The Cheapskate Mom

I've been meaning to post about this trip for a while, but lately, my time to work on my blog has been limited. I'm finally getting to it a week later but at least I'm doing it!

I've posted before that my weekly grocery budget is $30. One of the ways I make that possible is by shopping at Aldi, which is a store with all private label brands that are lower in price but not in quality compared to brand name stores. They do however have brand name items occasionally, but they don't accept coupons. Usually, these are the types of items I'll purchase there:

1. Items that never or rarely have coupons like meat, dairy, or breads
2. Items that even when coupons are available or generic is purchased are still too pricey
3. Items I need this week, but I have no coupons and the sale isn't very good

If I didn't recieve WIC, I would always and only buy dairy, bread, and cereal at Aldi for the low price. I don't have specifics on those prices, but here is what I did buy at my last trip:

1 12" Frozen Cheese pizza $2.29
2 1lb Frozen 85% Lean Ground Beef Rolls $2.29 ea.
2 1lb Frozen 85% Lean Ground Turkey $1.19 ea.
32oz Fat Free French Vanilla Coffee Creamer $1.99
1 Chewy Granola Bars 10ct $1.69
13 Gallon Kitchen Trash Bags 30ct $2.49
1 18 oz Peanut Butter $1.39
1 box Hawaiin Punch Fruit Snacks 24ct $3.49
1 Large Aldi Green Bag $1.99

Total + Tax: $22.77

Since my "price book" is in my head I can't give a great guess of the prices of these items in the grocery store, but I can tell you that I know I would've paid almost double. The lowest price I've ever found for fresh ground turkey is $2.50 and that's for 73% lean. That right there more than doubles the price. Not to mention that I find it to be the best quality I have ever tried. I am not real sure how good of a deal I got on the beef as it seems to average around $3/lb for the same thing at my regular grocery store, so the savings isn't as drastic, but I still find the quality to be much better.

Fruit snacks are my son's favorite treat, and I used to be able to find them in an all natural version at Aldi. However, these have vitamin C which is more than I can say for the store brand which winds up costing around $1.50 for a 6 pouch package, and this box has 24. $1.50 x 4=$6.00. I saved $2.50 this way.

I purchased a green bag, and if you know me, you know how I really feel about "going green". However, each time I go, I wind up buying 3 paper bags at 6 cents apiece. I figured that after 12 trips the bag would pay for itself (3 x .16= .18 12 x .18= 1.98) short of a penny. But, it holds more and it's a lot easier to haul your items to the car.

Lastly (Had to save this for last!) the LOWEST price I have ever seen for a frozen pizza that will feed four is $3.75 with a sale + coupon. Sometimes, the size I purchased would go on sale 2/$6 in the store brand, but again, I rarely see this. $2.29 is just an unbeatable price to pay to have a quick meal in the freezer.

Make sure you go to Aldi's website and see where the nearest location is to you. The only downside is that I have trouble taking both my kids since you have to walk to the door to put a quarter in the cart for it to release. This is another way they cut down on costs and pass the savings to their customers, and you also have to remember a quarter!