,
    Tenney

    • 1.22.15
      Amiyrah said:

      You’re so welcome, Hitenny. I’ve noticed that shopping with the budget in mind, rather than the meals, actually yields even more groceries than I thought we could have! I get what looks good, what’s on sale, and what staples we may need to stock up on, THEN I plan from that. One of the biggest mistakes people make is shopping for a recipe, rather than for ingredients that can make more than one recipe, if that makes sense. So happy I could help you!

      • 2.15.16
        Marcia said:

        Hi, actually that makes total sense! I tend to shop for recipes, not shop things that I can use for multiple things. I also live in Latin America and things here are more expensive than the USA, as an example, chicken runs 2.50 a lb even in the areas that are more reasonable, go to an area with expats easily add .50-1.00 to that number. I wonder if there is a way to shop inexpensively if you’re out of the USA and paying a premium for things like agave and oats (5.00 for an average size container!!)

        Thanks for the meal ideas, they are wonderful!

      • 2.20.16

        I have the opposite problem. I can walk into a store, know what is a good price and walk out with a MOUNTAIN of food… and then get home and not be able to put together a reasonable meal without having to go back to the store. I need to meal plan before I shop, but I need to have some idea of what’s in the store to do that. This makes shopping at Aldi really frustrating!!! I end up shopping in more expensive stores because I waste less food. I don’t even need all of the prices, but having a list of what foods are available (but at their normal prices) would be helpful.

        • 6.11.17
          Stephanie said:

          Yes, meal planning first works best for me too. After you shop at ALDI enough times you will memorize what you can/should buy there. If they don’t have what I need I check the sales and move on to that store. Be sure to check for ibotta rebates prior to shopping. ALDI is now on ibotta. If you shop at more expensive stores, try to use coupons. Good luck!

      • 5.16.16
        danielle said:

        Can i get all the recipes please

        • 5.16.16
          Amiyrah said:

          Which recipes would you like, Danielle? The ones that we have on the blog have been linked throughout the post.

          • 12.10.16
            jessica said:

            recipes??? skillet chicken pot pie, the chicken bean and rice soup.

            Very excited about this list!!!
            We are headed to Aldi now 🙂
            Our first Aldi opened about a month ago. They are already building a second!

          • 4.7.18
            Lisa said:

            I know this is an old post but I only see a couple recipes from this list linked. How can I see all the recipes? It all sounds delicious!

          • 4.8.18
            Amiyrah said:

            Those are all the recipes that have been posted on this blog. If I ever make the other recipes into a blog post, I will be sure to link them here.

    • 4.15.17
      jasmine young said:

      is this for a week or 2 weeks

      • 4.17.17
        Amiyrah said:

        We have a $64 a week budget.

        • 1.28.18
          Maryann said:

          Love this site. We don’t have Aldi in CA but the principle is great. Thanks❤

          • 1.31.18
            Amiyrah said:

            You’re welcome, Maryann!

  2. 1.22.15
    Cheryl said:

    Hi, first time reader,love your breakdown of meals. Our prices are about the same (I live in Western PA) and buy almost all my produce at Aldi except when price-matching at Walmart. Cheryl

    • 1.22.15
      Amiyrah said:

      Thanks Cheryl! Yes, I’ve now started using the price-matching at Walmart trick, since our Aldi is located right in front of our Walmart. It’s another great way to save if your stores are located near each other!

  3. 1.22.15
    Dawn said:

    Hi Amiyrah. I really like this breakdown of groceries and meals. The closest Aldi to us is about an hour away so I don’t get there often, but I do have another grocery outlet store nearby that I like to shop at. The prices are similar to Aldi and many things on your list above can be bought there, so this is very helpful to me. I try to be as frugal as I can when it comes to groceries and meals. Thank you again for this post. I really like your blog! 🙂

    • 1.22.15
      Amiyrah said:

      Thank you for reading the post, Dawn! I’m so happy that this can help you, even if you don’t use it at Aldi.

