Aldi Meal Planning: Week 4

This week’s grocery bill came to 82.77 and again – everything was from Aldi (except a dressing I really wanted at Target – which was 3.99).  As usual, I utilized leftover pantry items, fresh, and frozen foods I had available already in my kitchen.  Here was our menu this week:

Greek Salad Pizzas
Pittsburgh Steak Salads
Nacho Bar + Buffalo Cauliflower (and fried pickles)
California Sushi Bowls
Spaghetti Squash with Mushrooms, Onions + Swiss

Pancake Bites
BLT’s
Steak and Onion Hash with Eggs (This wasn’t planned)

Grocery List:

Blueberries
Bananas
Lettuce
Tomatoes
Cucumbers
Red Onion
Potatoes
Spaghetti Squash
Mushrooms
Avocado
Cauliflower
Apples

Bacon
Steak
Ground Turkey
Imitation Crab
Turkey Sausage Crumbles

Spicy Mayo
Brown Rice
Ginger Dressing (Target)
Hot Sauce
Pancake Mix
Chocolate Chips
Mayo
Cereal
Crock Pot Sauces (new item there – will be used for future meals)
Popcorn
Sauce
Black Olives
Balsamic Dressing
Artichoke Hearts
Fruit Cups
Rice Cakes
Oil
Ranch
Queso
Jalapenos
Salsa
Black Beans
Tortilla Chips
Flour

Shredded Mozzarella
Feta
Eggs
Milk
Shredded Cheddar
Swiss
Light Sour Cream
Shredded Parmesan

Wheat Bread
Wheat Pizza Crust

Salt
Oregano
Garlic Powder
Sesame Seeds
Ground Cumin
Chili Powder

Breakfasts included Pancake Bites, Eggs, Bacon and Toast, Steak and Onion Hash with Eggs, Cereal, and Oatmeal. 

Snacks: Crackers with Cheese, Pickles, and Mustard, Rice Cakes with Hummus, Rice Pudding with Bananas, hard boiled eggs, and Fruit.

Lunches: Salads (with leftovers from nacho bar), BLT’s, Grilled Cheese, and Egg Salad.

Here is how I did the planned breakfasts, lunches + dinners (this weeks were probably the easiest and least time consuming):

Greek Salad Pizzas

The whole wheat pizza crust I bought last week (for the Caesar salad pizzas) came with 2 crusts, so I planned one crust to be saved for this week.  I spread sauce over the whole wheat crust with shredded mozzarella cheese.  Bake at 450 directly on the oven rack for 10 minutes.  Cut pizza into 4 (large) squares.  While the pizza is baking, chop up lettuce, tomatoes, red onion, black olives, artichoke hearts, and cucumber and toss in a bowl.  Add in crumbled feta, some dried oregano, and balsamic dressing and toss to coat.  Top each pizza with a big serving of salad.  I think I liked this even better than last week’s Pizza Salad!

Pancake Bites

Mix pancake mix according to directions.  My mix consisted of using 4 cups of the dried mix with 2 cups of water.  Pour batter into greased muffin tin, 2/3 of the way full.  Fill each pancake but with whatever ingredients you would like.  Some of mine had fresh blueberries, others had crumbled turkey sausage, and a few with peanut butter chips and a spoonful of strawberry jelly.  Bake at 350 for 14 minutes.  I made 24 of these total, saved a few for throughout the week, and froze the rest in freezer bags to quickly microwave for a fast breakfast. 

Pittsburgh Steak Salads

There is seriously nothing better to me than a steak salad with ranch dressing.  My favorite used to be from Parkway Tavern – along with their fried zucchini.  If you aren’t from Pittsburgh, first of all – I’m sorry, and second, this just means the salad is loaded with French fries and cheese (and hardboiled egg, too!).  I bought a big strip steak and seasoned each side with salt and garlic powder.  This steak was really freaking big – so the first side I seared on medium-high heat for 8 minutes and the second side for 7 minutes and the steak came out a perfect rare / medium rare (I always let my steak rest for 10 minutes before slicing).  I also made a big batch of homemade baked French fries (check back to this post to see how I make them: Meal Planning on a Budget: Aldi), lightly seasoned with salt.  In the meantime, 10 eggs were hardboiled, a few for the salads and the rest for throughout the week.  For the salad base, it was just some chopped lettuce, tomato, cucumber, red onion, and hardboiled egg.  Top with a pretty good amount of shredded cheddar cheese and place the hot fries on top (helps to melt the cheese some).  Then slice up the steak and serve on top of the salads.  Add ranch dressing and you have the best salad ever.  

Steak and Onion Hash with Eggs

This was not a planned meal, but because the steak I bought for the steak salad was so huge, there were lots of leftovers (I know – leftover steak is an oxymoron …. Kind of like leftover bacon).  If there are any leftover French fries, you can easily just dice them up and add them in a hot pan with some cooking spray (if not, you can use regular raw potatoes diced/shredded up and cooked).  To the potatoes, add in diced onion and season with salt and garlic powder.  Cook until potatoes are golden and crisp and onions are softened.  Add in sliced steak toward the very end just to warm through, but not overcook.  Serve in a bowl.  In the same pan, cook 2 eggs over medium (or however you’d like) and serve on top of the hash!

