groceries

I am a big Aldi's shopper as well. Their polska keilbasa is at least $1.20 less than the grocers. My kids love cereal but refuse to eat it if it's not a big name. So I buy it at Aldi's anyway and put them in Tupperware storage containers. They never know the difference.

My favorite inexpensive recipe....

1lb pasta...I prefer the rigatoni, or the bow ties...Usually can find it on sale for $1 or less a box.

1 large can cream of chicken soup...I buy the least expensive brand...Usually around $1.50/can.

1 bag frozen mixed vegetables...(the peas, corn, carrots, green beans....Or whichever you prefer) I get it on sale around $1.50/bag.

1 lb cooked chicken..Shredded...the most expensive part of the meal...I buy it when it's on sale for less than $3.00....If you can't find it on sale, you can skip it...

Cook the pasta. Mix the cream of chicken with 3/4 can of water. Add the veggies and the chicken. Mix it with the pasta. It makes quite a bit, and it's yummy..

You can also do it without the pasta, and serve it with biscuits, which makes a kinda chicken pot pie type meal.

Sounds really good, Jessi :)

I make this when my Chris's musician buddies come into town...they usually want me to feed them, and I'm not trying to order pizza for 15 people..lol I can make 2 batches of this and it feeds the hogs. :)

Here's another cheap recipe..

3 cans buttermilk bisquits (4 for $1.00)
pizza toppings(pepperoni, lunchmeat, mushrooms, onions, etc..)
shredded cheese(always on sale somewhere 3 for $5)
pizza sauce(less than $1)

spray a 9x13 pan. take 1 1/2 can of bisquits and cut each bisquit into 4s..Spread these out across the bottom of the pan. Mix the sauce and whatever pizza toppings you like in a bowl. Put a lot of toppings in..Spread half the sauce mix across the bisquits, put half the shredded chz on that..Repeat, ending with the rest of the cheese.

Bake in 350 oven for 32 minutes. OMG, this is wonderful!! It's called bubble-up pizza, it's fun and delicious and cheap!!

That does sound really good. :)

Those recipes sound delicious. The mother of a friend of my son's did something similar to yours, Fins; but instead of biscuits, she used tortillas to line the bottom of the pan.

I also am a big fan of Aldi's. I do most of my shopping there, only going to (now) Giant Eagle (I used to go to Tops, which is no longer in existence here) for things that my kids just HAVE to have like Coco Wheats and chili sauce for hot dogs. Once, I just didn't feel like going to two stores, so I just went to Tops. I bought less meat than I usually do when I go to Aldi's, and I spent twice as much as I do at Aldi's! The savings are just amazing. And I agree, you'd be surprised at the meals you can make out of stuff that "nobody likes."

I'm going to use both of these recipes this weekend. My kids will love the pizza biscuits, and the chicken recipe really sounds like a nice winter dish, me and my daughter love anything creamy with noodles. As for the Polska Kielbasa here is a wonderful sauerkraut recipe

3 tbls marg or butter
1 can sauerkraut, rinsed & drained
2 cups chicken broth
2 tbls brown sugar
2 tbls red wine vinegar
3 tbls dijon mustard
2 tsp caraway sees
1 bay leaf

combine all and let simmer with the sausage cut up and cooking on the top.....it's excellent

I have one for beef stroganoff that goes over well here, and my kids just love it. When I buy a roast a get a larger one than I need for one meal and I use the leftovers for the stroganoff. The recipe is:
1 bag of wide noodles
1 can of cream of mushroom sauce
1 pint of sour cream (this is the most expensive item)
1 package onion soup mix
leftover roast beef.
For every bag of noodles add one more of each of the other things.
My mom used this all the time and we loved it and so do my kids. I come from a VERY large family and we were raised on a tight budget, so I learned how to make use of many leftovers. I still shop looking for two meals out of one.

I will agree, that Aldi's is A) very cheap, and B) very good quality. There's very few things I won't buy from Aldi's.

Did you know they have valet service for their shopping carts??? At least where I live, there always tends to be a homeless guy wandering around the parking lot, who will return my cart if I let him keep the quarter. (Although I know this would probably be scary to some if a strange guy approached you and wanted to return your cart...)

I also found out from someone who worked at Aldi, that it is their internal policy to keep only 1 cashier on the floor. The only time they bring out another cashier is if the customers complain. I tried this too, there was a long line and I asked the cashier if there was anyone else working. She pushed a button under her counter, I heard a bell ring in back, and another cashier came walking out.

Interesting facts, debtcruncher. I wondered why there was usually 1 cashier. Here, we don't have a valet for the carts, but there is usually someone waiting for you to load your car who then gives you their quarter and takes the cart, so it still works out pretty well.

lmao over aldis...my boyfriend hates aldis...thinks the quality is lower. So if he calls and I'm at Aldis I tell him I'm at jewel...lol....but he eats at my house and doesn't know the darn difference.

OMG Debtcruncher, they have the valet service here also! LOL. There are two homeless guys who always try to take the carts back up, when one is working the intersection the other is working the carts, and they switch off between the two.

hey at least they are trying to earn some money doing some Valet work, they could be out robbing little ole ladies. But sheesh, they still do make me very uncomfortable, I know exactly what your talking about, but when they first approach you, you start thinking omg they're going to rob me, when you realize it's just the stinkin quarter that they want....it's like WHEW!!!!!

Candice - tell your man that most of the products in Aldi are made by major corporations. Cuz the fact is - they are.

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I've been doing a lot more of my shopping at aldis. Here are some of my favorites. The Garbage bags are the best quality, i prefer the even over a name brand. Also, their conditioning hair balm is great, works just as good as the salon brands. But i have question what happened to 25 cent loaves of bread? They are now .79.

I have a son and husband who believe the should eat the world. I have learned to use coupons/coupled with store promos to get a lot of stuff nearly free. I never by convenience foods. It is all ax and chop for us. I also will by a large box of dry milk. Mix it according to package. Then mix again with equal parts of 2% milk. It averages out to about 2.49 a gallon of milk. As long as you mix it with 2% who can't taste the difference. I also use it in cooking but keep a 1/2 gallon of it just mixed with water. I also by what is on sale. We may eat hamburge for days, chicken the next week. I average the cost of a weeks groceries for 3 adults (2 men) at about 70.00 a week. I live in central va.

I LOVE their garbage bags also lol. Their ziplock storage bags and freezer bags are a pretty good buy also.

And yes some of their stuff along with save-a-lots products ARE made by major companies. I know because where I work we make stuff that has a major brand on it but it is the same thing that we use for aldi and save-a-lot and walmarts great value brand. There is NOTHING different about the product than the outer wrapping.

i just recieved my refund the other day and i did something exciting...........i went grocery shopping. So some they would think its lame but i was totally out of everything. It was great to go to the store and stock up and not have to worry how i was going to pay the bills next week.

so i went to dollar general spent 50 on cleaning supplies, save alot 130 on canned stuff and some other things, Aldis, 100.00 for hamburger, bags, cheese, whatever, and 50 at walmart for the stuff i absolutely could not get any were else.

I never thought id be excited about grocery shopping but its great to have my cabinets full again and not have to worry about what im going to whip up for dinner that every one will complain about. meal time was my worst part of the day i dreaded it.

Yes wow those recipes sound amazing! I will be getting my wife to cook the recipe jessi put on here hehe. Will update on how it goes. And currently im spending about 450-500 a month on groceries ridiculous aint it? How much is everyone else spending?

i was making it on about 50.00 a week for us a family of 3, just the basics and barely getting by. This is why i stocked up. but i shop around and sometimes things have to be left out. till i recieved my refund my family was so tired of noodle dishes because it was cheap.

i know about 2 years ago we were saving money, but now we have the same bills and loosing money. Because of the rise of grociery and necessities. for example my husband lives on tums when i was pregnant i purchased a economy bottle for like 4.00 name brand tums.