  4. 1.27.15
    Rebecca said:

    I would love to learn how to do this. I receive disability food benefits and this is what i have wanted to do, but sorry to say my brain don’t work for me to figure it out. lol I want to start making weekly menus and only shop for what i need for the week. I tend to buy what i think is needed and not what i know is needed. If i can get this figured out I can save myself a lot of problems of running out of benefits early in the month and scraping together something from whats left of the food till i receive my next benefits. Would have been great for when my kids where home too. lol I am on a no sugar, or very little, and very low to no carb diet and have started doing Kombucha so this month was good. Thank goodness Aldi has good buys on veggies. Thanks for the info and i will keep working on this budget and weekly menu thing.
    Oh and by the way what are roasted pinto beans? sounds good!!!

    • 1.27.15
      Amiyrah said:

      Hi Rebecca! You can totally do this. I believe in you! If you ever have questions, or need help, email me anytime: 4hatsandfrugal@gmail.com. Also, the roasted pinto beans recipe will be up very soon! They are super simple, but I know how much my readers love to have a recipe to reference. So, I’ll be sure to get that up ASAP.

      • 3.31.16
        Lori said:

        This is wonderful! May I have the garlic soup recipe please?

        Thank you!

        • 4.5.16
          Amiyrah said:

          I’ll have to add it to the editorial calendar. I’ll get it up as soon as I can.

  5. 2.21.15
    Dianne said:

    I enjoyed your post. Like yourself, I shop at Aldi’s. I have found it most helpful to post menus weekly for each day and that helps me to not over-buy by wasting ingredients and also ensures that I remember what I have leftover. Like many others I struggled with waste, but by planning I make better use of our leftovers. Also we carry leftovers for lunches. I’m not employed however if I know I’m going to be out and about I pack my lunch which eliminates my fast food fix. By planning carefully, shopping at Aldi I’m convinced I make every penny count so that I have $’s for my weekly manicure as my reward.

  6. 3.21.15

    Thanks for posting these, Amiyrah. I’m getting inspiration from your shopping trip break downs to plan my menus for each week. So very helpful!

    • 3.22.15
      Amiyrah said:

      It’s my pleasure, Mel! What store do you frequent? I want to make sure it’s on the list of stores we’re going to tackle.

      • 3.22.15

        I’ve been shopping Harp’s, which is in the Price Cutter family. Occasionally, I’ll go to Walmart, but I really try not to go but once every month or two… I save more that way.:)

  7. 4.3.15
    Tamara said:

    I really found this article and your website helpful. Thanks for taking the time to help other moms get their grocery budget in order. I also am impressed that you take the time to respond to all of your comments. You seem like one smart lady.

  8. 10.29.15
    Erinn said:

    I just ran across your blog on pinterest. Love this breakdown and meal plan. Looking forward to following your post. We just got an Aldi’s in our area. 🙂

  9. 11.2.15
    Tiffany said:

    I copied your recipe list and got all the ingredients to do a copy cat meal plan of this one. Where can I find all the recipes though? TIA!

    • 11.2.15
      Amiyrah said:

      Hi Tiffany!

      I’ve linked as many recipes I could within the list. Which other recipes are you looking for? If I don’t have links available, I can do create recipe posts for them. I just need to know which ones :).

  10. 11.4.15
    Kelly said:

    Hey I LOVE this post! Question though how many people do you feed with thus budget? Cause try as I might I rarely get my groceries under $100 for my family of 4 (plus 2 twice a week so 6). I generally spend between $120 and $200 a week! It’s killing me! Our Aldi is half an hour away in the next city.

    • 11.4.15
      Amiyrah said:

      Hi Kelly! We’re a family of 5. Our youngest is 14 months, and eating tons of table food 🙂

    • 1.10.19
      Heathet said:

      I feel you! We are a family of 4: me, husband, 20 year old son and 17 year old son. I am lucky if I only spend $140 a week and that is with making a menu and going to Aldi and Kroger. Lidl is opening up close to us next week so I am going to check it out. I like Aldi but their selection is so small on some things, I have to finish at kroger.

  11. 11.5.15
    Courtney said:

    I just seen you on fab life !!!! And I already had this pin lol!!!

    • 11.5.15
      Amiyrah said:

      Ha! That’s awesome, Courtney!

