Living your best life.....on a budget!
Meal planning has been a such a challenge lately with rising prices and partially empty shelves! My son works at the Aldi I shop at and he said they just aren’t getting as much on the trucks right now as they used to. Here’s hoping that this changes soon!
Anyway, the key to successful meal planning lately seems to be have a plan, but be flexible! 🙂 This was very true for me today when I had to alter plans for a couple of our dinners at the store because I couldn’t get all the items I needed for the original meals I had planned.
Here’s a look at what we are eating this week:
Fruit options for dinner this week: grapes, kiwi, pineapple, cantaloupe
What’s on your meal plan this week? Are you also experiencing inventory issues when you grocery shop?
Aldi Recipes:
Aldi Easy Meal Ideas:
Three dinners from last week made it on to this week’s meal plan. We had some unexpected things come up and got busy so we ended up eating leftovers one night, sandwiches another, and frozen pizza that I keep in the freezer for emergencies a third night. It comes in handy to have a quick and easy back up for when life happens! 🙂
This is a question that often gets asked when the subject of meal planning comes up. I think the answer to this is pretty simple. The best meal plan is a plan that you are going to be able to easily implement and that works for you, your family, and your budget.
There are several things to consider when coming up with the best meal plan for you and your family…..
Each family is going have very different dietary needs, food preferences, and goals. If you are trying to eat healthy then you are likely going to have a lot of fresh produce and lean proteins on your meal plan. If you are avoiding meat or dairy, that will also influence things. Dietary choices and preferences are very personal and are definitely not a one size fits all situation.
If you have family member with special dietary needs, this will also shape what your best meal plan is going to look like. My sons both had food allergies so we have to avoid foods with peanuts, tree nuts and sesame seeds. A lot of people have to avoid gluten or dairy.
A third consideration is what type of tastes your family has. What are your favorite meals? It’s best to make meals that you know your family will willingly consume :-). I have a regular rotation of meals that I know the family won’t complain about.
I am also careful not to plan casseroles or other recipes that produce a lot of leftovers if I know that my husband and kids don’t love it and will be less inclined to eat the leftovers. I’m always looking for ways to maximize the grocery budget and minimize food waste and careful meal planning is an important part of making those two things happen!
This is why I recommend keeping a meal planning notebook or binder with all of your family’s favorite meals. It can really be a huge time saver when you are creating your meal plan.
Your grocery budget is a very important factor when meal planning. If you are looking to be frugal with your grocery budget, then you aren’t going to want to be adding a lot of steak and seafood to your meal plan. In fact, those things would have no place on a frugal budget. Instead you might want to include a lot of rice, potato and pasta based dishes with inexpensive protein options like chicken, tuna, beans, and eggs.
This is another instance where having a meal planning notebook is really beneficial. In my meal planning notebook, I like to put the estimated cost it takes to make a recipe or meal so that I can factor that in when planning our weekly meal plan. Of course with the pandemic and the inflation that is going on right now, prices are always changing but at least it gives me a general target to aim for!
Planning a complex meal for a weeknight when you have limited spare time on your hands is just setting yourself up for failure.
Take into consideration what your weekly schedule looks like when you sit down to create your meal plan for the week.
If you have some busy evenings, make sure to account for that by either planning some quick and easy meals for those nights or doing some weekend meal prep before the week begins.
This can mean throwing together a freezer meal or casserole that can easily be thrown in the oven on busy nights or doing some of the steps for the recipe such as browning ground beef ahead of time for tacos or chopping and bagging vegetables that will go in a recipe.
A slow cooker can also be a lifesaver on busy days because you can throw everything in that morning and usually have minimal prep left when you return home in the evening.
I suggest coming up with a list of at least 10-15 busy day meals that you and your family love to add to your meal planning notebook. This is enough to rotate that you won’t get burned out on your favorite meals for busy days!
The best meal plan will also include some meals based on the best sales that week at your preferred grocery store. This will help you cut down on your grocery budget for the week. Meal planning around what is on sale is one of the easiest ways to keep your grocery expenses in check.
The loss leaders, which are the items displayed on the front page of your grocery store’s weekly ad, is a good place to start. These are almost always the best deals to be had that week.
If you are new to meal planning, you might want to start keeping track of the prices of items that you commonly buy. That way you will begin to get a feel of whether a sale is actually a good deal or not.
If it’s a really good deal, you might even want to stock up a little if saving money is one of your main motivations for meal planning. When I see a good sale on an item, I will often buy as much as I think I will need of the item for at least a month because that is about how long it takes for most sales I see to cycle back around.
