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Mealtime Philosophy
Please e-mail us with your mealtime philosophy. We can learn from each other! Send to recipes@lslneighbors.com.
First off, these menus are created to make the most of local store sales and our local Aldi stores. Aldi carries so much at such great prices, we encourage you to shop there first (no paid endorsement—please see explanation below about Aldi).
Since more farmer’s markets are opening, we encourage everyone to shop there when they can. The produce is local, so it doesn’t require lots of transportation fuel to get it to the stores. The farmers market on Bryan Road in O’Fallon has prices comparable to Aldi.
The other stores (Schnuck’s, Dierbergs and Shop ‘N Save) will be used for fresh meats, items not found at Aldi or for the items which Aldi doesn’t excel.
We attempt to make use of leftovers when creating these menus.
The menus will appear as soon as possible after the store sales are announced, usually on Tuesdays or Wednesdays.
We have shopping day in mind for the first day, so those meals will be quick and easy.
Some thoughts about Aldi: www.aldi.com
There may be some shoppers who regard Aldi as a store only for those with lesser means or that they make people “rent” carts or they don’t bag groceries for you etc. If you are one of these people, please re-think past notions.
First of all, the shoppers there are extremely polite. Of course, you run into all kinds of people, but the shoppers include a lot of young families and senior citizens. Tight budgets bond these demographics and there is often small talk and cooing at babies (really!)
Concerned about image? Aldi is actually Trader Joe’s cousin www.traderjoes.com. Trader Joe’s is owned by a trust created by Aldi co-founder, Theo Albrecht. It’s all in the family.
About the carts—Aldi doesn’t hire cart attendants. They pass the savings on to you. The routine is for the shopper to deposit a quarter and use a cart. When the shopper puts the cart away, they get their quarter back. It’s not renting a cart, it’s only a deposit. No money lost. If you approach the carts and don’t know what to do, ask a fellow Aldi shopper. They are such nice people!
Aldi does not bag groceries. Shoppers are free to take empty boxes they find along the way and they are encouraged to bring their own bags. We don’t need to clutter the environment with more of those horrible plastics bags, anyway. They are everywhere. Just grab some beforehand. If you forget your bags, they do sell paper bags for a nickel apiece. The heavy-duty ones cost a bit more.
If you like the no-frills theme of Costco, Aldi is right up your alley. A while back, I made a price book and broke everything down by ounce (or smallest measurement) to find “real” prices. Costco was usually exact with Aldi. The bulk packaging of Costco can be a storage nightmare and packages usually have to be broken up into smaller ones for freezing and storing. At Aldi, you get normal sized packages.
Another difference is that Costco items are usually brand name. This isn’t that impressive. If you can’t taste the difference, what’s in a name?
Here are some recent prices to get you thinking it over (these could change, of course). Aldi doesn’t have sales, so you can budget from previous receipts.
Salad in a bag $.99 Gallon of 2% milk $3.03 “Wheat thin” type crackers $.99 Box of Swiss rolls $.99 Jar of salsa $.99 Box of “Twinkie” type cakes $1.79 Bag of chips $.99 Jar of spaghetti sauce $.99 Dozen large eggs $.89 Dishwashing powder $1.49 Taco mix $.29 Bagels $.99 Jar of applesauce $.89 Pound of butter $2.19 Merlot wine $2.99 Green peppers (4) for $1.29 American cheese $1.79 Ready-to-serve bacon $1.99 Flour tortillas $.79 “Hot Pocket” type sandwiches $1.69 Hamburger buns $.65 Mexican shredded cheese $2.49 Vanilla wafers $.99 Bag of tortilla chips $.99 Sour cream $.99 “Velveeta” type cheese $3.79 Cereals $1.69
Another way to look at it: A 20-inch long receipt’s total was $131.14.
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