Weekly Menu

Weekly Menu

June 15 - June 21

Breakfast

• Muffin
• Yogurt
• Bagel
• Scrambled eggs
• Peanut Butter toast
• Smoothie
• Oatmeal
• Pancakes
• Fruit

Lunch

• Peanut butter and jelly sandwich
• Corn dogs
• Chicken nuggets
• Macaroni and cheese
• Quesadilla
• Cheese and Crackers
• Hot dogs

Supper

• Pizza
• Sloppy Joes
• Chicken Tacos
• Chicken pockets
• Lasagna shells
• Chicken and Rice
• Grilled Chicken

Most Recent Trip

My in-laws had my kids for the day last Thursday, so I used that day as an opportunity to do some shopping on my own.

I made a brief stop at Wal-Mart where I picked up some Clif Bars for my husband.  Since they do not sell these at Aldi's, I needed to pick them up somewhere else.  I paid $6.19 for the bars (including tax).

I also stopped at Aldi's and Dillon's that day.  Aldi's had strawberries for 99 cents again, so I took advantage of that price as well as a pineapple for $1.29.  I needed to pick up some flour as well; much to my delight, the price was only $1.28 for 5lbs.  I will definitely buy my flour from Aldi's in the future.  The total for Aldi's came to $22.45.

I picked up milk, yogurt, raspberries, and bananas at Dillon's (along with some Chinese food for lunch).  The total came to $16.84 for that stop.

Finally, on Saturday, I needed to stop at Target to pick up a few non-grocery items.  While I was there, I went ahead and picked up some food items I needed for the weekend.  My total at Target was $20.05.

So far in this journey, I have enjoyed not having $100 grocery bills.  To this date, I have spent a little over $204 in groceries, which is just over half our regular budget.

Now I just need to remain focused on my plan and not be tempted to buy unnecessary items at any store. 

Weekly Menu

Weekly Menu

June 8 - June 14

Breakfast

• Toast w/peanut butter
• Smoothie x 2
• Muffin x 2
• Scrambled Eggs
• Pancakes

Lunch

• Corn dogs
• Peanut butter and jelly sandwich
• Chicken nuggets
• Macaroni and cheese
• Grilled cheese
• Mini calzones
• Left overs

Dinner

• Leftovers
• Spaghetti
• King's chicken
• Pizza
• Chicken Parmesan
• Taco Bread
• Grilled Chicken

Last Weekend

I made a couple of trips to Aldi's this last weekend, as well as one brief trip to Dillon's. 

We made plans to eat dinner at a friend's house on Friday, so I needed to go and pick up a few items for the side dish I planned to bring.  While I was there, I went ahead and picked up a few items I knew that we would soon need.  The most expensive item was a 3lb bag of frozen chicken breasts.  The price on the frozen breasts is certainly reasonable, but I prefer the 10lb bag I can buy at Sam's because the breasts are a little smaller and more consistently sized.  The price at Sam's is not that much more than Aldi's, so I will probably go back to buying the Sam's chicken after this month.

I was excited to find pork chops for $2.49/lb.  I had looked at Dillon's recently and they were over $4/lb; a package with just three pork chops cost over $7.  For just about the same unit price, I was able to buy 5 pork chops at Aldi's (and one of those chops was big enough to actually make the total 6).

I spent $36.95 on this first trip. 

The second trip came on Sunday after I had made our weekly menu plan.  There were just a few items that I needed, so the trip only cost $16.82.

Since I also wanted to buy some yogurt, I went over to Dillon's.  They had a mariachi band playing for their Mexican celebration, so I enjoyed the added pleasure of live music to my shopping experience.  While at Dillon's, I just stuck to my goal of only buying certain produce and other items that I am not able to buy at Aldi's.  Red leaf lettuce, bananas, and yogurt were the only items I placed in my cart to purchase for a total of $5.25.

I have to admit I struggled a little bit while at Dillon's with the temptation to look for food bargains. 

A third of the way through the month, my grocery total sits at $135 and change.  This would keep me at the $400 mark for the month if I stay at this pace. 

Weekly Menu

Weekly Menu 

June 1- June 7

Breakfast

• Smoothie
• Cinnamon Toast
• Peanut butter Toast
• Oatmeal
• Muffins
• Pancakes
• Scrambled Eggs

Lunch

• Macaroni and cheese
• Quesadilla
• Corn Dogs
• Eat out
• Cheese and Crakcers
• Mini Calzones
• Hamburgers

Dinner

• Sandwich
• Italian Crescent Bake
• Chicken and Rice
• Sloppy Joes
• Chicken Tacos
• Taco Bread 
• Pizza

 While I understand the value of a weekly menu, I usually drag my feet getting it done.  This week part of my goal was to use up some food items we already have on hand both in the cupboards and in the freezer.  When I make sloppy joes, taco meat, spaghetti meat, etc, I usually make at least a double batch and freeze half so I will already have part of a meal ready to go for the future.

A Quick Stop at Dillon's

We were completely out of milk, so I made a quick stop at Dillon's today to buy some.  I prefer to buy my milk at Dillon's (or Braum's), so that is one item I am not going to buy from Aldi's.

While I was there, I went ahead and picked up some bananas (I have never had good luck with Aldi's bananas) and a bag of store brand tortilla chips.  The chips are only $1, which is a hard price to beat anywhere.

My total cost for this trip was $9.16.

My resolve to primarily shop at Aldi's did have a positive impact on this trip.  I stuck to my list and did not even stop to consider picking up any other items (even though they do have Townhouse crackers on sale).

First Trip

I completed my first official trip for the month of June on Monday.  My list was not very long since I am also trying to use up the items I already have in my pantry.  We were running low on some snacky-food items like granola bars and crackers.

As I looked at the different prices, I could see that Aldi's regular price for items is often lower than the other grocery stores, but that many of these items often go on sale for less.  Of course, one reason I think Aldi's will help me spend less is that I will not be distracted by as extra items on sale that I do not need.

I spent $54.99 for 30 items on this trip, which is a pretty good price-per-item breakdown for my usual shopping trips.  The most expensive item I purchased was a box of 32 fruit snacks for $3.99.  The least expensive items was a can of cream of chicken soup for $.79.

I went ahead and picked up some fruit while I was there because it all looked fresh.  Plus, it is hard to pass up $.99 for strawberries (and they were delicious!).