Nacho Bar + Buffalo Cauli (and fried pickles)

The nacho bar was simple; minimal cooking, mostly prep work was needed.  In a pan, brown ground turkey until cooked, and drain fat.  Season with ground cumin, chili powder, salt and garlic powder.  Add a ¼ cup of water to create a flavored sauce to coat the ground turkey.  Set aside in a bowl.  Chop up some lettuce, tomato, red onion and avocado.  Dish out some pickled jalapenos, rinsed canned black beans, shredded cheddar cheese, and sliced black olives.  Warm up some queso and dish up some salsa and light sour cream.  Open tortilla chips and allow everyone to create their own nacho platter.  (All leftover nacho toppings were topped on a few Tupperware containers full of shredded lettuce to have easy lunches prepared throughout the week). 

The buffalo cauliflower recipe is from skinnytaste and can be found here: skinny taste.  I hadn't had these before, they are good, but I don’t know that I would make them again.  I’d rather just roast the cauliflower on its own and toss in buffalo sauce … or you know, eat Buffalo wings! 

The fried pickles were not planned what.so.ever, however I am really glad I made them.  When my mom moved in with us to help, she brought a few pantry items and one of them was a tempura batter packet.  The instructions said to add water, but I just added beer instead, because... beer.  I have made similar batters like this before with flour, seasoning salt and beer (if you don’t have the tempura mix).  I patted dry some bread and butter pickles, dropped them in the batter, and fried in canola oil.  I could eat like 47 million of these.  I probably didn’t love the buffalo cauli as much as I thought I would because I had these fried nuggets of perfection to compare them to. 

This was a fun, appetizer-style dinner.  I’ve said it before and ill say it again… there needs to be a restaurant with a buffet of just a shit-ton of appetizers.  How could you go wrong?

BLT's

There really isn't too much to say about these, other than I've been craving a good BLT.  I pre-made the bacon on Saturday morning, to easily make BLTs or to have bacon for other meals/salad toppings for the week.  Just some toasted whole wheat bread, bacon, lettuce, tomato slices, light mayo and a piece of cheese!

California Sushi Bowl and Side Salads

This is really just a deconstructed California sushi roll, so easy and so good.  Cook brown rice (we use the brown rice in a bag that just needs cooked for 10 minutes) according to directions.  Mix few dashes of soy sauce with rice.  Serve rice in a bowl.  Add chopped cucumbers, avocado and imitation crab to the rice (instead of crab, I used crushed peanuts for my mom’s – which is a roll she loves at a local restaurant).  Top sushi bowls with spicy mayo (ours is already prepared from the international food aisle, but you could just mix mayo and sriracha) and toasted sesame seeds.  For the side salad, I just had lettuce, tomato and the ginger dressing bought at Target.  The dressing is the closest thing you’ll get to the fresh ginger dressing served at Japanese restaurants. 

Spaghetti Squash with Mushrooms, Onions, + Swiss with Side Caesars

Cut squash down the center, remove center and seeds, and place face down on a foil lined pan sprayed with cooking spray.  Bake at 375 for 45 minutes.  When the squash is done, you can take a fork and scrape the flesh so it forms spaghetti-like strands.  While the squash is cooking, saute some onions and mushrooms, seasoned with salt and garlic powder.  Scrape the spaghetti squash flesh into a bowl and toss with a bit of butter. Place the spaghetti strands back into the squash shell, add mushrooms and onions, top with swiss, and broil until bubbly and melted.  I added a balsamic drizzle as well.  Served with side caesars of just lettuce, fresh grated parm, tomatoes, caesar dressing and fresh lemon juice. 

So all in all ….  The amount of money spent on groceries in the last month, primarily at Aldi, cost $375.  If you break it down for 4 people (4.5 really … Alex, my Mom, Myself + always a leftover meal for lunches … and B) and only include Breakfasts, Lunches and Dinners (doesn’t include snacks), over 30 days, each meal cost $1.04 per person, per day.  That’s really insane – and I am very happy with this...  Especially because the meals we have been eating are very good!

Keep in mind – I didn't blog the first week (because I wasn't prepared to love everything I bought at Aldi so much)– but the grocery list was $105 and included a lot of pantry items that needed to be stocked up on.  And the meals included Big Mac Salads, Spaghetti Squash with Sauce, Turkey Italian Sausage and Side Salads, Chicken Fajitas with Refried Beans, Honey Dijon Salmon and Salads, Buffalo Chicken Chili, and Chili with Cornbread (among other breakfasts, lunches, and snacks).  Here are some pictures from those meals.

I never know when my last week is to post before baby comes, but I am hoping to do this again next week!  If not – I will pick up again once things are settled!