We’ve been excited to try once a month grocery shopping at ALDI. ALDI is currently our favorite grocery store, so deciding to take on the challenge of using our small $64 weekly grocery budget at ALDI was a no-brainer. Our first try at using a small grocery budget at ALDI was definitely a learning experience. In the usual 4 Hats and Frugal fashion, we’re sharing what we learned, good and bad, with you. Spoiler alert: we LOVED once a month grocery shopping at ALDI!
We also shared our master list of everything we purchased with our $256 budget ($64 times 4, to represent the 4 weeks in the month). These tips can work for any grocery store, not just ALDI.
Related: {Our favorite reusable bags for grocery shopping}
Think of Meals Before You Shop
This rule is completely against what I usually do when it comes to grocery shopping and meal planning. I never think about meals before I shop. I check what’s in the pantry and fridge, shop, then plan from what is in the house. Why did I change my mind for once a month shopping? There wasn’t much in the house, to begin with! Since I planned to try once a month shopping, I made sure we used up as much as we could to make space for the items we bought at ALDI. Instead of waiting until I got home to meal plan, I wrote a list of a few simple meals to make for the month. I bought the ingredients for those items while at the store. I purchased items that could be used for many different meals, instead of buying items I wasn’t sure I would use.
Add An Extra Week of Groceries
Adding an extra week of groceries will give you a cushion of having more food rather than less. You are allowing yourself more items to plan your meals around, which will make planning breakfasts and lunches so much easier. Yes, you do have to add on the extra week without adding more in your budget. But, guess what? You’ll make it happen. The best part about ALDI is staple items are affordable. As long as you stock up on your staples, you’ll be golden.
Shop Alone
Moms of little ones, this tip is for you. If you can, shop alone and get your mission done. These once a month grocery shopping trips may take you a few hours, even at ALDI, so make sure you have peace of mind. Bonus: you can schedule a babysitter for 2 hours, once a month, because you will know when you’ll need the help. Another fun tip? Go once the kids are in bed.
Plan Your Prep Work
You will have to prep your groceries. This isn’t something you can get around when shopping for the month. You’ll have to chop, re-package, pre-cook, or organize a bunch of food all at one time. Bonus tip: think about what you will have to prep while packing up your groceries at Aldi. Is there something that you’ll have to chop that evening? Put it in a special bag. Will you have to re-package chicken and beef, but not your ground turkey? Place the chicken and beef in a bag together, away from the turkey (that can be thrown right in the freezer). Also, if you don’t have to prep an item right away, don’t. Wait until the week you actually need it to prep for it.
Have a Game Plan for Produce
This is the BIGGEST problem most people have with once a month shopping. They complain that produce goes bad quickly, so they can’t shop monthly. Here’s the deal: you still can shop monthly, even with certain produce expiring. Plan weekly meals around the items that will expire first, second, third and last. Avocados, fresh spinach and bagged salad tend to go bad quickly, so we plan the first week’s meals around those items. Potatoes, carrots and onions last for a long time, so we place the last week’s meals around those items. Bananas go bad before apples, so bananas get eaten first. Plan your meals around the expiration of produce, and you won’t have to worry about you not using up items before they go bad.
What We Learned
There were so many things we learned about our own family from this experience, and so much I learned about what is really important when doing a once a month shopping trip. I learned we didn’t need as much of some items. Apples were great to have on-hand, but I bought too many. We actually had a bag and a half left once the month was done. While we love eggs, I also bought too many of those. I could have saved some money by not buying as many eggs.
We eat a lot of cheese and chickpeas (or any other bean). I could have bought more of those and may have needed more. We don’t need as much milk as I thought. Granted, we don’t drink milk everyday, so the 4 half-gallons of lactose-free and almond milk were the perfect amount for our family. I really thought we were going to be short on milk by mid-month. Surprise, surprise.
We got tired of chicken by week three, so the purchasing of beef sausage, fish, and chickpeas was a great idea. For some reason, when I shop weekly, we don’t get tired of chicken, but with this experience we did.
