This week's cheap family budget meal plan is all about easy recipes that make the most of your pantry. We using lots of spices you probably already have and cooking once and eating twice. A few pantry ingredients go a long way when paired with a few fresh vegetables and some chicken. The free shopping list is attached to make sure you never leave the shop having forgotten something!
Aldi Budget Meal Plan Like this recipe? Pin it to your Meal Planning pinboard! Follow SavvyBites on Pinterest
Why Aldi
They have all the ingredients you need to make budget-friendly meals using healthy recipes. So, why is this website dedicated to recipes from only one store?
Well, I used to grocery shop at multiple stores and go to Aldi for my basics. Just like many of us do/did.
But what if we could create a family meal plan using limited ingredients from one shop?
I was spending too much time and too much money going to different stores every week. So I've taken my chef training and 10 years of experience and decided to get creative and only shop at my local Aldi.
And a family meal plan will just save you so much time and money. At the end of the day, that's what we all want!
About the Aldi budget meal plan
It's been a success. And I've loved having the structure of only using Aldi products. When I saw that it was working and family members were also loving the easy recipes I was making I thought I'd share them here. But meal planning was also a frequent reader request.
So, now I do a healthy meal plan each week. The plans are full of easy dinners with simple recipes. There are tips and tricks for meal prep to give you a head start for the week, or tips on how to make the most of your leftovers.
With food waste such an important issue both economically and environmentally never has it been so important to be mindful of what we consume. But of course, it's still important to make delicious, creative, inspiring and healthy meals.
The Details
With each free Aldi meal plan, I include the links to the recipes for the week’s menu. Also, the printable free grocery list and the printable menu plan. Even if you don't use all the recipes in the meal plan, you can always use it as inspiration for more dinner ideas.
If you've never been to an Aldi before, your first time may take you a little longer to get around and get familiar with everything. It will probably take you a couple times to get your bearings. And you will more than likely cruise through the Aldi finds aisle and wonder how you ended up buying extra things that weren't on your list. If you're a regular Aldi shopper, you already know the temptation of the middle aisle!
The easy way to get to grips with it is to go around the perimeter aisles of your local store and then go down the centre aisles.
Pantry Staples
If you're new to Aldi or new to the website I'll give you a quick rundown of the pantry staples and favourite fresh food that I always like to have on hand all the time. Pantry staples really are the key to a successful budget meal plan. It helps to have some items in stock to keep each weekly shop down to a minimum and spread the cost over the month or year.
- olive oil
- brown rice
- white rice or basmati
- tinned beans- black beans, kidney beans and chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
- soy sauce- light and dark
- small flour tortilla- great for making tortilla chips or wraps
- coconut oil- please don't even ask me why coconut oil is so expensive everywhere else, but for some reason, in Aldi, it's a fraction of the price. It's also great for skincare, so it's a great pantry item.
- tinned tomatoes- or you can use passata which is a smooth tomato sauce
- peanut butter- honestly, the smooth pb from Aldi is on par with any high-end brand name.
I don't buy too much prepared food or convenience foods. I think Aldi makes it easy to make healthy choices with fresh ingredients and instead make your comfort food at home. It always tastes better and is usually better for you, anyway.
But in real life, a premade lasagna in the freezer is never a bad idea.
Fresh food and fresh produce are where you'll really start to notice the low prices. And the quality of both is amazing.
- Fresh vegetables, fruits and whole foods
ground beef (mince) - chicken breasts
- grape tomatoes
- green onions
- feta cheese
- cottage cheese or Greek yoghurt- I change it up weekly
- sour cream or creme fraiche
- Cheese- this usually depends on what types of cheese feature in that week's Aldi meal plan that I'm creating
Once you start shopping at Aldi, you'll really notice a big difference in the total cost of your shopping, especially if you have a big family.
So let's get to this week’s Budget Meal Plan
- Please note- in the meal plan I never list vegetable oil, olive oil or salt and pepper. I'm assuming you have those anyway. Everything else you need will be listed.
- Vegetable oil can almost always be used in place of olive oil if you don't want to stock both.
The Aldi Recipes
Click to print the shopping list and meal plan
- 30 Minute peanut butter chicken
- Quick and easy pasta amatriciana
- All in one sausage tray bake
- Slow cooker lentil soup
- 15 Minute veggie stir fry noodles
- Chunky chicken chilli
The easiest ways to get the budget meal plan in your hands every week is to get on the email list and you'll be sent the plan as soon I hit publish, or you can check back every Sunday.
And always please feel free to get creative and use some of last week's meal plan recipes (or go through them all and create your own plans). You can find all the previous ones here.
Need help with meal planning? You can find our (Aldi ingredients only) weekly meal plans here! Sign up to receive them free every week or take our quick meal planning course and grab the blank meal planner and use all these recipes to create your own meal plans.
THANKS SO MUCH FOR READING AND COOKING ALONG WITH ME! IF YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE OR HAVE A QUESTION, I’D LOVE IT IF YOU LEFT A COMMENT AND A RATING. YOU CAN ALSO FOLLOW ALONG ON PINTEREST, FACEBOOK, AND INSTAGRAM TO SEE WHAT WE’RE EATING, PINNING AND A LITTLE BEHIND THE SCENES TOO!
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