Free ALDI Meal Plan week of 2/26/23

Welcome to your free ALDI meal plan for the week of 2/26/23! This week we’re cooking up everything from sheet pan balsamic chicken drumsticks & asparagus, to an arrabbiata white bean & vegetable soup — and so much more.

Hey, who’s feeling like a comforting pasta skillet this week — or, how about a super easy & flavorful sheet pan chicken dinner? Our weekly ALDI menu plans have everything you need, including all of the easy recipes and a printable shopping list (or easy add-to-Instacart) for six complete dinners for four, $70 out the door. Bring your family together around home-cooked meals, and save time & money in the process.

Be sure to sign up to receive a weekly email alert about each new plan.

You can use any meal plan as an easy starting point. Modify your own family’s dinners around what’s in stock (or on sale) in your area, what’s on hand in your pantry, and any special dietary needs or preferences.

Free ALDI meal plan week of 2/26/23 – 3/4/23

balsamic drumsticks with asparagus and carrots

Cook along with us for the answer to the never-ending question: What’s for dinner?

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

Before jumping straight into this week’s menu, let’s talk briefly about new ALDI Finds & updates.

Italian Week & ALDI coloring books, gnomes & lentil stew

ALDI Finds for the week of 2/22/23 include ALDI coloring books, Italian Week foods, frozen pre-portioned seasonings, and more!

*** All of my favorite ALDI Finds of the week, here. ***

Check out this week’s picks (and pix), and let me know what you want to Find.

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A post shared by Rachel Singer (@mashupmom)

Speaking of ALDI Finds… the St. Patrick’s Day gnomes are out in stores this week, and did you know that: ALDI gnomes are great at holding your glasses so that you don’t lose them?

And here’s a new recipe to put in your pocket for later, because you know how ALDI has affordable bags of lentils, plus great deals on ham around the holidays? The next time you make one of those ALDI hams, be sure to cook up this hearty ham bone & lentil stew the next day!

Lastly, here’s what’s new on the Amazon front:

Last week’s fun & weird Amazon finds include a screaming opossum vinyl sticker, and so much more.
This HUGE list of HUNDREDS of subscribe & save filler items is updated every Thursday.

But with no further ado, here’s your ALDI meal plan for the week of 2/26/23. *** Be sure to sign up for our weekly emails, so that you never miss a new one.

ALDI Meal Planning week of 2/26/23 – 3/4/23

Pick up everything on the shopping list below, then start cooking on Sunday. As always, six complete dinners for four, $70 out the door.

*** Print your meal plan summary + grocery shopping list below this week’s detailed plan, in Word, .rtf, or PDF format. ***
I’m assuming that you have on hand some pantry basics like cooking oil, condiments, and spices. Read through the recipes before you shop, to make sure that you have the necessary pantry staples on hand for this week’s ALDI menu plan. *** The printable shopping list includes a separate section of needed basics for the week.

Six easy dinners from ALDI for $70

ALDI Meal Plan — start cooking 2/26/23

Sunday

Rosemary chicken & white bean soup
Toast up half of the loaf of sourdough to go with

Monday

Sheet pan balsamic chicken drumsticks with carrots & asparagus
Leftover soup from Sunday

Tuesday

Easy cheesy beautiful pasta skillet
Make garlic bread or garlic toast with the rest of the sourdough

Wednesday

Keema inspired ground beef quesadillas with sliced avocado
Buttered carrots and peas

Thursday

Easy beef, tomato, & spinach tortellini (use regular spinach)
Sauteed everything bagel zucchini with Parmesan (use sea salt, black pepper, and garlic to taste if you don’t have everything bagel seasoning)

Friday

Arrabbiata white bean & vegetable soup, topped with shredded Parmesan
Garden salad mixed with any remaining spinach, and topped with chopped celery, chopped carrot, & shredded mozzarella

Saturday

Leftovers, family pizza night (ALDI sells nice big take-and-bake deli pizzas), carryout, mix it up!