Boxed Items Helped And I Didn’t Spend Enough
I had less than 4 dollars left, so I should have bought flour, more sugar, or another staple to make sure I was covered. Luckily, we didn’t need any of those, but it would have been smart to use up all of the budget.
The boxed items were actually helpful. If you’ve read our $64 Grocery Budget post, you know that we try our hardest to only eat real food, not processed items. I have to admit, the taco kits and the boxed mashed potatoes saved me a few nights. I could have made mashed potatoes from the bagged potatoes, but that would have used up some of the milk. You have to pick your battles.
What We Purchased
The Master Grocery List
2-pack zucchini squash – 1.69
2-pack cucumbers – .99
2 bags spring mix salad – 1.99 each
6 bags flat leaf spinach – 1.79 each
4lbs green grapes – .99 a pound – 3.96
12lbs Granny Smith apples – .49 a pound – 5.97
3.4lbs bananas – .44 a pound – 1.50
3 2-packs green peppers – 1.19 each
3lbs yellow onions – 1.99
2 2lb bags carrots – 1.49 each
Celery – 1.39
3 avocados – .99 each
2lbs broccoli crowns – 2.58
5lbs baking potatoes – 2.49
2 bags frozen peas – .95 each
6 dozen large eggs – 2.75 each
3 packages feta crumbles – 1.79 each
2 half-gallons lactose-free milk – 2.79 each
2 half-gallons unsweetened almond milk – 2.29 each
3 containers plain 32oz yogurt – 1.89 each
2 blocks Monterey jack cheese – 1.89 each
4 blocks New York Sharp Cheddar – 1.89 each
2 Packets ground turkey – 3.29 each
2 Packets frozen tilapia filets – 5.39 each
5 pounds 73% ground beef – 14.40
4lb packet of chicken thighs – 4.62
4lb packet of chicken thighs – 4.63
Packet of chicken breasts – 7.39
Packet of chicken breasts – 6.67
6lbs whole chicken – 6.39
5 loaves 100% whole wheat bread – 1.39 each
2 packages beef smoked sausage – 2.19 each
3 2lb boxes of elbow macaroni – 1.45 each
3 bags egg noodles – 1.29 each
2 boxes linguine – .66 each
2 boxes mashed potatoes – 1.19 each
3 Taco Bell hard taco dinner kits – .99 each
2 bottles unsweetened applesauce – 1.89 each
4 28oz cans organic diced tomatoes – 1.49 each
4 cans tomato paste – .39 each
4 cans organic chickpeas – .79 each
4 cans condensed milk – 1.39 each
4 can evaporated milk – .79 each
Minced garlic – 1.99
Natural creamy peanut butter – 1.49
2 containers old fashioned oats – 2.39
Instant corn masa – 1.99
3-pack of yeast – .79
Brown sugar – 1.29
Iodized table salt – .39
Organic ketchup – 1.69
2 bottles organic agave syrup – 2.99 each
1 bottle pure maple syrup – 4.29
2 64oz bottles 100% apple juice – 1.49 each
2 boxes Jiffy corn muffin mix – .47 each
6-count microwave popcorn – 1.69
Multigrain oats cereal – 1.79
2 boxes crispy oats cereal – 1.69
4 cans whole kernel corn – .49 each
Guacamole tortilla chips – 1.69
Sweet potato chips – 1.99
Dishwasher detergent – 2.49
Total: 252.19
Looking for recipes to make that will use up these items? Here are a few I made:
“Creamy” Spinach Pesto Pasta (with no cream)
Need more ideas? Check out these 20 Cheap & Easy Weeknight Meals!
It surprises me that you purchase the bagged salads. Where I live they are much more expensive than buying the lettuce and fixings separately, plus there have been so many recalls re: disease with those products that I wouldn’t buy them even if they were cheaper.
Also surprises me that you would purchase boxed pizza and taco kits. I make my own pizza crusts and also make my own taco seasoning mix and purchase soft tortillas. Much cheaper and less preservatives/colourings, etc..
I buy no name brands usually as they are cheaper.
Soup would never go over here for a dinner meal as that is our main meal and lunch is our smaller meal. My husband also is not a big soup eater while I love it
Interesting reading your ideas about shopping though.
