The Grocery Store Showdown And Why I Love Aldi

Today was my "grocery day." Almost every Monday, I go over to Litchfield (about 10 miles from our house) to get groceries at Walmart and Aldi. Now, if you are from Western Kansas you are probably asking "What the heck is Aldi?" Aldi is a grocery store that only stocks it's own brand of groceries (It's also the parent company of Trader Joes. I sooooo wish we had a TJ's closer then St. Louis because I would be shopping there weekly!). There is no kraft, general mills, pillsbury.....you get the picture. Only Aldi's own brand of food/household products. This isn't the only thing that sets Aldi apart from other grocery stores. You also have to put a quarter in to access the grocery cart (the theory is that you will return the cart to get your quarter back and they won't have a whole parking lot full of stray carts) and you are in charge of bagging your own groceries. Say what? They make you bag your own groceries? It's a lot less work than what it sounds. I actually enjoy this aspect of shopping at Aldi because I can control what goes in what bag and it makes for much easier unpacking when I get home. They have re-usable canvas tote bags you can buy (I have had mine for three years or longer), you can bring your own from home, or you can buy paper bags for like 6 cents a piece. On occasion, they don't have a product that I'm needing, so I just get that at WalMart, no big deal! The thing that I love most about Aldi is it saves me a TON of money! I know, I know, you are thinking "cheap food equals gross food," yeah, that's what I thought before I shopped there too. The first time I stepped foot in an Aldi I will admit, I was a little skeptical. There were none of the brands I was familiar with and I had never tried Adli brand products. Boy, am I glad I gave them a chance! I will say, I don't buy any of their pre-packaged foods like mac and cheese, hamburger helper, canned soups, frozen dinners, etc. (we try and eat "clean," so I cook about 95% of our meals from scratch) so I don't know how they compare with national brands but everything that I do buy, I love! Their produce section is my absolute favorite! This is where I see the most savings in my grocery budget. I saved ten dollars this week alone by buying Aldi produce as compared to WalMart. Even if you are a person who buys all name brand groceries, you can still save up to forty dollars a month by just buying produce at Aldi! When I'm shopping at WalMart sometimes I want to scream at people "You can get this for half price at Aldi...a bag of carrots is a bag of carrots!' I refrain for fear of being asked to never come back to WalMart again, and if I didn't have to buy toilet paper and baby wipes, this wouldn't bother me one bit!  I'm not sure if every Aldi has awesome produce like ours, so if you go to an Aldi and their produce isn't the best, I'm sorry, but the produce at our Aldi kicks WalMart's produce section in the rear! The quality and price absolutely can not be beat! If you have an Aldi close by and have been skeptical to try it, I encourage you to take a trip and check it out for yourself. They have an awesome new line called "Simply Nature," which is their all natural/organic line of food. I love these products! They have also began to carry organic baby carrots, cherry tomatoes, bananas, and apples. Generally, their organic products cost about the same as their conventional counterparts at WalMart. Now to see how much you can really save here are a few examples from my grocery trip today. The first price is from Adli, the second (and sometimes third) is from WalMart.

                                                                                               
Milk         $2.68(non hormome treated cows)  $2.88 (store brand) $4.87(name brand-no hormone)

Butter                                  $1.79                               $3.48 (store brand)
Pineapple                               99 cents each                   $2.78 each
Frozen Fruit                        $1.99/ 1lb bag                  $2. 25/ 1lb bag (store brand)
Baby Carrots                               49 cents/bag                    $1.68/bag
Baby Spinach                               $2.49 organic                    $2.98 non-organic
Halo Clementines(exact same            $3.69                                 $5.81
                 brand and bag size)
Natural Peanut Butter                   $1.69                   $1.98(store brand) $2.78( Jif)
Bag of Apples                   $2.99/ 3lbs            $5.97 (forgot to look how many lbs)
8 oz cheese block                         $1.99                                $2.44 (store brand)
Strawberries 1 pound box            $1.29                                $1.98
Cottage Cheese                         $2.29                                $2.84 (store brand)

These are just a few examples of the savings you can get when shopping at Aldi. I checked prices for my whole list at WalMart and if I would have bought everything there just buying Great Value products my total would have been around $99.00. If I would have bought all name brand groceries it would have probably been in the $105-$110 range. Now, remember, a large portion of my grocery budget is devoted to fresh fruits and veggies so I wouldn't have bought a whole lot of store/name brand products anyway. My total today at Aldi was $84.78! I saved fifteen bucks buying my groceries at Aldi instead of WalMart. If I were a name brand buyer I could have saved $20-$25! That's a whole day or two worth of meals around here, or one trip out to our movie theater ($14 for two people, pop and popcorn included!) If you add it up for the month that's anywhere from $60-$100! I know we are all trying to stretch our grocery budget to get more food or trying to find more money in the budget to do more fun things with. If all you have to do is switch where you are shopping, why not try it!

