December, eh? Well, I’m not entirely sure how that happened, but let’s make the most of it… through cooking! Family meals always help get us through.
As always, use this menu plan as a starting point, modifying as necessary according to what is in stock in your area, what you have on hand in your pantry, and your own family’s dietary needs and preferences.
Free ALDI meal plan week of 12/6/20 – 12/12/20
As our strange times keep on keeping on, I do hope you can use these meal plans to help restore some rhythm to your weeks.
*** Subscribe to the weekly ALDI meal plans here ***
But first, what’s new this week?
From holiday pizzas, to holiday cheese, to holiday leftovers
ALDI Finds this week range from Christmas tree shaped pizzas, to festive holiday cheeses, to fleece lined leggings, to Christmas cactus… and so much more! See all of my favorite ALDI Finds of the week here.
And the next time you have holiday leftovers, here are a few almost-all-ALDI recipes to make the most of them! Try Southwest hand pies with leftover mashed potatoes, or check out four easy recipes for leftover turkey soups and chilis.
ALDI Meal Planning week of 12/6/20 – 12/12/20
But without further ado, here’s your easy weekly ALDI meal plan for the week of 12/6/20. Pick up everything on the shopping list below, and start cooking on Sunday: As always, six complete dinners for four, $60 out the door.
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
ALDI Meal Plan — start cooking 12/6/20
Sunday
- Sticky balsamic chicken drumsticks (use 3 lbs)
- Simple sheet pan green beans (cook these at 400 instead of 425 in the same oven with the drumsticks, for their last 25 minutes or so)
- Slice up some of the apples
- Warm up all but one cup of the bag of frozen peas (reserve that cup, still frozen, for Friday’s recipe) in a small saucepan with a little butter, minced garlic, salt, and pepper to taste, until heated
Monday
Tuesday
- Simple vegetarian white bean soup (use 3 oz spinach), topped with shredded Parmesan
- Toast up & butter the English muffins
- Serve with salad, topped with Parmesan and chopped tomatoes
- & cut up some celery sticks
Wednesday
- Korean-style ground beef & spinach rice bowls (use regular spinach instead of baby, but roughly chop it before sauteing)
- Cook up a double batch of rice, to have leftover cooked rice for Friday’s recipe
- Easy stir fried carrots (omit optional sesame seeds)
- And garlic broccoli stir fry (use chicken broth instead of stock)
Thursday
- Chicken thigh stir fry with asparagus
- 20 minute ground beef & broccoli stir fry
- Serve these over cooked rice; start the rice cooking before you get everything together for the stir fries
- Slice up the rest of your apples
Friday
- Chicken fried rice — instead of leftover chicken, just pan cook up the rest of the chicken thighs (season with a little salt & pepper and saute in olive oil over medium high heat until cooked through — they are very thin, so will cook quickly) and chop into pieces
- Serve with egg drop soup
- And with mandarins
Saturday
- Leftovers, family pizza night (ALDI sells nice big take-and-bake deli pizzas), or order in.
ALDI Shopping List — Shop through 12/5/20
What a great week — Our affordable stir fries theme left us with some budget room, so we’re going to restock on pantry staples: Butter, soy sauce, corn starch, and balsamic vinegar. These items will not only get you through this week’s recipes, but more dinners throughout the next few months!
Dairy & refrigerated
Dozen Goldhen large eggs, $1.01
Priano shredded Parmesan, $1.99
Countryside Creamery butter quarters, $1.79
Frozen
16 oz Season’s Choice peas, $.95
Grocery
L’Oven Fresh English muffins, $1.19
Fusia soy sauce, $1.59
Baker’s Corner corn starch, $.89
Priano balsamic vinegar, $1.99
Can Dakota’s Pride garbanzo beans (chickpeas), $.49
Can Dakota’s Pride Cannellini beans, $.49
2 cans Dakota’s Pride Great Northern beans, $1.10
Can Happy Harvest diced tomatoes, $.59
32 oz Simply Nature organic vegetable broth, $1.89
48 oz Simply Nature organic chicken broth, $2.19
3 lbs Earthly Grains long grain white rice, $1.99
Meat
6 lbs chicken drumsticks, $4.74
2 lbs 80/20 ground beef, $5.58
2.5 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs, $4.23
Produce
3 heads garlic, $1.29
3 lbs yellow onions, $2.29
Bunch green onions, $.79
8 oz white mushrooms, $1.79
2 lbs carrots, $1.45
8 oz bag spinach, $1.39
Little Salad Bar Garden salad, $1.35
2 lbs broccoli crowns, $2.98
16 oz green beans, $1.89
1 lb asparagus, $2.79
Celery, $1.29
3 lbs gala apples, $1.29
3 lbs mandarins, $2.69
Pint grape tomatoes, $1.89
2 Roma tomatoes, $.40
That comes to: $60.26
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 in 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 these meal plans
A couple of notes
- 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.
- 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 11/29-12/5 in Sunday ad markets, and 12/2-12/8 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 12/6/20.
Stay in the 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 with your meal planning & 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.