Thank you for your input, Brenda! 😀
Wow. Aren’t you a Judgy Jessica, Brenda? Did you ever stop to think that not everyone is you? Not everyone does things the exact same way as you and that is not a bad thing? In fact, maybe you should consider trying some of her awesome tips that I’m sure are time-saving, still economical, and less stressful on particularly challenging and stressful days? Maybe if you gave it a try you wouldn’t be so unhappy and feel the need to make judgmental, assuming comments to people that are trying to help others and promote economical, healthy, and actually DOABLE by the average family? Sometimes it’s difficult to make your own pizza crust when your kids have baseball practice one evening. Sometimes it’s a great idea to use a taco kit when you have worked all day or spent the day taking care of kids so that you can spend that extra time with your family or have some much needed self care. My point is that it’s not cool to rip apart someone that seems so incredibly kind that she will share such tips and the plan that works for her in the case that it might help others, too. Notice how her response was respectful and not at all dripping with the unbalanced self-satisfaction that you came at her with.
I truly apologize if this response is hard to read, Brenda. I jus had a hard time reading your response to an article that was humbly written to help, inspire, and teach others.
Amiyrah, well done. Much respect and appreciation. I will definitely be trying this for my family of 4. Sometimes we need to have a frozen pizza for dinner or don’t have the time to fashion our own tortillas out of scratch. You rock, lady.
Amen!
Those were my thoughts to Brenda exactly! I thought the article and shopping list was outstanding and super helpful. It was exactly what I was looking for.
Is there a way to see your menu list to go with this?
That would be a WHOLE other blog post. Ha! I’ll see what I can do.
I was going to ask for a menu list too!
I love all your posts about grocery shopping because that is where I always have an issue. Do you have a credit card? I’m sure you shop with cash but do you have one just for emergencies?
It was very interesting reading your post. One of the main things I noticed was the good prices you were able to get on get on all natural/organic products. Stores in my area don’t offer those types of deals. Also I noticed thatyou only pay half of rhe regular price I pay for pre-packed salad and spinach. I live in Columbus, Ga.
That’s interesting, Judy!
Aldi’s accepts credit cards and debit now too in my area as of 3/1/16. I’ve been afraid to try their meat, but I do buy their thick cut bacon. My H would go nuts if our fridge was that full bc then we have no room to put leftovers and he’s not patient enough to look for things either if he would have to take out a bunch of things to find one thing. And I have a deep freezer in my basement so I do use that space to stock up on meat and store leftovers I can freeze.
Thank you for commenting, Lynn!
I would love to do this once a month and get a small freezer to fit everything. Our fridge is too small
We have a small fridge, too, Joyce. I have to admit, it was a big challenge to figure it all out, since we don’t have a deep freezer in this tiny apartment. But, the second time around, I knew how to “tetris” my freezer to make it all fit. There’s a learning curve, for sure.
I love this idea, but I also need a menu. Have you make a blog post with the menu yet? If so can you sent me a link. Thanks
Hi Jennifer! Any recipes that I have for meals are already linked in the post. If there isn’t a recipe, it was such an easy meal that it basically didn’t need a recipe, or it’s a meal I’ve made so many times that it doesn’t have an official recipe.
I don’t see any linked it recipes. Can you post them please
Updated!
Thanks! Awesome. I can’t wait to try this.
love this idea of once a month shopping and of course I need help, I would love to see the meals that you fixed to go along with the grocery list. kraft foods have a meals in a bag, where you get five meal ides and everything can be bought to fit into one bag
I’ll work on that. Thanks, Sherlynn!
Hey it’s me again. I am going Friday to try my first monthly grocery shopping challenge. I was wondering what you us the condense mild and evaporated milk for and any other helpful tips you could give me on what you cooked would be great! I copied the resipes you posted. Thanks
Evaporated milk is for the mac and cheese. Sweetened condensed milk is for granola bars.
I am glad to hear what you used the evap milk and sweetened condensed milk for. I am trying to use up ingredients in my pantry and seem to have an abundance of those two items! As an avid Aldi’s devotee, I really enjoyed your post!
