After spending more than twice the allotted $25 last week on groceries, I was committed to do my best to adhere to my budget this week.  The problem was that this is an Aldi week.  Once a month, Bus Boy has a doctor appointment in Civilization, and there’s an Aldi a few miles from the hospital.  Whenever he goes to the hospital, we swing by Aldi to do our weekly shopping.    I knew that this week was going to be a tough one.

We ran out of milk early in the week.  Instead of running to a neighboring town to pick up milk at Costco, we purchased it at WinCo.  The price for two gallons of milk at WinCo was $3.70 compared to $3.69 for two gallons at Costco.  A one-cent difference didn’t warrant a trip out of town.  Subtracting the price of milk from our allotted grocery budget meant that I was going into Aldi with only $21.30 for the week.   This was going to be a definite challenge.  I love shopping at Aldi.

I picked up bananas, two dozen eggs,  and a dozen boxes of macaroni and cheese.  Macaroni and cheese may not be a staple in your house, but it’s something that’s always on Food Critic’s List.  He had already  used all of last month’s macaroni and cheese, so I needed to pick some up.  I usually buy this macaroni and cheese for $0.33 per box, but the price had gone up to $0.39.  This was disappointing.

Amanda, from the Fundamental Home, had shared that she can always find ground turkey at Aldi for $1.89 per pound, and I was looking forward to picking some up on this trip.  Unfortunately, the ground turkey was $2.29/pound.  I was disappointed, but in the next freezer case, I noticed that there were 3 pound packages of turkey burgers that were on sale for $5.99.   This was the least expensive option, so I picked up a box of Turkey Burgers.   I also noticed that there were two pound boxes of Angus Burgers for $5.99.  I picked up a box and threw them in my cart.  $3.00 per pound for Angus Burgers seemed like a good idea.

With all of those burgers in my cart, I headed to the bread section and picked up two packages of hamburger buns, a package of everything bagels, and some whole wheat pita bread.   I picked up a package of sliced Muenster cheese, and headed toward the front of the store.  On my way, I added a couple of bottles of tomato juice to my cart.

I also picked up  three non-food items.

When my purchases were totaled, the register indicated that I owed $65.12.  At first, I was appalled until I remembered that I had purchased non-food items.  The cost of these items was $35.61.  This meant that I only spent $29.51 on groceries at Aldi.  Adding the $3.70 for milk, the total spent on groceries this week was $33.21.  I was over budget by $8.21, but this was much better than last week.

After bringing my groceries home and identifying all of my perishable foods that needed to be used this week, I came up with the following menu plan.

Sunday:  Lobster dip and banana pudding

Monday:  Meatball Pitas with lettuce, tomato, and  Tzatziki sauce and a cucumber and feta salad.

Tuesday:  Linguine with white clam sauce and salad

Wednesday:  Meatloaf with mashed potatoes and veggies

Thursday:   BBQ Pork Sliders with coleslaw

Friday:  Camarones al Mojo De Ajo with rice pilaf and Mexican Blend vegetables

Saturday:  Leftovers

You will notice that I don’t have hamburgers, or turkey burgers, on this week’s menu.  It turns out that I could’ve waited until next week to buy  those hamburger buns.  In spite of going over budget, I am happy with my purchases.  Unlike last week, every dollar went toward real food items and not empty calories.

What do you think about our purchases this week?  Do you think that the $25 grocery budget is possible over the long term?  Share your opinion by leaving a comment below.

Thanks for visiting Patty Cake’s Pantry.

To learn about the third week, read this post about the third week in review.

If you want to learn how we did this week, check out the week four review by following this link.