Category Archives: Menu Pans

Aldi Meal Plan October 5

meal plan chalkboard and an aldi meal plan for this week

Do you struggle with coming up with meals to make each week? This Aldi meal plan will give you the inspiration you need to come up with a weekly meal plan for your family.

You can use this meal plan for your week as written or choose just some of the recipes from it to combine them with your family favorites or a recipe you’ve been meaning to try for months.

I’m a huge fan of using menu planning as a way to keep grocery costs down (my first point in this post on drastically reducing your grocery budget). No matter how many of these recipes you use, I highly recommend you get your downloadable menu plan template and put it to use. It has saved me so much money over the years:

Aldi Produce and Meat Sales to Check Out (10/3-10/9):

  • Grape tomatoes
  • Green grapes
  • Acorn, butternut, and spaghetti squash
  • Multi colored bell peppers
  • Boneless chicken breast
  • Boneless whole port butt roast

Each week will include one or two vegetarian meals. This is a great way to keep your grocery budget down. Another tip for a lower grocery budget is to select just 4-5 of the listed suppers and eat leftovers the other nights. (This is also a time saver!)

Aldi Meal Plan

Suppers:

BBQ Pork Baked Potatoes – if not using for two meals, freeze half the bbq pork for another week or cut the recipe in half. Serve with raw veggies. (Save the rest of the bag of potatoes for a soup next week)
Spaghetti Squash Chow Mein
Chopped Salad Serve with homemade muffins or bread
Pork Tacos topped with lettuce and corn served with homemade salsa and chips (stretch the meat with black beans and freeze half for another week)
Cheesy Lentil Pie Serve with fresh or roasted veggies and fruit. (Lentils can be hit or miss at Aldi, so when you find them stock up! )
Easy Kale Sausage and White Bean Soup (Save the rest of the kale for another soup next week or use in a smoothie for breakfast)
Spaghetti (with ground beef or meatless). Serve with raw vegetables and french bread.

Snack and Side Options:

Fruit: grapes and apples
Raw Vegetables: Carrots, celery, bell pepper strips, grape tomatoes
Roasted Squash and root vegetables
French Bread
Pretzels

Frugal Lunch Ideas:

Sandwiches
Rice Cakes (with peanut butter or meat)
Leftovers
Beans and Rice
Roasted Vegetables
Salad

Frugal Breakfast Ideas:

Oatmeal
Scrambled Eggs
Baked Pancakes

What are you going to make this week? Do you use an Aldi meal plan? Basing your menu off of what’s on sale (or what you picked up on clearance or sale the weeks before and put in the freezer) is a great way to stretch your dollar and feed your family on a budget.

 

Menu Plan

Okay, so guess what? Life hasn’t slowed down and I still haven’t gotten in a good habit of blogging. I think I’m just going to have to make myself start. We have had more fun visiting others in my family and are still going to make another trip to see the rest of them.

Our menu lately has been kept super simple and not that exciting, but sometimes easy is just what you have to do. Leftovers have been a lifesaver. Cooking once and eating 2 or 3 times? I’m all over that. Life has been crazy enough that I’ve had to choose not to stress over making boring meals and not eating as healthily as we normally do.

This week’s suppers are consisting of:

Our menu plan this week is easy and full of leftovers - just what I need!

A new deep dish pizza cooked in the cast iron skillet we tried last week! Pretty yummy but New York and brick oven pizza is still more my thing.

Lunches are bean and cheese tortillas with apples and cucumbers.

Breakfasts are:

  • Fruit
  • Plain Yogurt and Granola
  • Eggs

See, I told you! No gourmet cooking happening around here. Sometimes it’s okay to take a break and do less and the weather kind-of, sort-of feeling fall like makes me happy because it means soups and we all know that soup leftovers are the best! Mexican, split pea, and potato sausage have all made an appearance in the last few weeks.

Linking up to Menu Plan Monday

Easy Summer Menu Plan

It’s Monday again! Having a menu plan and taking some time to prep on the weekend always helps the work week go more smoothly. This week’s shopping trip was easy – restock on a few fruits, lettuce, and eggs and we are good to go.

Our easy (and mostly oven free) menu plan for our family of 4 including two kiddos!

Last week’s personal pizzas (that we made big enough for two meals) on the grill. This is mine with tomatoes, olives, zucchini, and green and yellow onions with olive oil for sauce.

I’m dubbing this the summer of salads. They are great for keeping the oven off, prepping in advance, and being healthy and easy. We are doing two different supper salads this week and just because I haven’t been inspired by anything else Shaun and I are sticking with our lunch salads.

I guess we aren’t lacking in the vegetable department. I keep a bag of cooked beans in the freezer that are perfect for adding to my salad at lunch time. Supper salads tend to be more substantial and the lunch ones just veggies thrown together.

Our easy (and mostly oven free) menu plan for our family of 4 including two kiddos!

 

One of my very favorite salads that we also had last week. Greek salad with tzatziki sauce. Yum!