  12. 11.12.15
    Jane Smith said:

    I came across your blog from Pinterest. I’ve been researching sites like yours a lot because generally speaking, I haven’t been buying groceries, just picking up bologna or hot dogs and chips or other unhealthy options to feed two grown men and myself.
    I like your meals the best (they seem down to earth and more realistic to the way people really eat) but I have two major complications with meal planning: 1. I work second shift so I’m need meals I can either cook quickly after I get off work at 10:30, make ahead dishes or crock pot meals. 2. One of my family members has allergies and can’t eat beans, tomatoes, citrus or ground beef -(ouch!). Any help you can give will be greatly appreciated.

    • 11.12.15
      Amiyrah said:

      Hi Jane,

      Thanks so much for stopping by! I suggest batch or freezer cooking for you. Since you work second shift, you need to make things as easy as possible for yourself. Batch cooking allows you to cook 5 or so meals at one time, and have them ready to re-heat once you come home from work. Batch cooking is also great if the rest of your family is home before you. They can pull out a whole meal, re-heat, and just leave you a full plate for you to eat once you get home. You can batch cook on one of your off days, and it shouldn’t take you more than a couple of hours. Freezer cooking works the same way, except you freeze the meals, and pull them out to cook either in the oven or slow cooker when you need them.

      As for the allergies, I’m not sure how to help you! We don’t have any of those allergies here, but you can research recipe aggregator sites for meals that might be good for the whole family. I love using supercook.com for this. You input the ingredients you have on-hand, or able to use in a recipe, and they will give you a list of sites to check out.

      • 11.14.15
        Jane Smith said:

        Thanks for replying, Amiyrah. I agree with the concept of freezer cooking. It’s a great recommendation. Unfortunately, many of the dishes I’ve found incorporate the very ingredients that I can’t use. Supercook sounds like a great tool though. I’ll check it out as well as continuing to follow your great blog. Keep up the great posts – we ‘frugal moms’ have to stick together!

    • 1.16.16
      Debbie said:

      We have successfully used ground turkey for hamburger in most recipes. The texture is very similar to ground beef. Some brands of bouillon do not include animal products, and so can be used to up the “beef” flavor in a dish.
      And Aldi has frozen ground turkey that is quite reasonable in price compared to ground beef.

      • 1.16.16
        Amiyrah said:

        Thanks Debbie!

  13. 12.6.15
    Serena said:

    I’m so glad that this works for your family but my family won’t eat half the stuff on your list. The picky eater is my husband! I’ll try to tailor your tips though for my family.

    • 12.9.15
      Amiyrah said:

      So glad you plan to tailor the tips, Serena!

  14. 12.8.15
    Jessica said:

    I’m curious where do I find the recipes for these meals? Or how do you make it all?

    • 12.9.15
      Amiyrah said:

      Hi Jessica! These are super simple meals, so most don’t have official recipes. Which meals do you need recipes for? Maybe I can help you find similar links, or possible email you the steps I take to make them.

  15. 1.3.16
    Gina said:

    Hello! Just found your post on Pinterest. I love articles like yours since I love Aldi and I love saving money on meals. The breakfast burritos sound great! I make frozen regular burritos for my lunches using leftover taco meat, beans (made from dry beans) and salsa, cheese if I have it. They are a great $$ saver. I also make homemade granola. Recently I tried a fantastic chocolate granola recipe which fixed my craving for boxed chocolate cereal. I think knowledge is the key! Just knowing what cheap alternatives are out there for meals is worth so much!

    Great post!

    • 1.4.16
      Amiyrah said:

      Thank you so much, Gina! I’m so glad it was helpful.

  16. 1.14.16
    Caty said:

    Your post is very interesting, but I live in canada the price of the dollar is under .70$ and most of our veg and fruits are imported. Our budget would be about 2x if more.
    Any ideas

    • 1.15.16
      Amiyrah said:

      Hi Caty! The ideal behind the $64 grocery budget is just being intentional. This price may not always work with people who live here in America, or even in my own town! The key is to make a plan of what you want to us, be open to items that are on sale, and be creative with using the amount that you are able to buy. This budget works for our family because we have guidelines that I ALWAYS follow when I shop. I don’t go out of those guidelines, because I know that ruins my budget. Create your own guidelines, and challenge yourself to always follow them, no matter what. I think that works for Americans, Canadians, and even Europeans, right? 😀

  17. 1.14.16
    Amber said:

    I’d like the recipe for the garlic soup, if possible.
    Thanks!