A final thing to include when coming up with the best possible meal plan is seasonal items. This has double benefits.
First, it saves you money to buy grocery items that are in season versus items that are not. Fresh produce especially is very seasonal and you will find that you can find amazing deals on the fruits and vegetables that are in season. Berries, melons and stone fruits are super cheap in the summer months. Apples and squash in the fall. Citrus in the winter, and so on.
Second, it keeps the meal plan from becoming to monotonous. When you change the produce you use with meals to meet the seasons, you will keep your menu fresh by having different offerings every few months.
In summary, the best meal plan is going to be the one that works for you, your family and your budget. One that you will be able to implement and that meets your nutritional needs and personal preferences.
If you are trying to stay on budget, you will want to make sure you have a meal planning binder or notebook full of budget friendly options that you and your family like.
If you have a busy lifestyle that doesn’t allow much time for preparing meals, you will want to have a list of quick and easy meals you can make for your busy nights. You could also come up with meals that you can prep ahead of time on your days off.
No matter what tactics you choose to implement, having a meal plan can save you time and money as well as making it easier for your family to reach any healthy eating lifestyle goals you have.
Determine what requirements are important to you when it comes to meal planning and then be sure to set aside some time each week to create a meal plan that meets those needs.
Aldi Recipes:
Aldi Easy Meal Ideas:
Life can get busy and sometimes you just need a quick and easy dinner solution. That is why I am never opposed to checking out Aldi’s frozen meal options. Last night for dinner we had the Aldi Fusia Asian Inspiration General Tso’s Chicken. I figured I’d review and share my thoughts on it with you today!
The Fusia Asian Inspiration General Tso’s Chicken comes in a 26 ounce bag that is available in the freezer section of Aldi. It sells for $6.99. The suggested serving size is 5 ounces meaning there are about 5 servings in the bag. We found that this would comfortably feed four of us (three of us had it and there was enough left over for one meal), but 5 might have been a bit of a stretch.
Preparation for the chicken was very easy. You just have to put in on a tray and bake in it the oven at 400 degrees for 18-20 minutes. While you are baking the chicken, you are suppose to thaw the sauce packet in some hot water.
Once the chicken was done baking, I put it in a large bowl, poured the sauce over it, and tossed it with a spoon. There was more than enough sauce to easily coat the chicken. In fact, we had enough extra sauce to use some on our rice which we had as a side with this.
So how did the Fusia Asian Inspiration General Tso’s Chicken taste? Overall, really good! The chicken pieces cooked up crispy and stayed pretty crispy, even after I added the sauce. I imagine if you had leftovers and reheated some the next day, it would definitelty lose some or all of that crispiness.
The sauce was tasty as well. It had a slight kick to it but wasn’t “burn your mouth” hot. It had a nice flavor to it. My husband said that he would have liked the sauce to have slightly less soy sauce in it but I didn’t find the soy sauce overwhelming. He said it wouldn’t stop him from wanting to eat the chicken again. He really enjoyed it.
If I was to have any criticism for Aldi’s General Tso’s Chicken, it would be that I wish the meat pieces were more uniform. They were all over the place with some being small, some medium, and some very large. All in all, we were really happy with the quality of the Fusia Asian Inspiration General Tso’s Chicken. My husband, myself, and even my 14 year old son (who isn’t a huge fan of Chinese food) all really liked it. I served it with Aldi’s pork egg rolls, some brown rice, and steamed broccoli. Even with these added sides, I fed the three of us with a serving leftover over for between $10 – $11. Not too bad for a quick and easy meal. It’s definitely cheaper than fast food 🙂
Whenever I do an Aldi product review, I always like to include the nutritional and ingredient information for the product. We have food allergies to deal with in our house and I know how helpful this can be to others.
The Fusia Asian Inspiration General Tso’s Chicken comes in a 26 oz bag and has about five servings to it. A serving size is 5 ounces which is 290 calories. Like most frozen meals, it is on the high side for sodium! I don’t like overly salty things and I didn’t find this to be overwhelming on that front.
Allergens include egg, soy and wheat. I would also like to mention that sesame oil is also an ingredient. That isn’t mentioned in the declared allergens but I noticed it in the ingredient list and I know that is a pretty common allergy these days as it is one that my oldest son has.
What’s on your meal plan this week? 🙂
Aldi Recipes:
Aldi Easy Meal Ideas: