I Heart Aldi!

I had only been in Aldi a couple of times before last spring.  It seemed a weird set up to me.  I knew a couple of people who shopped there who loved it.  That's why I thought it was worth a shot.  But after going in and out a couple of times, I just didn't get it.  I left both times and went to Wal-Mart like I always had.

And then I came across this post by Gimme Some Oven.  Her three part series which includes "Why I Shop at Aldi", "How To Shop at Aldi" and "What To Buy at Aldi" is more comprehensive than anything I could put together here.  You should just read it.  Sufficed to say, I get it now.  Thank you.  I even get such satisfaction now out of taking my own bags and containers.  No more overflowing drawer of Wal-Mart of Kroger bags.  Thank you.  Thank you so much.

My plan is to highlight items I've purchased at Aldi that I love or meals I've made with items from Aldi.  I hope these posts will help convince you to try it.  I wish I had years ago!

Kim

Thrift Store Thursday : Open House Dress

I haven't always been a thrift shopper.  I am a recent convert.  You can read about my introduction to my thrift store on my personal blog here.   I love my new thrift store.  It's like all the best stuff at a rummage sale without all the crap and having to wake up at 5:00 A.M.   I'll be trying to share my nifty thrifty finds in my weekly feature Thrift Store Thursday.  Maybe I'll convert a few newbies out there to give it a shot.

I'm not sure why I can't get a smile I like in a photo. :/

I found this dress for $8 at the beginning of the summer on my second or third trip to my thrift store.  The brand is Spense, which they sell at Macy's among other places.  I love polka dots.  I also love that is has a kind of retro fifties vibe.  I wouldn't be at all surprised to see a dress like this on Mod Cloth for ten times the price I paid for it.  I've worn it to church.  It also rated high enough with me to be my Open House dress at the beginning of the school year.  Not just any dress gets to be my Open House dress.  It was surprising cool for Open House (nothing like the heat wave we've experienced this week) so I paired it with a yellow cardigan.  I also plan to wear it with a red cardigan and red flats once it gets a bit cooler out.  Can't wait for that!

Kim

Aldi Feature: Chicken Caesar Salad

Today I'm sharing a favorite meal we had this summer featuring some products from Aldi I love!  Using their romaine hearts...

Tuscan Garden brand Caesar salad dressing...

 

 

Tuscan Garden croutons...

and shredded Priano parmesan cheese...

 

Just dump them all together on your plate, add some grilled chicken (sorry Aldi, I get my chicken breasts from Market Day to help out my kids' school), and you've got yourself a restaurant quality Caesar chicken salad.

 

Seriously, so good.

 

I like a little bread with my salad.  Who am I kidding?  I like a little bread with everything.  I used a store bought French bread loaf to make this recipe from The Pioneer Woman for the bread.  So easy and so worth it.

 

As I mentioned, this is especially good for those hot weather days when you just don't want a hot, heavy meal.  Hope you'll give it a try!

 







Kim

Aldi Feature: Milk and Cookies

I am so enamored of these cookies it's somewhat embarrassing.  That being said, I love to bake so finding store bought cookies that are better than my homemade cookies is not an easy task.  These do the trick.

 

I'm not sure if these are a year round item or not.  They've been there since I started shopping at Aldi in the spring.  Right now they are a "special buy" at $1.99 a box.

 

The maple cream in the middle is what makes these cookies so special.  It's rich. It's decadent. It's maple-y (?). It's plentiful.  The vanilla sandwich cookie is crunchy but not too sweet.  One or two (or three) of these is my treat on a Friday after work. The cookie is great with a cup of coffee or a cold glass of milk.

 

Speaking of milk...

 

This is a crazy good price for milk.  I used go out of my way to go to Walgreen's or CVS when milk was on sale, until I discovered it is always 10 cents cheaper at Aldi where I was already making a weekly stop. But this is an even better price than usual.  We're talking about 80 cents cheaper than it usually is at Aldi! We're big milk drinkers at my house, so you can bet I loaded up on this sale.  But wait...

"No way!" is what I literally said out loud when I saw the price for skim milk this week.  My husband and I both drink skim milk, so we actually go through more of it than the 2% the kids drink.  I bought 5 gallons of  milk this week.  The limit was 6, and I'm thinking I should have just gone ahead and hit the limit.  We have an extra refrigerator in our garage so there's not a storage problem.  So now I have ice cold milk to go along with my incredible cookies! What could be better?

Kim





Welcome!

Hi! I'm Kim.  I blog over at An Antisocial Butterfly.  I decided to start another blog where I would just focus on budgeting and bargaining.  I'm a wife and mother of two.  I've been an elementary school teacher for going on 19 years this fall.   I didn't marry until I was 32 and had my daughter and son at 33 and 35.  After only being financially responsible for myself for about ten years, I had barely gotten used to running a two person household when I got married before I had a full fledged family.  As my kids got older and started school and we moved into a larger house, I realized we needed to make adjustments in how we budget our money.  I'll be sharing some of the things that have helped me over the past ten years or so.  I hope you'll stop by often A Bargain Butterfly often!

Kim