  18. 1.17.16
    Duane New said:

    that was alot of food for $66. I consider myself pretty frugal as well. I go to my local flea market and theres a section which has creals,canned goods,toiletries,and just all different things..they are almost half price of what you’d pay in a grocery store..another vendor sells fruit and afresh vegetables..so i save quite abit by going there..but i really like your suggestions..

  19. 1.26.16
    Caron said:

    I’m in Canada and was saying “wow, wow, wow” to all the prices. I’ve noticed a lot of staple food prices increase too, so I’ve been making more vegetarian meals. Dried beans are a life saver! So is tofu. But the main thing I’ve been doing more of is looking up recipes, maybe 3-5 different ones and getting a gist of the ingredients and instructions, because I rarely have all the ingredients on hand, or is just uneconomical, and then make a “use what I gots” meal. I can actually cook now! No more box Mac-n-cheese for me, I can make it from scratch! Lol!

    • 1.26.16
      Amiyrah said:

      Ha! That’s great, Caron. It really is life-changing and budget-changing when you learn how to make simple meals.

  20. 1.27.16
    Linda said:

    Hi! I just came across your blog from Pinterest. I am very impressed! Your meal plan looks great. I also noticed that you reached out to commenters with your email address and offered to extend help to those who are looking for tips. Awesome! Two thumbs up! I have a feeling this is going to be one of my new favorite blogs…I’m always looking for ways to save money. And I do love Aldi! I’m always impressed by how much I can buy there for so little money.

    • 1.27.16
      Amiyrah said:

      I’m so glad to see you here, Linda! I hope our posts are helpful to you. I so appreciate you commenting, and LOVE that you love Aldi as much as I do 😀

  21. 2.21.16

    I am still not really following how you get enough food.

    – one gallon of milk is sixteen servings for five people or 3 per person for the week.
    – not counting the orange juice and not taking anything off for waste or trim, you have something like 23 lbs produce.

    Counting your cutie as half a person gives you less than. 75lb fruit and veggies per person per day, and probably closer to .5 after trimming inedible bits. I am guessing that you have a couple of pounds of waste from the chicken and I am guessing that you have 1 lb of Turkey. That comes to just over four ounces of meat products per person per day plus less than 1egg per person per day.

    You have two lbs of rice which comes to an ounce per person per day. Not a lot as a cheap filler.

    I don’t know. I see lots of great hydras but don’t see how you make it work for three growing kids and 2 adults without outside food

    • 2.21.16

      I just keep thinking about my budget. My kids are older but even with Aldi and wholeshare, I spend more than that just on produce. “You may only have one serving of vegetables. If you are still hungry, eat more pasta” is the kind of solution I have come up with. Who wants to say that, especially to a fat kid? Sigh

    • 2.22.16
      Amiyrah said:

      Wow! OK, Sandra lol. This could be a whole other post, but I’ll answer some of these, since I have a minute :).

      – We don’t drink milk everyday. I actually don’t drink it much, so the milk WAS just for my husband. The baby didn’t drink whole milk when I wrote this. The two older kids drink the soy milk. Again, they may not have milk everyday. Also, this is just for 7 days. Not sure how you are “calculating” all of this, but please keep that in mind.
      – There is no waste with the chicken. We use every single bit, especially when it comes to chicken leg quarters. The bones are actually turned into cat food (yes, we make out cat food), and if there is leftover meat it was used in other meals (which I annotated).
      – The beans are another protein. So, in the chili, there were two proteins (and yes, we had leftovers). Peanut butter is also a source of protein for us, hence the use of it in a few lunch and snack items.
      – 2lbs of dried rice is about 4 cups. 1/4 cup of dry rice is one proper serving for a person. We only used rice once in this particular meal plan, but I doubled the servings because the rice was cooking with the chicken. We had plenty to eat, and plenty left over.

      There’s so much more I could answer, but if this is very important to you, you can feel free to email me at 4hatsandfrugal@gmail.com. I promise you, my children, husband and I are VERY well fed and happy :). You can also catch me on Periscope everyday at 11am, where we chat a lot about meal planning, and other cool topics. Hope to see you there!