Here's all the groceries! Included are 2 gallons of milk, a whole chicken, 3 pineapples, 2 bags frozen blueberries, 2 bags frozen peaches, 1 bag of apples, 2 boxes organic baby spinach, 3 jars organic pasta sauce, 100% fruit/vegetable juice, 1 bag baby carrots, 2 bunches bananas, 3 tubs cottage cheese, 4 cartons strawberries(I will freeze some), 1 carton fresh green beans, 1 stalk celery, 2 boxes of butter, colby/jack sliced cheese, 3 8oz cheese blocks, brown sugar, mandarin oranges, 1 carton eggs, 2 boxes organic toasted oats cereal, sugar, 1 box shredded wheat cereal, and 1 jar natural peanut butter.


I also love to meal plan for the week. It makes grocery shopping so much simpler! On Sunday, I set down and make a menu and grocery list for the week. There are certain things that remain the same every week like smoothie ingredients (spinach, frozen fruit, almond milk, Greek yogurt), fresh fruits and veggies, milk,  and then I just add on whatever we are out of in the pantry and any items I need to complete the recipes I have planned for the week. I first look in my fridge, freezer, and pantry and take inventory of what I have and try to use recipes for the food items I already have on hand. This helps to keep my grocery budget in check. This week I was really lucky and hardly had to buy any extra ingredients for meals. I had some carry over meals that I had planned for last week but we ended up eating left overs and didn't need those meals so I could use them this week! Another great idea is to plan meals that can use some of the same ingredients through out the week. This ensures there is no wasted food. Don't just buy celery and use it in one recipe and let the rest rot in the fridge. Try incorporating it into another recipe later in the week! I love meal planning because it ensures that I have everything I need already in my kitchen to cook a wholesome nutritious meal for my family and I'm not worrying about what I will fix for supper and having to run to the grocery store. I feel like if I don't have something planned, I would resort to convenience foods (frozen foods, pre packaged meals) much more often because it's easy. Yes, the meals I cook do require more preparation than just opening something and sticking it in the oven  but I feel like if I have everything on hand and prepare as much of it ahead of time that I can then it makes for an easier time preparing dinner every night. I probably do spend more time in the kitchen than some people want to but you can adapt your meal plan to suit your family's needs. Use your crock-pot to have something cooking while you are are at work or prepare some freezer friendly meals on a Saturday. There are so many healthy dishes that don't have to take a ton of time! Sometimes I have a hard time trying to think up menu ideas so I thought I would share what's on the menu at the Dyas house this week.

Monday- Salmon patties, homemade mac and cheese, and peas (meal I had planned last week but didn't use)
Tuesday- Stuffed Shells, green beans, homemade bread
Wednesday- Ham and bean soup, cornbread (Ham was in the freezer, beans in pantry, cornbread ingredients in pantry)
Thursday- Fajitas,  Chips and Salsa/Guacamole (meal from last week, I cut up the peppers and froze them when I knew I wouldn't need this meal last week)
Friday- Grilled cheese sandwiches (make bread in bread machine), homemade tomato soup, fresh fruit (Rem will be at track this night so I wanted something easy for the boys!)
Saturday- Burrito Bowls (the only thing extra I had to pick up was some cilantro and lime to flavor the quinoa and cheese to sprinkle on the top, everything else was already in my pantry/fridge)
Sunday-Balsamic shredded beef, mashed red potatoes, cooked carrots

For breakfast we usually eat oatmeal, plain greek yogurt with berries/granola, or smoothies. Sometimes we will also do eggs and toast, and Gav loves his organic honey nut toasted oats cereal. Lunch is usually left overs from the night before or a simple sandwich like chicken salad. Popular snacks are fruit, yogurt with berries, celery/apples and peanut butter, cottage cheese, veggies/pita and hummus, or nuts and dried fruit (we love cashews and pistachios).

I know cooking everything from scratch is absolutely impossible for some because of time restraints but I encourage you to make whatever you can/have time for from scratch. When you make something yourself you can control the amount of sugar, salt, and other additives that go into your food, not to mention there are no weird ingredients you can't pronounce. Have you ever looked on the side of the can of cream of chicken soup? Kinda scary all the strange things that are in there! A homemade version has about three main ingredients and some spices for flavor and it's a ton cheaper too!

I really enjoy cooking and providing nourishing meals for my family and want to inspire others to make the most healthy choices that they can make in regards to eating. I'm not going to sit here and say that I'm a nutritionist or that I always make the most healthy eating choices (I ate an entire box of butterfinger bites at the movies tonight...HELLO!) but I do believe that we should make the most nutritious choices we can when we have the chance. Instead of eating a donut for breakfast thats packed full of sugar (that's basically it) why not try a bowl of oatmeal with fresh berries, or a yogurt parfait you make at home. Both of these things literally take no more than five minutes. I think if you have time to make a stop by the donut shop in the morning then you definitely have time to make yourself a nutritious breakfast! You will feel so much better throughout the day and have LASTING energy, not just energy for an hour before the sugar high wears off. Ok, I'm off my soapbox but I think the way that most of America eats is horrific and needs to change!

So I just realized that this went from a post about how to save money on groceries to one about healthy food choices so I guess I hit two birds with one stone! I'm passionate about healthy food choices and saving money on the food I buy so I guess they go together. I hope that if you have never tried shopping at Aldi you will give it a chance and that if you are wanting to make a change in the way you eat to head toward a more healthy lifestyle you will begin that journey soon! Happy and Healthy Grocery Shopping!