ALDI Shopping List — Shop through 2/25/23

*** Psst — check below this grocery list for easy one-stop Instacart shopping, as well as an easy-print version. And, guess what? This week you’ll even end up with some extra ground beef for the freezer to use in a later meal plan — how’s that for a deal?

Dairy & refrigerated

Emporium Selection 15 oz ricotta, $2.49
Emporium Selection shredded Parmesan, $2.49
16 oz shredded Happy Farms mozzarella, $3.99
9 oz Priano three cheese tortellini, $2.99

Frozen

2 bags 12 oz Season’s Choice sweet peas, $1.78

Grocery

Specially Selected sliced sourdough round, $4.29
32 oz box Simply Nature organic vegetable broth, $1.89
32 oz box Chef’s Cupboard chicken broth, $1.29
12 oz box Reggano farfalle (bowtie pasta), $.95
Reggano tomato, basil, & garlic pasta sauce, $1.49
El Milagro flour tortillas, $1.16
3 cans Dakota’s Pride great northern beans, $2.13
1 can Dakota’s Pride cannellini beans, $.71
1 can Happy Harvest cut green beans, $.59
1 can Happy Harvest whole kernel corn, $.59
8 oz can Happy Harvest tomato sauce, $.39
Simply Nature organic arrabbiata pasta sauce, $1.98

Meat

5.25 lbs family pack chicken drumsticks, $4.67
4 lb family pack Simply Nature organic grass fed ground beef, $17.96

Produce

2 lb bag of carrots, $1.79
1 lb asparagus, $1.89
8 oz bag of spinach, $1.79
Bag of garden salad, $1.79
3 lbs yellow onions, $1.89
3 heads garlic, $1.59
20 oz zucchini, $1.61
Celery, $1.69
5 Roma tomatoes, $1.50
2 avocados, $1.58

That comes to: $70.95

Or, maybe less…! These meals can run 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 have on hand, and/or sale produce from your local fruit market.

Shop this week’s meal plan with Instacart

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Easy-peasy: *** Add this week’s grocery list to your Instacart. ***

IMPORTANT! READ BEFORE CHECKING OUT:

You’ll need to check your pantry for staples not included in this Instacart list. *** See needed pantry staples, below.
The list feature doesn’t allow me to add multiples of a single item or to change the weight of items, and the meat special buys don’t usually show up. So: Before adding the list to your cart, change the following
1. My store is out of farfalle, so it wouldn’t let me include it on my list — add it to your own list, or substitute another shaped pasta of choice.
2. Change these quantities: Frozen sweet peas to two, great northern beans to three, Roma tomatoes to five, and avocados to two.
3. The meat special buys are again not listed, so: Make a note to your shopper that you want them to add a family pack of the organic grass fed ground beef, as well as 5.25 lbs of the sale family pack Perdue chicken drumsticks (if available in your area), rather than the more expensive regular family pack.
4. I put store brand flour tortillas as a place holder, since El Milagro aren’t listed in Instacart. Make a note to your shopper to substitute El Milagro if available.

Please use the add your list to Instacart feature at your own risk, and always double checking your cart against the grocery list above. Also note that Instacart prices are higher than in store, so your total will be higher than shown in the above grocery list.

** Pantry staples to check for before shopping: Olive oil, butter, balsamic vinegar, honey, basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme, parsley, smoked paprika, crushed red pepper, chili powder, cumin, turmeric, cinnamon, paprika, powdered ginger, cayenne, bay leaf, sea salt, Kosher salt, salt, black pepper, everything bagel seasoning

Printable ALDI meal plan & grocery list

Print this week’s meal plan:

*** Download this week’s printable ALDI shopping list and meal plan in Word format, or:
- Download in .rtf format
- Download in PDF format
If you don’t have Word, try opening this in Google Docs or Wordpad.

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

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 up, 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 2/19-2/25 in Sunday ad markets, and 2/22-2/28 in Wednesday ad markets). Non-advertised prices are from my local store in the Chicago suburbs. Prices and produce deals *can vary* by location & region. In either ad market, shop any time through Saturday and start cooking on Sunday 2/26/23.

Stay in the meal planning loop

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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?