Free ALDI Meal Plan week of 4/2/23

Welcome to your free ALDI meal plan for the week of 4/2/23! This week we’re cooking up everything from spinach mushroom calzones to a smoked salmon & avocado frittata — plus, so much more.

We’re in April already! Spring, apparently, has sprung, but it’s still pretty gray out by me — how about by you? Rain, sleet, snow, or sunshine, though, Wednesday is always meal plan day over here. Read on for all of the easy recipes, and pick up a printable shopping list (or easy add-to-Instacart list) that walks you through six complete dinners for four, $70 out the door. Bring your family together around home-cooked meals, and save time & money in the process.

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You can use any meal plan as an easy starting point, too. 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/or special dietary needs and preferences.

Free ALDI meal plan week of 4/2/23 – 4/8/23

Come and 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, though, let’s talk briefly about new ALDI Finds & updates.

Morello cherries and macarons

ALDI Finds for the week of 3/29/23 include treats for your sweet tooth, seafood for your Friday, goods to get you gardening, 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.

And here’s what’s new on the Amazon front over here:

Last week’s fun & weird Amazon finds include a book on how to make ducks PAY, piranha plant slippers, and 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 4/2/23. *** Be sure to sign up for our weekly emails, so that you never miss a new one.

ALDI Meal Planning week of 4/2/23 – 4/8/23

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

smoked salmon, avocado, and ricotta frittata

ALDI Meal Plan — start cooking 4/2/23

Sunday

Rosemary chicken & white bean soup (cut up some baby carrots, instead of using whole carrots)
Heat up the Italian bread, and serve that sliced & buttered on the side

Monday

Overstuffed spinach mushroom calzones
Italian salad mix topped with a little shredded mozzarella, chopped baby carrot, two chopped tomatoes, two hard boiled eggs, & chopped green onion, served with zesty Italian dressing.
Note: Boil up four of the eggs, but reserve two hard boiled eggs for Weds.

Tuesday

Sheet pan rosemary chicken drumsticks w/ broccoli & potatoes
Cups of leftover soup from Sunday

Wednesday

Broiled Parmesan pork chops & broccoli
Margie’s potato salad — Optimally, start this earlier in the day and refrigerate it a while to let the flavors blend. Use 2 lbs of the red potatoes, and top with chopped green onion if desired. If you don’t like (or don’t have) mayo, you can use more of the Italian dressing to taste and just omit it.

Thursday

Smoked sausage & veggies skillet
Any leftover potato salad from Weds.

Friday

Smoked salmon, avocado, & ricotta frittata
Everything Instant Pot potatoes — Cut up red potatoes instead of using baby. Substitute a little garlic, sea salt, & black pepper if you don’t have everything bagel seasoning, and boil potatoes on the stove until very tender if you don’t have an electric pressure cooker.

Saturday

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

ALDI Shopping List — Shop through 4/1/23

*** Check below this grocery list for Easy One-Stop Instacart Shopping, as well as an editable easy-print version. We’re also restocking on butter this week, since there was room in the budget and it’s on sale for Easter!

Dairy & refrigerated

Dozen Goldhen large eggs, $2.39
15 oz Emporium Selection whole milk ricotta, $2.49
Countryside Creamery butter quarters, $2.49
Emporium Selection shredded Parmesan, $2.49
16 oz Happy Farms shredded mozzarella, $3.99
Mama Cozzi’s pizza dough, $1.39

Grocery

Specially Selected Italian bread, $3.89
Tuscan Garden zesty Italian dressing, $1.99
32 oz Simply Nature organic chicken broth, $1.89
Reggano marinara sauce, $1.49
Can Dakota’s Pride cannellini beans, $.79
Can Dakota’s Pride great northern beans, $.71

Meat & seafood

Parkview Polska kielbasa, $3.29
3 oz Specially Selected cold smoked salmon, $3.99
1.5 lbs boneless center cut pork chops, $5.99
5 lbs chicken drumsticks, $4.45

Produce

Bunch of green onions, $.85
2 packs 8 oz white mushrooms, $3.78
8 oz spinach, $1.49
Little Salad Bar Italian salad mix, $2.99
1.75 lbs broccoli crowns, $3.48
16 oz baby carrots, $1.19
3 lbs yellow onions, $2.29
3 heads garlic, $1.49
5 lbs red potatoes, $3.99
1.5 lbs zucchini, $1.94
Celery, $1.69
1 avocado, $.49
4 Roma tomatoes, $.80

That comes to: $70.19

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 a 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. Quantities:
  - Change the quantity on the mushrooms to two.
  - Change the quantity on the tomatoes to four.
2. Notes for your shopper:
  - Make a note that you want about 1.75 lbs of broccoli crowns.
  - Make a note that you want a 1.5 lb pack of zucchini.
  - Make a note that you want a 1.5 lb pack of the pork chops.
  - The special buy Perdue chicken drumsticks that are in many ads at $.89/lb aren’t showing in Instacart, so I substituted the regular family pack at $1.29/lb in this list. Make a note to your shopper to substitute a 5 lb pack of the cheaper meat special buy drumsticks.

Please use the add your list to Instacart feature at your own risk, and always double check your cart against the grocery list above. 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, mayo, flour, oregano, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, smoked paprika, rosemary, paprika, thyme, parsley, bay leaf, crushed red pepper, black pepper, sea salt, seasoned salt, salt, everything bagel seasoning (see note in Friday’s recipe)

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, open the shopping list 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 3/26-4/1 in Sunday ad markets, and 3/29-4/4 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 4/2/23.

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?