Beginning the Aldi Challenge

For the month of March we will be shopping only at Aldi Stores for grocery/toiletry items.  The purpose of this challenge is two fold: to save money and to see if we can do it.

We are trying this challenge for only 1 month for several reasons most of it being that although I do believe shopping only at Aldi will save us money, it is not practical for more than 1 month because there are certain items, mainly toiletry that we have to buy at Super Target or Reasors, etc..  For example, Lucy has super sensitive skin and we have found the only bath soap/shampoo that does not cause her to breakout is Burt's Bees.  Other things include my favorite laundry detergent: All and things such as shampoo, skin shavers, contact solution, toilet paper that I have brands that I am very loyal too.  One of the biggest concerns is we cook with lots of fresh herbs and vegetables that we cannot buy at Aldi like cilantro, basil, butternut squash, etc.. The solution: John is working on planting on herb and regular garden with the items we cannot get at Aldi but buy at other stores.  This will be a good challenge for us because we all get in a rut each day serving the same things for lunch, eating the same snacks.  We truly believe this will help us think outside the box this month.

Our normal grocery/household budget for shopping each month for a family of 3 is $400. We also allow for $40/month for out to eat or entertainment purposes.  The Adli only month (month of March 2011) we think we can get by for $250/month since Aldi does claim to save at least 40% on groceries compared to other big stores like Wal Mart, Reasors, etc...

Every few days I will be telling you what we ate (showing we can still eat fresh, homeade meals using only Aldi products) and sharing some recipes.  Each week (Saturdays) we do our grocery shopping and I will be posting our grocery list and the amount we spent.  This is going to be fun!!!  Keep in mind we do have a number of things in our cupboards, freezer, refrigerator that we will be using that may have come from other stores but were not purchased during the month of March.

Grocery List for the week of February 26th:
10lb Russett Potatoes, 3 bags Broccoli florets, Frozen Peas, Popcorn Shrimp, Steam Easy Veg Bags, Whole Chicken, Bacon, Apple Juice, Milk, Mayo, Flour, 2 Avocados, Bananas, Carrots, Applesauce, Trash Bags, Eggs x 2 dozen, Wheat Bread.  Total Spent=$37.54

Feb 28th, Monday night dinner: Pesto Cream Tortellini
Homeade Pesto: Cilantro, Garlic, Parmesan Cheese, Olive Oil, Cashews--grind up in Food processor. Mix with 1 cup of Cream and cook Tortellini or your choice of pasta, add bag of steamed broccolli.  Lucy loved it so I consider it a hit!  Lunch today (tues) was popcorn shrimp and steamed peas for lucy and for me I had a grilled cheese and tomato sandwich with a sliced apple and an avocado.  We both had juice to drink.  Snacks included a banana, milk, graham crackers and cheese for morning and afternoon snacks.

March 1st, Tues Night dinner: Roasted Chicken with carrots and potatoes with homeade buttermilk biscuits.
Clean out whole chicken, cut up potatoes and carrots place in bottom of roaster and sprinkle olive oil, salt, pepper, parsley over all.  Add sliced onion and whole garlic cloves. Roast in oven for 1 1/2-2 hours on 300. Biscuits are flour (half whole wheat/half white), salt, baking powder, butter & buttermilk (aldi doesn't sell but you can make your own with milk and lemon juice).

Enjoy!!!!