  22. 2.22.16
    Loyda said:

    Interesting article ! I do not shop at Aldi’s. I don’t like that store at all. I have tried several times and find their produce to be very old, very small or starting to spoil. Zucchini was in a prepackaged container.. Once I got it home and took it out the back side of all 3 zukes were rotted.. Lost more than half once I cut it all off. Avocadoes were .49 each.. Great price but again HALF the size of what you would buy at Walmart for .98. I could go on and on. I’ve tried going a couple of times just to be fair and hope that I was on an off day there but nope. I live in Walmart land so here in the south there is not alot to choose from when it comes to stores.. Currently I shop at Walmart or Harps. Great article tho ! Always interesting to see how other people shop

    • 3.11.18
      Jen Drewski said:

      You must have an Aldi with a maybe a not so good manager. I buy most of my produce there except the skinny asparagus and the strawberries. They always seem to be on a he verge of spoiling. I wouldn’t condemn all Aldi because of one. I’m very happy with ours and have gone to another nearby.

  23. 2.22.16
    Susan said:

    I’m only cooking for hubby and myself. whatever roast is on sale that week is what I buy. let’s say chuck roast. Sunday the chuck goes into the crock pot with salt, pepper, garlic and little water or stock. That night is a nice roast beef dinner with potatoes and carrots. Depending on the size of the roast, I make a little extra of the veggies. The leftover roast is shredded and divided in half or thirds, depending on the size. Monday or Tuesday night, I might make beef burritos. Wednesday could be beef and broccoli with rice OR beefy stroganoff with noodles. IF there is a 3rd portion, I use those leftover potatoes and carrots, grab a handful frozen green beans and corn, and some stock and make a soup for our lunch. Or I might make an Asian flavored soup with the really thin egg noodles, sprouts, carrots, zucchini. I can get 6 individual dinners and 2 or 3 servings of soup out of a 3 pound chuck roast. The same can be done with a pork roast or roasted chicken.

  24. 2.22.16
    Susan said:

    Another ‘frugal’ tip is to make stock in the crockpot! If you’ve never tried this, the stock is amazing. I’ve made turkey stock and chicken stock. the next time beef ribs are on sale, I’ll try that. This last weekend we had roasted chicken. The night I put the carcass along with a quartered onion, a chopped carrot and some pepper and garlic. I would have added celery, but I didn’t have any. I added in about 4 quarts of water–I have the larger crockpot. set that baby to low and made stock overnight! I let it go about 12 hours; my crockpot turns over to warm when the time is up, so I didn’t have to hurry to strain it. I save the soup containers from our local Chinese restaurant because they are super heavy duty–I ended up with 4 containers of the best stock.

  25. 3.9.16
    sylvie said:

    I live in Canada so our prices are much higher than yours. Think 3$ us for a gallon of milk…which is almost 4Litres. ( 4.99 /4Lcad) anyway…after researching the exchange rates while it is not in my best interest to buy in use now it is actually still cheaper for me for food! Now I need to research the rules for cross border grocery shopping! The nearest Aldi is in Ogdensburg NY. .only 45mins away from ottawa! May be it could even be cheaper than costco! Going to try this for a once a month grocety trip. Thanks for your great work. Found you on pinterest

  26. 3.16.16
    Brenda Parpart said:

    It would have been nice if you would have put all the recipes for the dishes on here. Now I am going though the web to fine them and most are not to be found with the items I purchased from your list.

    • 3.17.16
      Amiyrah said:

      Hi Brenda! The recipes I did have, are linked in the post. Other recipes are family favorites. I hope you can use the list of your groceries to come up with you own meals that your family already loves. Have a great day!

  27. 5.7.16
    arvemia Wilburn said:

