Here’s your easy weekly ALDI meal plan for the week of 12/31/17: Pick up everything on the shopping list below, then start cooking on Sunday!

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

Useful resources for meal planning + ALDI shopping

Before we get started this week, here are a few resources to help you out with your meal planning and ALDI shopping:

• Come join us in the BRAND NEW Almost All ALDI Facebook group, where we are sharing and chatting about recipes, meal planning ideas, ALDI food finds, and more.
• Check out my new Amazon shop, which is full of cooking-related gift ideas plus some of my favorite useful items for your own meal planning!
• Pantry staples to stock up on
• How to modify a meal plan for your family
• Cute & handy ALDI quarter keepers
• Two pack insulated grab bag totes, and two pack clip to cart bags.
• This week’s ALDI ad
• Almost All ALDI, the eBook

But back to this week’s ALDI meal plan…

Let’s get ready to make six complete dinners for a family of four, just $60.00 out the door! Hope you find the free ALDI meal plans useful.

ALDI meal planning week of 12/31/17 – 1/6/18

I’m assuming here that you already have pantry basics like cooking oil, condiments, and spices. 🙂 *** Read through the recipes before you shop to make sure you have the necessary pantry staples on hand. 

Six Easy Dinners from ALDI for $60.00

This is another non-typical meal planning week for many of you, what with New Year’s Eve in there and all. If you’re at family’s for New Year’s, or will be cooking for a crowd or eating appetizer party food all night, just skip ahead in the week — or pick and choose what meals you wish to make when the leftovers run out! 🙂

ALDI meal plan — Start cooking 12/31/17

• Sunday: Lazy Sunday pork & vegetable stew (reduce pork to 1 lb), along with toasted sourdough (reserve 8 slices for Tues).
• Monday: Pepita salad with avocado & orange. Note: The pepitas at ALDI are already roasted/salted, so skip the toasting step. Serve with cups of leftover stew and tortilla chips (reserve about 7 oz for Thurs).
• Tuesday: Jalapeño popper grilled cheese sandwiches (use sliced cheddar; reserve at least 2 slices for tomorrow), plus organic spring mix salad topped with pepitas, diced tomatoes (save two for Friday), and the last few pieces of bacon (cooked and crumbled).
• Wednesday: Sheet pan cheddar Parmesan pork chops & green beans, along with carrot & celery sticks.
• Thursday: Crunchy tortilla chicken fingers (use tenderloin since it’s already in strips — might need to cook a little less time if they’re thin; double recipe to serve four). Serve with baked garlic Parmesan potato wedges (use gold instead of russet; bake at 400 along with the chicken fingers, but may reduce cooking time a bit due to higher temp). Also, whip up some quick chipotle sour cream for dipping the chicken fingers and potato wedges: Mix 1/2 cup sour cream with 1 minced chipotle pepper and 1 Tbsp (or more) of chipotle sauce, to taste, along with a little sea salt, to taste.
• Friday: Squash & tomato frittata (use all zucchini or all yellow squash, your choice). Serve with sliced oranges.
• Saturday: Leftovers, family pizza night (ALDI sells a nice big take-and-bake pizza), eat out, or date night.

ALDI shopping list — Shop through 12/30/17

Dairy & refrigerated

8 oz brick Happy Farms cream cheese, $.95
8 oz Happy Farms sliced sharp cheddar, $1.99
Priano shredded Parmesan, $1.99
Dozen Goldhen eggs, $1.33
Friendly Farms sour cream, $.89
8 oz block Happy Farms cheddar, $1.79

Grocery

32 oz SimplyNature organic beef broth, $1.49
1 can Happy Harvest fire roasted diced tomatoes, $.89
1 can Happy Harvest corn, $.49
1 can Happy Harvest green beans, $.49
1 can Pueblo Lindo chipotles in adobo, $.99
6 oz Southern Grove pepitas, $2.19
Specially Selected sourdough square, $2.89
13 oz Clancy’s restaurant style tortilla chips, $1.29

Meat

3 lbs thick cut boneless pork chops, $8.97
Appleton Farms 16 oz premium bacon, $4.19
2 lbs chicken tenderloins, $3.98

Produce

3 lbs yellow onions, $1.69
3 heads garlic, $1.09
2 lbs carrots, $.99
Celery, $1.29
8 oz mushrooms, $1.29
5 lb yellow potatoes, $3.49
16 oz SimplyNature organic spring mix, $3.49
1 avocado, $.69
Cilantro, $.69
8 oz jalapeños, $.49
3 lbs organic navel oranges, $3.79
1 lb green beans, $1.69
16 oz zucchini or yellow squash, $1.59
16 oz Roma tomatoes, $1.69

---

That comes to $60.76.

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!

*** Download this week’s shopping list in Word format so that you can 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 come up 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, you can 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.

Ad markets and dates

This week’s ALDI meal plan reflects prices from the current week’s ad (running 12/24-12/30 in Sunday ad markets and 12/27-1/2 in Wednesday ad markets). Non-advertised prices were collected on 12/27/17 at 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 12/31/17.

Stay in the ALDI meal planning loop

Subscribe above to receive email messages about new ALDI meal plans — no spam, and I’ll never sell your info; just get email notifications about new plans!

• Browse all of the weekly ALDI meal plans here *** note: prices may have changed since originally posted.
• 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?
• While you’re over on Facebook (if you enjoy deals in general) please come join us in the Hot Deals Facebook group! 🙂

Happy ALDI shopping and cooking this week, everyone!