Free ALDI Meal Plan week of 10/2/22

Welcome to your free ALDI meal plan for the week of 10/2/22! Cook up everything from skillet pork chops with apples & onions to a simple vegetarian white bean soup — and, so much more.

Can you believe that we are smack into October already? It’s fall, y’all, so let’s get to ALDI meal planning. As always: Six complete dinners for four, $70 out the door. Use this weekly menu plan to help reduce stress and anxiety around dinnertime, and to save time & money in the process.

• Be sure to sign up to receive a weekly email alert about each new plan.

You can also use our meal plans as a starting point, modifying your own dinners around what’s in stock in your area, what’s on hand in your pantry, and your own family’s dietary needs and preferences.

Free ALDI meal plan week of 10/2/22 – 10/8/22

Cook along with us to answer the never-ending question: What’s for dinner?

*** Subscribe to the weekly ALDI meal plans here ***

Before jumping straight into this week’s menu, though, let’s talk about this week’s new ALDI Finds and news.

Hot chicken pizza, indulgent Greek yogurt, and pumpkin candles

ALDI Finds for the week of 9/28/22 include Nashville Hot Chicken pizza, fall indulgent Greek yogurt flavors, fire safety products, pumpkin candles, pork roast kits, and more. 

• Check out all of my favorite ALDI Finds of the week here

Let me know what you’re picking up this week.

Beyond saving by meal planning at ALDI, I’m here to help you save in other ways as well. Let’s revisit just a few, here:

• Five ways to save on groceries
• How to cook around grocery shortages
• How to score birthday freebies & discounts
• Is Amazon Prime worth it?
• Maximize your savings with Amazon subscribe & save

Also new on the Amazon front:

• Last week’s fun & weird Amazon finds include boyfriend pillows, bacon toothpaste, and so much more.
• This HUGE list of subscribe & save filler items is updated every Thursday.

That’s it, so, without further ado, here’s your ALDI meal plan for the week of 10/2/22. *** Be sure to sign up for our weekly emails, so that you never miss a new one.

ALDI Meal Planning week of 10/2/22 – 10/8/22

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

ALDI Meal Plan — start cooking 10/2/22

Sunday

• Sheet pan chicken & harvest vegetable dinner salad
• Half of the grapes

Monday

• BBQ bacon cheddar chicken sandwiches (slice up half of the cheddar cheese block to top)
• BBQ potato chips
• The rest of the grapes

Tuesday

• Cheese tortellini with broccoli & tomatoes (use fresh broccoli)
• Heat up the baguette

Wednesday

• Bacon-wrapped chicken (use the rest of the pack of bacon, even if it’s a bit short of 12 oz)
• Carrots need butter & thyme (roast at 425 with the chicken; checking them at 20-25 minutes for doneness)
• Leftover tortellini from Tues, if you still have some 🙂

Thursday

• Skillet pork chops with apples & onions (use gala apples)
• Chop and steam up the rest of the broccoli, and melt on shredded cheddar and Parmesan to taste

Friday

• Simple vegetarian white bean soup (use baby carrots), topped with Parmesan
• Side salad made w/ the last heart of romaine + 4 oz spinach, topped with chopped baby carrots & Parmesan
• Slice up any remaining apples

Saturday

• Leftovers, family pizza night (ALDI sells nice big take-and-bake deli pizzas), or order in.

ALDI Shopping List — Shop through 10/1/22

*** Psst — also check below this grocery list for easy one-stop Instacart shopping!

Dairy & refrigerated

2 packs 9 oz Priano three cheese tortellini, $6.18
Happy Farms 8 oz cheddar cheese block, $1.99
Emporium Selection shredded Parmesan, $2.49

Grocery

Specially Selected brioche buns, $3.99
Specially Selected French baguette, $1.69
Clancy’s BBQ potato chips, $1.89
Burman’s BBQ sauce, $1.19
32 oz Simply Nature organic vegetable broth, $1.89
1 can Dakota’s Pride garbanzo beans (chickpeas), $.79
2 cans Dakota’s Pride great northern beans, $1.42
1 can Dakota’s Pride cannellini beans, $.79
1 can Happy Harvest diced tomatoes, $.79

Meat

2.5 lbs bone-in assorted pork chops, $7.23
4 lbs family pack boneless skinless chicken breast, $11.56
16 oz Appleton Farms premium bacon, $3.99

Produce

3 lb bag gala apples, $1.99
2 lbs red grapes, $2.58
8 oz white mushrooms, $1.89
2 lbs broccoli crowns, $3.78
2 bags of 16 oz baby carrots, $1.98
3 pack hearts of romaine, $2.99
8 oz bag of spinach, $1.49
3 lbs yellow onions, $2.29
3 heads garlic, $1.49
1 sweet potato, $.66
Pint grape tomatoes, $1.89

---

That comes to: $70.91

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 already have on hand, and/or sale produce from your local fruit market.

New! *** Add this week’s grocery list to your Instacart. ***

IMPORTANT! READ BEFORE CHECKING OUT:

1. You’ll need to check your pantry for staples not included in this Instacart list. See needed pantry staples below.
2. The list creation feature doesn’t currently allow multiple quantities or changing the weight of items. Before adding the list to your cart you’ll want to change the following:
   1. Change the tortellini quantity to 2
   2. Change the great northern beans quantity to 2
   3. Change the baby carrots quantity to 2
   4. Change the weight of the grapes to 2 lbs; add a note you want 2 lbs of broccoli
   5. Add a note to your shopper that you’d like 2.5 lbs of the pork chops and a 4 lb pack of the chicken
3. Click “add” on any items you want to place in your cart; omit any items you don’t want or already have.
4. Add anything else you need for the week to your cart, and check out!

Add your list to Instacart is a newer feature I’m testing out, so please use at your own risk and always double check your cart against the recipes. It’s a work in progress! Note: 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, butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, chili powder, sea salt, Kosher salt, black pepper, seasoned salt, smoked paprika, paprika, Italian seasoning, oregano, sage, crushed red pepper, garlic powder, garlic salt, thyme

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.
  • Download in .rtf format
  • Download in PDF format
• If you don’t have Word, try opening in Google Docs or in 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

1. 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.
2. 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 9/25-10/1 in Sunday ad markets, and 9/28-10/4 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 10/2/22.

Stay in the meal planning loop

More ways to stay connected:

• *** Subscribe here to receive weekly email messages about new ALDI meal plans.
• Browse all of the weekly ALDI meal plans here *** Note: prices may have changed since originally posted.
• Come over and join us on Facebook in the Almost All ALDI group.

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?

Resources for meal planning & ALDI shopping

Let’s close out our week with some additional resources on meal planning & ALDI shopping:

• How to cook around grocery shortages
• Master list of meal planning resources
• Get cash back for ALDI shopping, with cash back offers on the Ibotta app and through the Fetch Rewards app.
• Pick up a pack of meal prep containers, & pack up any dinner leftovers for easy weekday lunches. Also useful: Two pack insulated grab bag totes, or two pack clip to cart bags.
• Check out these cute & handy ALDI quarter keepers.
• How fun are these ALDI themed t-shirts I have for you guys?!

Lastly: Access your current regional ALDI ad here.