    I shop at Aldi’s ,Krogers and a new store just opened called Sprouts. I find Sprouts has produce on special that costs less than Aldi’s. I find meat cheaper at Krogers.my grocery shopping is different.,Imhave a freezer and a stocked pantry. This week Sprouts has organic red and yellow beets for $.98 a bunch,green peppers, at two got a dollar and avocado three for $1.roma tomatoes 2 pounds for $1. I froze beets for the freezer. Last week I got lamb chops for $2.99. I bought extra to freeze. Aldi’s had three colored peppers for $1.49. I had onions that I bought for $.50 a pound so I froze three pepper and onion to use later in spaghetti and goulash. Last night we had pork loin I bought at Krogers fit $.99 and sliced freezing them in meal sized containers. When the grocery ads come on Wednesday I read them all and write down what I can use from each store. If there is only a couple of things I need from one store and several from another. I add those two things to the longer list as I might add enough from a visit that would drive the cost up. This week Aldi’s has eggs for $.69 a dozen. I will buy several. I will bake a couple of Angel food cakes. My recipe takes 14 eggs. I usually don!t like to use these many eggs for this,but at $.69 a no brainier.mi also make pound cakes in atwo loaf pan and freeze. I have butter from the Easter sale that cost $1.98. It uses a pound of butter pound of sugar,flour,sugar and eggs.cost drops way down. I am 82 years old and cook for five. My granddaughter moves in with me. I try to keep my bill around $100. I cook everything from scratch. I make bread,not all the time. I also make noodles.
    Some of my favorite things at Aldi’s besides produce is the skinny frozen green beans,already cooked breakfast sausage at two pounds for $4.98’and the boneless skinless chicken thighs for three pounds for about $6.

  28. 10.11.16
    Michaela said:

    I also use a grocery app for cashback on items I am already going to buy. They also do drawings if you upload a receipt over $60. Just be careful not to buy items that are not on your list just to get the cashback. I personally use Checkout 51 but there are several great apps out there.

  29. 5.24.17
    Astrid said:

    Thank you so much! I used to shop Aldi’s but its 30 mins away so I don’t go anymore. I go to Kroger. But I can recall that every time I shopped at Aldi’s I got way more food and spend way less for my family of 6. I can tell you that some of your meals my kids won’t eat, but I have more of a perspective of how to shop there. Especially after reading the first article of this one, I gained exactly what I was doing wrong. We are a one income family and I’ve been trying to budget $50 for a family of 6, I know probably not ideal. But I wouldn’t want to go past $70 for our meals every week. This would be to include breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks and maybe occasional desserts.

    Thanks again for this post, I’ve been looking at so many other blogs but this one I could relate to a bit more.

    • 5.30.17
      Amiyrah said:

      I’m so happy this was helpful, Astrid! I think it’s all about using the same tips and tricks, not just following someone else’s grocery list and meal ideas. I appreciate that you pointed this out. Thank you so much for reading!

  30. 5.25.17
    Brishawn said:

    This budget is extremely helpful.

    My version would be to switch the leg quarters with breasts to make the meals a bit healthier.

    With 3 children and a wife I may need to spend a bit more to stretch the meals, but this is a better budget than we’ve managed to create over the past 4 years.

    You just earned yourself a subscriber – and I don’t follow just anyone.

    You deserve a grocery chain of your own; now that would be awesome.

    • 5.30.17
      Amiyrah said:

      Brishawn! This is such a wonderful compliment! I’m so glad you found this helpful. Good luck with the new grocery budget. You’re gonna rock it!

  31. 6.21.17
    Christian said:

    This is such a great blog. Trying to stay in a budget is very hard. Could I please get the recipes that on not on the blog?

  32. 11.12.17
    Lindsey R said:

    Do yoiu know if there is anyway to freeze potatoes? I cook for just me and I shop at Aldi’s but end up wasting more food than I would like, but it’s still cheaper to buy there than buying smaller amounts at my cheapest local grocery store. Trying to find ways to preserve more food and stretch it. Can’t wait to put some of your recipes into my rotation.

    • 11.13.17
      Amiyrah said:

      H i Lindsey! I haven’t ever frozen potatoes, but one way I stretch them is to chop them, place in a large tupperware with water, and keep in the back of the fridge. I can get another week out of them if I process them this way. Also, I make sure to take them out of the bag they come in, place in a large bowl or colander, and keep them in an aerated area. That’s another way to keep them from going bad quickly. I hope those tips help!

  33. 1.9.18
    Maegan said:

    Thank you for your uncomplicated and affordable meal ideas. They’re interesting to read for a not very adventurous cook.

  34. 3.12.18
    Tudie Culver said:

    My son made the most delicious hush puppies with a box of Jiffy cornbread mix. The recipe is online on the Jiffy site. Might be a good use for your extra box of mix. Thanks for putting all of this together. Very informative.