My Last Post

Okay, so I am not a good blogger. I entered into this wanting to do better, but alas I have succumbed to my own weakness. I am lousy at maintaining any sites with all the other things I have going on in my life. My second job starting in May, killed whatever spare time I had to even go grocery shopping let alone write on this blog. So I am somewhat relieved to say that this is my last blog. I have been at times riddled with guilt that I have not done a better job. But I am hopeful that what I have done has encouraged some of you to explore this store and see if there are ways that you can help your family enjoy the products you need and experience some financial savings. One thing that I did find when I limited my shopping to only Aldi's is that I cut my time that I spent shopping down significantly. This was a huge help to me and I will continue to shop primarily at Aldi's So this is it. I hope those that followed enjoyed.

Long time no blog

It has been a long time since I last blogged. I have started a second job and that along with trying to graduate a senior this year has eaten up all my time. I thought I would catch you up. We are still going strong with Aldi. We have tried a few new things and have found them to be very good. We tried the garlic and cheese and garlic bread for a dinner one night and found it to be very tasty. We also tried their bowl of barbecue pork. Although it tasted good it has an interesting consistency that was not very appealing and I think had too much sauce in the pork. The kids would only eat it with their eyes closed! Kurt and I also went out one night for a meeting and left the kids with a "Hamburger Helper" box Aldi style. They used the Aldi brand of dinner for cheeseburger macaroni. Susan made it and said it was good but needed some more pasta so she added it. The frozen vegetables continue to be good and we are enjoying the milk products. There is no cheese I have had so far that is bad. Kurt is amazed at the cost of their flat round tortilla chips. Only $0.99! It is a great savings. they started carrying their brand of "Captain Crunch" so Kurt is trilled about that as well. Nothing like a sugary breakfast.

We are getting ready for open house here so will have some more reports. We are having ice cream sundae's and cookies for the menu so need to get lots of butter. The butter at Aldi is by far the cheapest I have found in town including Sam's. Enough for now will try to get a blog in tomorrow.

Disappointing Fruit and Aldi

Over the months as I have bought food from Aldi there is one thing that is usually disappointing. It is the Aldi fruit. I have yet to find reliable fruit that looks good tastes good and lasts. The only exception would be during strawberry season. Then they had good local berries that were very tasty and were not over-ripe. I have not bought apples, grapes or bananas there because many of them are spoiled. The vegetables on the other had have been very good on a regular basis. I can always find beautiful peppers, yellow, red and green, as well as mushrooms, cucumbers, tomatoes and broccoli. All these have been good and never disappoint.

Best Maccaroni every

On Saturday I had the privilege of participating in a birthday party. I wanted to bring something so I made my most popular Macaroni and cheese. Everything was from Aldi. I was wonderful. I had the chance to make a big batch and I put it in my crock pot and baked it for four hours. Here is the recipe:

1 8 oz box of elbow macaroni cooked according to direction
8 oz sour cream
8 oz mayonnaise
4 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 Tbs dried onion flakes or 1/4 cup chopped onion
salt and pepper to taste
crushed saltine crackers

Cook macaroni, rinse and drain. Mix together rest of ingredients except crushed crackers. Mix in macaroni and put in a large buttered baking dish. Top with crushed crackers and bake 350 degrees for 30 - 45 minutes. SOOOO GOOD!

Shopping Again

I have gone shopping again for the next two weeks of dinner. I will write about the menu tomorrow or Monday. I have managed to keep our groceries down to about $400 this past month. This includes paper products and cleaning items. I will give a more detailed shopping cost next month. Earlier I wrote about laundry soaps at Aldi. I have some prices so you can compare. They have their Laundry soap that is called Tandil 2X Ultra that is comparable to Tide 2X Ultra in both regular and bleach alternative. It costs $6.99 for a 100 oz bottle. Their fabric softener is comparable to Ultra Downy it comes in 2 scent, Mountain Fresh and Spring Time Fresh. It is $2.99 for 51 oz of product. I also can see significant savings with the cereals they sell. They have kids cereals, raisin bran, mini wheat's, oatmeal, granola, and cereal like special K. They all cost around $2.00 with most of them at $1.89. They are also constantly changing their inventory and providing special items at different times of the year. During Christmas there are many more varieties of baking goods available. At Thanksgiving there are of course all the goods associated with that time of year.

Grandessa Signature

One thing that sets Aldi apart from other grocery stores is the fact that it carries its own brands of food. There are limited choices, but within the store there are a selection of different levels of food "quality". Their "premium product line" is called Grandessa Signature. I have never had anything in this product line that was not exceptional. I have used the tomato sauce for anything pasta related. It is wonderful. The fresh salsa is fantastic. I especially like the Artichoke and the sweet onion salsa. Then I found a new item this last time. It is a cream dip. They have spinach and artichoke as well as a delicious Mediterranean olive. Try out this product line next time you go.

Mastering the Art of French Cooking

My birthday was a few weeks ago. My daughter, Debbie, gave me a wonderful gift, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking " by Julia Child. I have spent the last ten days looking through the book and last night I had my first opportunity to cook from the book. I made "Supremes de Volaille aux Champignons" or Chicken Breasts with Mushrooms and Cream. The occasion? A visit from our cousins from Michigan. We had a wonderful night and had a nice chicken flavored rice and broccoli to accompany it. To finish it all off we had a delicious Carmel Silk Supreme Pie from Aldi. Everything, with the exception of the chicken and some cream, came from Aldi and it was fantastic!