Living your best life.....on a budget!
We were out of town last week for a post-holiday vacation so I tried to keep the meal plan as simple as possible this week.
After a week of traveling and eating out, we are ready for some meals at home! 🙂
What’s on your meal plan this week?
Here’s another cheap and easy Aldi meal idea for families! Today we look at a meal idea that involves the Aldi chicken cordon bleu. These frozen chicken entrees are an inexpensive and delicious way to get a meal on the table that the whole family will enjoy.
At $0.99, the chicken cordon bleu is really a bargain and since they require no prep other than cooking them in the oven, they are good for busy nights when you don’t have a lot of time in the kitchen.
Pair it with a grain, pasta, or potato side and some fruit and veggies and you can put dinner on the table for a family of 4 for around $7.
There are lots of sides you can add to these chicken cordon bleu to create an affordable meal but here is how we had it:
Total estimated cost for 4 people: $7.23
You can substitute the couscous, veggies, and fruit for whatever you’re family prefers. Aldi has a lot of options that will fit in the same price range. Here’s some ideas:
If you haven’t tried these chicken cordon bleu entrees from Aldi before, they are really quite good. It’s basically breaded boneless chicken stuffed with ham, Swiss and American cheese. They are filling and easy to prepare. They just have to cook in the oven for about 40 minutes.
If you like shopping at Aldi, you might want to try these Aldi recipes:
And these Easy Aldi Meal Ideas:
Today I have another Aldi recipe for you! This is a favorite of ours that we’ve been making for years. I love it because it’s super easy and very cheap to make. It also leaves us with leftovers which I usually repurpose into buffalo chicken nachos later in the week!
This slow cooker Aldi recipe requires just 4 ingredients to make (5 if you count the buns or rolls you put the chicken on!). There is hot sauce in it so it has a little kick to it but is not overly spicy. My boys have been eating it without complaints since they were quite little!
Here’s a look at the ingredients you will need:
Total Cost: $5.97 (feeds 8 or 4 with leftovers!)
There are many sides that go great with these buffalo chicken sandwiches. Here’s some suggestions:
Chili Mac – Feed 4 for $4 with this easy and quick 4 ingredient Chili Mac!
Looking for a plan to create a delicious Aldi Christmas dinner on a budget? Holiday meals can really put a strain on the grocery budget if you aren’t careful. The key to staying on budget is to plan a simple meal that utilizes both inexpensive ingredients as well as items that are normally on sale for the holiday season.
That’s why this Christmas menu plan features a spiral cut ham as it’s main star. If you are trying to do Christmas dinner on the cheap there is no denying that ham can be your best friend. Even with the rising food prices we have seen over the past year, ham at Aldi this Christmas season is still just $0.95/lb. A real bargain!
This Aldi Christmas dinner meal plan is not only easy on your wallet, but it also requires minimal time in the kitchen preparing it which means more time to spend with your loved ones! I don’t mind making a big, elaborate meal but sometimes quick and easy is a nice change!
Mine was 9.5 lbs so it cost me around $9.00. It made enough to feed us dinner and a ton of leftovers which we will be using to make ham and bean soup, some ham sandwiches (on the leftover dinner rolls), and ham and eggs for breakfast one morning during Christmas break.
This is a classic favorite recipe of many families. I often make it as a side for holiday meals because it is a filling and satisfying casserole, it only costs around $6 to make, and it makes a lot so we end up with some leftovers….yum!
Green beans go great with ham. A bag of Aldi’s steamable cut green beans is $0.78. If you have more than 4 people, you may want a second bag. If green beans aren’t your thing, you can substitute them for one of the other steamed bags of veggies such as corn, mixed veggies, or peas. Canned veggies are also an affordable option at about $0.50 a can!
These go so great with ham! The package comes with 12 dinner rolls so you will likely have leftovers. They make tasty slider sandwiches with the leftover ham :-). Normally these rolls cost around $1.69 a package but the price is $2.09 this year. A little steep but still worth it in my opinion! If you are looking for a cheaper alternative for dinner rolls, the Brown N’ Serve Dinner Rolls are just $0.99 for a package of 12 and are also very good!
For dessert, there are a lot of options but we went with cheesecake slices. They are so good and easy to serve. A twin pack is $1.99 so to serve 4 you will need two packages. The cheesecake packs come in plain or turtle. The turtle cheesecake has caramel, pecans, and chocolate on top. Both are delicious!