Suppers:

  • Grilled Bone-In Chicken, Watermelon, Broccoli, and Bread
  • Ranch Style Bean Salad (Salad with a Tex Mex flare) x 2
  • Salad with grilled chicken (leftover from Sunday’s supper) x 3
  • Grilled Bratwursts, Broccoli, Watermelon, and Bread

Our easy (and mostly oven free) menu plan for our family of 4 including two kiddos!

It doesn’t get much easier than this. Especially if you cook up extra chicken and have watermelon left for later in the week.

Lunches:

  • Olive Oil Pasta
  • Ranch Style Bean Salad (Salad with a Tex Mex flare) (so we’ll have this a total of 3 times)
  • Salads x 5 for Shaun and me
  • Leftover pasta, bread, veggies etc x 5 for the kids

Breakfasts:

  • Eggs x 3 (Shaun and me)
  • Blueberry Pancakes for my daughter on the egg days
  • Oatmeal x 7 for my 2 year old – his favorite breakfast food
  • Smoothies x 2
  • Biscuits x 2

Except for the biscuits, this week’s menu is oven free.

If you are looking for some fun side dishes to use for grilling, check out this great list:

Delicious real food (healthy) side dishes for grilling! Perfect for the next time you fire up the grill. Yummy, so many great ideas.

What are you eating this week?

Linking up to Menu Plan Monday

 

Easy Menu Plan

Easy menu plan for our family of 4. Leftovers are amazing and one of my favorite salads is on the menu!

The entire radio station staff had to work 12 hours Saturday at an annual kids event they do. Thankfully, they gave everyone the day  off Monday so Shaun doesn’t have to work today! My day at work will be quieter because I will be kid free and Shaun has plans to tackle some yard work and maybe take the kids on a trip to the park.

One of my favorite salads is making an appearance on the menu this week. The Greek salad is fairly easy and so tasty – in fact, we are having it 3 nights in a row! It’s one of those dishes I don’t get tired off – creamy tzatziki sauce, tangy feta, olives, and chicken all combined into a delicious lettuce salad.

I think that except for the lemon bars I made per my husband’s dessert request for father’s day, everything is oven free this week. We’ll see if I can find ways to cut on on stove usage too.

Suppers:

  • Father’s Day: Steak, broccoli, chip & salsa, and lemon bars
  • Greek Salad x 3
  • Pizza x 2
  • Leftovers/Snacky Supper

Lunches:

  • Leftovers
  • Schlotsky’s using our free sandwich coupons
  • Salads x 5 for Shaun and me
  • Spaghetti x 5 for the kids

Breakfasts:

  • Smoothies x 3
  • Eggs x 3
  • Blueberry Pancakes from the freezer x 3 (for my 4 year old- she’s still not eating eggs)
  • Oatmeal x 7 for the 2 year old. Oatmeal and fruit are the only things he wants for breakfast
  • Yogurt with frozen blueberries and mango pieces

What’s your favorite salad?

Linking up to Menu Plan Monday

 

Menu Plan

Every time I turn on the oven or stove I wonder what I’m doing, Saturday especially. By the time our company was over for butter chicken, naan, broccoli, and cookies I was ready to swearing off cooking inside until the fall. The rest of the menu isn’t too bad as long as I decide to do the pizza on the grill. (We love how it tastes, but it does add another small step.)

Our summer time menu plan for a family of 4! We do it on a budget of $150 a month!

Our taco salad from last week in a homemade shell!

Our lunch standard is salads for Shaun and myself and then plan one or two things for the kids to eat over the week days. It keeps things simple and the planning is easy.

My 4 year old is a good eater but after eating things for months, she gets a little burnt out on them. pancakes have been on her not favorite list for months now, but she’s been getting a little tired of eggs and requested pancakes again. I made a single batch up, so we’ll see if she actually eats them this week. Shaun and I will stick with eggs and smoothies and I made up a batch of yogurt we can use for breakfast or snacks.

Our summer time menu plan for a family of 4! We do it on a budget of $150 a month!

 

If you like Indian food, these are must try dishes! If you’ve never had Indian food before, these are great dishes to try. It’s one of our go to company dishes and it always loved.

Our summer time menu plan for a family of 4! We do it on a budget of $150 a month!

Suppers:

  • Homemade Pizza x 2 (maybe on the grills)
  • Ginger-Sesame Salad x 2
  • Butter Chicken and Naan
  • Grill
  • Nachos

Lunches:

  • Leftover Pizza
  • Leftover Butter Chicken
  • Homemade Mac and Cheese x 5 for the kids
  • Salads x 5 for Shaun and me

Breakfasts:

  • Eggs x 3 or 4
  • Smoothies x 2 or 3
  • Blueberry pancakes for my daughter per her request
  • Oatmeal for my 2 year old (he won’t touch eggs and wouldn’t even try the pancakes – at least his request is easy)
  • Yogurt

Linking up to Menu Plan Monday