last summer we ran out so i went to get more now 9.00 the generic was5.00 rediculas more than doubled.

every thing has doubled. that is except for our paychecks.

really have to sale shop! went to jewel yesterday 2 cases pepsi, 10 2 liters, 10 boxes hot pockets, 4 double boxes pop tarts, all name brand for $60.00. I thought I did good, what do you guys think?

not to bad expecially for all those hot pockets they are very expensive. My husband works 2 jobs so he works very late 4 nights a week and i have to have microwave stuff for him to just nuke when he gets in and he loves hotpockets but i usually cant afford them 10.00 a case for them. but then again i usually dont purchase pop (waters free)or name brands at all anymore i cant afford it.

I try to purchase and stock up big time on the door busters, those happened to be the door busters this week.

If anyone lives near a ultra food store this week they have 12 packs of faygo soda for $1.66 and cans of tuna for .48.....cant beat those door busters

I try not to buy convenience foods. I by things like a whole ham or turkey, cook it, then carve and freeze in smaller packages. I also make turkey salad for sandwhiches. Sometimes when I have a whole day clear, I will make large batch of chili, or spag sauce, casseroles. Cook them and freeze. If you by your burger on sale, save $ every time use frozen entree did yourself. I also tailor my grocery purchases to what is on sale. We don't buy much soda, make iced tea or similar. I feed 2 grown men and myself for about $60.00 a week. We eat well. No noodle meals. We have also noticed that since we stopped bying a lot of convenience foods, weight, blood sugar levels and cholestrol have all dropped. It not only saves $, it is healthier. I also work 40 hpw and know the time can be tight. We turn it into a family project.

I can't remember the last time I had a soda ... maybe 2 years ago? It is just spending money that I don't have, even though my favorite drink on the planet is Pepsi from Taco Bell ... but when the craving hits, I open up my credit calendar that I carry with me everywhere, and see how I am slowly whittling down my debt, and that the $1.50 soda would set me back ... so I drink water from the tap and don't regret it.

I,too, buy in larger quantities and what is on sale. They had name brand hams on sale for .89 cents a pound. I bought the biggest one they had. We will have a ham dinner one night, I will slice the rest and put in freezer for ham sandwiches and soup another night, and freeze the bone to have beans another.

The same way with roast-I but extra big one-have roast one night, enough for left-overs and slice and freeze the rest for having hot beef sandwiches another night.
I try to buy something I can get 3 meals from, same with chicken. They had thighs, boneless cheicken breast( which were cheaper than a whole chicken) on sale. I bought a large package. I will do baked chicken breasts, stir-fry and chicken and rice for about seven bucks for the chicken.

I,also am going to stock up on paper goods, canned goods, coffee, trash bags, etc, when we get our refund.

I also use coupons when it something I usually buy. I was going to get store brand cereal the other day. I noticed that Kellogs had a deal where you buy one box of cereal and get one free. It so happened that I had a dollar off coupon-it was double coupon day, so I got two bucks off and ended getting two large boxes for a little over a dollar.

I do but some snack food for my husband to take to work, but get those at a bread outlet..pays to look around and save!

i think i posted this earlier on a different post, but if you buy ham and burger in bulk a cheap little gadget called the reynolds handi vac has been my best friend. i saw it on sale the other day for 6.00 origionally 12.00 its a starter kit but its great to prevent freezerburn or to keep veggies fresh in the fridge.

I started buying ham, burger, and turkey in bulk last fall say i purchase a whole ham that makes a family of 3 alot of meals. I buy what is on sale at the time for that week.

I have also been dieting scince my son was born 4 years ago and I was not making any progress. a pound here or there and it just really wasnt getting me any were but scince i started this i havent been dieting and i lost 15 1lbs and 4 inches around my waist!

No pop (although i too am a die hard pepsi fan) just tap water, no junk food, all good snack stuff like veggies and dip, and popcorn(not the bag but the old fashion kind that you make with a pan) and im never hungry.

My husband was getting a pot belly too but he has told me his pants are too big so i have to get him the next size down so i know he has lost some weight too.