Thanks so much, Amy!
Awesome post!
I enjoyed your post. I liked the mix of DIY meals and some boxed to take the load off the chef! I shop ALDI too and you inspire me to expand my use of all their great prices to reduce our food budget. Thanks!
You’re so welcome!
Hi!
Are you going to start back up the Grocery Challenges again?
I hope to, Tyshera! The big challenge is finding writers who live in the areas of stores that we haven’t covered.
I always look at these posts with bewilderment. I wish I could cut our grocery budget to 250/month. We barely get by on $250/week! I’m really pushing to get us under $800/month for 2017.
You can do it, Mandie! The key is to start doing SOMETHING. $64 dollars a week may not be where you need to be, but reducing your bill by 10 or 20% may be the thing that kicks your budget into high gear. Don’t aim for a number, aim for a percentage :).
Very impressive. I think I may try more Aldi’s items for our monthly shopping. We are at 75 a week for 3 people (but I am pregnant and my daughter is only 4), but I want to cut it down closer to your number. Thanks for this post.
How do you keep your bread from spoiling? My husband doesn’t like the taste of bread if I freeze it.
I was so happy to find this post, as I dislike grocery shopping and our Aldi is inconveniently located. I’m excited to try this!
We do freeze it, Hannah. I try to freeze it as soon as I get it from the store, if I know it won’t be used right away. This helps it taste fresh once it thaws out. If that’s not an option, then you may have to do without bread for the last two weeks of the month, which is way more doable than people think 😀
Shop around a little. You could have done better. Walmart has better prices for your hamburger and evaporated milk.
The challenge was to do the whole shopping experience at ALDI, but thanks for the tip, Shelly!
Are these all of the recipes that you used? If so what were the ratios you used? I.e. How many meals did you make with each recipe?
It would take me a while to write all of that down for you, Emily, so I’ll add this to my editorial calendar so I can turn it into a blog post for you.
It takes time to establish a meal plan that will work for your family and then to manage the buying of groceries to actually make that meal plan function as it is supposed to. I give you applause for the great effort that you put into this post. It takes work and diligence to put a plan into effect and it definitely appears that you have done very well at this. I give you an A+ for the great post that you have offered to all of us in ciber -land. Don’t pay any attention to the nay-sayers. I don’t see them offering a practical menu / buying plan for the rest of us. Keep up the great work and thank you so much for being willing to share your efforts with the rest of us. I don’t have an Aldi’s store near us as we live in southern Oregon.
Thank you for the kind words, Donna!
This is amazing! Thank you so much for sharing. I love Aldi. I really enjoy all of your tips. 😀
I am so glad I found this post on Pinterest! Thank you for sharing. I plan to use some of your meals this week! I do my shopping mostly at Lidl (Aldi’s Cheaper sister store). Do you have a Lidl near you? I can usually get a week’s worth of groceries for $30-$50 depending on what I fix and what we have in the freezer already (we are gifted with beef, Deer, and sausage throughout the year from our farmer friends). Thank you again for your list and meals!
You are so welcome! We don’t have a Lidl here, but I’ve heard that they are amazing! We have ALDI and Trader Joe’s, so a Lidl would take it over the top :D. So glad the post was helpful!
Hi, I’m just curious how many people are in your family? We have 6, so it’s like to adapt this for our family! Thanks;)
Hi Bonnie! We have 5 in our family, and one kitty (I make his cat food). Our kids are currently 12, 7, and 3.
It was an awesome read! I do my shopping very similarly and find its a great way to save money for families. My only difference is i also go to a regular grocery store for those must have items that you cant get at Aldi and i will go to sams club for restaurant size seasonings since we cook alot from scratch.
Thanks for sharing!! You have inspired me to tackle my grocery budget!
You’re so welcome, Kim!
Do you know of an “equivalent” to Aldi? We don’t have one here, but those prices are amazing!! We spend about $250 every two weeks and would love to only do that for an entire month
Hi Rae! The only equivalent price-wise would be Lidl. If you don’t have either, you’ll get one soon! They are expanding very quickly, now that many people are getting hip to how awesome they are :).