If cheesecake isn’t your thing, Aldi has other great options. They have pies for around $5 in their bakery and freezer sections. Another fun option is their container of mini eclairs that sells for $4.79.
Here’s an estimate of what the plan will cost to make and what you need to buy:
Spiral Cut Ham ($0.95/lb.) approx. 9-9.5lbs $9
Cheesy Potato Casserole Ingredients:
Steamed Cut Green Beans (from the freezer section) $0.78 (x 2 if you are feeding more than 4)
Sweet Hawaiian Dinner Rolls $2.09
Twin Packs of Cheesecake Slices $1.99 x 2 (for 4) $3.98
Total: $22.19 to feed 4
or $24.96 to feed 6 (one more pack of cheesecake slices and one more bag of veggies)
So as you can see, this Aldi Christmas dinner on a budget is simple, yummy, affordable and very customizable.
If you are looking for more affordable holiday meal ideas, check out:
Today’s Aldi product review is Mama Cozzi’s Stuffed Crust Pizza. This item is actually a longtime favorite in our household. It’s a go to for when we want a pizza night or a quick and easy Aldi meal!
This post may contain affiliate links. You can read my disclosure policy here.
As I mentioned, this wasn’t our first time trying the Aldi Mama Cozzi’s Stuffed Crust Pizza. We have had it many times. I thought it would be a good one to review and share my thoughts on.
The quality of Aldi’s stuffed crust pizza is on pare with other frozen pizza brands I have tried. Like other frozen pizzas, it looked to be slightly sparse on cheese but that wasn’t a deal breaker because there is cheese inside the crust too!
The sauce had a nice taste. It wasn’t spicy and didn’t overwhelm or distract from the overall pizza.
The crust was soft and chewy. Not hard and not too dense.
Aldi’s Mama Cozzi’s Stuffed Crust Pizza is available in two varieties, Pepperoni or Three Meat. We got the pepperoni. We consume a lot of pizza and the pepperoni was good. It was on the thicker side which was nice. If I had once complaint about the pepperoni, it would be that I thought the pizza could have used a few more pieces of it.
The price may be a sticking point for some. Aldi’s stuffed crust pizza currently costs $5.79. That can be a little on the steep side for a frozen pizza. However, this is a stuffed crust frozen pizza and the name brand versions of stuffed crust frozen pizzas at the other grocery stores in my area typically sell for $8 to $9 when they aren’t on sale. So keeping that in mind, $5.79 isn’t all that bad.
The suggested serving size of the pizza is 1/6 of the pie. This means if you typically eat a couple pieces each, it will serve 3 people. We have cut ours into 8 pieces before and shared it among the four of us. My boys are teenagers now however so one pizza doesn’t usually cut it for us. What I normally do in order to keep costs down is buy one stuffed crust pizza and one non-stuffed crust frozen pizza. The regular crust frozen pizzas at Aldi are $2.75 which means the two pizzas cost us $8.54. Still cheaper than ordering pizza from a chain!
I just want to add that if you are looking for the best pizza value at Aldi, that would be their Take N’ Bake Pizzas. They are usually $4.99 – $5.99 per pizza, depending on what toppings you get on them and they are huge! They feed us (hungry teens and all) and we always have leftovers! However, we prefer the taste of the frozen stuffed crust pizzas over the Take N’ Bake ones.
Here is the nutritional information, ingredients, and allergens for the Aldi Mama Cozzi’s Stuffed Crust Pizza. I always try to post this information when doing a product review because we have food allergies in our household so I know this information can be helpful to others!
The Mama Cozzi’s Stuffed Crust Pizza contains wheat, soy, and milk.
The suggested serving size of this Aldi frozen pizza, as I mentioned earlier, is 6 servings. You may however be able to cut it into 8 servings and serve 4 people if you don’t have a super hungry group or if you are serving it with a salad or some fresh fruit!
The baking instructions are easy. Just heat the oven to 400 degrees and then bake the pizza for 18-21 minutes. They recommend putting it directly on oven rack but I used a pizza pan and it turned out great! I prefer a pizza pan to baking directly on the rack because it makes getting it into and out of the oven much easier!
The Mama Cozzi’s Stuffed Crust Pizza can obviously be eaten alone but you can also serve it with something for a more complete meal. We usually have a salad or some fruit with ours! Here are some side suggestions to with it: