Free ALDI Meal Plan week of 4/12/20 – 4/18/20

It’s another odd ALDI meal planning & shopping week in our endless April of 2020, but:

• Per request, I’m posting this week’s meal plan & going by the weekly ad as per usual.
• Stores may not have advertised items in stock, and inventory levels will vary by store, region, and demand.
• Use this week’s plan as a starting point; modify as necessary according to what is in stock in your area, and what you have on hand in your pantry.

I hope that this meal plan helps to bring at least a small sense of normalcy to another strange week. 🙂

Free ALDI Meal Plan week of 4/12/20

With all of that in mind, here’s your easy weekly ALDI meal plan for the week of 4/12/20: Pick up everything on the shopping list below, then start cooking on Sunday. As always: Six complete dinners for four, $60 out the door!

*** Subscribe to the weekly ALDI meal plans here ***

Find this week’s meal plan below; just a couple super-quick “what’s new” updates first.

ALDI Finds on an unusual holiday week

Let’s play a game, while we’re all at home! Walk around your home and find everything non-food you’ve ever bought from ALDI — then, narrow it down to your top three favorite non-food Finds. And, GO: See my top three Finds ever, and reply with your own.

Our weekly ALDI Finds post is again a little different on this odd holiday week. I can’t linger in stores to take photos (the broth pictured above is from my own pantry…), sales aren’t quite the same, product availability will vary, and we’re all focusing on essentials right now. But, here are my favorite (mostly food) Finds from this week’s ad.

Last week, we started talking about one food-related thing you can do a day to make your life a little easier in the future. Here’s my most recent one thing a day, clean out the fridge edition.

ALDI Meal Planning week of 4/12/20 – 4/18/20

I’m assuming that you have on hand some pantry basics like cooking oil, common condiments, and spices. *** Read through the recipes before you shop, to make sure you have the necessary pantry staples on hand for this week’s ALDI menu plan; see a summary in the printable grocery list below.

Print your meal plan summary + grocery shopping list below this week’s detailed plan.

Six easy dinners from ALDI for $60.00

ALDI Meal Plan — Start cooking 4/12/20

Sunday

• Spiral-sliced ham — you can either make this in the Crock-Pot, or in the oven per package directions
• Oven roasted everything asparagus (see note in recipe, if you don’t have everything bagel seasoning)
• Crescent rolls
• Sliced pineapple
• Note: Make broth with the ham bone, and refrigerate it for Wednesday’s recipe. (Directions for making the broth can also be found in Wednesday’s soup recipe.)

Monday

• Easy black bean soup, topped with chopped green onion & sour cream
• Tortilla chips on the side
• Use half of the kale for a side salad — chop it smaller, then massage it with a little olive oil to soften and cut the bitterness. Top with a cubed apple or two, carrots (julienned or cut into matchsticks), and your favorite dressing (vinaigrette is recommended).

Tuesday

• Leftover ham quesadillas with sour cream & avocado slices
• Tortilla chips — plus, make a dip with a little of the chipotles in adobo + sour cream to taste, top with chopped green onion, and squeeze in a little lime juice, if you have on hand
• Carrot & celery sticks

Wednesday

• Leftover ham soup with kale, potatoes, and white beans
• Serve with the baguette and apple slices

Thursday

• Sheet pan smoky Parmesan chicken tenders & veggies
• The last of your apples, sliced
• Leftover ham & kale soup

Friday

• Chicken & cauliflower sheet pan dinner (chop up chicken tenderloin instead of breast)
• Cut up and roast the rest of your broccoli & zucchini on a separate pan with some olive oil, minced garlic, sea salt, black pepper, and Italian seasoning to taste — 425 for about 20 minutes, stirring and topping with Parmesan to taste halfway through

Saturday

• Leftovers, family pizza night (ALDI sells nice big take-and-bake deli pizzas), or order in.

ALDI Shopping List — Shop through 4/11/20

Dairy & refrigerated

Friendly Farms sour cream, $1.49
12 oz Happy Farms shredded cheddar, $2.89
Bake House Creations crescents, $.89
Priano shredded Parmesan, $1.99

Grocery

Specially Selected French baguette, $1.49
Clancy’s restaurant style tortilla chips, $1.69
32 oz Simply Nature organic vegetable broth, $1.49
12 ct El Milagro flour tortillas, $.99
3 cans Dakota’s Pride black beans, $1.44
2 cans Dakota’s Pride Cannellini beans, $.98
2 cans Happy Harvest basil & garlic diced tomatoes, $1.18
1 can Happy Harvest diced tomatoes, $.59
Pueblo Lindo chipotles in adobo, $.99

Meat

9 lb Appleton Farms spiral-sliced ham, $7.65
3 lbs chicken tenderloin, $5.97

Produce

Pineapple, $1.69
3 lbs Gala apples, $2.49
Green onions, $.69
2 lbs carrots, $1.49
12 oz Simply Nature organic chopped kale, $2.99
1 lb asparagus, $1.49
16 oz broccoli crowns, $3.38
Head of cauliflower, $2.49
3 lbs yellow onions, $1.89
3 heads garlic, $1.29
24 oz dynamic duo potatoes, $2.99
16 oz zucchini, $2.98
Celery, $1.19
2 avocados, $1.98

That comes to: $60.75.

Or, maybe less…! These meals will likely run you even less if you supplement this week’s ALDI purchases with clearance meat you already have in your freezer, pantry staples you picked up on sale, produce you already have on hand, and/or sale produce from your local produce market. Let me know if you give it a try.

Printable ALDI meal plan & grocery list

Download this week’s printable ALDI shopping list and meal plan in Word format. (If you don’t have Word, open this in Google Docs or Wordpad.)

Edit and add in your own meal ideas, remove items you already have on hand, change regional pricing to match your own store, etc. *** The day(s) next to each item show which meals use each ingredient, so that you can easily see what to delete from the shopping list if you’re skipping a night.

Things to know about the ALDI meal plans

A couple of notes

1. I try not to repeat main dish recipes more often than once a month, but you will see favorite easy recipes again in these weekly ALDI meal plans as the same meats and produce items come up again on sale. Part of the fun of meal planning lies in mixing old stand-bys with something new each week.
2. If one or more of these recipes isn’t to your taste, or if you have other ingredients to use, adapt the recipes in this ALDI meal plan to your family’s preferences. Or, just use the ideas here to supplement your own meal planning! See: Pantry staples to stock up on and how to modify a meal plan for your family.

** Ad markets & dates

This week’s ALDI meal plan reflects prices from the current week’s ad (running 4/5-4/11 in Sunday ad markets, and 4/8-4/14 in Wednesday ad markets). Non-advertised prices are from my local store in the Chicago suburbs, but non-advertised prices and produce deals *may vary* by location & region. In either ad market, shop any time through Saturday and start cooking on Sunday 4/12/20.

Stay in the ALDI meal planning loop

More ways to stay connected:

• Subscribe here to receive weekly email messages about new ALDI meal plans — no spam, just get email notifications about new plans.
• Browse all of the weekly ALDI meal plans here *** Note: prices may have changed since originally posted.
• Come over and join us on Facebook in the Almost All ALDI group, as well as in the Hot Deals group.

Happy ALDI shopping & cooking this week! If you find this meal plan useful, why not share it with your friends on Facebook so they can save money with ALDI meal planning as well? 🙂

Resources for meal planning + ALDI shopping

Let’s close things out with just a few resources to help you out with your meal planning and ALDI shopping:

• Almost All ALDI — for more ALDI goodness, ALDI finds, reviews, and more.
• Master list of meal planning resources
• Come join us in the Almost All ALDI Facebook group for recipes, meal planning ideas, ALDI food finds, and more.
• Get cash back for ALDI shopping with cash back offers on the Ibotta app (search “ALDI” at the top of the app, if you can’t find it in the store list) and through the Fetch Rewards app.
• Pick up a pack of meal prep containers, & pack up any dinner leftovers for easy weekday lunches!
• Cute & handy ALDI quarter keepers.
• Check out my Amazon shop for some of my favorite useful items for your own meal planning. Also useful: Two pack insulated grab bag totes, or two pack clip to cart bags.
• Almost All ALDI, the eBook.
• How fun are these ALDI themed t-shirts I have for you guys?!

Lastly: You can always access your current regional ALDI ad here.